East Coast Musings 01.25.09: Terrible Nominations

Posted by James Craig on 01.25.2009

It seems as if snubbing was the rule of the day this past thursday as the Oscar nominations were announced.

In this column, I will explore various facets of the film and television worlds and offer my views on why things are they way they are and where I feel the subject of each topic in heading in the future by weighing both the pros and the cons each is facing. Nothing is safe and no one is safe as from my focus.

Welcome back and good weekend. This week I'm going to keep this short and simple as really the only "big" news in either film or television, that I want to talk about, is the Oscar nominations. As with any year, these nominations have managed to generate some degree of argument, but this seems to be the year where I have been left scratching my head and trying to figure out just what happened in some categories.On the surface, it seems as if the biggest surprise is that The Dark Knight (411's choice for best film) was snubbed in the best picture category. I understand that a super-hero, action film, even one as excellent as the The Dark knight would only have the slimmest chances at the nomination. Granted, The Dark Knight was the top grossing film of the year, but that doesn't usually translate into success come awards season. What The Dark Knight did have going for it was that it is one of the best reviewed films of the year as well. As far as wide release films go, , at 94% freshness on Rotten Tomatoes, stands only behind Wall-E . It is fifth overall once you count in limited release films. Another film in this list of five is The Wrestler ( 98%) which was also snubbed.

These are only numbers from one site, but it is indicative of how the films stacked up overall, as two of the top 2-6 films of the year on a wide variety of site and writer's lists. The following are the films that did win nominations in the Best Motion Picture category and I'll include the freshness rating from Rotten Tomatoes.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; not really a surprise and has been touted as one of the Best Picture favorites for months now. The studio is also spending a tonne to promote this film way beyond its' initial release. The positive word of mouth in the general public pushes the films chances beyond that of some very luke warm reviews. 72%

Frost/Nixon; The same can be said for this film as for Button 91%

Milk; This film has everything Hollywood is looking for in a film from the political tones to the Sean Penn performance, it doesn't have a strong chance of winning, but a case can be made for the inclusion into the category. 93%

Slumdog Millionaire; This is your new front-runner following the Golden Globes and there is a real hype building around this film that may push it from the dark horse contender I seen it as pre-Globes. 95%

The Reader; This is the film that has left me wondering what the hell the Academy was thinking. First and foremost, this film is very nearly unwatchable. This film benefits from a strong performance from Kate Winslet, but as a whole there is no real heart to it. To me, this is a classic example of a film that was Oscar fodder, and the Academy obliged the producers with a nomination, even though the film itself is far below the standard that one wold expect a film to have to reach to get the nomination. It is however a film with a talented cast as well as being a holocaust film. Those elements there put this gem onto the Academy's radar. This film has managed a whopping 60% and there isn't very much positive being said about the film beyond Winslet's performance.


So there are your nominations, with three very deserving films, one that has pure marketing power behind it and The Reader. It is frustrating to know that films like The Dark Knight and The Wrestler don't even get to be in the conversation, when they so richly deserve to be acknowledged on film's biggest night. As I said before, I can understand why The Dark Knight may have been out of the loop. It is an action/adventure/fantasy type film that does not have hobbits or Viggo Mortensen in it, so as high as our hopes may have been, it just did not seem very likely. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that The Wrestler didn't get a best picture nomination. As with Milk and The Reader, it was a film tailer-made to be an Oscar favorite. The hard luck story, the come back performance from a previously thought washed up actor, a Bruce Springsteen song on the soundtrack. This had all the earmarks of a very serious contender. The reviews were there, a prestigious award in the Golden Lion for the Venice Film Festival, the accolades were all there and still nothing.

The Best Picture category isn't the only category to have been grossly neglectful, as Let the Right One In (97%) also failed to get a nomination for Best Foreign Picture.

Both snubs will, to some, seem like little else than Hollywood elitism rearing its' ugly head and keeping to films that either don't fit the mold or deal with a subject that has a negative stigma oozing from it. This isn't to say that this is true for either film, but I will venture a guess to say that I'm more than certain in regard to the thought process. This will be the year that I will forever look at as being not only the year that the best film didn't win, but in a very real way did not even get nominated.

That does it, I'm finished with the awards talk for the time being. This week has only served to frustrate me and I need a cooling off period.

One last thing, be sure to catch my new Scrubs weekly review/recap if you are a fan of the show. Until then, I'm done, enjoy the remainder of your weekend.