We have that saying for a reason. It looks like they are back to their old tricks of stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the year’s best. Not saying these five best picture nominees aren’t decent enough, or formidable, but well, let’s just leave it at that.
We all suspected the Dark Knight snub was coming – I for one REALLY expected The Reader to upset, simply because of the now semi-convincing Globes/BAFTA rule. I was so certain that the Dark Knight wouldn’t be called I almost wagered and predicted. Scott Feinberg did just that. Sometimes, no guts, no glory really does rule the day.
But worse than The Dark Knight being shut out, it looks like the “hi, we’re uber dumbasses” Academy also knocked out Bruce Springsteen’s The Wrestler for original song. How do you do that and live with yourself in the morning? They’ll be shaking the stink of this year off of their already disreputable image for quite some time. It reminds me of the Tony Blair line in The Queen, “will somebody please save these people from themselves?”
On the upside, it’s going to be fun hating the Academy again. And how nice to see Melissa Leo, Courtney Hunt, Richard Jenkins and Michael Shannon all recognized. It almost forgives their really puny and sad snub of Christopher Nolan’s wonderful film.
341 Responses for "The Trick is Not Minding"
I don’t mind TDK not being nominated for best pic…but the reader???
Reading the nominees, I’m starting to wonder why, exactly, the Oscars are even supposed to be relevant.
Fifty years from now, there’s a movie people are still gonna be watching, and it won’t be “The Reader.”
I am not surprised. Most of the people of the Academy are no better than the rest of the mass audience in America who sit at home and watch “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” and “American Idol”…twice, because they recorded it on their DVR.
Yay! So happy about the Reader nominated! best film of the year!! (iMHO)
Sad about Sally Hawkins though! she should be up for Best Actress – esp. over Angelina Jolie!
Not too disappointed about the Dark Knight – overrated!
Half the fun of nomination day is reviewing the predictions to see what people didn’t see coming (and in some cases DID see coming) and why. How did we all miss seeing this nomination or that snub? Why did that one forecaster see it coming? And do the surprise noms and snubs prove the statistical analysts wrong (e.g., “90% of films with PGA, DGA and WGA noms” etc.), or do those precursor trends still hold water?
I think the noms are more fun for what they tell us about our predictive abilities than for whether the Academy “got it right.”
VERY well said Adam and red_wine!
The nominations for The Reader are ridiculous. I can’t believe the Academy continues to bite with this obvious Oscar bait. It’s also upsetting that Kate Winslet’s performance in Revolutionary Road, which I think would have won her the Oscar if it had been nominated, isn’t even in contention.
The biggest snub, though, as Sasha said it, has to be for Bruce Springsteen’s “The Wrestler.” Besides maybe “Falling Slowly,” it’s probably the best movie song of the decade. Why not have five songs nominated?
I’m taking your advice, Sasha, and not minding. But it’s hard sometimes.
I know I’m not in the majority, but I really don’t mind the Dark Knight snub… I would’ve loved to see The Wrestler get nominated instead, though…
This is horrible. Absolutely shameful. 530+ million, BFCA, the guilds, the critics lists, the raves… like, honestly?
so sad…TDK was called for a triumph…but as you say…these people suck!!!
PS: even though…I had predicted the slumdog JAI HO song to be nominated…
> ” The people here at AD live in some fairy land where TDK has the chance of being nominated for Best Picture…”
It isn’t just AD — take a look at a lot of the other pundit sites and you’ll see that a lot of people took it for a lock. And a lot of people thought The Reader had almost 0 chance.
As someone who was never on the bandwagon for The Dark Knight, I find its snub fascinating. I would’ve put money on it for a BP nomination. It seems odd that it would receive 8 nominations but not the big one, and in favor of yet another Holocaust-related movie no less. If all three Lord of the Rings pictures could be nominated for BP, why not TDK (For the record, I only thought The Two Towers deserved it.)
But now TDK will have to age on its own. But hey, Heath’s nomination has to count for something in the ratings war. And in a year that pays respects to Danny Boyle, Martin McDonagh AND Werner Herzog, I can’t be too disappointed in anything. Even the absurd Springsteen snub. I love Slumdog as much as the next guy but come on!
You gotta see, Sasha, that it is becoming increasingly more and more difficult to follow the Academy’s crazy way of thinking. I understand Gran Torino not getting nominations because it promotes racism, but the Dark Knight snub just shows how disconnected they are from reality.
Write a protest on this site, maybe stop reporting Oscar news for a year, they should see how wrong they are!
It’s too early in the morning still…and thanks to this post, I just now realized Springsteen’s snub. If the Academy ever wanted to help dispel any of the stereotypes surrounding it, what a dirt-poor job they did this year. How immensely boring.
I fully expect it to continue at the ceremony itself. Ledger will be snubbed.
Let the Holocaust-film hating begin…
It’s not such a shock to see TDK snubbed, but seeing it snubbed to The Reader is just the main problem. Ridiculous even. Why only 3 nominees for Best Song btw? Since when is that? And no matter how good those 3 nominees are, it’s still no Springsteen. Well at least Brangelina will be there, that ought to please some.
I don’t think The Reader is a masterpiece, but it is sad to see that movie getting in to the expense of this unfair bashing.
After reader Kris Tapley’s appalling rant, I feel the need to come to the defense of The Reader. It is an intelligent and thought provoking drama that raise difficult questions about morality, love, and humanity. I’m also glad that Kate’s stronger performance was recognized in the right category.
I admit that there are some films more worthy of recognition than The Reader, such as Rachel Getting Married and Revolutionary Road. The Dark Knight, however, isn’t one of them. TDK wholly deserved its recognition across the boards in the technical categories, as well as its nomination for Ledger. Although a good case could be made for Nolan’s worthiness as a director, I would be skeptical of anyone who argued that the film’s sloppy mess of a screenplay was better than the adaptations of The Reader, Revolutionary Road, or Benjamin Button.
Yes, financial success does count for something, but let’s not forget how people go batshit crazy whenever the word ‘Titanic’ appears on this site.
I´m very happy with the Best Picture-lineup – and I not only expected a “TDK”-snub, I also predicted it…
I´m also happy for “Der Baader Meinhof Komplex”, for Michael Shannon (the best part of a disappointing movie) and for the guts to nominate Kate Winslets performance in “The Raeder” in the correct category!
Not so happy, I must confess, about the Sally Hawkins snub, but I can and will live with that.
Bitter… party of 1. Well… make that a few million. Sorry folks, maybe next year.
Wether TDK was nominated or not, The Reader is an absolutely dreadful film. The Weinsteins clearly paid for this nomination. I was always under the impression that the Academy Awards were meant to honor the year’s best in film. A time capsule that can be opened up in 50 years, and TRULY represent that year. That’s obviously not the case. When people look back at the best films of 2008, like it or not, The Dark Knight will top that list. The Reader will live on the edge of obscurity. This is an absolute travesty. A joke. Useless. At what point do we stop putting so much stock in the Academy? Year after year, they prove to be irrelevant. What a gyp…
just can’t board the slumdog train.
it isn’t good.
The Reader is a very good film and will probably be blamed for The Dark Knight’s snub, rather unfairly.
No love for Sally Hawkins, James Franco, or Rosemarie DeWitt?
I know what the trick is, but I can’t hep it.
I MIND.
The Academy just invalidated itself into oblivion. To quote the best movie of last year,
“I’m finished.”
no Kristin Scott Thomas is a shame for this so called academy. Really sad about that. One of the best performances in acting just snubbed. And no Sally Hawkins? And The Reader?
Well for me the Oscar season is over. Don’t care anymore
I know that The Reader was the surprise, but why does it get all the blame? People are more passionate about it than Frost/Nixon. When was the last time you heard someone say, “Frost/Nixon just blew me away. It’s the best thing I’ve seen in years.” The Reader is not the only questionable nominee.
Whatever film unseated The Dark Knight would have gotten bashed (aside from WALL-E)
the reader is so sloppy
boring boring boring, Frost/Nixon & The Reader are best pics? I snoozed through both.
Reminds me of 1999 – the year of Fight Club, Being John Malkovich, Boys Don’t Cry, Requiem for a Dream and the academy nominates Cider House Rules and the Green Mile …ugh
Happy for Jenkins, Penn, Shannon, Davis and Milk’s 8 noms.
All I can say is:
Congratulations, Penélope Cruz…
Go Wally Pfister!
“I’m finished.”
Yes, until next year.
Come on folks, you’ll always be disappointed with something.
I cannot believe people actually legitimately thought the Academy was going to nominate a movie about Batman for Best Picture. Be serious, guys.
That said, Stephen Daldry’s Nazi romance The Reader is a pretty abhorrent filler of that fifth slot. The real story is the Academy being too stupid to recognize Happy Go Lucky.
Kate Winslet is going to win her third OSCAR.
Heath Ledger is also winning to shadow the Dark Knight snub.
Supporting actress and leading actor races are harder to guess at this moment.
While the reader isn’t what we all expected, I don’t think we can fairly say that because of this one snub the nominations are shit. Most people seemed content with the uber-predicted 5, so having four of them make it isn’t that bad
WTF?
1) No Dark Knight
2) No Woody Allen screenplay
3) No Darren Aronofsky
4) No Kristin Scott-Thomas or Sally Hawkins
5) No Springsteen
BULLSHIT
I miss the Golden Globes.
The Academy, in regards to THE DARK KNIGHT for Best Picture: NYAH NYAH NYAH NYAH NYAAAH!!
The Academy, in regards to WALL-E for Best Picture: (thrusts collective middle finger in this direction)
The Academy to General America: FUCK OFF!!!
Honestly, I was caught by surprise that TDK was not nominated in any major category (although Heath was a shoo-in from the start, so no surprises there).
I was watching the nominations live and when they announced the adapted screenplay nominees and saw that TDK was snubbed, i told myself “uh oh.. TDKs in BIG trouble”… and then there it was, no best pic nomination.
If you know how the voting goes in AMPAS, you can see that there was NO love from the Directors and Writing Branch for TDK… and true enough, no love from the ENTIRE community… but lo and behold, the directors, writers (and even ACTORS for Kate Winslet) showed A LOT of love for The Reader!
I have two possible theories why there’s an upset from the Reader:
a) The voters were influenced by the nominations of the Golden Globes (5 for 5 for pic AND director(!))
b) I think there’s a BIG support from the british members of AMPAS for british movies
The latter theory came to me because I watched the nominations in BBC.. and the commentators were just talking about everything British: Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle, Frost/Nixon (because it was originally a play in London), Kate Winslet, and the Reader. They did not talk about the Dark Knight at all before or after the announcements…. and according to the british reporter, there were know surprises in the nominees, only an “upset” for Kate Winslet for having only one nomination.
So I guess its TCCBB vs. SM then next month…
Unbelievable. It’s pretty unf*cking believable that not only The Dark Knight got snubbed hard in the major categories, but it being snubbed in favor of The Reader? Really AMPAS? Talk about a bad joke…
Not to mention Jenny Lumet got snubbed after all this time for Rachel Getting Married. And Bruce Springsteen for The Wrestler.
I too want to defend The Reader. Anyone who says it’s a film about the holocaust or Nazi sympathy is so far off, it’s a joke. The film’s message is perhaps too subtle for its own good, but it’s not a ‘holocaust’ movie, and if you think it is, I’ve got to wonder about your film analysis skills.
I think The Reader and The Dark Knight both deserved nominations. So, why is everyone hating on The Reader? There were four other films The Dark Knight could’ve bumped out. So why not hate on the undeserving Frost/Nixon or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?
This is crap. If TDK was snubbed, The Wrestler or Wall-E would be fine. But The Reader was so medicore, it really pisses me off. And then The Wrestler doesn’t get nominated for Song? W.T.F!
At least Eastwood’s old wrinkly ass didn’t get a pity nod.
Who knows…based on how the Academy treated TDK, they might end up giving the Supporting Actor to somebody like Hoffman or Brolin.
And with The Wrestler gone from the Best Original Song category, the sky’s the limit for Jai-ho!
Simple as this:
This…hurts….
Simple as this:
This…hurts….
Well to all TDK haters:
Here we g…. I mean went down the hill. Congratulations. You were right.
Isn’t true that never a Actor won by being the single nod of his film? Danger, Mickey Rourke, danger.
For those of you who question that the academy would nominate a movie about Batman for Best Picture. But why not. It has one of the highest ratings out there. The idea should not be who it is about but the quality of the movie. The academy is too political now. It is not really about the acting, the critics, etc. It is about how hard a person campaings and how much they suck up to the academy. Really sad. The Dark Knight was the best movie of the year hands down. The academy nominated Wanted for 5 awards. How sad is that.
No remarks about Waltz with Bashir being snubbed for Bolt?
Ok The Reader is a typical Oscar film. The AMPAS obviously doesn’t care about ratings b/c The Dark Knight snub is going to get viewers mad. I know a lot of mainstream viewers will turn away. A nomination on the other hand would have added a few million viewers (on the lowest end)
The Nolan snub was equally stunning if not more than the Picture itself.
Thrilled about Melissa Leo, Michael Shannon, In Bruges (Or. Screenplay), No Dev Patel for Slumdog.
How does Slumdog get nominated for Sound Effects Editing?
Curious Case with no surprise leads with the 13 nominations.
Biggest surprises: Kate snubbed for Rev. Road (the year’s best performance), Kate in for The Reader instead (the Academy doesn’t give a shit about FYC ads, “we’ll put you in any category we want”),
No Dark Knight in Picture & Directing, Only three songs none for Bruce
I liked the spread of nominations like Wanted in both sound categories, Hellboy getting an Oscar nomination for Makeup.
JA!..so the old guys at this old academy,really think the’ll survive with this shame???..Bastards!..THE DARK KNIGHT should’ve been nominated at least it deserved that!,along with Chis Nolan!..nobody was asking 4 a win!..just doing justice to one masterpiece!,thats all..and what they delivered????..The Reader!!..ja,ja,..i guess this folks keep thinking that ANY..ANY..film about The holocaust!..or any subjet that includes jews!..and i have aLOT OF RESPECT for history!.deserves a slot among the Best!???.but come on!!!..ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!..they are gonna be the only ones to blame if NOBODY!!NOBODY!! watches the telecast on next month!..bunch of old grumpy men!
I really can’t figure out how Melissa Leo got nominated. Did voters actually see the film? I’ve see 50 movies this year in NYC (where everything is available) and even I didn’t see Frozen River.
I did, however, think Sally Hawkins gave the best performance of any actor in any category this year. I’m very disappointed that she was snubbed. I also thought Kristin Scott Thomas was worthy.
Did a studio push Melissa Leo? Was she campaigning hard in Hollywood? Did voters try to make up for a perceived snub for 21 Grams? I just don’t get it.
I think that the Dark Knight fans need to get a grip – flushing the entire Academy down the toilet for a single film snub seems misguided.
There are *always* snubs. Maybe the “The Trick is Not Minding” slogan needs to be changed to “The Trick is not Taking it so Personally.”
Your reaction makes it seem like they personally attacked you.
TCCBB was put in for ratings because Hollywoods golden botoxed god is in the movie. No way was he better than Cate.
He stole the Leo Dicaprio spot.
Well, you know what? I DO mind. I mind a LOT. Not just because I think this is one of the most ridiculous snubs of all time, but it shows just how resistant to change and new ideas AMPAS is. Who gives a flying fuck if TDS is a “superhero” film or the second highest-grossing movie ever- it’s a fantastic movie and for it to be thought of as a lesser film simply on account of how it’s categorized on a Blockbuster shelf is just unbelievable. And NO CHRISTOPHER NOLAN?????? Even if you’re not a fan of the film that is just unacceptable. It’s no wonder no one watches the Oscars anymore with this sort of bullshit.
I NEED HELP when was the last time a movie had 8 nóminatíon while being snubbed in the director and picture
categories?????? … The TDK snub was a
crime
Well, you know what? I DO mind. I mind a LOT. Not just because I think this is one of the most ridiculous snubs of all time, but it shows just how resistant to change and new ideas AMPAS is. Who gives a flying fuck if TDS is a “superhero” film or the second highest-grossing movie ever- it’s a fantastic movie and for it to be thought of as a lesser film simply on account of how it’s categorized on a Blockbuster shelf is just unbelievable. And NO CHRISTOPHER NOLAN?????? Even if you’re not a fan of the film that is just unacceptable. It’s no wonder no one watches the Oscars anymore with this sort of bullshit.
Aaaaannnd the Slumdog as Crash backlash has just begun (tho I think it is a very unfair comparison)
There are three issues I would like to comment:
1.- I simply cannot understand all the attention and support paid both by critics and the Academy to Penelope Cruz. I’m spanish and in our country she is considered as a mediocre actress. She has been nominated due to her role, not to her performance. I hope she won’t win, although I guess she will finally reach the award (I hope Taraji P. Henson or Viola Davis will instead)
2.- What about “Revolutionary Road”? Only 3 nominations!!!! And none for Winslet or DiCaprio! I simply cannot understand why one of the best movies of the year, so mature and deep, has been left behind. Such a masterpiece has been unfairly snubbed.
3.- Brad Pitt????? Academy voters must be drank! This is another example of a nominattion got thanks to a role, not to a really good performance. Pitt cannot express emotions, he just have the same expression in every shot.
BTW, kudos to Harvey Weinstein for knowing how to properly market his film to get enough support from AMPAS.
The Academy is bad about nominating actors for the wrong movie, like Kate Winslet for The Reader instead of Revolutionary Road and Leo Dicaprio a few years ago for Blood Diamond instead of The Departed.
The vastly overpraised and technically excellent Dark Knight got what it deserved.
Just goes to show that hype from the pundits don’t mean all that much to the members of the Academy, thank goodness.
As someone kind of in the corner of TDK, WALL-E, The Wrestler, and Revolutionary Road, I find these nominations to be kind of, well, vanilla (as interesting as the nom for The Reader is).
I was hoping AMPAS would be a little more bold. Nominate the “comic book movie!” Nominate the animated feature, despite the fact it has its own category! Populist though they may be.
That being said, I don’t necessarily mind TDK not getting a nomination. It’s not the best film of the year, and likely would not have taken home the prize. But I do believe it was worthy to be in the discussion.
To red_wine (and others), I’ve read some of your comments on here before, and you seem to be against movies that have a mass appeal, for lack of a better term. Which is certainly understandable. While yes, many movies designed for mass consumption are trashy or no more than mediocre, some may still be considered good, or even great. If a movie has a strong script, a strong cast, a strong director, I believe it can be great, whether it is an independently made film or a big-budget studio production. In my opinion, like the nominees announced today, TDK has the above elements, despite some flaws, and should be in the conversation. (The nominees clearly have the elements of a great film). Yes, smaller, great, independent films should be championed by us all and seen by many. But a studio film with a big budget (CCBB has a rather large one) and a big audience of the great unwashed should not be automatically discounted, by us or by AMPAS. Ok, rant over.
