The coveted little gold beauty.
Yes, it's once again that time of year - where the frocks are ordered, red carpets steamed off and Hollywood does its glitz and glamour thing. Ultimately, we are fascinated, due to our collective love of cinema - and most of us like a popularity contest of one kind or another - especially if our favourites win!
The pack leader this year is David Fincher's The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button - an oddly disingenuous pick for my money - sweeping up 13 nominations, including Best Picture. For the Brits, Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, an energetic and breezy Dickensian romp, is also up for the top prize and has a mighty ten noms after storming the Globes.
Who "was robbed" this year? All Dark Knight fanboy accusations aside, the one I'm most shocked about is Best Foreign Language Picture, with Italy's Gomorrah (one of 2008's greatest achievements) being shut out completely. And the glorious WALL·E - guaranteed at least one gong for Animated Feature - failed to do as pundits prognosticated and snatch a Best Picture nomination, which would have made it the first animated feature since 1991 (Beauty And The Beast) to do so.
What do you predict? Does Jackman's hosting make up for the dismal lack of gold for Australia?
Best Actor
The Visitor - Richard Jenkins
Frost/Nixon - Frank Langella
WINNER: Milk - Sean Penn
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Brad Pitt
The Wrestler - Mickey Rourke
Best Supporting Actor
Milk - Josh Brolin
Tropic Thunder - Robert Downey Jr.
Doubt - Philip Seymour Hoffman
WINNER: The Dark Knight - Heath Ledger
Revolutionary Road - Michael Shannon
Best Actress
Rachel Getting Married - Anne Hathaway
Changeling - Angelina Jolie
Frozen River - Melissa Leo
Doubt - Meryl Streep
WINNER: The Reader - Kate Winslet
Best Supporting Actress
Doubt - Amy Adams
WINNER: Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Penélope Cruz
Doubt - Viola Davis
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Taraji P. Henson
The Wrestler - Marisa Tomei
Best Animated Feature
Bolt - Chris Williams and Byron Howard
Kung Fu Panda - John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
WINNER: WALL·E - Andrew Stanton
Best Art Direction
Changeling - James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis
WINNER: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo
The Dark Knight - Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando
The Duchess - Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway
Revolutionary Road - Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt
Best Cinematography
Changeling - Tom Stern
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight - Wally Pfister
The Reader - Chris Menges, Roger Deakins
WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire - Anthony Dod Mantle
Best Costume Design
Australia - Catherine Martin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Jacqueline West
WINNER: The Duchess - Michael O'Connor
Milk - Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road - Albert Wolsky
Best Director
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - David Fincher
Frost/Nixon - Ron Howard
Milk - Gus Van Sant
The Reader - Stephen Daldry
WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire - Danny Boyle
Best Documentary Feature
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) - Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath
Encounters at the End of the World - Werner Herzog, Henry Kaiser
The Garden - Scott Hamilton Kennedy
WINNER: Man On Wire - James Marsh, Simon Chinn
Trouble The Water - Tia Lessin, Carl Deal
Best Short-Subject Documentary
The Conscience of Nhem En - Steven Okazaki
The Final Inch - Irene Taylor Brodsky, Tom Grant
WINNER: Smile Pinki - Megan Mylan
The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306 - Adam Pertofsky, Margaret Hyde
Best Film Editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall
The Dark Knight - Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon - Mike Hill, Dan Hanley
Milk- Elliot Graham
WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire - Chris Dickens
Best Foreign Language Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex - Germany
The Class - France
WINNER: Departures - Japan
Revanche - Austria
Waltz with Bashir - Israel
Best Makeup
WINNER: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Greg Cannom
The Dark Knight - John Caglione, Jr., Conor O'Sullivan
Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Mike Elizalde, Thom Floutz
Best Original Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Alexandre Desplat
Defiance - James Newton Howard
Milk - Danny Elfman
WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman
WALL·E - Thomas Newman
Best Song
WALL·E - "Down to Earth"
WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire - "Jai Ho"
Slumdog Millionaire - "O Saya"
Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Ceán Chaffin
Frost/Nixon - Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Eric Fellner
Milk - Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen
The Reader - Nominees to be determined
WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire - Christian Colson
Best Animated Short
WINNER: La Maison de Petits Cubes - Kunio Kato
Lavatory - Lovestory - Konstantin Bronzit
Oktapodi - Emud Mokhberi, Thierry Marchand
Presto - Doug Sweetland
This Way Up - Alan Smith, Adam Foulkes
Best Live Action Short
Auf der Strecke (On the Line) - Reto Caffi
Manon on the Asphalt - Elizabeth Marre, Olivier Pont
New Boy - Steph Green, Tamara Anghie
The Pig - Tivi Magnusson, Dorte Høgh
WINNER: Spielzeugland (Toyland) - Jochen Alexander Freydank
Best Sound Editing
WINNER: The Dark Knight - Richard King
Iron Man - Frank Eulner, Christopher Boyes
Slumdog Millionaire - Tom Sayers
WALL·E - Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood
Wanted - Wylie Stateman
Best Sound Mixing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten
The Dark Knight - Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo, Ed Novick
WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire - Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty
WALL·E - Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt
Wanted - Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt
Best Visual Effects
WINNER: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron
The Dark Knight - Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber, Paul Franklin
Iron Man - John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick, Shane Mahan
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
Doubt - John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon - Peter Morgan
The Reader - David Hare
WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire - Simon Beaufoy
Best Original Screenplay
Frozen River - Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky - Mike Leigh
In Bruges - Martin McDonagh
WINNER: Milk - Dustin Lance Black
WALL·E - Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter
