Los Angeles  - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button led the Oscar nominations with 13 nods Thursday, ahead of Slumdog Millionaire and Milk.

- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Adapted from a 1921 short story by US literary legend F Scott Fitzgerald, the movie stars Brad Pitt as a man born in 1918 with the physical appearance of an old man and the ability to speak. He proceeds to age in reverse, enjoying a wonderful romance for a few years when he is roughly the same age as his wife, building a fortune, before he ends his life as a baby.

Directed by David Fincher (The Zodiac) and written by Eric Roth (Forest Gump, Munich), the movie deviates far from Fitzgerald's original story and is based on flashbacks set around New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina. It also stars Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton. It cost some 150 million dollars to make, has a running time of 166 minutes and was released on December 25, 2008.

- Slumdog Millionaire - A British film based in Mumbai, India that tells the searing tale of an Indian pauper who reaches the final of the Indian game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Suspicious that the uneducated youth must be cheating, Indian police violently interrogate him and he reveals how a series of childhood events gave him the answers to the quiz questions.

Based on a book by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup, the movie features previously little known actors Dev Patel and Freida Pinto. It is directed by Danny Boyle
(Trainspotting) and written by Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty). Made for just 15 million dollars, much of the film is in Hindi with English subtitles and initially had difficulty finding a distributor in the US. It has already one numerous awards, including four Golden Globes.

- Milk - A biographical film about the life of Harvey Milk who came out of the closet in 1970 and moved from New York to San Francisco to become the first openly gay politician in the US. In the eight years before he was murdered by a bitter political rival, Milk transformed sexual politics in the US and helped establish San Francisco as a bastion of gay politics.

Directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn, Milk was written by Dustin Lance Black and made for 15 million dollars. It has a running time of 128 minutes and was released on November 28, 2008. (dpa)