oscars 2009

Since Hatter just about broke his fingers posting these in real time yesterday, I’m not going to slavishly re-hash them, so I’ll direct you here for them. You can also go here for some commentary from Row Three and Shannon the Movie Moxie tossed in some thoughts of her own (and it’s always worth reading what Shannon thinks).

I’ll be honest that while there is big news today what with disappointments and surprise nominations abounding, the thing I’m most focused on is the total shunning of The Dark Knight. I said it would happen and it did. Everyone needed to be realistic here: The Academy was never going to nominate something that came from a comic book for best picture. No way. No how.

You see, while it’s true that there have certainly been many movies that have been nominated based on fantasy or sci-fi, the fact of the matter is that comic books are still considered to be the lowest form of literature and, as a result, a very prestigious organization such as the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences can not be seen to acknowledge the work of men and women who use their talents brilliantly in the service of a story that comes from a man dressing up like a bat.

While this will be unpopular (I’m pretty used to that) Heath was nominated – and will win – because he’s dead. Save your angry comments and emails , please. I’m not saying that it wasn’t the performance of what would have been a brilliant, long career. I’m saying that in this particular instance all of what I just said about the AMPS above would have applied. *IF* he was nominated he would have been the outside wild card like Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder (I personally think he was better in Iron Man, but again, the costume…) this year and Johnny Depp for Pirates last year. Let’s be honest: On July 18, 125 million people went to see the best realized comic book movie to date. The other 125 million people went to see a dead guy’s last dance.

I’m not going to say that there weren’t other missteps in the noms this year. In fact, based on just the group of bloggers I know it would seem that this may be going down as ‘the worst year ever’. Terms like ’save them from themselves’ and ’spectacular f*ck-up’ were tossed around yesterday the way people ask each other if they want coffee. Let’s all remember, people, that the Academy has absolutely no obligation to please us. The Oscars are not now, although I’m not sure that they have ever been, about achievement. They’re about promoting a movie and DVD sales. The Reader, assisted by a standard-ly aggressive campaign by the Weinsten’s, needs the promo, the butts in seats and the eventual DVD sales. The Dark Knight does not, therefore, nominate it for its achievements technically, but not artistically. Because no one who makes movies believes that a comic book movie is art.

I’m not sure how much Oscar coverage you’ll find here over the next few weeks because I’m honestly not all that interested in this year’s stuff, but I’ll do my damnedest to try to replace it with something more interesting.

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