Thursday, January 22, 2009

Top 9 Egregious Errors in Today's Oscar Nominations

Nominations for the 81st Academy Awards, released this morning, have set the blogosphere abuzz.  Or at least I assume they have--I don't read blogs because I'm not a fucking loser.  In my wonderful social life, however, I do talk to people, and some of them have brought up objections to the nominations.

9. Category: Best Picture

Egregious omission: The Dark Knight

Come on, guys.  This is the populist opinion, the critical opinion, the film nerd opinion, and the most engaging, entertaining film this year if not in the last three or four years.

8. Category: Best Screenplay (Adapted)

Egregious omission: The Dark Knight

Not only the most quotable movie this year ("Some people just want to watch the world burn," "I'm gonna make this pencil disappear," "You complete me"), but also the most interesting moral quandaries anyone was put into on screen.

7. Category: Best Score

Egregious Omission: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard's score for The Dark Knight

More viscerally tied to the onscreen action than any other score this year, this score is also great listening when you're not watching the movie.

6. Category: Best Supporting Actor

Egregious Omission: Gary Oldman in The Dark Knight

Look, I'm not saying Heath shouldn't have gotten nominated--he should've, and he should win--but to my mind, the relatable character who deals with the most interesting moral questions is Oldman's Gordon.  When you watch it the first time, he seems just like mostly the extremely good-guy foil to the darker heroes.  The second time you watch it, you start to appreciate how his transformation deals with darkness in his own way.

5. Category: Best Supporting Actress

Egregious Omission: Katie Holmes in The Dark Knight

What a transformation she went through for this movie!  She looks, acts, and feels like a completely different person in The Dark Knight than she did in Batman Begins, a complex reflection of the stresses she has undergone in her relationship with Batman.  Not a huge role, but such a stretch always deserves praise.

4. Category: Foreign Language Film

Egregious Omission: The Dark Knight

The part of this movie that took place in Hong Kong and probably involved some Chinese was better than any stupid foreign films this year.

3. Category: Best Song

Egregious Omission: "All the Shit that the Joker Hums to Himself" in The Dark Knight

I have had it stuck in my head for days.

2. Category: Short Film (live action)

Egregious Omission: The Dark Knight

I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and I assume this movie must have been very short.

1. Category: Documentary Feature

Egregious Omission: The Dark Knight

The most amazing part was that it was all true.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would have thought the film that was most egregiously excluded from anything was "Gran Torino"

? said...

I love your blog. It's hilarious.


Unfortunately, however, Katie Holmes wasn't actually in The Dark Knight. She looks and sounds like a completely different person because it's Maggie Gyllenhaal.


So, yeah. :)