That means it's time to remind ourselves that the most prestigious awards in cinema are selected largely by the most self-indulgent disconnected saps on the planet.
That's not to say that all Oscar nominations are off the mark. To the contrary most nominations and many winners, even for films that I personally find reprehensible, are usually well made in a technical sense. Many films have won Oscars for skillfully dragging the audience through the sewers… but at least it was admittedly "skillful." I may not consent to go along but I will concede when something is well done.
And, like the emperor's new clothes, some movies are just stupid but everyone's afraid to say so.
Nevertheless, I'm annually disappointed with the list. The Academy inexplicably favors some films and famously snubs other films, while sometimes doing both at the same time. This year the Batman movie, The Dark Knight, received 8 nominations but is not nominated for Best Picture. Go figure.
Here's what I liked or found interesting in this year's nominees:
- The five-hour communist love film, Che, received 0 nominations. Ha!
- Heath Ledger's name has been penciled in for best supporting actor since mid-summer last year. Everybody else is "just honored to have been nominated."
- I saw and absolutely loved all three animated feature films, Wall-E, Bolt, and Kung-fu Panda. We already own two of them.
- Wall-E has six nominations. Go Pixar!
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has been nominated for 13 awards. The record for wins is 11 (Ben-Hur, Titanic, Lord of the Rings).
- Check out Oscar trivia and stats here.
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