DISQUS

MrDeath · 10 months ago

You make a good point. The thing I'm angry about, however, is not the nominations. All of the movies nominated that I've seen were great. The problem is, quite frankly, this year it's so damn...predictable. It feels so much the same. And not because there are a lack of movies, but it seems some of the movies that could have been nominated (cough The Wrestler cough) were replaced by some that are not very remarkable (I don't care what you say, Milk is like every political biopic I've ever seen).

I'll agree with you on one thing though, you will find an opportunity to see these movies. I live in East Bumblefuck in upstate New York and I've seen 3 of the 5 Best Picture nominees. Not only will it be easily available to see eventually, but why not make a trip of it? Go to your little art house theater a couple of hours away. Get some dinner. Have a date. Enjoy the movie. Don't bitch about not seeing the movie.

Jim Rohner · 10 months ago

I think my main problem with The Dark Knight being left off of the nominations for Best Picture or Best Director is not that I think it was THE best film of the year, but because they were replaced with The Reader, Stephen Daldry, and Ron Howard. Audiences may not have heard of The Reader, but you know who did? Critics groups all over the country. You know what they thought of it? Neither do I. While I understand that the Academy Awards are decided by yes, the Academy, doesn't it say something when not a single critics group - the groups that production and distribution companies work so hard to woo - across the country awarded The Reader with anything? I understand that A) critics do not determine the Academy Awards and B) the Academy Awards are not a democracy, but there still seems to be something pretentious about a select few ignoring the opinions of an overwhelming critical majority.

To an extent, Daldry, and definitely Ron Howard, are Academy darlings and they fawn all over anything these two guys do. I don't mean at all to detract at all from either director - they both do very good work - but Best Director for Frost/Nixon? Was it a great movie? Yes. But before that, it was a great stage play and how much work did Howard have to do to adapt it, especially when he has both Sheen and Langella, who have played those respective parts on the stage as well? That movie was great in spite of Howard, not because of him. I don't see why Nolan doesn't slip in as a nominee in his place seeing as he held the entire massive undertaking of The Dark Knight together. The dude oversaw every single shot of the film and the decision to shoot specific scenes in IMAX was a great decision to enhance the film. Also, if one is to believe the whispers that Nolan was instrumental in hushing up Warner Bros.' plans to exploit Ledger's nomination, and you have one classy individual on top of it.

tmccar20 · 10 months ago

The Dark Knight was awesome, If the oscars want to lose money by not nominated it, who cares they have enough money. It won't stop me from watching the film a thousand times. The film may be snubbed here, but health ledger will get it supporting actor, they owe the picture that much, I'm sure. And Chris Nolan will get an oscar for a lesser work, like did with Scorese with Departed. All the movies that they nominate for the oscars isn't the answer to some SAT question so what they can go suck an egg for all I care.

Cpt J · 10 months ago

BEST POST EVER!!! It's everything I want to say and more... way to be man... way to be...

harold · 10 months ago

IMO it still is going to be a pretty boring Oscar race. I agree with a lot of your points, but that doesn't mean the Academy didn't screw things up. I think TCCOBB, for example, received way too many nominations for a film that was, really, pretty subpar in comparison to something like The Wrestler. Or what about some of the other categories. What about The Visitor snub for screenplay or Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky. I mean, I'm not saying at all that I have the authority or am any authority whatsoever on what film should receive official recognition from the AMPAS or not, but based on films that deserve awards and shouldn't, I still think they're pretty snobbish. If there's anything I feel like I should slam, in fact, it is Benjamin Button. Not that it was a BAD film, but it really isn't as great as people proclaim it to be. If you've seen Forrest Gump or Big Fish, you already get the idea, and both films are shorter and easier to sit through without falling asleep. I also do think that some of the technical categories SHOULD have a pretty strong bearing on what deserves a best picture or best director nod. After all, every category has its role in the success of the film. I certainly do think that if TDK was recognized for film editing, sounds, special effects, supporting actor, so on so forth, it is worth a gander at putting it in comparison to the rest of the best picture nominations as well as the directorial efforts.

