Weinstein is back. (As are comments…sorry for the delay there.)
The short reply is the easy reply: the Academy has embarrassed itself this day. Seven nominations across the tech branches and a tip of the hat for Heath Ledger will be the Oscar legacy of “The Dark Knight.” The director — shunned. The writers — shunned. The film as a Best Picture nominee, pulling this crusty membership out of irrelevance? A pipe dream.
And I saw it coming. I saw this sense of rigid stupidity and ignorance coming, but I just…I didn’t have the heart to predict against the grain. I bought into the hype. I thought the Academy could be a fresh organization. Clearly, it cannot. And it proves as much year after year after year.
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” was the lead nomination hog with 13 mentions. Likely Best Picture winner “Slumdog Millionaire” was not far behind with 10, two of those nominations coming in the Best Original Song category.
Yes, the music branch proved to be a bunch of bumbling fools yet again, ignoring a solid track from a gifted rocker just like they did last year. You read it right: the Boss got the shaft.
“Milk” matched “The Dark Knight”‘s number of eight and, of course, found its way to Best Picture contention. But it also popped up surprisingly in the costume design field. Meanwhile, some singular thinking were to be had — like “Frozen River” and “In Bruges” finding recognition for their respective original screenplays (though at the unfortunate expense of Woody Allen). Or Michael Shannon, the lone acting nominee for “Revolutionary Road,” and a hell of a deserving bid. Hearing his name brought the broadest smile to my face.
And in an act of defiance against a supporting category campaign, the Academy recognized Kate Winslet as a lead in “The Reader,” which cock-blocked her performance in “Road.”
This all brings us to the elephant in the room: “The Reader” was the film to steal the Bat’s thunder, not “Gran Torino” like I expected, not “WALL-E” as others had hoped. And I think we all knew it was coming once Stephen Daldry’s name was called. A pornographic account of a sympathetic Nazi, rushed through post-production and ultimately a sloppy piece of drama, rightly abandoned by its initial producer at a crucial time on the basis of principle on one hand, politics on the other — this is one of the Academy’s five Best Pictures of the year.
These people should have their cards taken away. This member-for-life shit has to go because you end up with crotchety fools that have no idea what good cinema is, let alone a care about how their organization’s choices will be looked upon in the future. Years from now, “The Reader” will be a blip on the map of film obscurity. “The Dark Knight” will live on in infamy as one of the year’s titans, both a popular blockbuster and a critically acclaimed work of art.
What an absolute tragedy.
(More, plus the nods, after the jump.)
Anyway, looking back across the field, I have a few more notes. I was tipped off to the possibility of “Wanted” being a player in the sound fields last night but I disavowed it quickly enough. But here it is, a nominee for both sound editing and sound mixing. It also looks like I was correct in guessing “Slumdog” would be a nominee in both fields as well.
“Bolt” — a film you all know I love — managed to scoot “Waltz with Bashir” out of the animated field, something I’m sure relatively few saw coming. I can’t say I disagree with the call on one hand, but on the other, “Bashir” was an exceptional piece of worth deserving of a nomination here. If something had to go, why not “Kung Fu Panda?”
Tom Stern is finally an Oscar nominee, scoring for his beautiful work in “Changeling,” while “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” tickled the fancy of the makeup branch. Still, I don’t know how you watch “Synecdoche, New York” and ignore the work.
Annnnddd…that’s about it. Nothing truly left-field was in the cards. Although I guess Clint Eastwood failing to make the lead actor cut is a bit unexpected. But I’m looking back over the “Dark Knight”-peppered list of nominations and nothing is sticking out to me, so I guess I’ll just leave it at that.
I’m pissed. You’re pissed. So it goes. It’s not the first time…it won’t be the last.
The nominees:
Best Picture
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Director
David Fincher, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Ron Howard, “Frost/Nixon”
Gus Van Sant, “Milk”
Stephen Daldry, “The Reader”
Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Actor
Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”
Frank Langella, “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn, “Milk”
Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”
Best Actress
Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie, “Changeling”
Melissa Leo, “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep, “Doubt”
Kate Winslet, “The Reader”
Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin, “Milk”
Robert Downey Jr., “Tropic Thunder”
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, “Doubt”
Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
Michael Shannon, “Revolutionary Road”
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, “Doubt”
Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis, “Doubt”
Taraji P. Henson, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Marisa Tomei, “The Wrestler”
Best Adapted Screenplay
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Doubt”
“Frost/Nixon”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Original Screenplay
“Frozen River”
“Happy-Go-Lucky”
“In Bruges”
“Milk”
“WALL-E”
Best Animated Feature Film
“Bolt”
“Kung Fu Panda”
“WALL-E”
Best Foreign Language Film
“The Baader Meinhof Complex”
“The Class”
“Depatures”
“Revanche”
“Waltz with Bashir”
Best Art Direction
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Duchess”
“Revolutionary Road”
Best Cinematography
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Costume Design
“Australia”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Duchess”
“Milk”
“Revolutionary Road”
Best Film Editing
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Makeup
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army”
Best Music (Original Score)
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Defiance”
“Milk”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“WALL-E”
Best Music (Original Song)
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“WALL-E”
Best Sound Editing
“The Dark Knight”
“Iron Man”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“WALL-E”
“Wanted”
Best Sound Mixing
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“WALL-E”
“Wanted”
Best Visual Effects
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Iron Man”
Best Documentary (Feature)
“The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)”
“Encounters at the End of the World”
“The Garden”
“Man on Wire”
“Trouble the Water”
Best Documentary (Short Subject)
“The Conscience of Nhem En”
“The Final Inch”
“Smile Pinki”
“The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306”
Best Short Film (Animated)
“La Maison de Petits Cubes”
“Lavatory – Lovestory”
“Oktapodi”
“Presto”
“This Way Up”
Best Short Film (Live Action)
“Auf der Strecke (On the Line)”
“Manon on the Asphault”
“New Boy”
“The Pig”
“Spielzeugland (Toyland)”
Comments
121 responses to “81st annual Oscar nominations announced, ‘Button’ leads with 13, ‘Dark Knight’ snubbed in Best Pic”
i just crushed the skull of a small child. this is ridiculous. any complaints about the dark knight cant possibly measure up to the sloppy preachy porno that beat it
As disappointed as I am, I’m so happy that Oscar told Clint to get off their lawn. Better The Reader than Gran Torino (but still…ugh).
And yay for Michael Shannon…at lest Revolutionary Road got some kind of love.
I’m disappointed about “The Dark Knight” snub as well, but I’ll be That Guy and claim that “The Reader” wasn’t a bad movie. I found it challenging and thought-provoking, with well-developed characters and an impressively depressing story, not to mention a terrific performance (as usual) from Kate Winslet (David Kross was a standout as well). It isn’t a perfect movie, but it has some truly great moments — the courtroom scene where Winslet’s character says that she wrote the report is devastating.
Anyway, the biggest surprise for me is “Gran Torino” getting completely shut out. I thought that movie was building up steam, and I was expecting at least a screenplay nod if not an acting nomination for Eastwood.
Also, disappointed as I am that “Wall-E” didn’t get a Best Picture nomination (as expected), let’s give kudos to the Academy for the screenplay nomination.
Poor “Revolutionary Road”.
I must say, even im at a level of shock, I opened the imdb page and seen the Reader and went “wow… so thats what ended up dethroning Frost/Nixon” then suddenly seen Frost/Nixon and had to double take. Im personally on the Wall-e band wagon, I was starting to believe that wall-e would dethrone a film that everyone thought was good, but i cant name one person who felt it was the best film of the year (Frost/Nixon), i actually already assumed Dark Knight was starting to be a lock (while i dont agree, i can see why) But the fact that The Reader slipped by both of them truly is a crime.
So we officially have one of the most boring best picture races in awhile. Im pretty happy with the In Bruges nom and Wall-e’s six. Shocked at Angelina Jolie over Sally Hawkins and the Wrestler music shaft.
I’ll leave aside the obvious for a second. “The Wrestler” missed Best Song? Really? Did the voters have their earphones on backwards?
I’m not that bothered by the Best Picture snub but no nomination for Nolan in Best Director?
Was Gus Van Sant’s direction really better than Christopher Nolans?
Sorry for the commenting slowness guys. Things should level out now.
May shocks, and they’ve all bought into Weinstein dangling champagne and fancy gift bags in front of their noses. That’s how it feels. He must’ve bought them again. On the other hand I had a feeling they wanted to choose at least one of those many Holocaust movies out this year. Just because they had to. And it’s true, the ratings will be even more abysmal then in previous years. And it’s all their own fault again.
