The nominations for the 14th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards were announced Tuesday. Ben Lyons, Rosie Perez, and Ben Mankiewicz were all over at VH1 Studios in New York City to chat about this year’s lucky ones. The winners will be announced January 8th at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Cable network VH1 will again broadcast the ceremony Live at 9 p.m. (ET/PT).

"Milk" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" dominated the nominations this morning for the Broadcast Film Critics Association's 14th annual Critics' Choice Awards, receiving eight nods each, including best picture and actor.

“Milk” received nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Sean Penn), Best Supporting Actor (James Franco and Josh Brolin), Best Director (Gus Van Sant), Best Writer (Dustin Lance Black), and Best Composer (Danny Elfman). The eight nominations for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” are for Best Picture, Best Actor (Brad Pitt), Best Actress (Cate Blanchett), Best Supporting Actress (Taraji P. Henson), Best Acting Ensemble, Best Director (David Fincher), Best Writer (Eric Roth), and Best Composer (Alexandre Desplat).

Nominated for 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"; and Meryl Streep, "Doubt."
Along with Pitt and Penn, best-actor nominees are Clint Eastwood, "Gran Torino"; Richard Jenkins, "The Visitor"; Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"; and Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler."

“The Dark Knight,” Miramax’s “Doubt” and Fox Searchlight’s “Slumdog Millionaire” all tied with six nominations each. The Best Director category, which names only five nominees, not 10, gives a better picture than Best Picture of this awards season's true heavyweights. As such, look for “Slumdog Millionaire,” helmed by nominee Danny Boyle, “Benjamin Button” (David Fincher), “Frost/Nixon” (Ron Howard), “The Dark Knight” (Christopher Nolan) and “Milk” (Gus Van Sant) to dominate the Oscar discussion.
In the Supporting Actor category, the nominees include Josh Brolin (“Milk”), Robert Downey Jr. (“Tropic Thunder”), Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Doubt”), Heath Ledger (“The Dark Knight”) and James Franco (“Milk”). Penelope Cruz (“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”), Viola Davis (“Doubt”), Vera Farmiga (“Nothing but the Truth”), Taraji P. Henson (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), Marissa Tomei (“The Wrestler”) and Kate Winslet (“The Reader”) are the six chosen for Supporting Actress.

“Wall-E” is also up for Best Animated Feature, along with Disney’s “Bolt,” DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda” and “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa,” and Sony Pictures Classics’ “Waltz With Bashir.” Disney/Pixar ended up taking last year’s award with the animated comedy-romance “Ratatouille.” “Bashir” is also up for Best Foreign-Language Film this year, and both “Wall-E” and “Bolt” have a tune in competition for Best Song.

As far as the writers are concerned, we have: Simon Beaufoy for “Slumdog Millionaire,”
Dustin Lance Black for “Milk,” Peter Morgan for “'Frost/Nixon,” Eric Roth for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt.”