As someone kind of in the corner of TDK, WALL-E, The Wrestler, and Revolutionary Road, I find these nominations to be kind of, well, vanilla (as interesting as the nom for The Reader is).
I was hoping AMPAS would be a little more bold. Nominate the “comic book movie!” Nominate the animated feature, despite the fact it has its own category! Populist though they may be.
That being said, I don’t necessarily mind TDK not getting a nomination. It’s not the best film of the year, and likely would not have taken home the prize. But I do believe it was worthy to be in the discussion.
To red_wine (and others), I’ve read some of your comments on here before, and you seem to be against movies that have a mass appeal, for lack of a better term. Which is certainly understandable. While yes, many movies designed for mass consumption are trashy or no more than mediocre, some may still be considered good, or even great. If a movie has a strong script, a strong cast, a strong director, I believe it can be great, whether it is an independently made film or a big-budget studio production. In my opinion, like the nominees announced today, TDK has the above elements, despite some flaws, and should be in the conversation. (The nominees clearly have the elements of a great film). Yes, smaller, great, independent films should be championed by us all and seen by many. But a studio film with a big budget (CCBB has a rather large one) and a big audience of the great unwashed should not be automatically discounted, by us or by AMPAS. Ok, rant over.
I hate The Old Baby.
I just saw Frozen River, and ML’s nom makes up for the other crappy ones. I hope this gets more people to watch it.
I’m shocked, just shocked. My initial reactions…
I thought the Reader and Frost / Nixon are great films, but to nominate either over the year’s best film The Dark Knight is ridiculous. It’s not like the Academy never nominates summer blockbusters and fantasy films. Jaws, Star Wars, E.T., all three Lord of the Rings movies. The Dark Knight will exist in history in the category of all these movies. It’s omission at the very least for Chris Nolan for director is shameful. I’ve never been as disappointed in the Academy as I am right now. Shame on you!!
Clint Eastwood’s omission in the Best Actor race is interesting. I was thinking if nominated he might be the one to win. Now it’s down to Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke. Let the games begin…
Kate Winslet being nominated in Lead Actress for the Reader seals the deal. She’ll win on Oscar night. It’s her sixth nomination. She was nominated for a film that the Academy clearly loves. It’s Kate’s time. Finally!
Sigh of relief that Heath was nominated, but the Academy’s no big love for The Dark Knight scares me into thinking they might not give him the award. Who else has a shot?? None of the other four really seem like obvious winners. Hmm… But YAY for Michael Shannon! That’s the one NGNG I called! Woo hoo!
The best thing about Kate Winslet’s omission in the Supporting Actress slot means that Penelope Cruz is gonna win a freaking Oscar! Yay!
But the best thing the Academy did this year was recognize two of the years’ best performances. Richard Jenkins in The Visitor and Melissa Leo in Frozen River. That was a classy move. I’m very happy about that.
Mixed emotions from me this morning. Very sad about The Dark Knight but very happy about Slumdog Millionaire, Richard, Melissa, Kate, Heath, Michael, and Penelope.
Look forward to the show…
There is only one snub that everyone should be furious about.
“The Wrestler” by Bruce Springsteen for Best Song.
AMPAS has never liked superhero films, and many didn’t like The Dark Knight. It’s not fair, but not really a surprise. But the Best Song choices however are utter excrement in comparison to a song that defined a film and truly made the ending.
And Melissa Leo was great in Frozen River, Sally Hawkins barely kept her head afloat in a movie that was utterly awful. And where is Rachel Scott Thomas for I Loved You So Long? Where is I Loved You So Long at all? One of the best films all year with no mention.
And Frost/Nixon was excellent, a unique spin on a true story which keeps you focused until the very end. It is well structured, well shot, and extremely well-acted.
This is crap. If TDK was snubbed, The Wrestler or Wall-E would be fine. But The Reader was so medicore, it really pisses me off. And then The Wrestler doesn’t get nominated for Song? W.T.F!
At least Eastwood’s old wrinkly ass didn’t get a pity nod.
And the Oscars just lost a shitload of viewers, by the way.
after you’re all done threatening suicide over the Dark Knight snub, I hope you notice that besides that ONE missed nomination in Best Pic, as horrible as it seems to you right now, these nominations are REALLY good. Is there any other nomination (or lack thereof) to truly complain about this year? I don’t think so!
“Joe” also predicted all the Reader love over at JoesBoxOffice (.com)…so, it’s not a complete shock.
Boo Frost/Nixon.
JAVI 3.Brad Pitt?????
YES!!! Only like this- BRAD PITT!!!! What’s your problem with him?
“I cannot believe people actually legitimately thought the Academy was going to nominate a movie about Batman for Best Picture. Be serious, guys.”
Well, they did nominate a movie about Hobbits, Elves, Dwarfs, etc. Three times.
Anyway,
The Dark Knight, 8 nominations
WALL-E, 6 nominations
And no Best Picture nomination???
Fuck this shit!!!
The Reader = bought and paid for by the Weinsteins.
I’m not happy about TDK either, but I’m going to have to roll my eyes at the fact that the percentage of those who have seen The Reader is going to suddenly skyrocket.
“Yeah I saw it……and it SUCKED”
Those will be the ones screaming Holocaust.
I had an uneasy feeling last night that TDK was going to get the shaft. It’s one of my top five movies of the year and absolutely deserving of Best Director/Picture nominations. Its snub is, tho’ not a complete surprise, still downright shameful.
Having said that, one of my other favorite movies this year is THE READER and, given its longshot status, I was more than pleased about its nominations.
Still: as someone has already pointed out, several other contenders would no doubt being taking the same heat being heaped upon THE READER right now if any of them unseated TDK. Rachel, Happy Go Lucky, Rev Road, Doubt…. Maybe Wall-E or The Wrestler could have taken that slot with a little less backlash?
Here’s an interesting bit of trivia (well, interesting to me, anyway)… Kate Winslet’s promotion to Best Actress nominee for THE READER after taking some Supporting awards is not unprecedented. The NBR named Anthony Hopkins Best Supporting Actor for SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.
[...] who were pushing for “Dark Knight” were left scanning the skies, looking for a spotlighted image of the caped one, or at least some [...]
> “I think there’s a BIG support from the british members of AMPAS for british movies.”
This comment raises a question for me, since part of the reason so many folks thought TDK was a lock was because of all the guild support.
Are the guild memberships more American than British? Is there a chance that the discrepancy between the guilds noms and the AMPAS noms could be explained in part by the Academy having a lot of British voters who aren’t in the guilds?
I don’t know how the guilds work, and I’d assumed they were just as bi-national as the Academy. But is that correct?
As someone kind of in the corner of TDK, WALL-E, The Wrestler, and Revolutionary Road, I find these nominations to be kind of, well, vanilla (as interesting as the nom for The Reader is).
I was hoping AMPAS would be a little more bold. Nominate the “comic book movie!” Nominate the animated feature, despite the fact it has its own category! Populist though they may be.
That being said, I don’t necessarily mind TDK not getting a nomination. It’s not the best film of the year, and likely would not have taken home the prize. But I do believe it was worthy to be in the discussion.
To red_wine (and others), I’ve read some of your comments on here before, and you seem to be against movies that have a mass appeal, for lack of a better term. Which is certainly understandable. While yes, many movies designed for mass consumption are trashy or no more than mediocre, some may still be considered good, or even great. If a movie has a strong script, a strong cast, a strong director, I believe it can be great, whether it is an independently made film or a big-budget studio production. In my opinion, like the nominees announced today, TDK has the above elements, despite some flaws, and should be in the conversation. (The nominees clearly have the elements of a great film). Yes, smaller, great, independent films should be championed by us all and seen by many. But a studio film with a big budget (CCBB has a rather large one) and a big audience of the great unwashed should not be automatically discounted, by us or by AMPAS. Ok, rant over.
And as for all of “The Reader” nominations (which I believe are very deserving), some commenter on the Carpetbagger’s blog reminds us of Ricky Gervais’ joke: Holocaust = Oscar!
Don’t worry, guys..you’ll have Watchmen to hype up for Best Picture starting in a month and a half.
I find this lineup tone deaf. Hello, AMPAS, this was your chance to reach in and take back a chunk of the viewing audience! There’s really not a single film in the BP lineup that the average person is going to get excited over. Do the voters really find TDK or Wall-E so distateful that they can’t just throw the fans a bone? This is basically a slap in the face to them.
After last year’s embarrassment of riches, this year is just lame. I honestly don’t care who wins at this point.
Now I’m starting to think they might be stupid enough to not give Heath his Oscar.
I don’t care what the anti-TDK people say. It is the best film of the year. At least three films nominated for best picture (I’m fucking looking at you Benjamin Button, The Reader, and Frost/Nixon) should not be nominated at all. And Ron Howard over Chris Nolan is a disgrace and an insult.
This is what film snobbery has created. Bullshit Oscar bait gets recognized not because of merits or brilliance but because of shallow attention seeking disguised as serious subject matter. Nobody is going to remember the film that wins best picture five or ten years from now. Nobody will care. The Academy had a chance to reach for greatness and relevance, but they’ve really outdone themselves this year with their utter contempt for anything good.
Just got an email from my father who mentioned the Oscars and made some good points. He is a once a month/every other month movie theater attender. Just an average movie goer none the less, surprised by ‘the Dark Knight’ snub and has never heard of the website aintitcoolnews.com.
He said, “even ‘Star Wars’ received a Best Picture nomination and Obi Wan Kenobi wasn’t as good as Heath Ledger.”
My dad likes movies and wanted to actually watch the Oscars this year because of Batman and told me he wont now because of ‘typical Hollywood preaching’ (’Milk,’ ‘Frost/Nixon’) Though I think he was disappointed to not see his favorite actor Clint Eastwood up on there for anything. He loved ‘Gran Torino’ (as did I).
In the end, what got nominated doesn’t matter because “Slumdog Millionaire” will win.
I think I’m mainly happy that dishonest campaigning didn’t work for anyone. If Rev Road was out this year, they would have pushed Winslett for Best Actress. It wasn’t a supporting performance by any means. They wanted two noms for her and I’m glad it didn’t work. It isn’t fair to put her in the Reader VS Viola Davis.
It didn’t work for Dev Patel either (but oh my god if we’re giving noms for moping and staring in the first place we’re in trouble). Put people in the right categories!!
I almost wish TDK HAD been nominated for BP to shut all you super hero geeks up!!! But if it had been nominated, then I would have had to read endless entries about its chances of WINNING BP. AMPAS has shown some class by not nominating a merely good comic book transfer. (Who cares what the masses go see?!?!) Now, I’ll agree, The Reader is a pretty weak choice. I think they could have gone with a stronger film.
Please get over the TDK “snub,” people. Remember, way back when, the thinking was that the film would get noms in the craft categories and for Ledger, who is still, by far, the front runner for SA.
And, as for the dreary Wrestler song not being nominated – hallelujah! Springsteen has already won for a better “low-key” song (Streets of Philadelphia).
Well said, Sasha. But I haven’t mastered that trick yet. I’m not sure I want to.
No remarks about Waltz with Bashir being snubbed for Bolt?
It’s all sinking in, Johan. Waltz With Bashir was going to have trouble with voters who didn’t watch it but thought they heard something about how it was critical of Israel’s military policies — two decades ago.
Small-minded people, Johan. Not all of them, but enough to tip the balance to some really embarrassing choices today.
We’ll eviscerate them one by one, trust me.
(er, eviscerate the choices, not those who made them.)
Chez Brangelina: High fives.
Chez Mendes: Ummm….
> “I find these nominations to be kind of, well, vanilla.”
Moreso than you think: Only two black actors nominated? (Maybe they think nominating Downey counts as nominating a black person?)
Once again, the Academy tries to make us believe that White people are better actors than other races. Sheesh…..
Because you cannot make me believe there were only two award-worthy performances by people of color this year. I guess they just weren’t in “Oscar” films….
i just realized that woddy allen was snubbed for writing, now THAT’S a shock. never saw that coming
The good thing about The Reader getting nominated over The Dark Knight?
It takes some heat off Slumdog Millionaire for the inevitable backlash. Go Slumdog Millionaire!
Well I try to see a silver lining in things – The Dark Knight could very well end up being the top award earner of the night when the envelopes are opened…
Biggest Head scratcher for me is the double nominations of songs from Slumdog over others that would have been far more deserving.
I am glad that they were somewhat wise and didn’t nominate any of the performances from Slumdog – none of the actors nominated seem like toss away nominations – all are pretty much deserving.
I think an argument can be made on the renewed prowess of Harvey Weinstein – all this Reader love seems a bit “purchased”
I liked TDK, but this whole business about people saying “throw the fans a bone” is a bit disturbing. While TDK was good enough for a nomination, the concept of giving a nomination to please the general public is not something I can get behind. Yes, I know that’s not the only reason it would get nominated, but I want them to pick what they think is best, not just to make people happy.
How about that – I am not into Reader hating because I have not seen it. The thing is I have seen Milk, Benjamin Button and TDK – and I believe TDK to be better than the two of those movies. There was a spot for TDK and the Academy simply dropped the ball. I thought the ridiculous vote of the year was inducting Jim Rice into the Baseball Hall of Fame – TDK receiving no nomination tops that by far.
As a not-a-Dark-Knight fan (and *no*, I am not a film snob, I thoroughly enjoyed the LOTR movies, and have many guilty pleasures), I’m fine with the nominations. And honestly? I don’t care if the Oscar ratings do decline to the point where the show winds up airing on Bravo or PBS. Won’t effect my enjoyment at all.
To BrainyPirate,
Ha! That wasn’t exactly what I meant, but good call! I agree.
About THE BOSS getting “snubbed”—
Didn’t they say last year (or the year before) that the best song had to be listened to/taken in the context of the film? or something like that?
Anywho…Bruce’s song merely plays in the credits of the film….well, it starts with that wierd blackout-soprano’s-ish ending (which is why I think darren didn’t get nominated)….
anywho, it was just a kick-ass song that I don’t recall ever being played outside of the end credits.
And the point of the Best Song in a Motion Picture is that the song supports and improves the current action of the film?
Maybe I am just making this up, but it is my own personal justification for why the excellent song was not nominated.
I NEED HELP when was the last time a movie had 8 nóminatíon while being snubbed in the director and picture
categories??????
Answer – Dreamgirls – another movie I imagine everyone in the Academy thought everyone else was voting for, but didn’t bother.
Oscar appears to have a block against blockbusters and animations films. So Wall E and TDK are missing from the ebst picture line up. Revolutionary Road might have ben too dark. Wjere is Clint Eastwood’s nomination for Gran Torino? Brad’s nomination seems to be so that viewers tune in to Brangelina. Christopher Nolan should have been nominated for director.
Best picture might be closer than one thinks. Some assume that Slumdog will get it. But it first has to beat history. The film with the most nominations usually wins with only a few exceptions one being A Beautiful Mind beating LOTR. Benjamin Button has 13 nominations which is the same as Shakespeare In Love excatly a decade ago which won over Saving private Ryan which people felt would win.
I have to accept the fact there are numerous factors in the Academy voting beyond my understanding. I didn’t understand the “last-minute surge” for “Crash” in the Best Picture race, and it pulled off the upset. I didn’t understand how some people could reason Tilda Swinton would win an Oscar simply because the love for “Michael Clayton” had no where else to go, and then she won. And, on this morning, I can’t understand how “The Reader,” a film with no guild support, no mention from the NBR and AFI, and a lowly box office of under $10 million, can sweep into the Oscar races based on some hype from BAFTA. I guess all you need to do when trying to understand the Academy is ignore common reasoning and just ask yourself what a dumbass would do.
The vastly overpraised but technically excellent Dark Knight got what it deserved.
Goes to show that the hype generated by oscar pundits don’t go too far, thank goodness!
I’m so afraid right now to see ledger snubbed…because let’s face it…milk has 8 strong nominations but it has not so many possibilities to win except from thr screenplay…so here comes the shadow of josh brolin growing bigger and bigger…
I simply hope they won’t make this huge mistake…that would be just…inhuman…so cruel with worldwide audience…
and now sasha…with 13 nominations, strong possibilities in many technical cathegories at the opposite of its rival…let’s put button on the first spot…that’s the n. 1 contender now!
Wow… bad job academy…
TDK snubbed….
and instead they go with a mixed reviewed Box office flop that asks people tol sympathise for a SS Nazi in a pedephiliac relationaship.
TDK 94% reviews (per rotten tomatoes)
Reader 60%
TDK $530 Mil.
Reader $7 Mil.
TDK 8 Noms
Reader 3 Noms (other than Director and BP)
and based off this…they give the 2 big noms to The Reader… W T F !
Snob much academy voters? Of all the great films… “The Wrestler, Gran Torino, Wall-E”…. The Reader is the one to beat TDK?! wow…just wow…
Sasha, edit your sidebar, please: Winslet is nominated for The Reader.
Sasha, edit your sidebar, please: Winslet is nominated for The Reader.
Serious Question:
Let’s imagine that The Dark Knight had another actor as the Joker. Would anyone be discussing how tragic that The Dark Knight was snubbed for best picture? Don’t get me wrong. I loved it – one of the best summer blockbusters I’ve seen in a long time. Is it really that much better than – let’s say the SpiderMan movies, though? I think those were also very well done, but certainly not best picture-worthy. Now, Heath Ledger was absolutely amazing and should win the oscar, but does that performance elevate the film to greatness? I personally don’t think so, but am curious to hear what others think. I agree with it’s technical nominations. Obviously, I’m not in line with the critics, but I still ask, is Heath Ledger’s amazing performance the only reason this picture is being discussed right now? I think that is the only reason, and I’m not sure the performance is enough to push this movie into upper echelon of films. This film will be remembered for years, but really only because of Heath Ledger in my opinion.
Damn you Ricky Gervais!!!
Everyone, don’t start thinking that Heath won’t win Best Supporting Actor because AMPAS didn’t give TDK a BP nod. He’s still going to win. I think he transcends snubbing, at this point, despite AMPAS’s overall feeling about TDK.
Let the Holocaust-film hating begin…
“Begin”? This film bothered me as soon as I saw it (ages ago), and not because it’s typical Holocaust Oscar bait. This is one of several films this season that rubbed me the wrong way despite their “quality” pedigrees and earnest pretensions. At least one of them had to get nominated. I suppose it could have been a lot worse. There could have been no love for deserving films like TDK, The Wrestler, Frozen River, Milk, Benjamin Button, In Bruges, WALL-E, Happy-Go-Lucky and The Visitor.
And yes, I know that some people will say that the films I named could also be described as having quality pedigrees and earnest pretensions…
I think this “Dark Knight” quote now rings truer than ever.