I just find it funny how every year there is an upset, and everyone says “we have learned a serious lesson in predicting”.
but the next year we all are heard calling “there ya go…PGA WGA DGA lineup….so that’s it….5/5 locks, what a boring year”
and when nominations come out….BAM…a massive shock, and we start all over.
next year we will hear the same stuff: “what a predictable year”
I for one picked The Wrestler. I was wrong, but hey, the only thing for sure is that there will be surprises.
Here’s a rule change:
If you haven’t worked on a film for 5 years, in the capacity that you’re vote is counted (i.e. Cinematographer) than you lose your inclusion in the Academy.
Get those fucking 80 year olds who are out of touch and see a movie about the Holocaust or Nixon and their dicks go from 6 to 8.
The Dark Knight isn’t a big deal to me. I was hoping that The Wrestler would sneak in, but it didn’t. Does anyone believe that The Reader is better?
Sally Hawkins and Kristin Scott Thomas get to be snubbed so Meryl Streep can play a cartoon character and Angelina Jolie can be a walking corpse. Terrible.
And how does Springsteen not make it? How?
Am I the only who wasn’t completely surprised by the Reader nom? BAFTA, Globe, some critic awards…I personally liked it a lot, and the only thing that makes me upset about the Dark Knight is who pissed off people are and how its going to be everywhere for a loooong time
van sants direction was excellent. daldry’s was comletely misguided and all over the place. i find it strange that he’s made 3 films, all of which scoring director nominations, and the best one didnt get a pic nomination. the only good one in my opinion
While I agree that “The Dark Knight” should have been nominated instead of “The Reader” I am incredibly offended by this comment from the author of this article, “A pornographic account of a sympathetic Nazi.” How utterly ridiculous. Heaven forbid there is nudity in an American film. Was it mentioned that this was used as a tool to show just how intense the affair was for the boy and this is one of the reasons it haunted him for so long? Or that this was a great adaptation of a great novel, that by god included nudity. No, instead comments are made about “pornography.” The “Dark Knight” was a better film but making comments like that about “The Reader” is lazy. Also, once and for all, it is NOT a holocaust film.
Kris I think you’re being really, really unfair on ‘The Reader’. Fine, you might not like it. But a ‘sloppy pornographic film about a sympathetic nazi’?? Really?! Really?!
Come on, man. That’s a crock of crap, right there.
I’m glad it got a BP nomination as I think it was really worthy of it. I’m just sad a film like ‘Frost/Nixon’ got in there too, at the expense of ‘The Dark Knight’.
“The Dark Knight”‘s chances of a Best Picture nod were always touch-and-go, but not nominating Christopher Nolan is stunning.
I mean, Stephen Daldry? Whatever your thoughts on the film, it was hardly the director’s showcase “TDK” was.
Mortifying.
Anyway, congrats to Harvey for neatly securing wins for both his ladies. Well played.
I actually liked The Reader quite a lot (nowhere near my top 10 though), but I’m even puzzled as to how it could have gotten nominated. Where is the passion for this film coming from? Did Rex Reed convince everyone on the Academy that it was a masterpiece.?
And then there was Winslet getting nommed for the wrong film like DiCaprio in 2006, and Deakins getting snubbed for Revolutionary Road. They always find ways to disappoint.
How LAME………..
Atleast TDK was replaced by The Reader so I can now focus all my hatred upon it.
TDK snub + The Boss snub = Old farts.
The final mathematical proof (if there was another needed) that the academy is outdated.
Celebrate good times! c’mon!
Oh taffy.. you represent all that I hate about you dark knight fanboys… it’s so awesome to see you weep!
celebrate!
Yipeeeeeeeeee! Yi! The Oscars sure know how to say FUCK OFF.
I’m more shocked than I am up pissedor upset about any of the nominees. While seeing Kate Winslet being nominated for “The Reader” instead of “Revolutionary Road” was surprising, I wouldn’t say I was pissed when I saw it. The only thing that really upset me was the snubbing of “The Dark Knight” (for “The Reader”…really?) in both the Best Picture and Best Director fields. The surprises in the acting categories (Michael Shannon, Robert Downey Jr., Richard Jenkins, and Melissa Leo) were actually very pleasant surprises.
Get a grip. I don’t know what history will say in a few years about The Reader of about The Dark Knight. But I do know that in a few years you will read your rant about the Dark Knight and feel embarrassed for yourself.
Is it really worth that much anger? And why against the Reader? Why not acknowledge that another movie (maybe Frost/Nixon) got in that shouldn’t have, and that the Reader is a great film?
