• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

2009 Oscar Nominations

I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button last week and loved it!! I thought it was wonderful, magical. A lot of people compare it to Forrest Gump!!! :wtf: Can't figure that one out.
Slumdog is very good, I haven't seen the rest yet. I was disappointed that WALL-E didn't get a nomination for Best Picture but I'm glad The Depressing Knight didn't get the nod.
 
Maybe this is a stupid queston, but isn't the point of these to award the best film of the last 12 months?
So why every year do all the nominations of the films come from about a 2 month part of the year, with all the films released in said time?

Do the OAPs who obviously vote in these things find it hard to recall back an longer than that?
 
Ethros said:
Do the OAPs who obviously vote in these things find it hard to recall back an longer than that?
Click to expand...

Maybe. But many films whose producers think they have chances to win awards also get released late in the year to make sure they're fresh in people's minds in time for the awards.
 
aladinsane said:
Yes, the academy does harbor some prejudices toward genre films, but I really think The Dark Knight's greatness has been overstated and that it doesn't deserve a best picture nomination. It was a very fun, well made film, but not a great film. I truly do not believe that it will be a movie that will be as highly regarded in even 10 years time.
Click to expand...

Completely agree - of all the times a Genre film should get Best Picture, TDK is definitely not one of them. A solid, enjoyable, good, not great movie with one great acting performance and stalwart direction.
 
MPH said:
What the hell is Milk or The Reader? Has any average film goer even heard of these films? I never thought The Dark Knight was brilliant but surley due to its succes at the box office and its good word of mouth it should of atleast got a nomination.
Click to expand...

So in your mind the point of the Oscars is to nominate films that lots people have already seen and know about, instead of better but slightly less well-known movies that might actually deserve the nomination (and the increased attention) more? Makes sense to me.
 
Going by critical review amalgamation sites like rottentomates and metacritic neither the Reader nor Benjamin Button were "better" than Dark Knight...especially the Reader which is barely rated a decent motion picture by either site.

Going by box office, there is no comparison.

I can see Button getting a nod...but the Reader?
 
Roger Wilco said:
btw. Waltz with Bashir has got to get the Oscar for best foreign-language movie, I don't know all the other candidates, but this one is a phantastic movie!
Click to expand...

I'm surprised The Edge of Heaven didn't receive a nomination. I thought it was excellent, and a far better realization of similar ideas in the inferior Babel and the far worse Crash.

It'll be interesting to see who runs away with the Best Supporting Actor nomination. Brolin was very good in Milk, as he has been very good in practically everything the past four or five years. Ledger was, of course, memorable as the Joker in The Dark Knight, and his death a year ago will no doubt have some sway over voters. And to top it off, Robert Downey Jr. earned as surprising (but deserved) nomination for a comedic role in Tropic Thunder.

Overall, the Best Picture nominees seem weaker than last year. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was overlong, with a padded first act and a barely necessary framing story. Slumdog Millionaire was surprisingly conventional and light (the brother is redeemed, the girl is got, the money is won...hardly innovative nor challenging in concept), but it was, admittedly, fun. I still have a hard time with the fact that so many Indian cast and crew are being passed up in favor of nominating the white filmmakers, though. Milk was well-made, and, in the face of Prop 8, bittersweet. Surprisingly good as a biopic, seeing as how tired the genre has felt as of late. I haven't seen Frost/Nixon nor The Reader, but judging from reviews, neither would be in contention if there was any stronger competition.

I hope Mellisa Leo runs away with a best actress nomination. Frozen River was far from a perfect film, but it's fantastic to see such a low-budget venture on a subject that wouldn't have had any Hollywood focus receive attention, and her performance was noteworthy.
 
Roger Wilco said:
Ethros said:
Do the OAPs who obviously vote in these things find it hard to recall back an longer than that?
Click to expand...

Maybe. But many films whose producers think they have chances to win awards also get released late in the year to make sure they're fresh in people's minds in time for the awards.
Click to expand...

It's also a sign of complete and utter lazyness by those who don't want to do the work and actually watch all the movies in a year.

I still have to see The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire but this is once again another soft, safe year of the Oscars. Were these five films the best 2008 really had to offer? I think I could come up with 5 to 10 films that were better, but these are the Oscars and Best Picture of the year has turned into Best Picture of November thru December only.

I'm not surprised The Dark Knight didn't get nominated, but it's a great example of why the Oscars are turning into an irrelevant exercise. It's not about what film was truely the best or what film really struck home with the consumers who go see these movies. It's about what film is good politically and baited so much that the Academy has to nominate them. Was the Reader really that good. According to Rotten Tomatoes, it's getting rotten under the Top Critics tab, while films like The Wrestler or The Dark Knight (And even Iron Man, which is in my top 10 films of 2008) were critical darlings and did really well. I'll perhaps see The Reader, but I'm not jumping up and down for it.

I did like RDJ getting the supporting nomination for Tropic Thunder. Now that's probably the most unsafe thing they've done in the last few years.
 
As I've heard elsewhere, a big problem with the Academy is that it's basically filled mostly with old people who are unwilling to embrace new genres of film. That's why they'll usually go for the safe, conservative choices.

To them, superhero cinema has yet to evolve from the glory days of Adam West.

