Wow. I mean, wow. I've made fun of the Academy over the years but it's usually more in a sporting, kid-playground sort of way. This time, they just really pissed me off. Predictably, the Academy failed to recognize some of my favorite performances of the year. True, they did right by a lot of deserving people and somebody is always going to get screwed over. It's just the way it is. Let's get to it.

Here are my five picks for the biggest snubs of 2009:

1. The Dark Knight
I had an argument with someone a few weeks ago. He maintained that The Dark Knight was assured a Best Picture nomination because the Academy knows it needs ratings this year of all years. The ratings have been slipping, after all. Now I agreed the film was going to be nominated for Best Picture. But I didn't think it had anything to do with the show needing ratings. I took the position that the people who put on the show might feel that way but the average voters who actually mark their ballots could give two bits about whether or not the movie they are nominating will give the show ratings. To which he responded, "Well, if The Dark Knight doesn't get nominated you know this proves my argument wrong, don't you?" So I'm going to soak in this very bittersweet moment and give an Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club "HA!" to that guy.

But honestly, this is a little infuriating to me. It's one of the best reviewed films of the year. It's the second biggest moneymaker of all time. It's respected and loved with a strong and passionate fan base to go along with it all. The film actually ended up with eight nominations when you include the technical categories (including major ones like editing and cinematography). But all this tells me is that the film should have garnered 11 noms.

Where is the screenplay nomination? Where is director Chris Nolan's nod? Where is the Best Picture nomination that seemed inevitable? This movie was handed nominations by the Writer's Guild, the Producer's Guild and the Director's Guild. But the Academy elected to go another direction. I'd admire them for not going along with the script if it weren't so damn stupid. Way to think outside the box, Academy.

2. Clint Eastwood (Best Actor), Gran Torino
The second really big Holy Smokes! moment was when Forest Whitaker and Sid Ganis failed to utter Clint Eastwood's name in the Best Actor category. I loved Eastwood's character in this movie and considered him a lock, based on reputation alone. I'm doing a lot of scratching of the head this morning.

3. James Franco (Best Supporting Actor), Pineapple Express
Despite all the talk there was of Franco nabbing a nomination for his work in Milk, it was his role as Saul in Pineapple Express that was the most memorable. It's great that Robert Downey Jr. got some well-deserved love for Tropic Thunder but I think the Academy was mainly inspired by his comeback story more than anything else. This was just a nice opportunity for them to pat themselves on the back by recognizing a comedic role. The real fact of the matter is the Academy just doesn't take comedy seriously.

4. Leonardo DiCaprio (Best Actor), Revolutionary Road
DiCaprio's performance in Revolutionary Road is one of the strongest acting performances I've seen this year, so I was really caught off guard with his missing nomination. I know the film is a real downer and I figured there was at least a chance Winslet would be recognized for only one film. But I didn't think the emotional work Leo gave us here would be dismissed. On a sunnier note, I'm glad Michael Shannon was recognized at least.

5. Brad Pitt (Best Supporting Actor), Burn After Reading
No disrespect to his work in Benjamin Button, but if I were nominating Brad Pitt for one movie this year it was his hilarious performance as Chad in the latest Coen brothers entry. This is another absence that wasn't exactly a surprise but I've seen Burn about three times now and Pitt absolutely kills in this thing. I mean he really hones in on his inner loser and he has a grand time doing it. Academy, it's okay for actors to be funny! Really! Another comedic performance flushed down the Academy's toilet.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dre writes two times a week for Film.com. Email him!

Recommend (0)

|  Comments (0)

|  Email

|  Share

Share  Facebook Digg del.icio.us