It’s hard to take someone seriously if they are so personally offended by a snub – there are *always* snubs in the Oscars.
I’ll let other people discuss the snub of The Dark Knight.
Other observations: Can getting Winslet nominated as a lead for The Reader at the expense of Revolutionary Road be considered Weinstein’s ultimate “fuck you” to Scott Rudin? Also, with Winslett out of the way, is Cruz now basically a lock for the win? Lastly, hurray for Kay Howard.
Kris, unfortunately Cate Blanchett was n’t nominated for Benjamin Buton, what’s your opnion on that ?
he rejection of “The Dark Knight” in favor of “The Reader” is a truly ridiculous choice. However, I am not one of the hardcore “TDK” fans like many here. I certainly would have put on my personal Oscar ballot for Best Picture, but I can understand the reasoning behind others’ skepticism toward the film. But “The Reader”? Really? It’s a fine film and all, but if someone was going to knock of “TDK”, couldn’t it have been “Doubt” or “Revolutionary Road” or “The Wrestler”? All were superior films to “The Reader” in my mind. Likewise, does “Curious Case” really need 13 noms? I gave up hope a while ago that all the hype would die down and it would be properly honored as a nice piece of visual effects work, but now that everything’s official, I’m still a little disappointed. Bottom line: “Slumdog Millionaire” is going to dominate the field in most or all of the major categories its nominated, as it rightfully should. At least I don’t have a problem with that.
Red Wine: And that is exactly what I’ll be doing on Feb. 22- I won’t be watching. What a joke.
It was a strange morning. I knew they’d find a way to screw this up. “Let’s just see how far we can make the ratings drop this year. We’ll just blame it on the digital conversion.
Still, this isn’t entirely the Academy’s fault. Aside from an initial FYC muscle, WB pretty much threw The Dark Knight under the bus. From all I can tell, they canceled the re-release, they focused all ads towards selling Blu-Ray disks. This coincidentally coincided with the ramping up of Gran Torino publicity. Gran Torino got shut out, in case anybody didn’t notice.
I’m not at all bothered by The Boss getting snubbed. He’s another “rocker” but he won. You can’t argue that the academy is averse to him. He won for that ghastly song from “Philidelphia” and by now, he’s old new. This is completly different than Eddie Vedder, and I’d really like to see Peter Gabriel win this one.
I don’t know if you covered this or not, but did anybody think Woody would get snubbed? I mean, It’s easy lifting for Woody, but that was a damn good script. I can’t complain, because I still feel their script choices were truly inspired this year.
What I’m happy about:
Clint gets snubbed
In Bruges suprise screenplay nod
Richard Jenkins
Craft nominations for The Duchess
I’m happily wrong about the Van Sant Snub
The Lone Costume Nomination for Australia
Wow, I’ve honestly never been more disappointed with the Academy. Where to start? Jolie. Really?? I mean really?? Over Scott Thomas and Hawkins. Her performance ruined The Changeling for me. I love Meryl Streep but she didn’t deserve to be nominated for Doubt. The Reader?? Over TDK, The Wrestler, Happy-Go-Lucky? Ugh. And what’s up with the Bruce Springsteen snub? And don’t get me started on Stephen Daldry over Chris Nolan, Darren Aronofsky or Sam Mendes. Good lord, what the fuck were they smoking this year?? Benjamin Button was one of the worst and most pretentious movies of the year, so of course it gets 13 nominations.
The only bright spots were Michael Shannon, Marisa Tomei, Mickey Rourke and In Bruges for screenplay. The rest is shit.
Patrick: “The Reader” is sloppy and rushed. I said that from the start.
john: It was expected by this point, right? One of the year’s best performances. Another reason AMPAS sucks I guess.
Jorge: No I won’t. Sorry. I’ve been doing this a long time and this rant is rather tame in comparison. And “Frost/Nixon” is, frankly, a much better film than “The Reader.”
And wait, you can’t take someone seriously who is passionate about a film? Sad.
Jackass/Dan: Have you not recognized that the majority of the readers have ignored your endless, wrong-headed, uneducated sniping? Hopefully you will soon.
I’ve been watching the Oscars since I was in grade school (which was a long time ago.) I learned a long time ago after let down after let down not to expect my favorite movies to all be nominated. You had to look at what the Oscar movies were for that year and form opinions about one vs. the other. I started seeing a lot of movies I wouldn’t otherwise have seen starting at an early age. I mean, how many middle schoolers counted Leaving Las Vegas as one of their favorite movies?