Harvey Dent: Why was it only me who lost everything?
Batman: Because you were the best of us. He wanted to prove that someone even as good as you could fall.
Harvey Dent: And he was right.
I am absolutely furious today. The Academy could have redeemed themselves today. 77% of people said they would be more likely to watch the Oscars if “The Dark Knight” was nominated. Now, their only hope to get people to watch anything is if they release what time Best Supporting Actor will be presented. People were ready to believe that the Academy’s interest were once again beginning to line up with the mainstream. (To use another “Dark Knight” quote, “They just showed you that they are ready to believe in good.”) But instead, they chose to further the divide by choosing only one mainstream movie (although I do see the potential for “Slumdog” to go mainstream now). This is truly the nail in the coffin for the Oscars. A dark day this is for cinema.
And I thought MY jokes were bad… (yet another applicable TDK quote).
“looks like the “hi, we’re uber dumbasses” Academy also knocked out Bruce Springsteen’s The Wrestler for original song.”
Good! It was an overrated boring song.
“Let’s imagine that The Dark Knight had another actor as the Joker. Would anyone be discussing how tragic that The Dark Knight was snubbed for best picture? ”
Nope, they sure wouldn’t. Heath was the only Oscar-worthy thing in that movie, and his death is what helped catapult most of its success. It was not a Best Picture worthy film, simple as that. Then again neither are 3 of the nominees, so go figure.
It’s a bad day for the Academy in many ways, but it’s a good day for category-fraud-haters – well, except for Philip Seymour Hoffman, who was arguably borderline. Neither Dev Patel in Slumdog nor Kate Winslet in the Reader managed to pull a Jamie Foxx in Collateral. Someone will know the answer to this better than me: was Winslet’s move to lead for The Reader because of Harvey Weinstein or despite him?
The Academy did good this year but could’ve done better.
“I don’t think The Reader is a masterpiece, but it is sad to see that movie getting in to the expense of this unfair bashing.”
I agree SO much with this. Thank you. It’s ridiculous. I’m not happy TDK didn’t make it to the final five, but the silly attacks on “The Reader” (which, judging by its box office, not a whole lot of people have even seen), is pretty ridiculous.
The film has been on the radar since its release and Harvey did one hell of a job promoting it (I can’t watch one single TV show during prime time without seeing an advert for the film). So please, put the pinchforks down (or aim them over at Frost/Nixon, lol).
Joao Mattos:
FALSE…the presenter, FOREST WHITAKER, won for best actor for The Last King of Scotland, the film’s only nomination.
The key clearly is…if you are Stephen Daldry, expect to be nominated.
“Moreso than you think: Only two black actors nominated? (Maybe they think nominating Downey counts as nominating a black person?)
Once again, the Academy tries to make us believe that White people are better actors than other races. Sheesh….. ”
12.38% of the total U.S. population are African Americans and 10% of the acting nominations went to black actors. Thats fair.
I’m truly happy for Richard Jenkins, Melissa Leo, Michael Shannon and Martin McDonough; Lord knows they deserve their spots. But almost nothing for “Revolutionary Road” or “The Dark Knight” while they shower “Frost/Nixon” and “The Reader” with major nominations? Can you say OUT-FUCKING-RAGEOUS?
Not that they’re bad movies, but they’re certainly lesser films than either of the other two…
The Academy members sure lived up to their reputation as suckers for anything Holocaust, and although he’s the producer of my beloved “RR”, I’d have paid to see Scott Rudin’s face when they nominated “The Reader” instead, from which he withdrew his name and support. I bet Weinstein is tap-dancing his fat ass off, LOL!
But hey, what are you going to do? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to protest Hugo Chávez’s anti-Constitutional and anti-democratic proposal for limitless reelections.
These nominations are rediculous. “The Reader” has a metacritic rating of 58 (considered mixed reviews) and it was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Screenplay? “Wall-E”, “The Dark Knight”, or “The Wrestler” should have taken the final slot. I think “The Dark Knight” was the best film of the year, and the guild nominations point me to a conclusion that the film excelled in overall quality. I like the inclusion of Richard Jenkins, Melissa Leo, and Michael Shannon, but I can’t help to be completely overshadowed and disgusted by a “Dark Knight” and at least a Christopher Nolan snub. When “Borat” was a contender for Sasha Baron Cohen, I was pleased that AMPAS nominated the screenplay, and I felt that it validated the brillance of Cohen’s performance and it made the statement that the film was quite extraodinarily brillant. I hope in the future that the older, baby boomer voters, and the anally retentive voters make better choices and don’t get reeled in by studio campaigning (maybe how the Reader got in). That is all I have to say on a gloomy and awfully dissapointing day.
I have never been this dissapointed with the nominations before. The Reader was a good movie, but it doesn’t belong in the top five. I would have preferred The Dark Knight because it transcended entertainment and became something more and for that, it will be remembered long after the awards are handed out. However, I feel as though academy snobbery and Weinstein magic got a secon-rate film with first rate performances nominated for Best Picture and Director over an amazing film(The DK), the best pixar film of all time(Wall-E) and a far superior film based on a novel starring Kate Winslet(RR). Add Springsteen’s snub(one of the few songs for film that was written for the movie and touches you as a result), so they can nominate Slumdog twice? The academy can stick to nominating the same type of films that beg for Oscars before they are even filmed; I have a feeling the movies I mentioned will be remembered more than the majority of films that were nominated and will not be remembered this time next year.
Shouldn’t TDK anger be directed to Frost/Nixon, a far less deserving film than The Reader, which is challenging and thought provoking and divisive in our own morality?
I just really appreciate films like The Reader that seek to challenge the collective group think of individuals. But, clearly, it’s too much for the fanboys.
I have never been this dissapointed with the nominations before. The Reader was a good movie, but it doesn’t belong in the top five. I would have preferred The Dark Knight because it transcended entertainment and became something more and for that, it will be remembered long after the awards are handed out. However, I feel as though academy snobbery and Weinstein magic got a secon-rate film with first rate performances nominated for Best Picture and Director over an amazing film(The DK), the best pixar film of all time(Wall-E) and a far superior film based on a novel starring Kate Winslet(RR). Add Springsteen’s snub(one of the few songs for film that was written for the movie and touches you as a result), so they can nominate Slumdog twice? The academy can stick to nominating the same type of films that beg for Oscars before they are even filmed; I have a feeling the movies I mentioned will be remembered more than the majority of films that were nominated and will not be remembered this time next year.
As an everyday guy AND an industry guy, I’m outraged that TDK didn’t get nominated for Best Picture or Best Director (seriously, feelings aside about TDK as Best Picture, how can you NOT nominate Christopher Nolan for his incredible work!)
TDK has made over $500 million domestically and was one of the most acclaimed movies of the year. Sure, the Academy shouldn’t nominate TDK just because it made a bunch of money and America loves it, but then again, what’s the point of the Oscars if it always picks small, non-mainstream movies that few people have seen? I know it’s all subjective, but by definition itself, how can something be the Best if 1) no one has seen it and 2) it’s not one of the most well-received and critically acclaimed movies of the year (The Reader definitely has not received the same kind of love as TDK)?
I won’t go so far as to say the Academy is irrelevant, but they do need to figure something out before they do become irrelevant. I’m not saying they need to nominate a bunch of summer popcorn movies, but what happened to the days of LOTR and Titanic? We have another year where many of the films nominated haven’t even made a dent in the box office.
I will not have any sympathy for the Academy when it has low ratings on Feb 22nd.
I won’t bag on The Reader because sure, maybe it did deserve a nomination, but TDK should have easily made the Top 5 regardless.
As an everyday guy AND an industry guy, I’m outraged that TDK didn’t get nominated for Best Picture or Best Director (seriously, feelings aside about TDK as Best Picture, how can you NOT nominate Christopher Nolan for his incredible work!)
TDK has made over $500 million domestically and was one of the most acclaimed movies of the year. Sure, the Academy shouldn’t nominate TDK just because it made a bunch of money and America loves it, but then again, what’s the point of the Oscars if it always picks small, non-mainstream movies that few people have seen? I know it’s all subjective, but by definition itself, how can something be the Best if 1) no one has seen it and 2) it’s not one of the most well-received and critically acclaimed movies of the year (The Reader definitely has not received the same kind of love as TDK)?
I won’t go so far as to say the Academy is irrelevant, but they do need to figure something out before they do become irrelevant. I’m not saying they need to nominate a bunch of summer popcorn movies, but what happened to the days of LOTR and Titanic? We have another year where many of the films nominated haven’t even made a dent in the box office.
I will not have any sympathy for the Academy when it has low ratings on Feb 22nd.
I won’t bag on The Reader because sure, maybe it did deserve a nomination, but TDK should have easily made the Top 5 regardless.
I love movies, I enjoy seeing who gets nominated, but here’s how I see it. You can please all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time…but all of the people? Not happening. So the fact that people are complaning is great. Looking back, has the Academy ever “got it right” in any year to anyone movie fan? A resounding NO. Will it ever? Nope. A majority of us can debate nominations from every year…it’s perpetually part politics, part promotion, a money game, historically short on comedy and fantasy and horror and comic-book adaptations (no matter how well they are made), stodgy, puzzling…but that’s the difficult beauty of it. We say we’re upset, we bitch and praise and moan and scorn, and we come back every year. We spend more time concerned about the person who got snubbed for a nomination, failing to realize that it matters more to us than it us to that person 95% of the time. Movies are a high freetime priority in my life; they teach, they offer escapism, they entertain, yada yada yada. And I even contradict myself to a point by leaving this post (and I feel a little guilty for being a killjoy), but aren’t we spending a little too much time on trivialities like this, when we could just go see a movie with a friend, or call our relatives a little more often to say hi, instead of spending our lives behind a laptop, sharing our thoughts on a public forum?
If the Academy does one thing right, it maybe opens some eyes to movies that people might not have otherwise seen. I doubt a BP nomination for ‘The Dark Knight’ is going to send people to the video stores the way a Best Actor nom for Richard Jenkins might provide a chance for the filmmakers behind ‘The Visitor’ to have their work seen by more movie fans.
Anyway, just thought I would sit behind a laptop instead of calling my relatives a little more often to say hi.
Did I just read that somebody complained about the lack of African-Americans being nominated this year? Maybe it’s because there weren’t many great African-American performances this year. Has it gotten to the point where a minority must get nominated?
the rule for predictions is “good enough for the Academy” not “best”.
every year there are ten or so films with the right pedigree, that are “good enough”, and after that, all bets are off. It really doesn’t matter which of these good enough films are “best”…. other unknowable factors kick in.
I am really surprised by the snub of TDK, though. Not because it was the “best”, but because Warner ran so hard for it and they have been such an Oscar powerhouse the past few years.
Silly choice by the Academy, IMO.
I refuse to drop my pitchfork. I’m going to give The Reader a damn good stabing. I watched it last night and half way through it actually dawned on me that it could be nominated for best picture. It had all the ingrediants: Kate, Holocaust (it briefly touches this issue), boobs, trams in snowy streets, laborious shots of hands on barbed wire, cages full of shoes, english people with german accents (this really annoys me. Either have German actors speaking German with English subtitles or have the english actors use their own accents. As if Germans walk around Germany thinking, “hey, ya know what, he has a German accent.”) etc etc. I comforted myself. I said, “come on Matthew, surely the academy are not THAT stupid.” Well, guess what folks, they are.
I totally agree with Sasha, it’s good to hate the academy again. I’m getting a massive buzz from it. Of course, if the academy is full of old people we can live with the comforting thought that they’ll soon all be dead.
Joao Mattos:
Tomei was nominated as well as Rourke.
I’m very happy with the nominations so far.
Yes I’m sad because I’d love to see Kristin Scott And Sally Hawkins on Best Actress nominee as well as Bruce and TDK on Best Picture.
But think clearly, all the best aspects that made TDK a wonderful movie has been nominated. I love TDK and I think it’s really a wonderful action movie that we’ve been missed in a while. But as a Best Picture contender? I constantly think myself twice. And besides, there are 10 amazing movies this year as they’ve been nominated at the Critics Choice which I agreed. And these 5 are among them.
> “12.38% of the total U.S. population are African Americans and 10% of the acting nominations went to black actors. Thats fair.”
Great. So where are the Asians, Indians and Latinos/as? (and Cruz does not count, since she’s European!)
to murtada (#29): u snoozed thru both f/n & the reader?????
maybe u should stay home and watch kiddie cartoons on tv!
Expect the lowest ratings EVER
Paul Outlaw – I’m with you. Maybe it’s just that old thing of needing someone to root for in Act III, but the last half-hour of The Reader was trying to make me feel guilty for something I didn’t do. Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes were at career-best-level work, but I couldn’t forgive him for not saving her at the trial, and I could hardly forgive her – she’s a Nazi. So instead of the last 30 minutes of The Lives of Others, when everything was clicking into place and putting me on the verge of tears for the waste and sheer misery of it all, instead I was like, who cares about this Nazi and her old bath buddy?
I’ll be the first to say this: I predict that next year, more than half of the well-attended websites’ pre-nomination prediction pages line up 5 for 5 Best Director and Best Picture. Now that it’s happened in 2 of the last 3 years. I’d bet $200 on it, if we can agree on the names of the websites.
Goebbels over Gotham. Still can’t believe it. Oh wait, Obama is still president. Still a good week.
Calm down, people: You´ll see “The Dark Knight” nominated for best picture at the next MTV Movie Awards, and that´s excactly where this fine popcorn flick belongs.
8 nominees is fair enough, congrats to the Academy!
to #61 Javi
Well, in Spain we have a tradition of hating our own products… Its always has been like this, Penelope, Javier, Almodovar, Alonso, Nadal,….
It just confirms for me that the Academy is all about this “spreading the wealth” idea. They’re setting up obvious wins so that every pic will get one.
TDK gets better the more you watch it. I’m a huge fan of films, I wouldn’t go so far as to say a film buff, but I always try to see the most “important” ones. Having said that, I think TDK is definitely one of the best films of the past 10 years at least. I think that over time once everyone gets over the “superhero” thing, more people will realize that.
But I mind. I really really mind.
> “Maybe it’s because there weren’t many great African-American performances this year.”
I find this very hard to believe — regarding blacks or any other minorities. Are you really saying that the problem is that black actors just aren’t good enough? It just supports the idea that somehow white people are better actors.
I assume the real problem is that aren’t as enough good roles for people of color. But even that is a suspicious claim. More likely, it’s a combination of few good roles for minorities AND voter prejudice against certain genres of films.
I assume that what happens with minority actors every year is similar to what happens with women. We complain that “it’s a weak year for women” when in reality, there are great performances in roles/movies that Oscar voters don’t want to deal with. One of the reviewers at Salon (maybe Zacharek?) had a great article on this several years ago, pointing out that a lot of women’s roles are written off by the academy because they don’t fit a certain picture of what an award-worthy role looks like.
I assume it’s the same with actors. Hard to get a good role in a prestige pic; hard to get noticed for a good performance in a non-prestige pic.
Actually if you think about it, the “good” nominations probably outweigh the snubs in this list:
BAD NOMINATIONS (SNUBS):
The Dark Knight BEST PICTURE
Chris Nolan BEST DIRECTOR
Nolan Brothers BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Woody Allen ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Kate Winslet BEST ACTRESS
Sally Hawkins BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett BEST ACTRESS
Bruce Springsteen BEST SONG
Wall-E BEST PICTURE
“GOOD NOMINATIONS” (SIGHS OF RELIEF)
Richard Jenkins BEST ACTOR
In Bruges ORGINAL SCREENPLAY
Melissa Leo BEST ACTRESS
Marisa Tomei BEST SUP ACTRESS
Mickey Rourke BEST ACTOR
Danny Boyle BEST DIRECTOR
MILK BEST PICTURE
John Brolin BEST SUP ACTOR
MILK BEST ORGINAL SCREENPLAY
Rahman and M.I.A. for BEST SONG
Wall-E BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Heath Ledger BEST SUP ACTOR
Michael Shannon BEST SUP ACTOR
Viola Davis/Amy Adams BEST SUP ACTRESS
My point is that there’s still a lot to root for. The ratings WILL SUCK after the first hour and Best Sup Actor is announced by Tilda Swinton!
SASHA!!!!
Benjamin Button is up to win now not the Fuc…g millionaire!!!
I mean…slumodg will win 2-3 oscar maximum…the screenplay…maybe song or score (bleah!)…button instead…is going to win make up visual effects, many other oscars bringing the movie to win BP anf wishfully Best director…13 noms are also a pretty strong guarantee…come on open your eyes!
My pitchfork, for the moment, remains squarely aimed at The Reader, but I haven’t forgotten you, Slumdog, you BIG movie that could, you.
I just can’t get that riled up about Frost/Nixon.
Yet.
Let us not forget Taraji’s nod!
To quote the best catchphrase of the year : “Why so serious?”
It’s just fun, guys! No lives depended on TDK getting nominated.
In the best picture/director/actor-category I think the “Frost/Nixon”-noms are laughable. What a boring picture (and certainly not among the best five of the year). Brad Pitt over Clint Eatwood in best actor? From my point of view a lot of boring pictures this year : Benjamin Button, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Revolutionary Road. ZZZZZ.
Would have liked to see “The Wrestler” getting noms in song – picture and director. Hope Rourke wins his category.
I am happy TDK was snubbed for BP and BD as it did not deserve to be nominated in either category. Like Dreamgirls a few years ago this snub should also mean that the relentless cheer leading for TDK at AD will stop. The signs were all there that TDK would not be nominated. Blockbusters that are serious players get nominated for BP at the Globes.See Titanic,all three LOTRs films, Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan. The Globes didn’t even bother to expand its drama category to six or seven as it had the previous year to try to include TDK.Which was a tipoff as to what they thought of the film.Then TDK did not get a SAG ensemble nomination or BAFTA BP and BD noms. Those are nominations that blockbusters always get.TDK looked like Dreamgirls after the BAFTA noms. It was clear after BAFTA that TDK was the most vulnerable of the top five and ripe for an upset. Combine that with Harvey’s desire to prove that he’s back and you have a BP nom for The Reader.
Well, I guess “not minding” is the best way to go. I try to look at the Oscars as a fun political game and not a celebration of the year’s best (as I did for a long time prior to now), because otherwise, I’d end up bitter and pissed off.
But with this year, I AM bitter and pissed off. I can’t help it. Snubbing The Dark Knight, nominating the blatant Oscar bait that is The Reader, tossing The Wrestler just a smidgen of love (no Springsteen nomination?!?)… these are the kind of things I find difficult to ignore.
What an incredible disappointment.
