Oh, Oscar!

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees in this year’s Oscar race. In the category of “achievement in music written for motion picture (original score)” the nods went to Alexandre Desplat’s score for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (his second nomination), James Newton Howard for Defiance (his eighth nomination), Danny Elfman for Milk (his fourth nomination), A.R. Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire (his third nomination, if you count the fact that he’s also up twice for “original song” this year), and Thomas Newman for WALL-E (his tenth nomination). In addition to Rahman, Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman also got a tap in the “original song” category for “Down to Earth” from WALL-E. For those in search of the complete docket, there’s a lovely list posted on the 81st Annual Academy Award website. The awards will be given during a televised event February 22 on ABC.—MS