It’s when the Academy goes against the precursors and critics awards that I have the most potential to still be disappointed, and when they don’t nominate the best movies according to their own very narrow definition of what an Oscar movie is that I’m just baffled. The Wrestler, for example, is a small melodrama full of tears and death. But it blew me away. The Dark Knight, of course, really was historic on the order of Star Wars (nominated) or Psycho (nominated for Director) and while I might not have expected it to have much shot the guild awards and critics awards did seem to qualify it as an Oscar movie this year. Shut out. Slapped hard. Instead we get Frost/Nixon, which had a great performance but was otherwise a relatively lackluster transplant of the original, and The Reader, which most people won’t have heard of even by the ceremony and very few will remember afterward. Even Milk would have perhaps been best recognized in other categories (actor, screenplay.)
The omission of The Wrestler for Best Original Song looked like a misprint the first few times I read it. I can’t guess what happened there. Gomorrah for Foreign Film. Waltzing with Bashir for Best Animated! Amazing that they preferred both Kung Fu Panda AND Bolt. You would have thought those two would split the vote. I’d have loved to see Rachel Getting Married for Best Screenplay, and I thought nepotism might actually lead to justice in a roundabout way there. But I know that one’s more quirky on my part.
My one pleasant surprise was Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road. Really well deserved, I think. But otherwise this list just doesn’t compute for me – almost the way that Romeo + Juliet not getting a Best Picture nomination didn’t compute for me when I was in high school – because even though I’ve learned to set my expectations realistically, apparently realistically now means throwing darts at a board or taking a low sum and subtracting half.
I think the fact that the headline doesn’t read “The Reader nominated for Best Picture!” it reads “The Dark Knight snubbed” says it all. The Academy has defined itself not by what it is but by what it isn’t, and made this less of a celebration than a proud exclusion from the party.
Ugh, sadly I’ve been seeing The Reader’s nomination coming for the past week, it just reeked of Atonement. BFCA + Globe + Scripter + ASC + BAFTA + baity prestige pick = Oscar. The Brit vote trumps the Guilds time and again, and if you’re a holocaust related movie, poor reviews mean squat (Life is Beautiful). Diasspointed sure, but I was prepared, and I’ll just settle for seeing Heath win, and enjoying the smackdown between two other films I love: Slumdog and Button.
Currently listening to:
“Epiphany” – Sweeney Todd
“They all deserve to die.”
I’m really neither surprised nor sad about the “TDK” snub. I never thought it would be nominated anyway, and I wasn’t that impressed by it. All in all this year has been such a huge disappointment with my favourites getting the shaft everywhere: “Gomorrah”, “Waltz with Bashir”, Revolutionary Road”, “Il Divo”, “Wendy and Lucy”, “Paranoid Park”, “A Christmas Tale”.
And why does the Academy have to fuck up Original Song every single damn year? As happy as I am that M.I.A. is an Academy Award nominee, I honestly wouldn’t have thought they’d be stupid enough to leave out Bruce Springsteen. Apart from that my favourite original song, again, wasn’t anywhere close to being nominated: “Dracula’s Lament”.
So, I’ll just stop whining now and say: here’s to Academy Award nominee Werner Herzog. Finally.
Wow. Fuck you, Harvey.
Well too bad that I didn’t have the balls to guees The Reader in place of The Dark Knight in best picture. With the Globe and Bafta snub for TDK in favor of the The Reader it was on the horizon and I had Daldry as best director instead of Nolan. I just thought it had better chances in picture after all.
And seriously folks. Cheer up. The Dark Knight doesn’t lose any of it’s qualities just because it isn’t nominated for a best picture Oscar. Great if people think it’s the best of the year. But not everybody shares that opinion. It’s in my top 10 but not my top 5 so I guess I’m an old (29 year old) stupid fart too ;-)
Oh, I’m not pissed. I’m actually quite content that “The dark knight” got only mentioned where it was deserved. A lot of people would agree with me on this, most would pull their hairs out, but that’s not important anyway. All this picks and films will be judged by history, usually a better judge than the Oscars, especially in the main categories. Still I say “The dark knight” is absolutely overrated by critics and connoseiurs, and probably history would chuckle if it hears it was ever treated as a bold, smart masterpiece by other than fans or casual moviegoers.