Add Springsteen’s snub(one of the few songs for film that was written for the movie and touches you as a result), so they can nominate Slumdog twice? The academy can stick to nominating the same type of films that beg for Oscars before they are even filmed; I have a feeling the movies I mentioned will be remembered more than the majority of films that were nominated and will not be remembered this time next year.
Bruce Springsteen and The Wrestler were more Academy friendly and was made more to get Oscar nominations that Slumdog Millionaire. Just saying.
To be honest, I’ve never seen a less satisfying list of BP nominations. I know people always say this but the last year really was a so-so year for film.
The most surprising thing about the nominations is the hold that the Weinsteins have on the Academy. A film that has generated such mediocre critical buzz (only 60 at RT) gets an Oscar nomination based mostly on what? Marketing? How in hell do they do it? How do you get people to vote for something they KNOW isn’t as good as the competition? Smacks of scandal to me. The Academy certainly deserves praise for honouring Melissa Leo, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins and the In Bruges screenplay, but even an Oscar fanatic like me is disillusioned by this very odd choice.
I had mixed emotions!
Loved it: all the well-deserved noms for “Slumdog”, the nom for Mickey Rourke, the surprise nom for Richard Jenkins, the nom for Marisa Tomei, the nom for Angelina Jolie, the nom for Michael Shannon
Hated it: snubbing Springsteen’s song “The Wrestler”, no B.P. nom for “The Wrestler”, no Best Director nom for Aronofsky, no screenplay noms for “The Visitor” and “The Wrestler”, no B.P. nom for “The Dark Knight”, no Score nom for “The Dark Knight”, no Best Actor nom for Clint for “Gran Torino”, no Best Supporting Actor nom for Dev Patel.
Overall, I was so happy to see Rourke and Jenkins get nominated and of course Heath. Those are my favorite performances of the year!
There are alot of angry people here because of the TDK snub, and they should be angry! But let’s not forget how wonderful and inspiring “Slumdog Millionaire” is! Just because is not an american tale does not mean its not a brilliant film!
I am in shock that TDK and Springsteen did not get in! Holy Batman! How can that happen?
The Academy can do whatever it pleases and I can’t change that. The nominees and award goes to “the best..” of a lot and I’m sure there are many factors that lead to the final choices. Now, if the award was for the “Outstanding/Distinguished Achievement…” instead, then that’s another matter.
these are by far, not the best movies of the year. There is a reason why critics AND audiences loved the Dark Knight and Wall-e.. they were two of the best films of the year… i guess i’ll have to wait another year before i care about the oscars at all… go have a circle jerk academy, your idiots
The other trick is finding the appropriate moment to start the REAL gloating. The snubs of TDK and Kristin Scott Thomas make it a little complicated, but “all in due time, my pretty, all in due time.”*
*Nominated for six Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Color Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score (winner), Best Original Song (winner), Best Special Effects.
Maybe the Writers’ Strike would have been more effective this year…
Does anybody remember what happened with Hoop Dreams back in ‘94? There was this unspoken thing where the Academy decided they weren’t going to vote for Hoop Dreams because of some retarded technicality. I want the best five movies of the year nominated. Everybody gets to vote for whatever movie is their favorite, not these fucking elimination rounds where such-and-such movie misses out. I guarantee you, if you had one vote for Best Picture and NO RUNNER-UP VOTES, you would find a crazy amount of films being nominated, and I guaran-fucking-tee you that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button would not be one of them.
Is The Dark Knight going to be our generation’s Citizen Kane, in terms of historical legacy versus awards tally? I think it’s in serious contention…
the TDK snub sucked, for lack of better wording, but overall i was pleased with the noms. There will always be upsets, and i’m curious to see what everyone would be complaining about had TDK gotten a BP nom.
Here’s what I would have changed:
Springstein. duh.
Nolan for Director
Jenny Lumet for BOS
likely Kate Winslet in Rev. Road rather than the Reader ( I have yet to see the Reader but RR was nothing if not an acting showcase for Kate and Leo. both were formidable and despite not being thrilled with the movie, i wouldn’t have blinked at noms for either of them)
Here’s what I loved:
Danny Boyle (even if widely expected)
Milk’s BP, Screenplay, and Sean Penn
Robert Downey Jr. (talk about a difficult picture to get the academy’s attention… completely deserved)
Melissa Leo & Richard Jenkins as very worthy surprises
Michael Shannon (he sparkled in a movie that otherwise could have been accompanied by the tagline “if you didn’t want to kill yourself before…”)
Bruce Springsteen and The Wrestler were more Academy friendly and was made more to get Oscar nominations that Slumdog Millionaire. Just saying.
Also wanted to say that Slumdog Millionaire probably was the one film that didn’t spend loads and loads of money for its Oscar campaign. I mean just look at the FYC ads. It had like five and it used the same damn picture. Just incredible.
To think a film can get nominated by just being good and everyone liking it. No crazy politics. No Hollywood stars with big egos that needed coddling. No extensive marketing (viral, internet, Weinstein-induced, or otherwise).
Bravo to this little picture that CAN.
> “Maybe it’s because there weren’t many great African-American performances this year.”
I find this very hard to believe — regarding blacks or any other minorities. Are you really saying that the problem is that black actors just aren’t good enough? It just supports the idea that somehow white people are better actors.
I assume the real problem is that aren’t as enough good roles for people of color. But even that is a suspicious claim. More likely, it’s a combination of few good roles for minorities AND voter prejudice against certain genres of films.
I assume that what happens with minority actors every year is similar to what happens with women. We complain that “it’s a weak year for women” when in reality, there are great performances in roles/movies that Oscar voters don’t want to deal with. One of the reviewers at Salon (maybe Zacharek?) had a great article on this several years ago, pointing out that a lot of women’s roles are written off by the academy because they don’t fit a certain picture of what an award-worthy role looks like.
I assume it’s the same with actors. Hard to get a good role in a prestige pic; hard to get noticed for a good performance in a non-prestige pic.
Or maybe there weren’t many good roles for minorities this year. Was there a Malcom X? Training Day? Lillies? Guess Who’s Coming? Collaterol? Shawshank? Do the Right Thing?
The answer, brainey, is no. Take that PC bs out of here. I’ll agree thatmaybe not many great roles are written for minorities, but that doesn’t mean that the academy, or others, ignored minorities. Name me performances that should get nominated from this year.
Well, TDK is, I am not sorry, a mediocre film and absolutely no Citizen Kane. It is baroque, uneven and way too long. I never understood the hype about it.
yeah.. its going to be Benjamin Button for Best Picture….
I guess Winslet’s German accent was more convincing than her American accent…
i also would have loved to see Rosmarie DeWitt in the supporting category and perhaps just a little more love for Rachel Getting Married in general. It was a great and refreshingly different and real film.
Does any real film lover turn to the Academy Awards to get informed about which films were the best in a certain year? Does anyone think Oliver! and My Fair Lady were the best films of their years or that Yul Brynner was a better actor than Rod Steiger? Come on, the Oscar is not really a relevant award, at least not for real film lovers.
What fucking happened with you???
THE READER is a BIG BIG MOVIE.
The Overrated movie here is Slumdog Millionaire. So, Hello!!!!???
And, at least, I’d rather give my hungry to Frost/Nixon…Ron Howard is not a better director than Chris Nolan, isn’t it?
I’m so glad for the real movies, the big stories… Hurra for The Reader, for Daldry and Winslet. GREAT JOB.
Ah, to the american people, you must be learn to see good movies, not entertainning movies only.
Why is everyone so surprised that they snubbed the song from the Wrestler? With the exception of last year, AMPAS has screwed this category over time and time again in recent years. It’s actually one of the few categories that I think HFPA consistently does better:
2007 – Falling Slowly, definitely best song of the year. However, three nominations for Enchanted, and none for Guaranteed from Into the Wild? (which won the Globe)
2006 – dumb Mellisa Ethridge song over 3 very good songs from Dreamgirls
2005 – Hard Out Here for a Pimp over Crash and Dolly Parton (song from Brokeback not even eligible)
2004 – song from Motorcycle Diaries over: Believe (Polar Express), Learn to Be Lonely (Phantom), Accidently in Love (Shrek 2)…and Million Voices (Hotel Rwanda) and Old Habits Die Hard (Alfie – won globe) not even nominated! seriously?! This year was tragic to me.
And can we safely say now that if a GOOD movie has multiple songs eligible, it will probably get multiple nominations (Slumdog, Enchanted, Dreamgirls)?
And finally, is anyone else fed up with the eligibility rules? I’m not too clear on what they are, but I frequently see great songs nominated at the Globes, and often winning, only to be shut out of the Oscars by the eligibility rules.
All that being said, I never really got into Springsteen’s song, where as I’m a big fan of the Slumdog songs and Down to Earth. I think I’m rooting for WALL-E on this one, just because Slumdog will win big in other categories.
The old fogie bloc has spoken! The techies for TDK were outdone or most of their support got alligned with Slumdog and Benjamin Button. The British bloc has also spoken (I almost forgot them)!
I had expected the “Dark Knight” snub, given the Academy’s historical snub for critical and box office hits (save for the overrated “Titanic” and “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King”). It’s too risque for the elder voters who prefer traditional genres and plots (Holocaust, migration issues, women empowerment) than visually ambitious and immensely appealing stories (comic book adaptations).
THE BEST
1. Richard Jenkins, Michael Shannon, and Melissa Leo (they love hard working character actors, and it saved the day for me)
2. In Bruges for Best Orig. Screenplay
3. Departures for Best Foreign Language Film (at least there is an Asian movie that is nominated this year, given their egregious and unfair slights lately)
THE WORST
1. Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky (the character annoyed most Academy members just like the BAFTA voters; at least writer-director Mike Leigh was shortlisted, an obvious manifestation of AMPAS’ love and respect for the British filmmaker)
2. No Bruce Springsteen “The Wrestler” song nod (and don’t get me started with the unfathomable 3 Best Original Song nominees)
3. Holocaust drama again?
4. ‘Brangelina’ fever hits the Academy this year. (They are desperate for an audience, though the “Dark Knight” snub may turn off most viewers.)
Bob W, yes there are two other nominations to complain about. Three out of the five in fact.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was a hot mess with a screwed up screenplay, terrible directing and only decent acting. It said absolutely nothing.
Frost/Nixon was well done, but very boring, and stuck too close to its material to say anything worthwhile.
The Reader is obviously a Razzie candidate, not an Oscar candidate.
Kate Winslet should have been double nominated.
The Wrestler is the clearest deserved winner for Best Movie song since Celine’s heart promised to go on.
Sally Hawkins was the best comedic actress since I don’t even remember when, and won literally every critical award until the Critics’ Choice Award.
Melissa Leo was fine, so was Angelina, but Sally was amazing.
Brad Pitt did not deserve a nod above Leo.
I’m not even qualified to talk about the technical categories but there were probably screw ups there as well.
This was a plane crash that caught on fire and burned down New York City.
And as someone predicted earlier, I would not be surprised if they snubbed Ledger, at this point. And Kate can kiss her Oscar win goodbye.
“Great. So where are the Asians, Indians and Latinos/as? (and Cruz does not count, since she’s European!)”
The Academy really never look at Asian performances no matter how good they are (Don’t count the 3-4 nominations in the last few decades). Look how often Gong Li alone was snubbed: “The Story of Qui Ju” , “Farewell my Concubine”, “To Live”, “Raise the Red Latern” and “Memories of a Geisha” (no matter what you think of the film, the acting was great IMO).
This year however, the lack of Kristin Scott Thomas is IMO really a clear slap in the face of good acting. Really everyone who has seen the film has to admit her performance was one of the best, if not the best of the year 2008. I won’t diss the 5 nominated actresses, but for me all 5 are inferior (some more, some less) than Scott Thomas. The only other 2 actresses this year on par with her IMO are Michelle Williams and Juliette Binoche, and well…. I don’t see them anywhere in the list.
58 JAVI
Well, in Spain is a tradition to hate our own international stars, we do it all the time, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Pedro Almodovar, Javier Alonso, Rafael Nadal, Pau Gasol….
Well said, Sasha. But yeah, I mind VERY MUCH. Box office records broken, rave reviews, all around quality filmmaking and acting, and they can’t bring themselves to nominate “The Dark Knight” in any of the major categories?! Really? It was just about Heath?! Did he direct and write the material his damn self?! If TDK can’t get a BP nod, no “comic book” film ever will, at least not in my lifetime.
Plus, I just saw “Slumdog.” Great movie, but in no way a “Best Picture” over TDK. Hell, “Milk” is a better film that “Slumdog.” And “The Reader?!!” Are you shitting me?
I’m done. The Oscars are officially a farce. I have some reading to catch up on that night anyway.
WHATEVER YOU SAY THE BIGGEST SNUB IS REVOLUTIONARY ROAD.ADMIT IT!
The Best Song Category was a joke for a very long time. I am a die-hard Disciple of the Church of Bruce but a song should be an integral part of a movie, not just an add-on at the end. The best song in this respect was Paul Simon’s Mrs Robinson. Not even nominated. No, this category cannot be taken seriously.
Enough with the Benjamin Button hatred. Awesome movie. And Brad was fantastic in it!
T.
> “Or maybe there weren’t many good roles for minorities this year. Was there a Malcom X? Training Day? Lillies? Guess Who’s Coming? Collaterol? Shawshank? Do the Right Thing?”
But why is that? Why are there so much fewer good roles for minorities — not just blacks but Latinos/as, Asians and Native Americans?
And what makes these “good roles” as opposed to the roles in other minority-centered movies? How do the voters decide what a good role is?
It intrigues me that this years black nominees are both supporting characters (and moms at that–is this category like the “Longsuffering housewife” for white actresses?) in films predominantly about whites. Isn’t that curious? The best roles for blacks this year were in films about white folks.
Come on, you have to admit that the nominee list in no way looks like the world must of us live in every day.
THE DARK KNIGHT will go as an epic crime drama for years to come…
THE READER will be one of the most hated movies in years to come… ala CRASH…
(For example… if Crash wouldnt have won, nobody would be trashing that film that much)
I am so upset by the snubs of Sally Hawkins and Kristin Scott Thomas.
Okay, fair enough, Poppy may have annoyed viewers. But, I don’t care…the performance was one of the most difficult and intricate pieces of acting I have seen this year. Absolutely wonderful stuff.
And Scott Thomas…what can I say? I don’t care what language this film is in….her performance was what acting is all about and IS better than anything else that was nominated. Her final confrontation scene with her sister was dynamite.
So disappointed today…
But, I must say, Sasha deserves some props for her uncanny insight: she knew Melissa Leo would be nominated (months ago!); she felt The Reader was “critic proof”; and she absolutely knew The Dark Knight would not be nominated (her piece 2 or 3 days ago made clear her true feelings, I think).
@ Jokero
I may be in the minority, but I don’t think the Academy should follow the taste of the people or even the critics. They should honor what they love to honor. And I hope this snub makes people realize that Oscar voters don’t care about ratings. I told that a year ago and everybody said it’s not true. But it is. They care about what they love. And come on, to me The Dark Knight is no way one of the best films of the year. The Reader isn’t either. But the BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR ARE THE FILMS THAT ALWAYS GET SNUBBED AND NOBODY COMPLAINS ABOUT THAT. Is there a single person, who cares about FAR FROM HEAVEN not being a best picture nominee? Is there a single person who cares about SILENT LIGHT not being nominated or for the zero attention for THE EDGE OF HEAVEN or the snub of films like SYNECDOCHE, NY … etc etc… People care about THE DARK KNIGHT, which isn’t even among the top ten films of the year. It’s a big film. A successful film. But to me it’s no way a best picture worthy film. Sorry. And I’m no snob. I think LET THE RIGHT ONE IN should be nominated for best picture….
SASHA, RYAN….
could you do a report about how many films have been nominated for 8 awards or more, AND being Snubbed in the Major Categories like Screenplay, Picture… and for me personally the worst of all… DIRECTOR…
I was SOOOOO close to officially leaving Dark Knight off, but I would’ve put in WALL-E. I didn’t see The Reader coming at all.
Frankly, I would’ve rather seen Doubt take that spot, but oh well.
I’d be more thrilled about my number 1 and 2 movies of the year, Man on Wire and WALL-E getting their respective noms if it was actually surprising.
Really happy for the Doubt acting love.
I fell for Benjamin Button big time, why aren’t I happier it got so many nominations? Is it because deep down I know it’s Oscar bait?
@Ross
You just made my day. TDK is as overrated as the LOTR trilogy. Long, loud, bragging films.
“the reader will be one of the most hated movies in years to come… ala CRASH…”
Again, why assume the Reader was the one that “crashed” the Oscar BP lineup? It could’ve been #3 or #4. We’ll never know. But oh it’s Weinstein and another Holocaust film, so let’s just put all the blame on it.
Sure if it WINS then I can see where you’re coming from dubbing it as one of the most hated movies in years to come, but again really? Most hated movie? Way too melodramatic.
And who’s to say The Dark Knight was even #6? Think about that for a second.
Now you comic-book nerds know how I felt when Dreamgirls got the snub for motherf-ing Letters From Iwo Jima! I wanted to burn the Academy down for that shit. I am sad about TDK snub. I was really behind it. I think it deserves it more than The Reader.
Now, I’m really going to get gang-raped for what I’m about to say. I do not and will not ever understand the appeal of Bruce Springsteen. I don’t know what it is. I can’t explain it. I just find him highly overrated, so his snub is an actual treat for me today. LMAO!!! Oh, well. And who cares? He already has a well UNdeserved one. Who gives a poop if he wasn’t nominated for The Wrestler?
And again, why all the love for Penelope Cruz? She wasn’t bad. She was, in fact, good, but an Oscar winning performance? No way. If Rebecca Hall from the film had been nominated, you could maybe persuade me, but Penelope? Seriously? That is something else I don’t get.
> “The Academy really never look at Asian performances no matter how good they are (Don’t count the 3-4 nominations in the last few decades).”
I was actually thinking of Asian American performances. When was the last time an Asian American actor was nominated?
When was the last time an Asian American actor was even being discussed for a nomination?
Can someone tell me HOW THE FUCK, FROST NIXON and THE READER were better than TDK? accordingo to those AMPAS MOTHERFUCKERS???
It’s hilarious how people talk about the Academy not taking critics’ ratings, box office results and potential telecast ratings into account as if that was a bad thing. Kudos to the Academy for not giving in to public pressure and just voting for whatever the hell they want.
No, your film tastes aren’t better than the Academy’s, they’re just different.
