Where's Robert Downey Jr.'s Best Actor nomination for "Iron Man?" Heath Ledger got a Best Supporting Actor nod for "The Dark Knight" -- but he wouldn't have if he hadn't died from drugs, because "The Dark Knight" was a blockbuster, and they rarely give major category Oscars nominations to hugely popular films.
Robert Downey Jr. is eminently capable of dying from drugs, but it seems kind of harsh to ask that of him.
Yet, "Iron Man" wouldn't have been nearly as big of a hit with anybody else in the lead. I'd guess that Downey added $100 million to the domestic box office. It's kind of like a sportswriter saying, "We shouldn't give the MVP award to Peyton Manning because he makes so much money already, so I'm voting for the criminally underappreciated long-snapper on the Detroit Lions. Look how much they had to punt this year!"
Robert Downey Jr. is eminently capable of dying from drugs, but it seems kind of harsh to ask that of him.
Yet, "Iron Man" wouldn't have been nearly as big of a hit with anybody else in the lead. I'd guess that Downey added $100 million to the domestic box office. It's kind of like a sportswriter saying, "We shouldn't give the MVP award to Peyton Manning because he makes so much money already, so I'm voting for the criminally underappreciated long-snapper on the Detroit Lions. Look how much they had to punt this year!"
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
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25 comments:
Heath Ledger shouldn't have gotten the nomination because - c'mon - that was a stunt not a performance. He was pretty cool and creepy, but Ocscar worthy?
That was the funniest thing I've read in a while. I love your movie writing.
Didn't the Academy give Elizabeth Taylor an Oscar because she'd had surgery earlier that year? Their reasons for handing out their little statuettes seem so childishly wayward.
Why does anyone outside the industry really care about the Oscars anyway?
Best Film nominations: The Reader (obligatory Holocaust movie); Doubt (religion-bashing movie); Milk (homosexual movie); Nixon/Frost (Republican-bashing movie); Slumdog Millionaire (ethnic movie); The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (none of the above - I hope it wins!).
no matter how you slice it,
milk
frost/nixon
the reader
were not nearly the best movies of the year. there were at least 10 movies better than all of these, especially the reader, which at no point approached greatness, and got the token nazi movie nomination. the token nazi movie nomination being a reliable, extremely boring element of the fairly jewish academy awards process.
perhaps the dark knight was not the best movie in 2008, but it was a hell of a lot better than any of the 3 movies above.
the timing of the release of these types of movies is 100% political, a naked oscar nomination grab. nobody has even seen some of these films by the time they are nominated.
the best original script nominations were total crap. i seriously doubt that many of the people in the academy even saw "frozen river". who saw this movie? i want to know. i seriously want to know who saw this and decided that it had one of the best plots and some of the best dialog and characters of the year.
"in bruges" had the worst first 30 minutes of script i have seen since "the matrix reloaded." honestly. the opening of that movie was mind numbingly boring. i almost turned the movie off. it was so, SO not one of the best scripts of the year.
i honestly think these guys are deeply jealous of how good a writer and director christopher nolan is, and how entertaining and interesting his movies are. had "the dark knight" been about a new york city cop instead of a guy in a batsuit, it would have easily cruised into a nomination in all the major categories. i dare the academy to point out where it is significantly inferior to "LA confidential" or "the departed". "the dark knight" is nothing if not an updated, superior version of "heat".
The best film, The Wrestler, wasn't even nominated. What's up with that?
A crap list of nominations in a crap year for movies. The last new movie I enjoyed was Woody Allen's light romantic comedy "Vicky Christina Barcelona". Before that, "Tropic Thunder", which managed a few decent guffaws.
In traditional China - a very poor country - people did not have ovens in their houses. They ate Peking Duck at restaurants where there were ovens.
Similarly today most people have to go to a public movie theater to see a feature film. That is only because we are as yet still poor. In a dozen years going out to a movie theater will seem quaint. It will be like going to a Drive-in.
The studios and the Hollywood powers are again afraid of home viewing in a way not seen since the fifties. Speilberg, Lucas and Cameron are all looking for ways to fill theater seats. Hence the recent spate of lame 3D movies.
Many people, myself included, abandonned public theaters years ago and have installed Home Theaters. Its not as expensive as many think although it can be very, very expensive if you want to knock out walls, build up floors and install elaborate decorating themes. The bridge of the Star Ship Enterprise is particularly popular as a theme.
The projectors themselves and the electronics don't cost all that much. I expect tract houses to soon routinely offer Home Theater upgrades.
The picture and sound are better in almost any Home Theater than in the average movieplex. The only disadvantage is the time slip you feel when you know you won't see the movie that is being heavily promoted for several more months.
It's hard to get excited over the Oscars when I know won't see any of those movies much before next fall.
