A Poor Year in Movies

Every year, there are films left off of a whole bunch of different categories when the Academy Award nominations come out. But this year, people seem to be really upset. I'm one of them obviously! I am under no sort of delusion that "The Dark Knight" is the greatest movie of all time, far from it. Although it could be argued that TDK is one of the best movies in a very long time, it's probably not "The Godfather." But in what, in my opinion, was a pretty weak year of movies, to say that it wasn't even one of the best 5 of the year is astronomically stupid.

The only thing I can come up with was that this had to do with the Academy shrugging off a comic book movie, which was the popcorn movie of the year. Well, that bothers me. It first bothers me because, sure it was a "comic book" movie, but wasn't it so much more? This was a truly masterfully, carefully put together crime drama. It had incredible performances, a non-stop pace, and a really well crafted story. And also, didn't one of those stupid "Lord of the Rings" movies WIN Best Picture? I know that's not a "comic book" movie, but it's sort of a similar argument right?

But I think a greater travesty is that Chris Nolan wasn't even nominated for Best Director. I think that everyone who worked on the film would agree with me. What he accomplished with this film is unseen, or heard of before. It was his masterpiece. 

My award nominations (Taking into account, at this point, I am yet to see "Milk," or "Rachel Getting Married")

Best Picture

The Dark Knight

The Wrestler

Gran Torino

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Frank Langella--Frost/Nixon

Sean Penn--Milk

Dev Patel--Slumdog Millionaire

Clint Eastwood--Gran Torino

Mickey Rourke--The Wrestler

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Cate Blanchett--The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Anne Hathaway--Rachel Getting Married

Kate Winslett--The Reader

Kate Winslett--Revolutionary Road

Angelina Jolie--Changeling

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Heath Ledger--The Dark Knight

Michael Caine--The Dark Knight

Robert Downey, Jr.--Tropic Thunder

Josh Brolin--Milk

Phillip Seymour Hoffman--Doubt

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams--Doubt

Penelope Cruz--Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Marisa Tomei--The Wrestler

Viola Davis--Doubt

Taraji Henson--The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Director

Danny Boyle--Slumdog Millionaire

Darren Aronofsky--The Wrestler

Christopher Nolan--The Dark Knight

Clint Eastwood--Gran Torino

David Fincher--The Curious Case of Benjamin Button