Ken Watanabe for The Last Samurai in 2004, I think. (He’s hot by the way…)
brainypirate: 5 years ago, Ken Watanabe, The Last Samurai
somebody asked, so here are some facts… in the whole oscar history, only 4 movies nominated 8 times didnt get a best pic nomination :
- Dreamgirls, 2005 (ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE, ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE, ART DIRECTION, COSTUME DESIGN, MUSIC (Original Song), MUSIC (Original Song), MUSIC (Original Song), SOUND MIXING)
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1977 (ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE, ART DIRECTION, CINEMATOGRAPHY, DIRECTING, FILM EDITING, MUSIC (Original Score), SOUND, VISUAL EFFECTS)
- The Poseidon Adventure, 1972 (ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE, ART DIRECTION, CINEMATOGRAPHY, COSTUME DESIGN, FILM EDITING, MUSIC (Original Dramatic Score), MUSIC (Song–Original for the Picture), SOUND)
- Ragtime, 1981 (ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE, ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE, ART DIRECTION, CINEMATOGRAPHY, COSTUME DESIGN, MUSIC (Original Score), MUSIC (Original Song), WRITING)
But the biggest snub ever was for “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” in 1969 with 9 nominations ((ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE, ACTRESS, ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE, ART DIRECTION, COSTUME DESIGN, DIRECTING, FILM EDITING, MUSIC, WRITING) but no best pic nom… wonder what was wrong with them this year…
The difference between DREAMGIRLS and TDK… is that today, nobody even REMEMBERS that film or who even was in dreamgirls, wasnt that guy that did NORBIT???…
please stop comparing those two
But Ken Wantanabe is Japanese.
What about Asian-American?
REMY:
But the Academy always has followed the public and critics’ tastes. They are hardly original. And in the few instances where they don’t, they almost always get it wrong. What does “wrong” mean? Well, personal tastes aside – there is no right or wrong in terms of judging what we each like – there are very very few people who know anything about film think that Citizen Kane isn’t better than How Green Was My Valley, Vertigo and Touch of Evil better than Gigi, Treasure of the Sierra Madre better than Hamlet, The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde better than In the Heat of the Night, The Searchers and Giant better than Around the World in 80 Days, High Noon and Singin’ in the Rain better than The Greatest Show on Earth, Apocalypse Now better than Kramer vs. Kramer, Raging Bull better than Ordinary People, Do the Right Thing better than Driving Miss Daisy, Fargo and Breaking the Waves better than The English Patient, Brokeback Mountain better than Crash, The Pianist better than Chicago, City Lights better than Cimarron, 2001: A Space Odyssey better than Oliver!, Network, Taxi Driver and All the President’s Men better than Rocky, and the list goes on and on, about 60 of 81 prizes. Not such a hot percentage.
Appearances to the contrary, I agree with those who say we shouldn’t trash lesser films just because they won. It is the Academy that should be trashed for the wrong choices, not the movies themselves (even the few outright bad winners…they know who they are, just read Paul Haggis’ own criticisms of his work in Entertainment Weekly, he’s spot-on).
I LOVE IT! It’s the Oscars, everybody’s screaming, all the hub-ub, what about this, what about that, it’s the fuel to the fire and I relish it. God I love the Oscars!!!
Moving on….Sasha, the SAG ballots must be received in Everett, WA, by tomorrow at noon, so anyone who’s not voting online today (like me) has already voted. It’s done. So it’s time to open a new SAG Awards thread, since these two Oscar nod ones are seriously overloaded.
I thought I would be undecided (and I really wasn’t this year, except Best Actress) and let mysef get emotionally swayed by the Oscar nominations before voting. I’ll post my ballot in the SAG thread when it’s up.
re: the Reader noms, looks like the old Harvey is back!
fggdg
Revolutionary Road: Good movie, NOT “Best Picture Oscar” worthy by any stretch of the imagination… and IMO, Sam Mendes’ WORST film.
Ryan:
“People care about THE DARK KNIGHT, which isn’t even among the top ten films of the year. ”
Dude, ON WHAT PLANET is TDK not one of the top ten movies of the year? Let’s see…EW, Rolling Stone, USA Today, AFI (!!!), Manolha Dargis of the NY Times (who HATED “The Reader,” BTW), Rotten Tomatoes, Movie City News, both Austin Film Critics and L.A. Weekly named it Best Film of the Year… need I continue?
If you have to “not mind”, then why do you even care in the first place?
> “But Ken Wantanabe is Japanese. What about Asian-American?”
Exactly. (As was Rinko Kikuchi.)
As I look over the lists of nominees, it seems people from other countries do better than non-black American minorities. With Watanabe and Kikuchi, we can add Aghdashloo and Barraza and Sandino Moreno, and of course Bardem and Cruz (2 noms each).
The Reader missed top nominations from the Writers Guild, Directors Guild, Producers Guild, and Screen Actors Guild. It wasn’t even on AFI’s Top 10 list. How did this happen? I care because I love movies and I want to care, but I agree with the person who asked, if the Academy cannot nominate The Dark Knight after near-universal acclaim and inclusion on critics’ top 10 lists (including being ranked the 2nd best-reviewed film of the year), guild nominations, and $531 million domestic, what will it take for them accept popular fare? If not this film couldn’t break the glass ceiling, I don’t know what could. As a lover of film history; a history that includes 81 years of Academy Awards; I find that discouraging and depressing.
biggest snubs
sally hawkins
kristin scott thomas
leonardo dicaprio
kate winslet got nominated for the wrong film…which bodes well for meryl streep..who seems to be the frontrunner for best actress…maybe it was planned that way…so meryl could finally take home her 3rd oscar for a film of substantial quality..and with all 4 actors getting nominated..i think it helps my reasoning.
as for TDK missing a best picture spot..i always thought that the academy would show NO love for it…except for heath and technical noms..and i was proved right…the more high minded choices of frost/ nixon and the reader and milk…plus the 2 front runners,, ben button and slumdog seem like typical academy choices..
revolutionary road receiving only 1 acting nod..for michael shannon seems silly..kate and leo were the whole movie…and they get snubbed..whats that all about??
the springsteen omission is typical of the academy…they really know how to screw up the best song category..oh well…i can settle for the Wall- E song winning…thomas newman is way overdue for an oscar as well..
so as of now
best picture…benjamin button
best director- david fincher- ben button
actor- mickey rourke- the wrestler
actress- meryl streep doubt
sup. actor- heath ledger- TDK
sup. actress- viola davis or marisa tomei
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? holds the record for the most oscar nominations without a Best Picture nomination with 9 noms (winning 1 – shamefully)
Dreamgirls holds the record of being the most nominated film of any given year without securing a best picture nomination with 8 noms.
I think the difference is that Sidney Pollack was nominated for best director as well as the screenplay, whereas dreamgirls came up short in those categories.
Fargo and Breaking the Waves better than The English Patient? Me thinks NOT.
Yes, I was unsure that The Dark Knight would be snubbed for Best Picture and I know that Director and Best Picture go hand-in-hand but are you really going to tell me that Ron Howard and Stephen Daldry did a better job directing than Christopher Nolan? Come On Academy!
Tufas:
“Fargo and Breaking the Waves better than The English Patient? Me thinks NOT.”
Uh…HELL YES!
Every year I say the same: “I don’t care about the oscars”. But it’s like a disease. First I have to know the nominations… Then I fill the imdb’s ballots… Finally, I never miss the ceremony… And what for?, I ask. Does it really matter? Of course it doesn’t, because it’s just politics… it’s the money, the promotion… it’s an industry, isn’t it? I imagine the oscars of the pharmaceutical industry. “And the award for best pill of the year goes to…” Well, never mind…
The oscars. Every year it’s the same. Always a disappointment. Especially the night of the awards. It’s one after another with a few exceptions (Helen Mirren and Daniel Day-Lewis are good recent examples). Every year I say the same: “I’ll skip it next year.”
I think the only importance of the oscars is that it makes movielovers talk about films and actors and stuff related. It’s the promotion. To make people go to the cinemas and rent dvds and download movies from the internet. For instance, if Monster wasn’t nominated I would never have seen a movie starring Charlize Theron, after the Astronaut’s Wife. Guess what… What a fabulous actress!! Would I ever go to the cinema to see Memoirs of a Geisha? No way.
Let me ask you one thing: isn’t the true spirit of the awards in ourselves? In our tastes? I think everyone has his own oscar nominée/winner and basically that’s what really matters. I like what I like and I don’t need awards to tell me that I’m right to like what I like. Ellen Burstyn will always be my oscar winner of 2001. Julie Christie, the winner of 2008. Brokeback Mountain won my Best Picture award in 2006, not Crash. For me, that’s what really matters.
Nevertheless, the Academy has standards and we all could say how wonderful it would be if Mamma Mia! was nominated for Best Picture (after all it was one of the films that made more money at the box offices around the world and it’s the movie of 2008 that will be best remembered in the future – without a slightest doubt) but like Brad says (comment #121) “You can please all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time…but all of the people? Not happening. ”
For me, The Dark Knight is an awfull movie. Heath Ledger is the only thing that makes the movie worth seeing. On the opposite, I saw Mamma Mia! three times at the cinema (a movie that I said I wouldn’t even dare to see) and I liked it very, very much. Nevertheless, it would never cross my mind that it would get any nomination (even with the golden globes nominations).
My point is: Why were all you TDK fans out there with high oscar expectations for the Best Pic nomination? The movie doesn’t fit the Academy standards. What’s the difference between Batman Begins and TDK? Did the first one deserved a nomination? Of course not. On his entire career, Christopher Nolan wrote one good movie with the academy standards and was nominated for it in 2001. Period. Maybe he will accomplish more in the future (I trully hope not, but James Cameron did it, didn’t he?). In my humble opinion TDK never deserved a BP nomination and when I read all these posts about it since last summer I was amazed how people were saying stuff like that. Until the very last minute the DK’s BP nomination was a great expectation… I still don’t understand why.
For instance, Lord of the Rings was not a normal Best Film contender but I guess it was its story. It was larger than life. That doesn’t happen with TDK. (And for the records: I’m not a LOTR fan. Hate wizzards and leprechauns).
Finally, this year I am truly excited with Michael Shannon’s (like Jackie Earle Haley’s nomination a few years ago) and Marisa Tomei’s nominations for the supporting roles. And Wall-e, of course. Best american movie of the year, for me. Regarding the ceremony, I already know I will be truly disappointed when Brad and Angelina win the awards. Brad deserved a nomination for his part in Burn After Reading, though.
I guess that’s it for now.
PS – By the way, in september/october there was a poll at awardsdaily about who was going to get nominated and I did 5/5. That’s what I mean when the Academy has its standards. Apart from the Cottiard award, everything is so damn predictable…
As shocked as we all are about the snubbing of The Dark Knight, I still think it is going to take home the most awards on February 22nd…
I might actually be more upset that The Wrestler only got 2 nominations in total…….
I’m as mad as anyone about what has happened today, but, to be perfectly frank, there is absolutely nothing we can do about it!
Except look to the future and hope that the people who got the nominations they deserved, actually end up taking home the gold as well in a months time……………
Mickey Rourke, Kate Winslet, Marisa Tomei and Heath Ledger to win…
David Fincher and TCCOBB for Director and Picture…
In fact, I think Button is going to do a lot better then anyone thought. So much so that either it or TDK will end up winning the most on the big night……..
How can you decide if any role is a good role? You can just tell. Tyler Perry as Madea is not Branagh as Henry V. You can just tell sometimes. And they were nominated in supporting because that was the role. There weren’t any good lead african-american roles this year. It’s thinking like this that leads to Ruby Dee’s sole nomination for an undeserving role and Halle Berry to always be proclaimed academy award winner.
The difference between DREAMGIRLS and TDK… is that today, nobody even REMEMBERS that film or who even was in dreamgirls, wasnt that guy that did NORBIT???…
please stop comparing those two
hey whysoserious,
please don’t speak for me. I remember that film well as do many people and I surely remember who starred in it.
People have asked if there were any other films that were nominated 8 times without receiving a best pic nod – dreamgirls happens to be that film.
As a fan of both films, I am aware that they are two entirely different monsters, but I also know what they share in common – amount of oscar noms.
#199
Mamma Mia…………….. really?
Reading back, it is amusing to note the irony in the fact that without exception every single poster who has said TDK was a movie for fourteen year-old boys writes like one.
Somebody should make a spoof of these fucking Oscar porn movies like The Reader. Because that is what it is. It’s Oscar porn. Designed and made solely to win Oscars and Golden Globes. It probably would have been nominated even if the entire movie consisted of Harvey Weinstein giving the entire Academy a fucking blow job.
#203
really…
the trick is not minding? The trick is stop spending time and energy in waiting for you favorite films of the year being recognized by a bunch of morons. I mean the two really greatest films of the year where snubbed in best pic category. In a 100 years people will know what Wall-e and The Dark Knight are, people will even study those films in film schools and stuff, while The Reader, Frost/Nixon and Milk will be forgotten, How can you make the academy understand that holocaust and political themes are not necessarilly better than comic and futuristic fantasies?
The trick is not watching the Oscars these year, screw it i don´t mind who wins anymore.
I think the music branch most definitely deserves to be eviscerated. After taking heat last year with the 3 lame songs for “Enchanted” and trying to stack the deck against any of the other nominees (remember, they briefly flirted with trying to disqualify “Falling Slowly”), it’s clear they basically just gave their critics the middle finger. I’d like to know what their reasoning for only nominating 3 songs this year instead of 5 when there was a great wealth of tunes to pick from. Obviously, they wanted to stack the deck again in favor of “Slumdog” by giving it 2 (!) of the 3 slots. Now, i’m no fan of Bruce Springsteen’s, but that was just an obvious slap in the face. Every year the music branch just gets stupider and stupider.
AMPAS CAN YOU PLEASE TAKE A STEP BACK AND LITERALLY FUCK YOUR OWN FACE????!!!!
Ms. Winslet – not to blame you – it’s probably the campaigners, but that’s the cost of greed. Though you were recognized – I wish it was for ‘RRoad,’ which I found you better in.
I saw ‘The Wrestler’ and I was impressed with both Mickey, Marisa…and Evan Rachel Wood. If there was a ’scene stealer’ nod – I’d include Ms. Wood, who did impress me.
Why did they even bother mentioning the other 4 Best. S Actor nominees? They shoulda just opened the envelope.
Amy Adams – I’m glad she was recognized because that movie counted on her doubt/belief. She was a perfect ‘innocent’ who must struggle with her beliefs and she worked for me.
Viola – You were great and a show-stopping. Though it was the time (the ’60s), I didn’t care for your character (I don’t care if my child’s getting molested, I want him to be somebody). Also – a win for your makes it the ‘Oprahization’ of America. Must the world pick who she’s picks? I thought her mission was for everyone to think for themselves?
TDK as Best Picture? The action scenes alone were their ticket in – but it was probably that July release date. Seeing it on DVD isn’t the same. The Reader as BP. To me, it narrowly escaped getting a Razzie. Must the theme – Holocaust – automatically make it ‘important?’ Yes, I’ll remember the Holocaust, no I don’t want to remember this movie.
I haven’t seen ‘Slumdog’ yet – so I can’t comment on it. I hope those 2 songs are whistle-able. (Over ‘The Wrestler.’)
Are they going to re-release ‘The Visitor’ or ‘Frozen River?’
CHRISTIAN BALE is not too happy about the snub for THE DARK KNIGHT.
Guy has an anger management problem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w09rqkY0hbg
What is sad is these are the reactions of people who actually care – those who don’t follow this stuff are going to be even less interested.
The AMPAS has lost touch – they have lowered themselves to a position along the Emmys and Grammys.
If they were snubbing commercial successes – awarding films who made artistic achievements that bettered filmmaking – that would be one thing – but these films don’t. The worst part of it is those commercial films – that try to do more – and those filmmakers who try to expand what a big budget – studio summer film can be – when those kind of achievements cant get recognized in this environment – well the whole system is broken – the Academy isnt doing the good it could be doing – and they lack any relevence.
The academy reminds me of my grandmother (who I love very much) no matter how good people say TDK or Wall-e is, she wont watch it becuase its a “batman movie” and a “cartoon” – the academy could have done something today to help dispell these prejiduces – but alas – suffer from the same condition.
Of course – the Academy has never had a particularly strong historical influence – it wouldn’t be hard to make a long list of films that were classics totally ignored by the academy, while a list of films adored by the academy which didnt stand the test of time.
A question for those who are in favor of the Wall-E/TDK snubs – do you think that those films were given a fair shot by the academy – that they had a level playing field compared to the nominated films. If you dont like them – but feel that other factors than quality made it more difficult – then the system is broken.
This year reminds me of Illeana Douglas in To Die For, when she’s describing the ruthless Nicole Kidman: “She just got her way.”
I guess we can go back and watch the People’s Choice Awards.
Pedro, there’s no leprechauns in LOTR. Nice try. And Mamma Mia is terrible. Fuck ABBA.
Though “The Wrestler” was one of the best reviewed films of the year, I was realistic and did not expect a Best Pic, Director (though Aronofsky is long overdue) or Screenplay nod… but to snub BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: UNACCEPTABLE!!! It’s a well-written song complimenting the tone and story of the movie. It makes NO SENSE!!!
For one of the only industries in America to have made profits in the last twelve months, it is incomprehensible for the AMPAS to snub TDK. I am not saying that TDK should’ve been a nominee solely based on money, but it did get rave reviews, plus the DGA and PGA nods, without mentioning that it would definitely have provided the Academy with the ratings boost they so desperately crave… you really screwed this one up AMPAS!!!
Anyone remember when was the last time a movie was nominated with such a mediocre RT (or just overall critical consensus) rating (60% on RT for the Reader, 59 on Metacritic). Chocolat???
#213 haha.
sorry pedro, but saying that TDK was awful and that you liked Mamma Mia ‘very, very, much’ was just not an appropriate thing to say on this particular day….. I don’t really understand what you were trying to achieve? If you wanted to rile up angry Batman fans, then kudos……..
I am a Batman fan, but I’m over the snub already, I think it was a bit of a fools hope that it was ever going to be welcomed into the big categories, but regardless of the awards, the Dark Knight will always be the 2nd film to ever top $500milion domestically and, in all likelihood, there won’t be a film to rival it’s status as the second highest grossing film ever for some time. It’s probably going to go over the $1billion barrier (worldwide) in the next couple of weeks too, what with it being re-released and all…..
It doesn’t need to be nominated for Oscars to cement it’s status as a phenomenon which grabbed the attention of the entire world or to act as a fitting swansong to a superb actor or to, arguably, be remembered as the best film of 2008…. (although some might say after Wall-E, I guess that’s why I say ‘arguably’)………
well this does it, i am never watching the academy awards again, go fuck your self oscar
As much as i find some questionable nominations this year, I would never say that I am never watching the academy awards again.
If they don’t represent the best in film making, and films are not given a equal chance of competing – what’s the point in watching then – unless your into the pretty clothes and musical numbers.
Hmmmmm, and what do Chocolat and The Reader have in common?
