OSCARS 81st Annual Academy Award Nominees and predictions

Get set for the 81st annual Academy Awards to air live from Hollywood at the Kodak Theatre on February 22, 2009 on ABC at 8 PM ET.

This year's host is "Australia" star and Sexiest Man of the Year, Hugh Jackman.

Oscar nominees are usually revealed on a Tuesday about four weeks before the live ceremony, but In 2009 that particular Tuesday was Inauguration Day on January 20.

So this year nominees were announced on Thursday, January 22 with the Oscar ceremonies airing live on Sunday, February 22, the earliest ever.

One young actor gave his last major (and now very haunting) Hollywood film appearance — with universal praise for the over-the-edge performance by Heath Ledger as The Joker in Dark Knight.

Ledger has already won for Best Supporting Actor at the 2009 Golden Globes, and the Critics Choice Awards, usually an accurate harbinger of what's to come from Oscar voters.

Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Night.

Posthumous Oscar trivia

Other notable actors nominated for posthumous Oscars include James Dean with two acting nods after he fatally crashed his Porsche on September 30, 1955. He later received nominations for Best Actor in 1955 in East of Eden (1955) and for Giant (1956).

The first and only actor to actually win a posthumous Oscar was Peter Finch in 1977 for his best actor performance in Network (crying the immortal, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!")

2009 Oscar Nominations

Slumdog Millionaire is this year's "feel good movie of the New Depression" which transformed itself from obscure import to one of the most nominated films of the year with a total 10 nods from the Academy.

More predictable nominees also include:

Frost/Nixon - Frank Langella and Michael Sheen act their heads off in this Broadway-to-film adaptation opening in Christmas Day.

Milk - directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, who was later assassinated in 1978.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton in a weird tale about a man who starts aging backwards.

The Reader - Kate Winslet puts in a strong performance as a former SS guard in concentration camp who years later is put on trial for war crimes..

Wall-E - A no-brainer win for best animated film.

Below, check out the complete list of this year's nominees along with links to red carpet pictures & video clips, forum postings & discussions, and related expert commentary on the movie industry's most coveted prize ...