Oscar Snubs

With the return of Lost I have recently been geeking out a lot trying to wrap my head around the idea of fate vs. free will. While I would love nothing more than to do a post discussing the show, there are entire blogs devoted to just the show so that would be a disservice. This obsession has taken my eye off a huge movie moment: the Oscar nominations.

This year they moved the field from five nominations for Best Picture to ten nominations. This was probably the wrong year to do it. Not only have the movies been sub par this year due to the economy but the biggest movie since Titanic came out this year. That movie alone is enough to bolster the ratings for the sagging awards show.

While it is tough to find snubs and you may not want to hear my opinion I enjoy writing these posts so lets see if we can make an argument for some that the Academy looked past.

1) (500) Days of Summer: This is without a doubt the first movie that comes to mind. It certainly deserves to be there with the expanded field. The ending may be kind of shabby but the movie on a whole does things rarely seen in movies. It has a great music track and the acting is fantastic. The writing is smart and sharp and the non-linear style of story telling is a difficult thing to pull off and this movie pulls it off brilliantly. So many chances for a nomination here and its blown off in so many categories.

2) The Hangover: This was one of the movies that I thought would benefit from the expanded field especially with a Golden Globe to its name. But alas the Academy has never thought too highly about comedies. How about Zach Galifianakis as a best supporting actor (even if the award already has the name Christopher Waltz on it). Or how about Stu's Song over Randy Newman. If Blame Canada can get a nomination with an outstanding rendition done by Robin Williams than certainly Ed Helms deserves one.

3) Where the Wild Things Are and Public Enemies: For the 3's and 5's of dedicated readers I have you will know I didn't really like these movies but you can hand out a nomination for best costume design at the very least.

4) Best Animation: Give me Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Ponyo over Coraline and The Secret of Kells. I'll one up that and say that Ponyo could have beat Up! had it been nominated.

5) Not Really Snubs: These are roles where some people may think the Oscars got it wrong but I agree with being looked over.
a) Clint Eastwood for Best Director
b) Sharlito Copley for Best Actor
c) Robert Downey Jr. for Best Actor
d) Star Trek for Best Picture
e) Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans for Best Picture (Or maybe I just hate Nick Cage that much


Feel Free to comment and let me know your thoughts.