Time to turn up my Slumdog support. It HAS to win. In a category with four Oscar baits, it comes into the Oscars with the most awards won, yet still with a feeling of being an underdog.
Slumdog has no American or British film stars in it, in fact, almost no white people whatsoever. It was even scheduled to go straight to DVD, as its production company went bankrupt. And you have to go all the way back to 1984 to even find a Best Picture nominee (A Passage to India) that’s set in India!
The last time you had a film with an entirely non-white cast nominated for Best Picture was Letters From Iwo Jima two years ago, and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon from 2000
What’s that with The Dark Knight? Are all filmmakers who are involved in this blind? I hate to see, that the Oscars aren’t as closely objectiv as they should be!!! Everybody just loves Kate Winslet and Ron Howard… and Frost/Nixon don’t even come closely to the quality of Nolans masterpiece. The only one, that does is Slumdog Millionaire. And The Reader? Hounestly??? Very dissapointing!!!
GO ANGIEEEE GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TAKE THAT HATERS!!
WE WANT HER OSCAR BACK!! WE WANT HER OSCAR BACK!!!
AND GET READY PEOPLE FOR BCS THE THIRD NOMINATION IS COMING IN 2011, FOR THE MERCENARY OR ATLAS!
CONGRATS ANGIE
The three best I saw all year were TDK, The Wrestler and Wall-E, in that order, and not one got one of the two big nominations, AMPAS got this one dead wrong, the Reader was terrible.
It’s simply pathetic. I woke up for the nominations and went back to bed sorely disappointed. It’s not fair, but, you’re right, the trick is to not mind. How Christopher Nolan wasn’t recognized, at the very least (!), is beyond me. The Academy sucks.
Apparently, Ricky Gervais is totally right: Do a Holocaust movie, get Academy Awards attention.
I think the other reason The Reader was nominated was to honor Minghella and Pollack. Also, the Academy are a bunch of out-of-touch snobs who are only interested in nominating films that advance their politics and beliefs. Every single film nominated has some sort of message that they hold dear (or at least pretend to):
1) There is a lot of poverty in India that we must bring attention to! (Slumdog)
2) Gay rights – No Prop 8! (Milk)
3) Nixon was evil and we hate him and want to see him go down – even in a fictional way! (Frost/Nixon)
4) The Holocaust was the biggest tragedy of the 20th Century! (The Reader)
5) Life is fleeting and nothing lasts forever – those of us with short-lived careers can certainly attest to that! (Benjamin Button)
Which means that they are not interested in films about real heroes and sacrifice, i.e. that “comic book movie” (The Dark Knight), and that “cartoon” (Wall-E). Then again, considering what a nasty, cut-throat place Hollywood is, I’m not surprised that they don’t celebrate heroes.
if they don’t respect certain films because of there genre why should i respect award show, i have watched the academy awards for 13 years and im sick, they went to far
The curious case of a film being nominated 13 times and going home empty handed?
Poor, poor Bruce Springsteen … the REAL shame of his snub is that he gets no exposure elsewhere. No big performances coming up. No new releases. No honors, no awards. Talk about underrated!
…please.
The trick is realiaing that Academy gets it wrong most of the time. What an embarrassment (and no, I’m not talking about The Dark Knight – that film got more than it deserved).
@ Javi
Finally, finally, finally someone acknowledges the overrated-NESS of Penelope Cruz and her role in VCB. Seriously, what the heck did she do in that movie that is oscar-worthy? struggle through her lines while yelling? or is it because of the steamy kiss with Scarlet Jo.? I’m lost for words. One of the brilliant actresses of The Visitor or Beyonce (in Cadillac records) should have been nominated over her. What a waste of a nomination.
Actually I’m having fun if my now totally lame predictions. I put five or six categories or “The Wrestler”, only two for “The Reader”. After today nobody could deny that the Academy noms doesn’t bring surprises. And that they really love Stephen Daldry.
Angelina and her husband are stoic and one dimensional actors. I don’t get how the Academy, which takes pride in being elitist, wILL snub The Dark Knight (probably due to its populist appeal) but yet embrace Jolie and Pitt.
On a brighter side, it will be my utmost pleasure to watch Brad and Jen loose again to more deserving actors. And the delight of watching Angelina’s icy and evil stare as the winner mounts the podium is colossal. I hope Kate says, “who is the other one?” again. PRICELESS!
Stephen Daldry over Christopher Nolan? Disgraceful.
No Bruce Springsteen? Unbelievable.
5 nominations for The Reader? Inexcusable.
The Academy should be ashamed.
A FUCKING JOKE. I like how, at the end of the press conference this morning, the President of AMPAS said, “You don’t want to miss the movie event of the year.” Funny you say that, President of AMPAS, because your fucking retarded group clearly DID miss the movie event of the year you are recognizing, The Dark Knight. Not only was it the second highest grossing film of all time (not adjusted for inflation), but it was also the second among critics. What the FUCK?! God, I’m definitely not watching the lame show now. And how can you snub The Boss? His song worked perfectly alongside the tone and emotion of The Wrestler. I fucking hate AMPAS. And no love for Christoper Nolan?! I would rather have seen at least a Best Director nomination for him, because he is an indisputable genius. Good job, AMPAS, for once again showing how utterly disconnected you are from the actual film world. Fucking morons.
It doesn’t necessarily piss me off that they snubbed THE DARK KNIGHT: I loved it, but not enough that I would go into hysterics over its snub.
What pisses me off is that they snubbed THE DARK KNIGHT and WALL-E at the same time. That they basically said to General America, “WE DON’T NEED YOU!!!”
And it hits harder for me because, last year, I had to sit through the telecast while a bunch of people behind me complained about how elitist and snobbish the Academy was. Well, guess what: they’re right.
PS. You know something? When I heard all this talk about the idea that THE READER had a chance for a Best Picture nod, I laughed and laughed: “How is a movie with a 59 at Metacritic going to have a chance?!”
> “How can you decide if any role is a good role? You can just tell. Tyler Perry as Madea is not Branagh as Henry V. You can just tell sometimes. [...] There weren’t any good lead african-american roles this year.”
I’ll let you ponder the weirdness of this reasoning and note simply that this is the same logic people use when they complain about how weak every year is for women’s roles and how comic performances never get nominated.
And Tyler Perry? Really? That’s the best example you could think of? Not Laurence Fishburne or Angela Bassett (et al.) but Tyler Perry?
oh god i hope KATE wins….was there ever a time that a supporting actress winner from GG and BCFA and hopefully SAG went on to be nominated for best actress OSCAR…let alone win?
i hope AMPAS voters will think that she gave another stellar performance in RR and vote for her to win the OSCAR!!!!
10 years from now – when The Dark Knight isn’t framed by overly high pre-release hype, the recent death of a young actor who put in a very colourful though not timeless performance and having, like, everyone on the Internet proclaiming how great it is – people will wonder why people got in such a twist over Batman.
BATMAN, people!!
TDK will not age to be this generation’s CITIZEN KANE, or even this generation’s BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, both critically acclaimed artisically advanced works of genius that the Academy just plain couldn’t handle.
TDK will go down with films like THE MATRIX, films that were highly influential and broke through with both the critics and the public, but will, in the end, go down in history as mostly populous fare.
The Oscars aren’t for the masses… that’s what the People’s Choice Awards are for. It’s all well and good that the critics loved it, but remember that the SAG snubbed it, so not EVERYONE in Hollywood was behind it, as many people are stating.
I think Thomas Newman is finally going to win an Oscar this year, for Best Original Song. And all people will be thinking about is, “Yeah, but Springsteen deserved it.”
shane, that entire post was brimming with hilariously clueless snobbery, but I gotta say the cherry on top was “populous.” How many people do live inside that movie, anyway?
What is interesting is I don’t remember this kind of outrage over the nominations ever …. I feel this outrage might actually stick. We had the Crash debacle (people were rightfully upset) – and we had “Do The Right Thing” get snubbed (but that was pre-internet. The AMPAS might just have opened up pandoras box and it might spiral out of control. Historically they have been known to make some changes (especially in the documentary branch when that became an embarrassment) – maybe they will learn from this – of course – these picks scream of elitism and ego – so probably not.
Say what you will about all this nonsense, but just like every year, I will be hosting my annual oscar shin dig….I won’t have a cake in the shape of a bat – I’ll get over it…maybe I’ll have to have some reader saurkraut and sausage….
Hmm. All of this hate for The Reader surprises me. In a way it does not because it took the place that The Dark Knight had been projected to get. I do believe that if a film like Wall-E or The Wrestler had taken the films place for BP then people would still be upset over the snub but happy about the replacement. At least that is what it seems like it would have been. That being said this hate for The Reader that had has been going on for a while now with critics and moviegoers and it is perplexing to me. Honestly I loved the film and thought it was better than The Dark Knight, a film I very much liked and admired for many reasons but feel comes nowhere close to the status it has gotten since its release. Frankly I find its status with filmgoers and critics alike to be equally puzzling and astoundingly over-the-top. The Reader is definitely Oscar bait, there is no getting around that. But I do believe in the Stephen Daldry-David Hare team and their genuine care and effort that they put into making and writing films. While it might have been used to be the Weinsteins Oscar movie and its placement is completely political, I do think that the work that went into the film itself should not be undermined. I went into this expecting not much based on the backlash it had immediately received but went out having watched a film that I personally thought was one of the best of the year. Do I think it was one of the Top 5 Films of 2008? No, but the only one I have in my top 5 from the nominees is Milk. I respect the opinions of everyone who did not like The Reader but I personally enjoyed it. I guess I will have to get used to it being bashed by everyone for a while. It is just sad that it seems to be so universally hated. I guess I just wanted to express my admiration for it.
The Reader is a great film, my personal best of the year, watch it and it will haunt you, if you fools want to blame a movie, blame Frost / Nixon, why was it a front runner this entire season? Did anyone actually see it, and realize it’s dreck? Blame Benjamin Button, which isn’t a movie but a TV commercial… blame Slumdog which is entertaining enough, but empty.
I don’t disagree that Dark Knight’s snub is an embarrassment, but lay off the reader! It is a deeper and more sophisticated film than Nolan’s beast.
I’m upset over the Dark Knight exclusion, but really, I have never read so many melodramatic posts in my life. Its unfortunate that this overlooked film will have to settle for its HALF A BILLION DOLLAR box office gross for compensation.
I LOVED “The Dark Knight”. That being said, I’m not shocked nor offended that it didn’t receive a Best Picture nomination. Let’s face it…it was an amazing summer popcorn movie that deserved to be in the running. But I think there were factors other than the movies merits that added to its appeal and widespread acclaim. Don’t get me wrong, I would have been thrilled if it had in fact received a nod and I think it was deserving, but I’m also not calling for the Academy to dissolve and restructure. The 5 nominated films are all deserving, as is “The Dark Knight” and “Wall-E”.
What I am more upset about is the fact that Christopher Nolan didn’t receive a Best Director or even Best Screenplay nomination. I think this and the Bruce Springstein omission were the worst of the day. The Academy should be ashamed of itself in those regards!
Katie: I applaud your eloquent and succinct post. I completely agree.
The Academy just gave a big middle finger to American movie fans by snubbing The Dark Knight. Same as last year when the did the same for American Gangster. They really think we’re idiots.
i was just using two different performances. i’m at work so i have to type fast and those are two films i recently saw on cable. fishburne hasn’t made a good film since the matrix and bassett hasn’t been good since tina turner. whitaker deserved his oscar even though it was a supporting role. denzel deserved his too even though he wasnt the best that year or really the star of training day. and jamie foxx deserved his oscar for colateral, i’m in a rush i know i spelled it wrong, not the impersonation known as ray.
pump your brakes. you’re talking to a person who thought the wire was the best show on tv and a kid who thinks glory and do the right thing should’ve been nominated for best pic in 1989. you’re separating things into race, when they nominate what’s best generally most of the time. the sad fact, and it is a sad fact, is that most minorities don’t get the chance to be the best all the time. you’re implying that oscar overlooks minorities. to a degree they do, but they have nominated minorities a lot over the years, probably because of your type of thinking. Henson for supporting? please. award what’s best period. you still haven’t answered what minorities should be nominated this year. answer the question.
Reply to 225, Laura:
“Which means that they are not interested in films about real heroes and sacrifice, i.e. that “comic book movie” (The Dark Knight), and that “cartoon” (Wall-E). Then again, considering what a nasty, cut-throat place Hollywood is, I’m not surprised that they don’t celebrate heroes.”
Really? Really? Batman is more of a hero than Harvey Milk? Batman, who doesn’t exist, who feeds into corporate, thriving America, is more of a hero than a REAL man who lost his life standing up for standard human rights?? REALLY? MILK celebrates a TRUE, HISTORICAL HERO. Milk represents heroism and sacrifice. A lot more than Batman.
—
I managed to read through nearly 224 other posts of absurd allegations about “The Dark Knight” and how it is the best film of the year, almost all of which bashed one or more of the other five nominated films.
240:
> “How many people do live inside [TDK], anyway?”
Do you mean at the beginning or at the end of the movie? Because some of those fight scenes had to have significant civilian casualties….
so, how’s she and the nominators gonna feel when kate pulls off another golden globe feat on sunday and gets TWO SAG awards???
sad, sad, sad…
how can she win the golden globe for best lead actress AND the sag for best lead actress but NOT get a simple nomination for the same performance???
(notice that michael shannon is the ONLY actor in any category to get an oscar nomination without a golden globe and SAG nomination…
notice, also, that kate winslet is the ONLY actor in any category to get nominated for BOTH the golden globe AND SAG and NOT get nominated for the oscar…)
sad, sad, sad…
I agree, Matt Loewen. Thomas Newman probably will finally get the award this year. He’s deserved it many times before, probably most for “American Beauty,” but now he has 2 chances in a year, and it’s the second time he’s done that (first was for “Shawshank Redemption” and “Little Women” in ‘94).
What I don’t like is that there are only 3 songs nominated. The Academy had at least 49 to choose from! Surely there were 5 songs they could work with. It’s similar to the year of “Crash,” where 3 songs were also used but there were plenty of songs to select. It’s not like the VFX category or Best Animated Feature category; here, it doesn’t make sense.
Feinberg just answered my question about Brits in the guilds:
“This is the second time Daldry has been snubbed by the DGA and then gone on to earn an Oscar nod anyway (the first time was for “Billy Elliot”), which leads me to believe that he may be getting a big boost in Oscar voting from British-based voters, who are presumably less represented in the American-based DGA.”
In all honesty, I don’t care about Dark Knight. I’m more pissed at the RR snub and Benecio del toro not getting recognized for an amazing performance…and oh! Penelope Cruz being nominated for VCB? are you kidding me?
…I’m just curious but does anyone know if Kate has a problem with the Academy? did she piss off their president or something? this doesn’t make any sense.
I say, drop the song category altogether and hand over the Short Fiction / Short documentary awards in a separate occasion and PLEASE for the love of GOD less musical numbers.
T.
All I wanna do is *BANG BANG BANG BANG* and a *BOOM click CHING* and take your Oscars.
While I was hoping for TDK, no surprise.
Springsteen is the crazy snub, and the disappointing one for me would have to be “Let the Right One In”, which was my favorite foreign film of the year. I knew it had no real chance due to the subject matter, but I was still holding out some small glimmer of hope.
“I don’t really understand what you were trying to achieve?”
JoeyG (#216)
To cut a long story short: I liked Mamma Mia but I hadn’t the slightest expectation on its nomination. Even with the Golden Globes nods (I care about the metacritic’s, RT’s and IMDB’s grades as I care about wizards and leprechauns). What I meant with that long text was that I think TDK fans should be more aware of the academy standards. You were expecting the unexpectable. And I think Heath Ledger is nominated because: first) unfortunately, he – literally – died for being a perfect Joker (the only reason to see the movie). second) the academy was not fair to him for not giving him the award for his performance on BBM, one of the best performances I’ve ever seen on a movie. And I say “ever”!! Frank Langella is nominated because he deserved it last year with Starting Out in the Evening. The same with Jeremy Irons some years ago. He wasn’t nominated for Dead Ringers so the academy gave him the award with Reversal of Fortune. Renée Zelwegger won with Cold Mountain, not Chicago… It’s always like this. This year the academy will recognize Ledger’s greatness not only as the Joker but as well as Ennis Del Mar. That’s why he’ll get the award. Jack Nicholson wasn’t even nominated in 1990 and by then, everyone cheered his performance on Tim Burton’s Batman.
Griffin, still hold out hope. It’s eligible next year.
…I’m just curious but does anyone know if Kate has a problem with the Academy? did she piss off their president or something? this doesn’t make any sense.
Are you kidding me? She’s been nominated 6 times…I don’t think it’s due to lack of love, my dear.
It seems every year the academy does something to reveal how completely lost and ridiculous they really are. Dark Knight was not just a “comic book” movie, and I think that was the main thing these lunkheads in the academy couldn’t get past. The Reader?! It will be forgotten by 2010; and the same thing goes with Frost/Nixon, but the Dark knight will continue to be watched and admired for the next fifty years. I thought the category was “best picture” not “best film promotion” which is exactly what Weinstein has done with his films for over a decade. I’m still ticked off about Saving Private Ryans’ loss to Shakespeare in love!!! In the end this is about relevance and resonance. What films will still be relevant over the next decades. What films will resonate with future generations. YES! Let’s all hear it for Frost/Nixon and the Reader! Please save us from these morons.
The Dark Knight was the BEST film of 2008 and this snub by a bunch of boring, dull old bottlers is a huge farce and TRAVESTY. Do the right thing and SNUB the oscars this year because this show lacks imagination and is
gonna be utter bollocks! The Reader? What? Get the fug outta here!!
One good SNUB deserves another so don’t watch it!!
BOYCOTT the snubbers!
The Dark Knight’s BP and BD misses were a shock given its critical praise, box office, and precursor support. The film was a cultural phenomenon and AMPAS voters as a group produced a sour note by failing to celebrate it with the top nominations. That said, they did give it 8 nominations. On the flipside of the coin, The Reader’s prominence came despite an absence of critical love, less than stellar box office in limited release, and being a no show at the PGA and DGA. Ricky Gervais is right – do a movie that touches on the Holocaust and you’ll get the Academy’s attention. I’ve not seen The Reader, and after having done so I may celebrate its nomination. What I find most disheartening, irrespective of its predictability, is that AMPAS voters continue to honor bland, middlebrow fare like Frost/Nixon.
Pedro
I kind of see what you are TRYING to say….. and I agree with you to some extent, I think Ledger’s performance in Brokeback is one of the greatest of all time, and in 50 years time it will be the performance from 2005 that will still be the most talked aboout – regardless of the fact that he passed away such a relatively short time afterwards.
