2009 Academy Awards Best Picture Nominees (VIDEO)

The 81st Academy Awards take place on February 22, 2009. See photos and trailers for all five nominees for Best Picture and find out more about each of these hot contenders for the highly coveted award!

The five nominees for the 2009 Best Picture Oscar are Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, Frost/Nixon, and The Reader.

Taking home the Oscar…Slumdog Millionaire.

The movie was directed by British director Danny Boyce from a screenplay by Simon Beaufoy is a runaway favorite. The movie has received a total of 10 Academy Award nominations and has been critically acclaimed, already winning several 2009 Golden Globe Awards and seven British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA). The movie chronicles events that unfold when the 18-year-old orphan, Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) wins the jackpot on India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Subsequently, he is arrested on suspicion of cheating, and is forced to disclose his past. In his recollections of growing up in the slums of Mumbai, he reveals how his memories helped him answer the questions on the show. The movie also stars Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Tanay Hemant Chheda, Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar, and Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala.

Find out more about the contenders…..

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, has received 13 Academy Award nominations including Best Director. The movie co-stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett and is directed by David Fincher, also stars Cate Blanchett as Benjamin Button’s love interest. The movie is based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald story of the same title, is set in New Orleans and chronicles the life of a man (Pitt) who is born an elderly man in 1918 and ages backwards until he becomes a child, begins in 1918 and concludes in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina. In the movie, Queenie (Taraji P. Henson), who is unable to have children of her own, adopts the child who has the appearance of an elderly man. Blanchett portrays his love interest, Daisy, who uses Benjamin’s diary to reveals his life story to her daughter.

Milk has received eight Academy Award nominations. The movie, based on a true story, is directed by Gus Van Sant. Sean Penn stars as Harvey Milk, a trailblazing activist in San Francisco who became a vocal and high profile advocate for the city’s gay community in the 1970s. He became the first openly gay man to run for elected office in the city. He was unswerving in his commitment and outspokenness until his untimely death in 1978; he and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were assassinated. The movie also stars Emile Hirsch, James Franco, Josh Brolin, Victor Garber, Denis O’Hare, Diego Luna, Ashlee Temple, Alison Pill, Lucas Grabeel, Stephen Spinella, Joseph Cross and Jeff Koons.

Frost/Nixon was nominated for five Oscars. The movie is directed by Ron Howard and based upon the play of the same name by Peter Morgan and focuses on the famous interviews that U.S. President Richard Nixon gave to British TV journalist and presenter David Frost in 1977, several years after resigned in disgrace from the Presidency in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. Frank Langella received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his stellar performance as the beleaguered former President. The movie also stars Michael Sheen as David Frost, with Kevin Bacon, Patty McCormack and Oliver Platt rounding out the cast.

The Reader, has also received five Oscar nods. The movie is based on German author Bernhard Schlink’s 1995 internationally bestselling novel of the same title. It is directed by Stephen Daldry from a screenplay by by British playwright Sir David Hare. It chronicles the life story of Michael Berg in post World War II Germany. Ralph Fiennes plays the adult Michael Berg and newcomer German actor David Kross plays the teenage Michael. The young Michael Berg becomes ill on his way home, and is helped by a 38-year-old tram conductor, Hanna, portrayed by Kate Winslet. She cares for the teen until he has recovered. When he later visits her to thank her, the two find themselves quickly drawn into a passionate and secret affair which is intensified when Michael learns that Hanna enjoys when he reads classic literature to her. She vanishes from his life, but eight years later, the two are reunited under shocking circumstances.

Check out photos and videos of all five 2009 Academy Award Best Picture nominees below.