St. Louis Film Critics, a group of which I am a member, convened Sunday and chose the nominees for the groups year-end awards, which will be announced before the end of the year. Here are the nominees:

BEST PICTURE

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Milk

Slumdog Millionaire

Frost/Nixon

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BEST ACTOR

Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road)

Richard Jenkins (The Visitor)

Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon)

Sean Penn (Milk)

Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)

BEST ACTRESS           

Cate Blanchett (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)

Angelina Jolie (Changeling)

Kate Winslet (The Reder)

Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Josh Brolin (Milk)

Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder)

Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)

John Malkovich (Burn After Reading)

Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road)

Jeffrey Wright (Cadillac Records) 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams (Doubt)

Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)

Viola Davis (Doubt)

Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Frances McDormand (Burn After Reading)

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 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

The Class (Entre Les Murs) - France

I’ve Loved You So Long (Il Y A Longtemps Que Je T’aime) - France/Germany

Let The Right One In (Lat Den Ratte Komma In) - Swedish

Slumdog Millionaire - U.K./U.S.A/India

Tell No One (Ne Le Dis A Personne)- France 

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Body Of War

Man On Wire

Pray The Devil Back To Hell

Shine A Light

Standard Operating Procedure

BEST COMEDY

Burn After Reading

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Role Models

Tropic Thunder

Zack and Miri Make A Porno

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Bolt

Chicago 10

Kung Fu Panda

Madagascar II

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Waltz With Bashir

 MOST ORIGINAL, INNOVATIVE OR CREATIVE FILM

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Slumdog Millionaire

Speed Racer

Synecdoche, N.Y.

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Waltz With Bashir

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Roger Deakins (Revolutionary Road)

Anthony Dod Mantle (Slumdog Millionaire)

Claudio Miranda (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Wally Pfister (The Dark Knight)

Harris Savides (Milk)

Mandy Walker (Australia)

 BEST SCREENPLAY (ORIGINAL OR ADAPTED)

Simon Beaufoy and Vikas Swarup (Slumdog Millionaire)

Dustin Lance Black (Milk)

Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon)

Eric Roth and Robin Swicord (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Nick Schenk and Dave Johannson (Gran Torino)

 BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL OR ADAPTED)

Cadillac Records

The Dark Knight

Gran Torino

The Visitor

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BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Iron Man

Speed Racer

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For the record, some categories have more than five nominees because there was a tie. Film geeks will note that there are no mentions of “Valkyrie” or “Che,” which most of us have not seen. (I did see, and enjoy, “Che” at the Toronto Film Festival in September.) And I couldn’t convince the group to give a shout out to “Space Chimps.” But history will be the judge.