You are right about Renee Zellweger, who should have won for Chicago, but the year she was nominated for Chicago, the Academy were too busy making up for the mistake of overlooking Nicole Kidman by awarding her for The Hours after overlooking her the previous year for her far superior performance in Moulin Rouge.
However, the reason that I say I don’tundersand what you were trying to achieve was because of your choice to compare TDK with Mamma Mia. In your opinion, you thought both were not Academy standard………. But 8 nominations for one of them clearly disproves this to an extent.
But Mamma Mia? While undoubtedly popular with a very specific group of people, it didn’t have the same mass appeal as The Dark Knight and I don’t think there are many that would disagree with me when I say that compared to The Dark Knight, Mamma Mia was, on the whole, pretty shitty…..
Sorry.
If “The Dark Knight” is to live on forever and ever and ever…
…why so whiney?
The academy will pay the consequences when it continues to see its tv ratings slip.
Seriously, it’s a great film, but let’s keep it real. Much as I would have wanted the academy to nominate it (and I predicted it in a bunch of categories, silly me), it just didn’t happen. It’s not the first time and certainly not the last time the academy will screw up. For all I know, they may screw up big time and not vote for Winslet in lead (a pox upon them) yet again, the silly rabbits.
To the poster who spoke about “Milk” featuring a REAL hero — bravo! I celebrate all of “Milk’s” nominations.
Also, agree about “Let the Right One In.” I was really hoping it would show up in some tech categories at least.
I agree with HUck, the Reader is such Oscar Bait and instead of bringing in a movie everyone will agree and will last the length of time they bring in a Holocaust movie. Yes there are strong themes but its also in the past! All it should be appreciated for is Kate Winslet…
And dear old kate. There must be something the Academy have against her! Why the RR snub? But if she doesn’t win for The Reader (or Heath Ledger for the Dark Knight) i will be so angry with the Academy.
Also they should be more aware of movies that are obvious classics (TDK) and honour them instead of a movie that no one will remember because it has strong themes about a horrible event in our past. TDK should have at least had a BD nom. And sally hawkins snub…. Omg is all i can say
The good thing from this is that Cruz won’t have to compete against Winslet for BSA and hopefully both will win.
I’ve got no problems nixing The Dark Knight and I actually do agree, for the most part, with the nominees for Picture and the major awards, even the technical awards. However, I can’t help but feel that the Academy is using the nomination of Kate Winslet for The Reader in Best Actress as a means of not giving her the award again. Personally I feel her performance in The Reader is the best performance of the year (yes even better than Sean Penn, Mickey Rourke, Heath Ledger, etc.) but I also feel that it’s seen as the less stellar of her performances. By putting it amongst Anne Hathaway and Melissa Leo, it raises the chances Kate will be turned away again. It is true that her role in The Reader has achieved more critical and awards acclaim, but mostly in supporting categories and I just can’t help but feel this is the Academy’s way of saying sorry not this time either.
Of course I could be completely off mark here, because there is evidence that she could take Actress for The Reader based upon the apparent support of Holocaust movies, and specifically this one. However, I just feel that there will be a lot more support to give the award to Anne after the Globes event (the suggestion Anne had won the award and Kate’s subsequent surprise victory throwing her into the lead), and by giving Kate the lead nomination for The Reader the Academy plans to do just that. But like I said, I could be totally off mark, and I only hope I am.
You’re in a hurry and you pick the wrong word… sorry, Mr. Benj… populist.
And I stand by it.
What’s elitist about thinking The Dark Knight is terribly over-hyped? I’m sorry I haven’t bought into the hysteria, but I didn’t think Dark Knight was all that superb.
If we were all outraged about Wall-E, I might even understand it, but like I said… it’s Batman.
PEOPLE. It is impossible to be nominated twice in the same acting category. There is a rule against it.
The fact that Winslet was not nominated for Revolutionary Road tells us nothing about the Academy’s opinion of her work in that movie. There is no reason to believe they have “something” against her.
What this DOES prove is how strongly they feel about her work in The Reader. Consider that a lot of people probably followed the campaign lines and voted for her in Supporting. Yet she STILL had so many votes in Leading that she reached the number needed for nomination in that category before Supporting; and so many votes that she reached the magic number for The Reader before Revolutionary Road.
That’s an insane amount of support for her performance in Daldry’s film.
I need to take a moment and play devil’s advocate. So many posters are decreeing that certain films won’t be remembered 50 years from now.
How do you know this exactly? What time machine are you all using that you can so confidently predict this?
There are movies that have stuck around and endured from the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, etc. that bombed both critically and financially and are now deemed classics. Bringing up Baby comes to mind immediately and countless others.
The point is that there are movies that saw a great deal of financial and critical success that are all but forgotten and we can’t predict that. 50 years from now, people may look at The Dark Knight and say “huh?” (I hope not). They may also look at The Reader and laud it as a classic for all time…who is to say really? Not us.
@Ziyad Abul Hawa
Well, in Spain is a tradition to hate our own international stars, we do it all the time, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Pedro Almodovar, Javier Alonso, Rafael Nadal, Pau Gasol….
So true. I’ve just read in another site that today that desperate-to-get-some-audience-gossip show had a debate on whether Cruz is a good actress or not. Guess who was one of the debaters: Sofía Cristo! (sorry to the rest of the readers for the local references). Of course none of the debaters were critics not even actors.
The same happened with Bardem last year. It’s becoming so predictable. Add this old Spanish tradition you mention (I would even call it identity) to the fact that this couple don’t give a single image or interview to gossip stuff, and you got the result.
An actress who has won twice European Film Awards and has been nominated four other times, an actress who has won two Goyas and other two nods, an actress who has won a David di Donatello and has been rewarded at Cannes as part of the Volver ensemble, and actress who has been the first Spanish actress to be nominated to an Oscar (and all this previous to VCB) is seen as mediocre.
Note: even if it seems so, I’m not campaigning for Cruz. I’m not Weinstein related.
If we were all outraged about Wall-E, I might even understand it, but like I said… it’s Batman.
Again with the “It’s Batman” spiel. What does that mean?
Batman is a fictional character like any other.
“But like I said…he’s a washed-up pro wrestler.”
“But like I said…she’s straight out of rehab.”
Are you saying that only historical figures (i.e. biopic roles) and, um, cartoon robots are worthy?
Batman’s practically American mythology at this point. Give it ten or twenty years from now and people will laugh at this. I’m sure it’ll be looked at as in the same league as snubbing other genre masterpieces such as Psycho, Alien, Aliens, 2001…speaking of the last two, how many other films from 1986 can you remember as being anything special? All I can think of is Blue Velvet and Platoon. As for 1968, there’s the Soviet War & Peace, Faces, Lion In Winter, Battle Of Algiers, Producers. Only one was nominated out of that.
Wall-E should have been the replacement if anything, yes. But they couldn’t have even brought themselves to award Snow White, Fantasia, Pinocchio or Toy Story, so perhaps they aren’t willing to break barriers. How the hell did ROTK win again? The nagging for over two straight years must have done it.
And again with the leprachaun thing, is Pedro deliberately obtuse?
I’m puzzled by how upset people are with the supposed Dark Knight snub. Did anyone seriously think it would be nominated for best picture? Although a fantastic film, it has nothing important to say. Even if it did, how can it be taken seriously when you have a crazy clown and millionaire in a bat costume ducking it out? Again, The Dark Knight was great, but with no important purpose. Heath’s untimely death is hardly sufficient reason to warrant a best picture nomination.
Amen, Paul. All narrative cinema is fantasy.
And then they wonder why we call them snobs for dismissing out of hand a certain kind of fiction.
Also, does it really matter what will or will not be remembered 10, 20, or 30 years from now? What is remembered will be remembered and vice versa. Who knows, maybe The Dark Knight will be eventually seen as trivial entertainment and eclipsed by some other comic book movie. Maybe the next Iron Man will be so fantastic that the Iron Man franchise becomes the most beloved super hero series. We can’t say and so I feel we all should just love what we love, and disregard the fact that the Academy is sort of out of touch with society.
On a personal note, I don’t really feel that The Dark Knight would have deserved the nod. Probably for Directing as Nolan’s work is truly astounding and certainly more of an achievement than Ron Howard and maybe even Danny Boyle’s work, but not Picture. And I do agree that The Reader is the right film to replace it on the list. The Dark Knight would have been the more commercial pick, and, as my friend who would tip her hat to The Dark Knight said, the Oscars really need to try and appeal to a broader crowd regardless of what is truly the best.
I would like to tell the members of the academy:
Thank you for curing me from this riddicoulus obsession with oscars
I would like to tell the members of the academy:
Thank you for curing me from this riddicoulus obsession with oscars
Flounce alert! The game is on.
Anyone who can’t see the implications in TDK is wearing blinders. Popular art is never that smart anymore. And the Greeks wore dicks in their plays. Orwell used talking animals…does anyone get what I’m saying?
“It’s Batman.”? So what? Heath got nommed for the Joker for Christ’s sake! The freakin’ JOKER!!!
I don’t agree that they should nominate The Dark Knight specifically to get higher ratings.
I personally think Christopher Nolan should have been nominated but over Ron Howard not Stephen Daldrey.
I personally see The Reader as being a film for the ages! Daldrey is an incredible director.
JoeyG
I just used Mamma Mia! as an example of a popcorn movie I liked last year and was a huge success, especially here in Europe. I wasn’t comparing TDK with it… Just using it as an example for saying “TDK fans should be more aware of the academy standards. You were expecting the unexpectable.” (my previous comment)
TDK has 8 nominations. OK. In 1992, T2 had 6 and won 4. So what? Technical categories. Schwarzenegger wasn’t nominated for best actor nor Cameron for best director, did they? The Matrix is another good example (4 oscars in 4 nominations). In these categories even movies like Transformers and Wanted were nominated. I was writing about the Best Picture Category.
But believe me. In a decade TDK will be as passé as Tim Burton’s movie. All this “hype” is momentaneous. For its peculiarities, MM! will stand the test of time. It’ll be the Rocky Horror Picture Show of this decade.
Sorry.
Maybe those old senile Academy fuckers will like UP better than WALL-E. The lead character is an old man. It’s about one of their own.
“Golly, a cartoon about an old man on a big adventure. It’s about us, basically. We can relate to that more than that robot movie or that rat movie.”
Oh, who am I kidding? It’s a fucking cartoon. They don’t nominate that kind of movie for Best Picture. They want Holocaust movies! More Holocaust movies! They want Oscar porn. They want Kate Winslet getting raped by a bunch of Nazi soldiers in a death camp.
You know, maybe Pixar should make a movie about the Holocaust.
Anyway, is euthanasia legal in the U.S.? Because there’s a whole lot of Academy voters that need to be put down.
Nothing important to say, it bascially holds up a mirror to are current society, from the sonar scene at the end (an obvious look at the patriot act) to the interrigation room scene (a haresh look at the realities of man) to the end scene (what is a hero?) and many more, this film has more depth than any of the five best picture nominees
You guys who are saying that a nod for TDK was never going to happen, are forgetting nine li’l letters:
DGA, PGA, WGA.
We have reason to be surprised.
For its peculiarities, MM! will stand the test of time. It’ll be the Rocky Horror Picture Show of this decade.
You need to back off that comparison. Mamma Mia could never dream of being so dementedly wonderful.
maybe AMPAS voters thought that WINSLET role in RR is almost similar in LC…and they already nominated her in that movie..or they really LOVE HOLOCAUST themed movie…
from this day i will pray so hard that she will win the oscar!!!!!!!!!
Dr. Strangelove
why do you confuse dullness with irony? Love Kubrik. Love Blonde Redhead. Don’t love you. Tchuze.
I hope academy awards will do it right next year with the movie Public Enemies.
“They want Kate Winslet getting raped by a bunch of Nazi soldiers in a death camp.”
Ah, more holocaust humor attempts. What a day. No idea what version of The Reader you saw, pal.
I know what Pixar has to do to get a nomination now …. forget making some of the best films of the past 15 years – forget a high percentage of their overall films will go down as undeniable classics … they have to do this.
Adapt Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman, – its a holocaust movie, the comic won the Pulitzer prize – and Pixar is so due – release it in November and it will be locked.
Although they shouldn’t have to do that – and should be praised for creating original work that speaks to multiple generations – but who am I kidding – Holocaust cartoon.
Now since the academy love the holocaust, what if when Michael caine talked about the man wanting to see the world burn had talked about the holocaust or someone else it would have more oscar love?
DAMN YOU AMPAS!
In all honesty, I’m crushingly disappointed that Nolan didn’t get some recognition. I was half expecting that TDK might end up shut out of BP but really thought Nolan would be nommed. Oh well.
I guess this means that TDK isn’t quite another Titanic. Actually, the best comparison that springs to mind is another Cameron film. That, too, was an acclaimed sequel that outgrossed it’s predecessor (not quite on this scale, but still), a genre film that landed a host of technical nominations (and netted a few wins) for it’s largely international/british crew which also ended up with a sole (and very rare for genre) acting nod (and for an iconic character too). It also suffers from multi-climax syndrome, much like TDK. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, The Dark Knight is the Aliens of our generation.
It’s interesting to see how quickly the supposed Slumdog backlash has almost entirely dissipated now that we have The Reader to rally against. Jeez, we’re a fickle bunch.
And yay for me for predicting Winslet for lead for The Reader. As a Brit, I had a feeling that my academy compatriots would pull something like that for our dear beloved Winslet.
I’m happy for Melissa Leo first. That was a good movie and excellent performance. It comes out on DVD next month. Rent it when you can.
I have no sad feelings for the omission of Sally Hawkins. That performance was irritating. It had no stretch at all for an actress. Being cheery all of the time ? Not. That got annoying after awhile. Angelina put on a career best portrayal. She was all over the place emotionally. She really stretched.
Bummer for The Dark Knight. Truly. I think it was excellence as movie making is concerned. Great vision that came to fruition. If you don’t nominate it for Best Picture, at least recognize Chris Nolan. What a slap in the face. You picked art house boy Stephen Daldry over Nolan ?! Shame on you voters.
I also have no problem with Kate being nominated for The Reader instead of Revolutionary Road. Her Reader was much more nuanced and layered.
I also agree with anyone who said Springsteen got ripped off. Why only nominate 3 songs ? What’s the deal with that !? His song is clearly the best of the year. Most heartfelt. Sorry Rahman, it just is. They really looked clueless with that omission.
You have to admit, pretty much the rest of the nods were expected, except they nominate a period piece like Revolutionary Road for Best Costumes and not Changeling ? Same clothes practically.
Also really I didn’t expect Wall E to make the BP nom, they have the Animated section for that and thats exactly what the members would have thought.
Hype does not make a classic film. And while people may differ in many ways, and I do agree that TDK should not have been nominated – just find some consolation in the fact that widely considered greatest films ever: Citizen Kane, 2001, Manhattan, Goodfellas, etc. did not win the Best Picture Oscar. Some weren’t even nominated.
Time heals all wounds.
I’m basically telling myself this because of the cruel and unnecessary Wall-E snub. By far the most deserving of any film this year. But, at the end of the day, Wall-E = 2001.
And frankly, I really dismiss anyone who claims The Reader as just another Holocaust movie. It’s about the aftermath of the Holocaust, it’s about a lot of other things besides just the Holocaust. IT DOESN’T EVEN TAKE PLACE IN THE SAME TIME PERIOD as the Holocaust.
Fuck people. Watch the movies, then judge. It’s infuriating to claim that the supposed best movie of the year missed out when you haven’t even seen 99% of the films released this year. That’s a failure on YOUR part. Download, steal, rent, drive to NYC, but this idiotic hyperbole really needs to stop.
Wall-e=2001?
Don’t make me madder, man. Get the fuck out of here.
The Academy will regret this day. Mark my words.
Pedro
I’m in Europe too, the UK, where Mamma Mia has become the highest grossing film of all time, and like you I saw it 3 times, I’ve watched it again on DVD, I even have a copy of the freakin soundtrack…..
You did directly compare it with TDK, and frankly the only comparison that one could make between the two is the fact that both proved to be big box-office draws this year. However, inmy opinion, the reason for the success that Mamma Mia enjoyed has little to do with the quality of the film, it is more likely to be as a result of the stage show, the popularity of ABBA (which is probably why it performed SO well over here as opposed to in the States, even though it still made a shitload of cash over there too) and the overwhelming power of it’s target audience, regardless of the mediocre reviews. On the other hand TDK had incredible reviews for a film of its genre, or any other for that matter, as well as the people who went to see it because they like Batman, liked Batman Begins etc. And then there was Heath, who drew people for two reasons – people were curious about his last performance and it was being talked up as an amazing performance…..
Now, after my last post another poster – filmboymichael – said that it wasnt really appropriate to say what films and performances will still be ‘remembered’ in 10, 20, 50 years time, which I was guilty of and won’t do again….
Instead I will simply say that in 10 years, it would be a pleasure to reopen this debate and discuss whether or not Mamma Mia has become a legendary cult film like Rocky Horror…..
1) I predicted a Dark Knight snub, but (sadly) I thought THE WRESTLER would get in instead. I never ever thought THE READER would get in. Is Stephen Daldry the new Eastwood/Spielberg (i.e., any movie he makes turns to gold)?
2) I never thought the Academy would nominate a movie that centers on a 15-year-old male’s winkie. What a bunch of pervs.
3) I’d like to know what the Academy thought was so difficult or special about FROST/NIXON’s editing.
4) Maybe nobody wants to admit it, but it’s now official nobody (at least, no non-Oscar maniacs) will watch this year’s telecast. Not only did they forget two of the year’s five top-grossing films, but they replaced them with a somber Holocaust movie. Good job, guys! Maybe this is a cynical way to look at it, but the Academy had an easy way to guarantee viewership and restore relevance to their awards; and they blew it because they preferred watching the 15-year-old kid’s winkie.
5) Hey, the Academy disappointed us, but that’s what we love about them, isn’t it? There’s give an take; for every Christopher Nolan or Sally Hawkins who’s disappointed, there’s a Richard Jenkins or Martin McDonagh or Taraji Henson who’s happy. Don’t forget – there’s only five. Not everyone can make it. (And for the Oscar producers, at least Brad and Angelina got nominated; there will be some stars there.)
6) Wow, I still can’t believe they nominated a 15-year-old’s winkie for Best Picture! (If you can’t figure it out by now, that was one of the most disturbing images of the year for me. THE READER rated R for “some sexuality”? How about a ton! That kid took off his clothes every chance he got!)
It’s not like this is the first time the guilds have lined up behind a film and it didn’t get a nomination.
If memory serves, ALMOST FAMOUS got nominated by all four guilds, it didn’t get a best pic nomination.
“It’s Batman” means that the majority of people that really care about The Dark Knight not being nominated are mostly under 30 and mostly complaining about it on the internet. The Academy is typically older and in many cases a very reclusive bunch.
