Milk and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button entered the awards fray today [December 9] with eight nominations apiece from the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA).

The Dark Knight, Doubt and Slumdog Millionaire tie with six nominations each and will contest the best picture prize with Milk, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Changeling, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Wall-E and The Wrestler.

The most notable absentees are Kate Winslet, overlooked in the actress race for Revolutionary Road, Darren Aronofsky in the director category for The Wrestler, and Laurent Cantet's The Class in the foreign language category.

Heath Ledger and Robert Downey Jr earn best supporting actor nods for their performance in The Dark Knight and Tropic Thunder, respectively, while Waltz With Bashir is nominated in both the foreign language and animated categories.

Milk garners a best actor nomination for Sean Penn, two supporting actor nods for James Franco and Josh Brolin and a director nomination for Gus Van Sant, among others.

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button's nominations include best actor for Brad Pitt, actress for Cate Blanchett, director for David Fincher, supporting actress for Taraji P Henson and acting ensemble.

Clint Eastwood is in the running for best actor for Gran Torino and best composer for Changeling. The other actor nominees are Richard Jenkins for The Visitor, Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon, Sean Penn for Milk and Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler.

Angelina Jolie's performance in Changeling puts her front and centre in the best actress race alongside Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married, Melissa Leo for Frozen River, Meryl Streep for Doubt, Blanchett for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, and Kate Beckinsale for Nothing But The Truth.

The foreign language nominees are A Christmas Tale, Gomorrah, I've Loved You So Long, Let The Right One In, Mongol and Waltz With Bashir.

The 14th annual Critics' Choice Awards will be handed out at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on January 8.

The BFCA claims to be the largest film critics' organization in North America with more than 200 members representing television, radio and online critics. Eligible films were released in 2008 and the accounting firm of Gregory A Mogab tallied the written ballots.

NOMINEES FOR THE 14TH ANNUAL CRITICS' CHOICE AWARDS:

BEST PICTURE
Changeling
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
The Wrestler

BEST ACTOR
Clint Eastwood Gran Torino
Richard Jenkins The Visitor
Frank Langella Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn Milk
Brad Pitt The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke The Wrestler

BEST ACTRESS
Kate Beckinsale Nothing But The Truth
Cate Blanchett The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Anne Hathaway Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie Changeling
Melissa Leo Frozen River
Meryl Streep Doubt

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin Milk
Robert Downey Jr Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman Doubt
Heath Ledger The Dark Knight
James Franco Milk

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis Doubt
Vera Farmiga Nothing But The Truth
Taraji P Henson The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei The Wrestler
Kate Winslet The Reader

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Milk
Rachel Getting Married

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard Frost/Nixon
Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant Milk

BEST WRITER (Original or Adapted Screenplay)
Simon Beaufoy Slumdog Millionaire
Dustin Lance Black Milk
Peter Morgan Frost/Nixon
Eric Roth The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley Doubt

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Wall-E
Waltz With Bashir

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS (Under 21)
Dakota Fanning The Secret Life Of Bees
David Kross The Reader
Dev Petal Slumdog Millionaire
Brandon Walters Australia

BEST ACTION MOVIE
The Dark Knight
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Quantum Of Solace
Wanted

BEST COMEDY
Burn After Reading
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Role Models
Tropic Thunder
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
John Adams
Recount
Coco Chanel

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A Christmas Tale
Gomorrah
I've Loved You So Long
Let The Right One In
Mongol
Waltz With Bashir

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
I.O.U.S.A.
Man On Wire
Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired
Standard Operating Procedure
Young At Heart

BEST SONG
'Another Way To Die' Jack White from Quantum of Solace
'Down To Earth' Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman from Wall-E
'I Thought I Lost You' Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele from Bolt
'Jaiho' AR Rahman and Gulzar from Slumdog Millionaire
'The Wrestler' Bruce Springsteen from The Wrestler

BEST COMPOSER
Alexandre Desplat The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Clint Eastwood Changeling
Danny Elfman Milk
Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard The Dark Knight
AR Rahman Slumdog Millionaire

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