A great quote from James Surowiecki on the Oscar nominations:
The funny thing, though, is that Hazlett's broader point, about the Oscar voters foolishly ignoring popular films this year, is right--though not for the reasons she thinks. There's no doubt, after all, that the most popular film of the year, "Wall-E," was also among the best, yet it went unnominated for Best Picture. And one could similarly make a case for Christopher Nolan's excellent if flawed "Dark Knight," which was a huge box-office smash. The problem with the Oscar voters isn't that they love small, independent films like "Frozen River" too much. The problem is that they think tasteful, middlebrow dramas like "The Reader" are necessarily more artistic or serious than a movie like "Wall-E." This year, at least, the Oscar voters should have more paid more attention to what ordinary people liked, not because it would have made for great television, but because it would have made for better nominations.
Granted, I saw very few new movies in 2008, but I did see both "The Dark Knight" and "Wall-E", and they'd certainly be on my list.
You've just nominated the two movies I've seen this year (...almost)
Posted by: Yann | January 27, 2009 at 12:39 PM
Wall-E clearly deserved to be nominated!
Posted by: Alex Deve | January 27, 2009 at 12:52 PM
I agree. I saw the Reader and seriously, it was quite boring. Just because it deals with the subject of holocaust doesn't automatically make it a great/intense movie. First half was child porn disguised as artsy stuff. Second half was rather un-impactful. Dark Knight was a better movie on so many levels and I am not even a super-hero movie buff.
Anyways, this time around I'll be rooting for A R Rahman, the Indian dude who got a nod in the best score/best song/best mixing categories. I've adored his work for so long now and it's amazing to see him get some global recognition at this level.
Posted by: Rahul Ganjoo | January 27, 2009 at 01:54 PM
What will suck is that they'll probably do some lame "tribute to the movies" this year during the Oscars which will include heavy handed nods to both Wall-E and The Dark Knight* as their way of saying "look! even commercial films are good now!"
* Though a floating Eve blasting lasers at whiny Maggie Gyllenhall would be pretty cool.
Posted by: Michael Sippey | January 27, 2009 at 02:06 PM