Is it one of the five best films of the year? Many people seem to think so, but the Academy disagrees.
My other qualm is this: why is everyone taking this out on The Reader?? The way I see it, The Reader at least stands a good chance at winning a major award with Winslet, whereas Frost/Nixon, Milk and Ben Button (though less likely) could all conceiveably go home empty-handed.
To all those bagging The Reader over TDK’s exculsion, you dont KNOW that The Reader came 5th and TDK 6th, so dont assume one was at the expense of the other
And, since when have the Oscars TRULY been about THE BEST?? Year after year all this ranting and raving about the Academy should have done this or that. This is the Oscars folks
And…go SLUMDOG!!!
Did it occur to you guys that winslet appeared twice in BA..but bcoz of ampas rule she can’t be nominated twice on the same category..lucky for Angelina and melissa!!!
Thank you Andrew.
And for that matter, how do we know that TDK even came in 6th?
I cannot believe The Dark Knight was snubbed. Change has come to America but clearly not to the Academy.
I agree with Laura above (#225).
We always think of Best Picture as “best movie of the year,” but to a lot of people in the industry, it’s “Best Producer.” So enough people in the Academy using the nomination as a way of honoring Pollack and Minghella makes total sense.
Also, The Dark Knight got nominated for everything I liked about it. All the tech stuff and Ledger. Nolan was the biggest problem with the movie, and a Best Picture nomination doesn’t make any sense for the film, so I don’t understand the outcry.
Horray for the naysayers…they are having a time of it being “right” about TDK. So what?
Is it so great that an entertainment film that was admired by both the public and critics got excluded from what it deserved just because of it’s genre? That some of it’s competitiors fall far below it in critical acclaim and general film appeal? That for the first time in years, there could have been a film in the BP race that would have drawn the public interest?
Sorry, but I find this more iritating than the snubs them selves. And, no, I am not a fanboy.
AMPAS PREPARE TO BE FUCKED BY THE LONG DICK OF RATINGS…
Did anyone saw Sid Ganis face while anouncing the BEST PICTURE, when the READER appeared… i think the firs thing it came to his mind was… FUCK NOW I HAVE TO RETIRE…
If Wall-e = 2001, then Eagle Eye = a credible movie. Are you serious? You’ve taken this Wall-e hype to the next level. 2001?
Do you watch the Academy Awards to see if the AMPAS tastes are like yours and feel superior or something or do you watch the Academy Awards as another chapter of movie history and to be entertained?
You are such a ladies, get over it. Nothing is perfect.
AMPAS is not a public organization they don’t care what you think.
#275. You’re right on the bull’s eye. TDK is nothing but a 2D cartoonish caricature about a crazed demented horribly-painted villain trying to outsmart a bunch of city policefolks and a double-life vigilante in an uncomfortable heavy rubber-suit! In the end it’s got too much pyro-technic explosions to warrant any credible consideration as a ‘best picture’.
It is only great and impressive only because of Heath’s sterling performance and all the CGI wizardry and of course the masterful editing. It will surely chalked up a bunch of technical wins, I’m sure. That is honour enough I suppose!
I know a lot of us are upset or disappointed that The Dark Knight failed to make the cut, and so am I. While I had predicted The Reader’s nomination, I had predicted it at the expense of Frost/Nixon. I just think certain things need to be kept in perspective (forgive me if I’m reiterating any points made in previous comments–I couldn’t read through all 305 of them).
1) This will not change The Dark Knight’s place in cinema history. Until another blockbuster comes along, it’s still the 2nd highest grossing film of all time. On top of that, it’s a film that will continue to be watched for generations.
2) Plenty of classics have been snubbed by the Academy in favor of less desirable fare. Think of it this way: would you rather be in the same group of films as The Greatest Show on Earth, Cimarron, and Chocolat, or Psycho and Being John Malkovich? I’d say The Dark Knight is in very good company.
3) We didn’t count the ballots, so we can’t assume The Reader was the 5th choice. Now, based on the low number of nominations, I’d wager that it was probably either 4th or 5th, but it’s still entirely possible that Frost/Nixon was the one that ultimately shut out The Dark Knight. Then again, we can’t assume that The Dark Knight was 6th, either.
4) I hope we can all at least try to be civil about all of this. I know I’m not of a popular opinion here, but while The Dark Knight would make my Best Picture ballot with ease, The Reader was my favorite film of 2008. If you’ve seen the film and simply don’t like it, I’m cool as long as you don’t make me a bad guy for liking it. If you haven’t seen it and want to lash out at it because The Dark Knight got snubbed, please try not to write it off as just a “Holocaust drama”, which I don’t believe it is. At least give it a chance before insulting it. In that same vein, some people cite the respective Metacritic scores of The Dark Knight and The Reader as proof that the latter was a poor choice. However, it’s not uncommon for films that we now take for granted as masterpieces to be ignored in their own time. Am I calling The Reader a masterpiece? Not necessarily–only time will tell.
This has been a wonderful prognosticating season. I really hope that this doesn’t make you turn your back on it completely, because this is something I look forward to every year, and part of that anticipation is the community that has formed around this.
Much love.
Hey Ryan, can you please point out the massive CGI wizardry in The Dark Knight? Or how explosions correlate negatively to a film’s quality? Or are you too busy basking in your self-anointed high intelligence to elaborate?
Joey
The 3rd time I saw the movie was on one of those karaoke sessions (therefore, I mentioned the Rocky Horror Picture Show – although I agree with Gentle Benj when he writes that RHPS is “dementedly wonderful”). And of course I have a copy of the soundtrack as well. Ufff…. At least we have that in common
About MM! n TDK: I’m sorry if you haven’t understand my point, but I can’t do any better. I’m not a native english writer. My first language is portuguese. If you know how to write in portuguese maybe I can explain you better my p.o.v..
About the futurology, I quote Madonna: “I’ve seen it all before”. I know… I know… Madonna is NOT Emily Dickinson. But I like her best.
Adam Smith: Well said. I agree with you. I was hoping The Dark Knight would get nominated – not that I adored it, but I thought it was a distinguished movie – so I was disappointed to see it miss the cut. But that doesn’t take away from the fun of following the season, and the fun of some of my other hoped-for nominees coming through. In fact, it’s like this every year – some fail to get nominated, while other nominations are pleasant surprises. I love the Oscar race and really enjoy coming to this site and seeing what everyone has to say!
i’ll tune in for Heath Ledger’s acceptance speech then turn to American Idol.
I thought this year is full of good movie songs… why only 3 noms? And two are Hindi???
I’m with LORI – interested in the posthumous award for Heath and who will accept, otherwise, I couldn’t care less, not watching. Ever again.
Wall-E and The Dark Knight are truly the films that should be competing for the Best Picture prize, at least among the English-language movies. Inevitable winner Slumdog is an excellent but very flawed and kinda shallow film when all is said and done, but will be one of the best films to win their award in the past couple of decades, so at least they won’t have to be too ashamed of their selections (not that they ever are, though they should be).
Here are some not-even-nominated films that should have WON in their respective years. Wall-E, the true best, and The Dark Knight, the true zeitgeist, are in good company:
2006: United 93 or Children of Men
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2003: City of God
2001: Mulholland Drive or Memento (or nominated loser Fellowship)
2000: Almost Famous or Requiem for a Dream
1999: Fight Club or Being John Malkovich
1996: Breaking the Waves (or loser Fargo)
1995: Toy Story (then non-nominees Usual Suspects & Heat)
1989: Do the Right Thing
1988: A Cry in the Dark
1986: Blue Velvet
1985: Brazil
1982: Blade Runner
1978: Days of Heaven
1969: The Wild Bunch
1968: 2001: A Space Odyssey
1963: Hud or The Great Escape (or even The Birds)
1960: Psycho
1959: Some Like It Hot (or North by Northwest)
1958: Vertigo (or Touch of Evil)
1957: Paths of Glory
1956: The Searchers
1955: The Night of the Hunter (then Rebel without Cause)
1954: Rear Window
1952: Singin’ in the Rain (or nominated loser High Noon)
1951: The African Queen (or nominated losers Streecar Named Desire or Place in the Sun)
1949: The Third Man
1947: Out of the Past or Monsieur Verdoux
1946: Notorious
1945: Brief Encounter
1942: Sullivan’s Travels
1938: Bringing Up Baby
1937: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
1936: Modern Times (or Fury)
1935: Bride of Frankenstein or Night at the Opera
1933: King Kong (or Duck Souop)
1932: Trouble in Paradise or Scarface or Love Me Tonight
1931: City Lights
1929: Hallelujah or The Wedding March
1928: The General or The Crowd or Sunrise
(people now like to claim that Sunrise co-won the first Best Picture prize but that’s a crock; the artistic quality of production award was not Best Picture, Wings was; their own histories say that, their own posters say that (I won such a poster from an Oscar contest from the Academy about a decade ago, only Wings’ old poster is on it)); they revise the history now because Sunrise is a masterpiece and Wings a (good) relic, it makes their poor winners list look better, but its a lie)
Again, these weren’t even NOMINATED!!! There’s about 30 other years where a great nominated film should have won from Citizen Kane to Brokeback Mountain, but that’s another list. So again, the right question is why people don’t mind, its why people even care to begin with!
Pedro
you’ve lost me permanently now……
for what it’s worth, I found Mamma Mia pretty enjoyable, but wholly forgettable as a film – it may seem memorable because of the recognisability ( i dont think thats a word) of the songs….
it was also nominated for a Razzie (which never gets any coverage these days)
as I said, I will be happy to reopen this debate in 10 years and see which film has better stood the test of time…..
not that it matters, neither film was even nominated for Best Picture and, as far as the Oscars are concerned, The Winner Takes It All…….
hehehe x
It’s all about the academy honoring the late Sydney Pollack and the late Anthony Minghella…two fine directors that produced the movie The READER.
@ Alfredo.
If AMPAS didn’t care about what we think, why the hell would they spend millions promoting a lavish televised awards ceremony and on the ceremony itself. If they don’t give a rat’s ass about the public – just have a private ceremony like the critics organizations do or just send out a press release with the winners on it. No need for the lavish parties and ceremonies.
They could be doing it just because they’re incredibly narcisstic (which sometimes I’d like to think they are), but I think they do care about relevancy with the general public. Which they absolutely destroyed with their selections today.
JoeyG
It’s a deal. In 10 years time we’ll reopen this debate.
Leave with my Best Picture nominations of all time:
- Casablanca
- Les Parapluis de Cherbourg
- Brokeback Mountain
- Adaptation
- Swept Away (well, maybe Breaking the Waves instead…)
Have fun. Cheers. x
- A 200 or more comments ago, I said that Rourke was the solo nom for “The Wrestler” and that hurts his chances. Of course, I was wrong and forgot abou Tomei.
- According to that Fandango research mentioned here yesterday, people said that they will want to watch the Oscar more with “TDK” gets a BP nom. And that they don’t like political statements. Hum…………………….. Those who wish that the bat-dude make it to the final five, but even so are gonna watch the Academy Awards, must, really, really, fasten their seat bells.
Because if Sean Penn wins (to me Mickey Rourke is still the favorite), a more than a notorious politically engajed person, or Dustin Lace Black, the young, gay, writer for “Milk” wins (and I can say getting Best Original Screenplay from “Wall-E”; actually any of the five could win), we gonna heard a thunderstorm-tsunami-earthquake of a political statement (gay rights, Prop 8, for Dustin, that, and also economic crisis, Obama election, etc, for Penn) through a public speech.
Again: fasten their/yours/ours seat bells. We will see.
Pedro I assume you mean the ORIGINAL Swept Away.
“Milk” is my hands-down pick for film of the year. So, in my mind, the Academy got the most important thing right. And I wish a tie could be announced for Best Actor with Rourke and Penn each getting a statue. I hope Rourke wins though, as he may never see this chance again.
“Slumdog Millionaire” blew me away the first time I saw it. The second viewing did not hold up well at all. This is a film we will soon forget — not one that will stand the test of time like “Milk”, “The Wrestler”, or “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. Too bad it will likely walk away with a BP win.
Since when can over 5000 members of the academy be controlled into nominating films that will draw ratings????
If the positions are taken seriously (which i hope they are) i would think that members are voting based on what they actually feel deserved the nomination.
Based on what we’ve seen today it looks as though the industry and the general public have some conflicting views on a few films. Maybe TDK isn’t viewed as the ultimate classic by the actors/directors/writers etc that it’s being made out to be by nearly every person posting here.
The very fact that TDK didn’t get nominated for any of the real biggies (supporting actor aside) when doing so would have guaranteed ratings just shows that the members put the artistic integrity of AMPAS ahead of financial gain, something that is surely making some of the big wigs of the academy sweat a little for feb 22nd.
Don’t throw negative comments at the academy as a whole if something like TDK didn’t get nominated (beleive me, i’m sure ol’ Mr Ganis would LOVED to have seen TDK in that best pic line up… ka-ching), your beef is with the however many of the 5000+ voting members that denied the caped crusader a chance at an oscar by voting for something that in their own opinion deserved to be nominated…. and nobody can be blamed for their opinion.
You can disagree with it, but it can never be wrong.
I wonder how many members of the academy disagree with you about TDK being best pic material… 2000? 3000? 5000?????
Are they ALL wrong???? Of course not….
I know a lot of folks are upset about TDK left out in the major categories, but could you please express your opinions more respectful and intelligently please? Because you are upset that TDK didn’t make it in Best Picture doesn’t mean you should slam other movies with such language. I respect all filmmakers who try to make intelligent films with such a limited budget in today’s Hollywood. It takes years of time and dedication to get a film made and onto screens…….whether you like it or not.
As for the nominations…..I am not that surprised that The Reader got so many nominations. The Bafta nominations foreshadowed what was coming IMO.
The nominations which pleased me the most….
Richard Jenkins, Taraji P. Henson, Martin McDonagh for Best Original Screenplay and Kate Winslet for the right category for The Reader
Disappointments…
What…no Bruce for Original Song?
Poor Ralph Fiennes. 3 worthy performances…and not one nomination.
The Dark Knight failed to get a BP nom for the very same reaseon the Broadcast Critics “created” a new “Action Catagory” so they wouldn’t have to nominate it in the drama catagory. Its a comic book movie people!! Can you actually see this standing next to Gone With The Wind, or any of the other BP winners, even Titanic????
I just relish this because of the extreme hate campaign that has been waged against TCCOBB by the fanboys of TDK. Knocking Angelina’s performance in Changeling, saying she was better in A Mighty Heart, when that same performance a year earlier was getting snarked on by the fanboys. Well Brad & Angie are both going to the dance, and even if they don’t win, they are being recognized for their acting talent. Something their peers recognize because they can see through the money hungry tabloids BS.
I’m glad that AMPAS saw fit to keep TDK out of the BP race, and I hope that extends to the premature “coronation” of Slumdog Millionaire as the best because “the critics, fansboys, etc “say it is so”
Congratulations Angelia!!
Ah, Titanic? That had the dialogue and cliched storytelling of an average comic book, which continues to suffer from hacks diving into the medium and a prejudiced public in general. It’s paneled visual art driven by words–what’s wrong with that?
Get over yourself.
“If the positions are taken seriously (which i hope they are) i would think that members are voting based on what they actually feel deserved the nomination.”
Oh, come on. You don’t still think they actually watch the movies do you? Over the past few years I’ve heard too many Academy members admitting to not watching, voting for their friends, etc. to think that it’s the majority of Academy members’ honest opinion. They watch clips, ask their friends, let their kids fill out their ballot, vote for actors they liked in some other movie the year before. They need to change the whole system really. Require them to sign something saying they’ve seen a certain number of eligible movies, give them a trivia test, something.
I’ve been laughing for 12 hours now! who can help me?!
is TDK somewhere out there?
nooooooo
The Dark Knight came in second in the critics top 10 list’s as their favorite film. Why is it so many times that a movie popular with the people is looked at in a different way just because it was considered a blockbuster ? That makes it not award worthy for Best Picture ?
I saw The Reader and I thought it was a good film. Not great. They seem to have a hard on for Daldry. But The Reader doesn’t hold up to The Dark Knight in pure entertainment, or artistic vision in a true filmmaking sense. Daldry could direct a movie like The Reader standing on his head blind folded. Could he make The Dark Knight the way Nolan did ?
I can stomach The Dark KNight omission but not the Nolan one. He truly deserved it.
I think they shit on The Dark KNight. I think it deserves to be put in the top 5 just for plain success and over achieving. That was no small task.
I’m sure you’re not reading this far down, Sasha, but how can you act like you saw it coming that The Dark Knight would be snubbed for The Reader when you were going on and on in multiple posts about how they had to nominate The Dark Knight because of its box office and how huge box office success at that level always leads to a Best Picture nomination and practically ridiculed me in a previous thread for suggesting that that might not be the case? And look, TDK and with its $530 million gross was snubbed for a little movie that has yet to break $10 million (and that didn’t even get particularly good reviews).
Now, perhaps some of you will understand what some of us felt like when they didn’t give Brokeback Mountain Best Picture. Yes, the academy has prejudices…no comic book movies, no gay cowboy movies, no Spike Lee movies, no Darren Aronofsky movies, ETC, ETC, ETC.
So long story short – the small minority of people who didn’t like The Dark Knight is happy. the academy is a joke with different rules for different genres – so the awards are not a true reflection of “quality”.
I think what we all should do is spend our time watching good movies and less time worrying what a bunch of clueless academy members think.
Maybe Sid Ganis will wake up one morning and wonder what happened to his institution and why a whole younger generation has no reverence for these awards.
We know what movies are worthwhile, what movies will shape film-makers to come and influence the future – Kids can dream about making films and going to film school because of films like Wall-E and The Dark Knight – while the Academy can remain where they so clearly want to – buried in the past – an idea whose time has come and has long outlived any usefulness.
Because to think that the Dark Knight is a “decent” or “nice” film, but not worship it like some kind of deity, is “a snub” apparently. They should have left the Dark Knight out entirely just for entertainment, because even now people are all offended.
You don’t have to be a Dark Knight hater to be okay with it not being hyped any longer than it already has. You know, I enjoyed the Dark Knight so much more before people began telling me that I had to believe it was the best film of the year.
Oh, and Nancy is right. If you all think The Dark Knight was snubbed, I suggest you get out of your bubble and look at Ralph Fiennes. Three good performances that have been nominated several times for other awards, and not one nomination at the Academy (or BAFTA). Now THAT is a snub. The Dark Knight snubbed… please.
[...] Tapley at In Contention, were downright angry. Others, like Sasha Stone at Awards Daily, tried to be zen about the whole thing. Some consensus has emerged about who was snubbed (most notably The Dark [...]
join me TO SEND A BIG
FUCK YOU to OSCARS
for THE DARK KNIGHT
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