And the Oscar snub goes to ...
Are we done unpacking the films that earned Oscar nominations? Good. Then let's talk about who and what didn't get nominated on Tuesday morning.
For starters, none of the cast of Avatar got tapped -- not in all their transmogrified powder-blue glory. Geekworld was loudly gunning for Zoe Saldana (less so for Sam Worthington), but the Academy is clearly not in a place, just yet, where they consider a motion-captured performance as the real deal. Some day. Just not Tuesday.
Geekworld was also rooting for Star Trek in the Best Picture category. (As a longtime Trekkie myself, I say: As if!)
Second: The Michael Jackson doc This Is It failed to moonwalk its way into the Documentary Feature category. Hangover didn't make it anywhere, but, well ... am I alone in thinking it wasn't all that funny? (Okay, so the initial wake-up scene was hilarious. And everything with the tiger. And maybe the bed.) Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs got bumped from the race for Animated Feature, but that one gave me a stomach ache, so I don't mind.
Third: The Road was conspicuously missing from every major category. As much as I liked the film, this didn't especially surprise me, as most of the movie-going populace is up to its greasy forehead in dystopian post-apocalyptic landscapes -- no matter how many times we mutter aloud, "Cormac McCarthy is our greatest living writer." True dat.
Fourth: Invictus was also absent from the Best Picture category, teaching all the world that Clint Eastwood can, in fact, make a movie that's merely good. And (500) Days of Summer didn't get any attention in the original screenplay category, a bit of a disappointment for fans of sweet-natured non-linear not-quite-romances.
What else? Tobey Maguire didn't get a nod for Brothers, Christian McKay didn't get one for Me and Orson Welles and Saoirse Ronan didn't get one for The Lovely Bones, but she's far too young and far too talented to mourn for long. Inglourious Basterds' Diane Kruger failed to materialize in the Supporting Actress category.
Finally, the Academy nominated Stanley Tucci for the wrong role. He got the nod for his icky-sticky murderer in The Lovely Bones. He deserved it, instead, for playing Julia Child's adorably supportive husband in Julie & Julia.
http://blogs.chron.com/peep/2010/02/and_the_oscar_snub_goes_to_1.html