The original song category is tricky. This is not the Grammys. The reward should be for the dramatic impact or collaboration of song and film, not for quality of song or performace (though that helps, sure). You should be upset if you think the song from “The wrestler” was an outstanding contribution to the film (haven’t seen it so I can’t judge). You should not be upset becasue the Boss got the shaft. This is funny: The usual criticism of this category is that songs get nominated because of the artists who wrote/perform it. And yet here is the world screaming because Springsteen isn’t listed. Miley fans should be screaming the same right now.
Anyway, I think it was an awful year for movies, from what I’ve seen, and considering the list (although I haven’t seen “The reader”), a Slumdog lovefest seems like the most desirable thing. Good that it will happen. Right?
Strange: Apparently John Williams’ every-year nomination was not automatic.
Congrats for your blog/page. I’ve been a reader for years, but I think this may be the first time I comment. Will keep on visiting. And please don’t quit over this snub. ;-)
The one thing I’ll say about the Springsteen snub is that his song played over the credits. It’s a great song, but I always prefer nominations for songs that play during the course of the movie. I’m with Chris, I would have loved to see a nomination for “Dracula’s Lament”. (Not to mention Russell Brand, but never mind.)
Of course, you could make the same argument about “Jai Ho”, but that still felt like part of the movie to me. I saw “Slumdog Millionaire” twice in theatres, and in both cases, no one even considered moving toward the exit during that triumphant Bollywood number.
I think we can add TDK’s snub to that EW list of the 100 worst Academy snubs……………….
YES!!! No Patel!!! And Kate for “The Reader” in Best Actress!!
I couldn’t agree more Kris. By snubbing The Dark Knight, the Academy turned its nose at a film that will be long remembered as the defining movie event of this decade: a commercial and critically acclaimed powerhouse that soared beyond the confines of its genre.
As deserving as Ledger is of Oscar, at this point his nomination feels perfunctory. The fact that the film was relegated to technical awards suggests the Academy views The Dark Knight as nothing more than middling summer fare.
I’m not saying The Dark Knight should have won Best Picture, or Nolan Best Director, but dammit, they deserved nominations.
Other thoughts on the nominees: I’m glad Marisa Tomei was recognized for her work in The Wrestler, but flabbergasted that Springsteen was ignored for the title track.
Well, I have to say that I’m not pissed about the Batman snub. I belive it’s a way overated film. I cannot belive the love it gets everywhere. And althogh I have not seen The Reader, I love every single movie Daldry has made to date.
I think there’s a difference between liking a film passionately (I think we all do, as film fans) and liking it so obsessively that words like “tragedy” are used.
That seems exaggerated, at least under my understanding of the word “tragedy.” No one died. The world will continue.
Hey Kris,
What are the odds Ledger doesn’t win now? I think there’s a 80% chance he doesn’t win. This whole thing is laughable.
It’ll be funny if someone does a little investigative journalism and discovers that the Weinsteins bribed their way to this nomination. As if the Academy’s credibility couldn’t get any lower, that would officially plunge them into complete irrelevance. LOL.
The Good:
“In Bruges” for screenplay
The Bad:
Costume design snub for “Changeling”
The Ugly:
Major bitch slap to Christopher Nolan. Eight nominations for his film and not ONE for him. Un-fucking-believable.
The LA , NY critics and NSFC on their way to complete irrelevance
It seems to me Kris is trying to demote the status of ‘The Reader’ to some sort of ‘Chocolat’ level of shameful inclusions, when in fact the film is actually a very accomplished piece of work (admittedly not in his opinion).
People like the film Kris, so it’s not going to work. A huge amount do not think it’s ‘sloppy and rushed’. And that it is a lot better than ‘Frost/Nixon’.
oh taffy! i know it stings! don’t worry! i’m sure tdk blue-ray discs will continue to sell!
No Dark Knight, no Springsteen…what the fuck!!!! So much for honoring the best in arts and sciences man. And Kris, thank you for making clear to Jackass that he is making no friends here and his comments…I skip past.
I think people who are defending the Dark Knight snub are missing the point. The oscar nominations aren’t an individuals top 5 list, how can a film that grossed over $500 million in the US alone and score a metacritic rating of 80+ (higher than more than a couple of BP WINNERS of new millenium) not get nominated?
The only conclusion most are drawn to: crusty, old and out of touch academy members.
Just my two cents.
oh johnny, keep working on those sentences! you’ll make something worth reading in no time! =D