Eight Oscar Nominations For Milk Including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Screenplay

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button lead the list of 2009 Oscar contenders with 13 nominations, but the big news for us here is Milk's eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director - Gus Van Sant, Best Actor - Sean Pean, Best Supporting Actor - Josh Brolin, and Best Original Screenplay - Dustin Lance Black.

BEST PICTURE: Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.

BEST ACTOR: Richard Jenkins -The Visitor, Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon, Sean Penn, Milk, Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler, Brad Pitt -The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.

BEST DIRECTOR: David Fincher - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Gus Van Sant - Milk, Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire, Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon, Stephen Daldry - The Reader.

BEST ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married, Melissa Leo - Frozen River, Meryl Streep -Doubt, Kate Winslet - The Reader, Angelina Jolie - The Changeling.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Heath Ledger - Dark Knight, Josh Brolin - Milk, Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt, Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder, Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Viola Davis - Doubt, Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler, Amy Adams - Doubt.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: In Bruges, WALL-E, Frozen River, Milk, Happy-Go-Lucky.

Milk was also nominated for Best Costume, Best Film Editing and Best Score.

Top Honors From New York Film Critics Circle: Milk, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin

This is the second major prize for Milk this week and first of what I predict will be many for Sean Penn.

"Milk," Gus Van Sant's movie about gay rights leader Harvey Milk starring Sean Penn, has been named best film by the New York Film Critics Circle. Penn was also chosen as best actor by the critics, who announced their picks Wednesday. "Happy-Go-Lucky" also fared well, winning best director for Mike Leigh and best actress for Sally Hawkins. The critics circle, which last year chose "No Country for Old Men" as best film, is a group of 33 New York-based critics. Its awards will be handed out Jan. 5 in New York.

It's not mentioned in the story above, but Josh Brolin won Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Dan White. The rest of the awards are here.