The best film, The Wrestler, wasn't even nominated. What's up with that?
I agree it's the best movie of the year, but I'm not surprised it was snubbed. What is less-SWPL than wrestling?
Im not sure that this home theatre thing is ever going to kill the movie theatres. Sounds a bit too much hassle for the average person.
Knocking down walls; not very plug-and-play.
I agree it's the best movie of the year, but I'm not surprised it was snubbed. What is less-SWPL than wrestling?
And yet it's been playing mostly at arthouse theaters in upscale white neighborhoods and getting rave reviews from SWPL magazines.
The best film, The Wrestler, wasn't even nominated. What's up with that?
Well, I'm assuming - haven't seen it - that "the wrestler" is neither a homosexual, nor a Jew, nor a Non-Asian-Minority (I am referring to the character); nor his antagonists white patriarchs. If I'm right, it's obvious why this movie would not be nominated: it is too "whitish," i.e., not to the taste of hetereosexual-white-man-hating elites.
A film like "Rocky," for instance, would not receive the same Oscar attention today as it did 30 years ago. A poor white fighter is presented respectfully, and he nearly pounds an unlikeable black opponent to death, and we're rooting for him? Unthinkable in Hollywood 2009. (Almost unthinkable then - I remember when Danny Thomas refused to shake Stallone's hand on Donahue.)
Mickey and Tomei got acting nominations. Do they stand a chance?
I'm sure Downey pulled a lot of people in for Tropic Thunder too. He was the reason I went. Ledger will get the Oscar for supporting actor even though Downey's performance was more enjoyable.
He's in his early 40s; he'll eventually get one if he stays clean. He's got two things going for him: big-time talent and a comeback story like Rourke. He doesn't need death.
The Oscars are just awards given out at an industry convention. Why should anybody care about it? It is right up there with Car and Driver 10 Best Cars of the Year!
What is less-SWPL than wrestling?
NASCAR, hunting, pink flamingo lawn ornaments, pretty much anything. You yourself must be black or lower-class White if you don't know that. Bill Simmons (the ESPN sports guy) fits the SWPL mold pretty well (prep school, elite college) - and he's always raving about pro wrestling. Most upper class little boys these days watch wrestling. It's campy, and allows White People a frisson of working class violence in a safe cartoonish way.
"anotnomous said...
Heath Ledger shouldn't have gotten the nomination because - c'mon - that was a stunt not a performance. He was pretty cool and creepy, but Ocscar worthy?"
If Ledger gets it, it won't just be because he's dead, but because he previously played a homosexual sheep-herder.
Who goes to movies anymore. I download the newest movies online and watch them on my big screen with my blu-ray player. Do you people also have your milk delivered?
The Academy is the Tip of the Hollywood iceberg. It is useless to point out how the Academy and the Oscars are rigged, when it is Hollywood itself that is rotten to the core.
Add to it the old-in-the-1970s "social awareness" that comes out to Holocaust guilt trips, Third World guilt trips, Black Slavery guilt trips - and in general boring depressing movies about peasants and slumdwellers.
Some of the best movies are action, adventure, science fiction, fantasy, and super-hero. The Hollwood elites won't praise them, not so much because they glorify technology, but because they depict heroic struggles of good vs. evil, and even worse, the good guys win. Hercules slays the Hydra - or Spider-Man webs up Dr. Octopus.
If I want to see an anti-Nazi film, I would put on an Indiana Jones classic rather than The Reader.
Im not sure that this home theatre thing is ever going to kill the movie theatres.
Cue Singing in the Rain. "Don't worry JG, talking pictures are just a fad".
NASCAR, hunting, pink flamingo lawn ornaments, pretty much anything.
A movie about hunting won the Oscar for best picture last year. Keep it real, Vanya.
Albertosaurus- love your stuff but you do realize you can get some software, go online and download movies that are theatre quality the day they come out in theatres. I see films before reviewers....do people not know this?
BTW Batman 7 sucked and so did the Wrestler 2 (Ram's Revenge!!)
What is less-SWPL than wrestling?
Mud wrestling.
"Anonymous said...
"What is less-SWPL than wrestling?"
Mud wrestling."
Mexican Midget Wrestling!
danindc said
you can get some software, go online and download movies that are theatre quality the day they come out
You can also go to prison.
Ow, that's cold. Robert Downey Jr. is getting ripped off twice this year -- once by not being nominated for "Iron Man," and once because Heath Ledger will get the Oscar Robert deserves for "Tropic Thunder." He also got screwed in 1992 when he lost for "Chaplin;" does anyone seriously think Al Pacino was better in "Scent of a Woman?" I'm hoping Robert's performance in the long-delayed "The Soloist" is as good as advertised and puts him in the running for next year.
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