Here we go! The 2009 Academy Award Nominations were announced on Thursday 22nd January by Forest Whitaker at 5.30am PT (1.30pm for us in old Blighty) in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theatre.

Annoyingly, Benjamin Button's Curious Case aroused the Academy's interest the most, with 13 nominations. Right behind it is Slumdog Millionaire (well done the Brits) with 10. The Dark Knight got 8, the same as Milk, but (perhaps unsurprisingly) Batman is up for neither Film or Director. Technical noms ahoy - along with Heath's obligatory nod. At the bottom of the pool sits Frost/Nixon, The Reader, WALL-E and Doubt. They all have 5.

Any surprises? Well, Melissa Leo is up for Best Actress in indie film Frozen River, which did nicely at last year's LFF. Frozen River also skates into the screenplay arena, where it faces off with WALL-E and (in a lovely turn) the wonderful In Bruges. Brilliant to see Robert Downey Jr. up for Tropic Thunder (an acting award? For Robert? In a comedy role? It's about time!) and Brolin down for the twinkie-guzzler Dan in Milk. The only real surprise is Richard Jenkins for Lead Actor in The Visitor - the second feature from The Station Agent's director, Thomas McCarthy. The Winslet twins are now separated, however, leaving Anne Hathaway, Meryl and oh my god WHO'S THE OTHER ONE with slightly better odds...

Here's what we got:

Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Michael Sheen, Frank Langella, Matthew MacFayden, Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones, Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon
Certificate: 15

Adapted by Peter Morgan from his own stage play, Frost/Nixon is a cinematic retelling of the television interviews between David Frost (Sheen) and ex-President Richard Nixon (Langella). The juxtaposition of mediums at first seems absurd; why not leave what is essentially a two-hander in the theatre, where its terse encounters can have the greatest impact?

Director: Gus Van Sant
Cast: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, James Franco, and Emile Hirsch
Cert: 15

Fresh from the Hollywood cow comes this creamy cinematic delight. It’s not whole fat (that’d be overdoing it); and it isn’t that horrible red-top that is so diluted it really doesn’t resemble milk. No, Milk is a semi-skimmed glass of goodness that doesn’t compromise on taste or your waist line. Which is great because I already scoff too many snacks at the cinema.

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood
Certificate: 12A

Here we go again, but this time on home soil, and Danny Boyle has done it a second time: with a total of 11 nominations, Slumdog Millionaire is all over the shop. In fact, the only other film with that many nods is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - it grabbed nowt at the Globes, so it's not an odds-on favourite.

Then it's The Dark Knight in third (9, none for Nolan's direction or script), just leading Changeling (8) and Frost/Nixon (6). The Reader nabs 5 noms (including the Winslet twins again) and, in last place, not just Milk and Revolutionary Road, but also In Bruges, all with 4.

"Oh my God - who was the other one?"

Just in case you missed them. Both of them...

Director: Stephen Daldry
Cast: Kate Winslet, Raiph Fiennes, David Kross
Certificate: 15
Trailer

Director: Edward Zwick
Cast: Daniel Craig, Live Schreiber, Jamie Bell
Certificate: 15
Trailer

And the winner of the 2009 Orange British Academy Film Award for Rising Star is...

Last year, Shia LeBeouf's star was deemed to have risen the highest (no surprises there, given that he was in Transformers, Disturbia, voiced the lead in Surf's Up and had finished filming Indiana Jones Conquers the Martians.)

Then, come to think of it, the Rising Star Award often seems to go to someone who is already doing their bit to brighten Hollywood's glittery night sky. Eva Green got her kit off for Bernardo Bertolucci in The Dreamers yonks before being crowned queen of 2007, which came on the back of her jaw-dropping performance in

Casino Royale (hottest. Bond Girl. Ever.) Oh, and Kingdom of Heaven, of course. Not anyone's greatest moment, but a high-profile flop if ever there was one. But this is not to mention James McAvoy (swoon), the first winner of the award, who was famous from Shameless but not much else, and picked up the plaudit after his turn as child-friendly Mr Tumnus - from that point on, his star didn't rise. It soared.

Why such a mixed bag of known unknowns? Well, Rummy, it's all down to the audience. This is their award. So get ready to click in the name of cinema and cast your vote for 2009...

Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: Dev Patel, Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto
Certificate: 12A
Trailer

Who wants to be a millionaire? Pretty much everyone in the slums of Mumbai. Everyone, that is, except for Jamal (Patel). But it's this impoverished Indian answering the infamous fifteen questions. One away from the jackpot, he is arrested for fraud and savagely interrogated. How does someone like him know the answers?