Like what everyone else said, these nominations seem pretty formulaic, with the odd exception here and there. That doesn't necessarily mean that the AMPAS have lost their touch with the people, but it certainly does indicate for me, that by purely selecting films that did have limited releases (believe me I did check and I wasn't willing to make a 1+ hour trip to see The Reader or Frost/Nixon) and a relatively small viewership over overwhelmingly well-reviewed (by more than just critics, might I add) and popular films, they are making some sort of elitist statement about the general audience. And yes, it is really dull when you can pretty much predict what's going to happen and who's going to win.

Nevernude · 10 months ago

I agree with everything Jim Rohner said. The Academy is flawed, but it would have been decent of them to at least Christopher Nolan. Perhaps his work is overshawed by Ledger's legacy or the blockbuster status of the movie, however, he did a great directing job, made great decisions, and the guy's previous work is astonishing. So far, not a single misstep in his filmography. Say what you will about Insomnia, but i personally think it was brilliant.
I dont begrudge the Academy anything, they are free to make their decisions and nominations etc etc...but their decision-making sticks of the decisions of a certain former president of the USA...

Sun · 10 months ago

You make a fairly good point with this, and I agree with almost everything. However, There Will Be Blood was not released by me, and neither, unfortunately, will Milk, Frost/Nixon, or The Reader be released by me. Not everybody in America lives by an enormous theater that carries all the new releases.

Nicholas · 10 months ago

I understand your point of view on the article and certainly we are perhaps griping over something silly. The true heart of the matter is, we backed a movie that is deserving of praise. Who is going to remember The Reader 10 years down the line? A movie should not be punished because it is not popular, it should be admired because it took chances on what a comic book movie can be without selling out to either the art crowd or the mainstream public. We don't want the Academy to award Spiderman 5 if it is not worthy of Best Picture. If you feel that TDK is not a great movie that is your opinion, but bear in mind you are in the minority. At least a dozen critics put it on their best lists so we are not off the mark. I remember an Academy that favored true creative talent over pure Oscar bait. The Godfather was not an art house movie, nor was Forrest Gump or several others, hell, Silence of the Lambs is not their typical kind of pick either. As a matter of fact, can anyone list the times the Oscars were given out to other genres besides drama? You can argue that we are of two different tastes but you cannot argue with facts. The Academy used to take risks and nominate films that deserved praise, now it has become who campaigns enough (Harvey Weinstein) rather than who deserves it (The Dark Knight).

Omek · 10 months ago

I see where you're coming from too, Josh. But, I'm going to have to go with Nicholas and Jim on this one. TDK was popular, but that doesn't make it non-Oscar worthy. Does it make the Academy look elitist? Hell yes it does. The very least they could have done is give it a nomination. And doesn't it make the award category a little more exciting when you don't know who's going to win? I thought that was the fun of award shows. Well, go figure.

TCCOBB or Frost/Nixon were definitely not as good.

I'm just saying, we should just boycott this year and not watch it. Will low ratings really matter to them? Probably not, but at least they'd get the message.

_Christopher_M · 10 months ago

Frost/Nixon is better than the Dark Knight, really? I've watched both and I have to disagree...F.N. was slow paced and over dramatized (to an annoying extreme)...I personally thought it was the worst performance from Sam Rockwell...which is odd since I'm his biggest fan...Frank L.'s performance is pretty much everything we've seen before with the many many actors playing Nixon......I understand how this could have won a lot of Tony's..But it would be like if Mama Mia! got nominated over a very creative and genre inspiring masterpiece...this was a movie based on a play that was based on interview tapes that already existed...there really isn't as much creativity involved as there is creating a whole city, characters and situations that never existed...sorry but these movies based on actual events or people is kind of a cop-out....sorry but Dark Knight at the very least should have been nominated for either Best Picture or Adapted Screenplay....A lot of these movies nominated were average at best including Rachel Getting Married and Revolutionary Road...where Happy-Go-Lucky and Gomorrah get snubbed it's very sad to see....

Mikey · 10 months ago

lol Christopher_M thought Frost/Nixon, Rachel Getting Married, and Revolutionary Road were...average? wtf? Anyways, I agree with you Josh.

