DISQUS

Aleric · 10 months ago

I will be seeing Underworld tonight. I am curious to see if they let the Vampires do more than take their clothes off or jump from really high places. For some reason that is the only talents they seem to have, oh and being eaten by Lycans, that's a good one. At least they don't sparkle.

Seanithan · 10 months ago

So.. the basis of your argument is that because it sells good it should get the recognition it deserves?

I have to say I completely disagree. It deserves no recognition whatsoever. The American movie-going audience knows nothing about film in general, they just know what they like. This may seem like it's enough but personally I don't.

The Grammy's are working nowadays the same way that you're talking about the Oscars. You see people like Lil Wayne winning a grammy for his TERRIBLE song Lollipop. Now, Lil Wayne has made some good albums but Lolllipop is a giant piece of commercial shit.

PEOPLE DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOOD. They just go "oooh, shiny". Most people don't view entertainment as art, and thus, they should not have any control over what constitutes a "good" or "bad" film/song/etc.

That's why we nominate these certain people to judge the Oscars/Grammys because they know the technical/artistic and other aspects of films and music and can make decisions based off that, not just because there was a lot of explosions and a long sex scene (that showed tits).

In short, people don't know shit. Commercial success doesn't mean shit. Lets not equate money-making with good cinema.

Julian Dean Shapiro · 10 months ago

I love you.

I share your cynicism.

deltavoyage · 10 months ago

Benjamin Button has made nearly $100 million at the domestic box office. The Dark Knight scored eight Oscar nominations, while WALL-E scored six. The moviegoing public is, on the whole, stupid and doesn't understand a good movie when they see it. According to your logic, "Marley & Me" should be nominated for something - it was number one for two weeks in a row.

Box office shouldn't mean anything. The quality of the film is what should be considered. And while I would agree that the Academy fell for some Oscar baiting with The Reader, I would say that the fifth slot for Best Picture should go to Doubt and the fifth slot for Best Director should go to Christopher Nolan. However, I get really tired of people constantly complaining about "stupid artsy movies" that always get nominated. The only movie nominated last year I would call artsy is Atonement, and that's a stretch. This year you have Benjamin Button (amazing film, the best of the year) and The Reader (which I haven't seen). And I already said that The Reader shouldn't be in there. Frost/Nixon, Milk, and Slumdog Millionaire are definitely NOT art films.

Derek · 10 months ago

no Wall-E, no TDK? thanks a lot Oscars, you guys just freed up a Sunday Evening for me. Enjoy your 25.0 Nielsen Rating, and that's probably even being optimistic. Benjamin Button? C'mon, it's good but not THAT good. Besides, we already saw that movie back in 94, it's called Forest Gump (Which should NOT have won over Shawshank Redemption). Lets be honest about this, the bias against animation and comic books is what kept both films out of the Best Picture Race. They try to cover their behinds by creating the Animated Film Oscar, but all it did was create a "2nd-Class citizen status" to Animation. And don't try and argue that Life is Beautiful and Crouching Tiger made it into Best Picture as well as being a Best Foreign Language film nominee. Those two were LIVE ACTION, which made it more acceptable to voters to put them into the big table. Expect the Oscars to create a "Best Comi-Book Adaptation" category pretty soon.

Hugh · 10 months ago

25.0 rating? You're being optimistic. I believe they will be in the low 20's, probably even high teens.

Jake · 10 months ago

hmmmm, no hawkins, dicaprio, eastwood, springsteen, and blatant inherent biases keeping Wall-E and TDK away from the top prize. The Oscars just continue to amaze

Mike · 10 months ago

Had The Dark Knight and Wall-E been set during the holocaust, They would've been nominated. The Academy loves movies set during that time.

Cedric · 10 months ago

sheesh..I don't need an Oscar nomination to tell me what I think is the best of the year. This group of 5, Wall-E, TDK, The Wrestler, The Class, and Let the Right One in, kicks the crap out of the 5 actual Oscar nominees.

Nick · 10 months ago

Watch in 5 years as the Academy Awards gets cancelled. And the PEOPLE'S CHOICE awards grows. It's a continuing war between the general audience who don't care about art against the snobs who think the general audience are morons.

thatguy · 10 months ago

I thought this was supposed to be an awards ceremony. We don't give Hugo awards to Conan the Barbarian. You seriously thought Wall-E should receive a best picture nod? I may not agree with all of this year's best picture choices, but even in my ideal list The Dark Knight wouldn't be nominated. It was a good movie, but c'mon, best picture? Try the MTV movie awards. Slumdog Millionaire is in no way a snobby movie, and it's gonna take first prize home. Because it's great.