I mean, it took them god knows how many years to actually award a fantasy flick for best pic and they've yet to award a science fiction film. So maybe it should be no surprise that a superhero flick is yet to be nominated.
 
tomalak301 said:
I'm not surprised The Dark Knight didn't get nominated, but it's a great example of why the Oscars are turning into an irrelevant exercise. It's not about what film was truely the best or what film really struck home with the consumers who go see these movies. It's about what film is good politically and baited so much that the Academy has to nominate them.
Click to expand...
Actually it seems its mostly about "who's going to wear what dress"
 
Ethros said:
tomalak301 said:
I'm not surprised The Dark Knight didn't get nominated, but it's a great example of why the Oscars are turning into an irrelevant exercise. It's not about what film was truely the best or what film really struck home with the consumers who go see these movies. It's about what film is good politically and baited so much that the Academy has to nominate them.
Click to expand...
Actually it seems its mostly about "who's going to wear what dress"
Click to expand...

That too.
 
Wow, what a yawner. I don't get the love for the Oscars as it's all so bloody boring and this year is no different.
 
I can't believe Revolutionary Road was totally shut out. Kate Winslet and Leonard DiCaprio were both phenomenal, and the adaptation was incredibly true to the book. I haven't seen The Reader yet, but I hope it's as strong a performance as her one in RR was. She really was great in that movie.

MPH said:
What the hell is Milk or The Reader? Has any average film goer even heard of these films? I never thought The Dark Knight was brilliant but surley due to its succes at the box office and its good word of mouth it should of atleast got a nomination.
Click to expand...

The Reader was actually based off a bestselling novel that was, IIRC, an Oprah book. So I'm not sure how wide the film's release is, but my guess is that there are many who are familiar with it and the novel it is based off of.

That being said, the Oscars tend to be elitist and highbrow, based off of what critics have liked and what movies the studios are pushing. Definitely not defending them on that account, or on the highly political way the awards are given out (like how Russell Crowe's meltdown at the BAFTA's cost him the Oscar for A Beautiful Mind :rolleyes: or how Crash beat out Brokeback Mountain after something of a BBM backlash :rolleyes: ).

Norrin Radd said:
I probably won't be watching it this year.

Nothing much there to interest me.
Click to expand...

This might actually be the first ceremony in years that I watch, in part because I've actually seen a few of the nominated films.
 
Best picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
Click to expand...
Hmm. I've only seen two of these this year, Frost/Nixon and Slumdog. Time to hit the cineplex.

Yes, the academy does harbor some prejudices toward genre films
Click to expand...
And comedies. And prior to creating an animation category, animation. There are exceptions, Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King comes to mind, but dramatic films with a meaty acting role in the center is usually the choice. The Academy, at its heart, is a conservative body in terms of film.

I'm not surprised The Dark Knight didn't get nominated, but it's a great example of why the Oscars are turning into an irrelevant exercise.
Click to expand...
The Oscars have long been irrelevant to me. When Mirmax's well documented and controversial Oscar campaign catapulted Shakespeare in Love past a (IMO, and many others) far more deserving Saving Private Ryan, the Oscar proved it's cynicism. An issue or two ago, EW - in an exercise very similar to the one being conducted on these boards - went back to some Academy members and had them re-vote on past Academy Awards to see if the movies stood the test of time. Shakespeare did not.

As I noted, I haven't seen all the films, so I don't know whether The Dark Knight deserves the nod or not; my suspicion is "yes". Crafting a serious sober minded film of that quality while still hitting all the expected comic book genre notes, is not something to be dismissed easily.
 
And they wonder why no one wants to sit for three hours to see who will win between Pretentious Art House Drama's who no one has seen and Preachy Agenda-Driven crap no one wants to see. And they had the audacity to lie their asses off last year and claim this year they'd try to nominate more "films with broad appeal" this year. Yeah, more appealing if you're a member of the Hollywood Elite.

I mean, Milk is a perfect example. Sean Penn playing a gay, Jewish martyr fighting the establishment in San Francisco co-staring Barbara Streisand's son-in-law? It would be genetically impossible for The Academy not to love this film even before they saw it. Which is why it bombed at the box office. The only way they could love this film even more is if Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins(who I'm a big fan of btw) stared as his Bible-thumping, gay-hating parents. And they say The Academy doesn't nominate porn films.

If they really honest to God wanted to be a real awards show, and not a media event, then none of this would bother me in the slightest. But they want it both ways, and that just ain't gonna fly. And the defenders will claim that they can't just nominate any film that just happens to be popular. Which is a crap argument, because they've pandered to popularity before like with Gladiator, Titanic, Forest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Star Wars, Jaws, The Godfather, Lord of The Rings, and Saving Private Ryan. No, they want to push their issues on people now, and really don't give a damn if they like it or not.

You're damn right The Dark Knight deserved an nomination. Maybe not a win, but a nomination at least. It deserved a nomination more then Gladiator or Titanic did, that's for sure. It's this type of elitist contempt is the reason most Americans really have grown to despise Hollywood and their bullshit.

Ledger getting a nom was a given, although I doubt he would have gotten one if he were alive and had not previously stared as a gay cowboy. He won't win though. It'll go to one of the other whoevers who were in those other films that no one cares about.

The only bright spot here was RDJ. If he wins, he needs to accept it in character and set race relations back 50 years.
 
I figured Ledger woudl get a sympathy nom. I'm sure he will win it just so the Academy can feel good about itself as his kid is being presented it. I personally dont think he was all that great in "The Dark Knight". I liked "Batman Begins" better.

I do hope O'Rouke wins. I like the guy because he truly is a great actor. He puts his heart and soul into a role.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top