_Christopher_M · 10 months ago

yes those movies are average compared to films like The Hurt Locker, Let The Right On In, Happy Go-Lucky and Gomorrah...the ones nominated are good but didn't exactly earn those nominations based on performances...they just happened to be on a short list of English made movies that had advertising budgets...I wish they had pulled more performances from foreign films, because a lot more talented international actors were ignored again this year...I feel a lot of the award aimed films this year were dry and just run of the mill dramas....

I was just shocked that a film like Dark Knight which had better reviews than many of the nominated films along with more effort/detail put into it , still got snubbed...while a film like Titanic can get so many more award considerations

Cole_Abaius · 10 months ago

You don't need money, don't take fame
Don't need no credit card to ride this train
It's strong and it's sudden and it's cruel sometimes
But it might just save your life
That's the power of...

daniel · 10 months ago

love!
i love huey lewis and his news. its even better when accompanied by patrick bateman axing up jared leto.

Da Pecke · 10 months ago

Yes, it's a comic book movie. But not your orrdinary comic book movie. It's movies like TDK that only comes once in a life time. While other comic book movies(and remakes as well) are being rushed and released just to earn a quick buck, TDK is a little symbols that shows us that there's hope in hollywood that movies can be as good as they once were. That there are movie like Pulp Fiction, GoodFellas, Jaws, Star Wars that still exist to this day.Reasons why nobody is going to the movies now a day? because movies suck now a days. I'm not saying that they [the academy] should take away the art, but to be fair to a "really good" mainstream movie like TDK.

Da Pecke · 10 months ago

[continue] TDK was by far more than a blockbuster summer movie. And if it doesn't desserve to a shot at the ultimate prize, then why did they bother with Titanic, Juno, and Lord of the Rings to even begin with? Why was those stupid flicks nominated, but not The Dark Knight?Why did Angelina Jolie get an oscar nod when Changeling had 49% on Rotten Tomatoes? The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was too prententious, yet it got a nod only because of Brad Pitt's popularity with the media. The Reader had 60% on Rotten Tomatoes.In the next six months, which one of those 5 nominees will be remembered? Niether. For this year only, they could have made the smart move and nominate the best film of the year. But instead, they choose to be the liberal politcal pricks that they usually are, and went the same road. Pathetic.

Trent · 10 months ago

The Academy should just Man up and admit that their inherent biases is what kept TDK and Wall-E away from Best Picture. I'm not saying all voters are biased, but It's pretty much certain that many of them are. I believe that while many did pencil in TDK and Wall-E into their nomination ballots, I believe that even MORE of them left them COMPLETELY OFF their ballot. The reason is simple and it is NOT because both are not good enough. The reasons are one is a comic-book film and the other is a cartoon. TDK and Wall-E are the rare combination of a film that blends both high art and blockbuster pedigree, and both films will undoubtedly be far FAR more remembered years down the road than any of these "prestige films" that are up for the major awards.

Heath · 10 months ago

Watch the academy give some lame excuse the day after the Oscars as to why the ratings tanked, again. They will cite several reasons and they will NOT admit that the exclusion of The Dark Knight and Wall-E had a lot to do with it. Many voters clearly dismissed TDK and Wall-E as "too mainstream", and it was reported that many of the members DO lean towards "indie arthouse films" because that is what's "chic" and "upper crust" and what not. The voters fail to recognize that there are instances wherein a "mainstream blockbuster film" is also an exemplary work of art, and this year had 2 of them.

Derek · 10 months ago

The academy is elitist. Way more often than not, they turn a blind eye to mainstream films and they end up failing to see magnificent works of art (ie..Wall-E, Dark Knight). They are more inclined to go the "Arthouse" route, and many of them are seemingly of the belief that popular mainstream films can never be art.

Tenika · 10 months ago

I think if people knew how oscars ballots and nominations come about any way then they wouldn't be so upset. I think I read somewhere that it literally is like 60 people who get to choose the oscar nominations. Once I found that out it became less painful seeing a film or actor/actress I like get "snubbed".