Oscar has fickle and pedestrian taste, and the awards are rarely an indication of a movie’s potential shelf life or artistic merit. (See: Crash. Or, if you haven’t, don’t.) I was shocked when Atonement didn’t win last year, because its mixture of melodrama, literary-ness, and something on the order of a truly incredible tracking shot is often what Oscar goes in for.
Film fans know this, we say it every year, and yet, and yet…it’s still disappointing when our favorite films are overlooked. My Facebook friends are boo-hooing over Christopher Nolan’s near miss at a Best Picture nod for
The Dark Knight (I don’t share their sense of loss; it’s a stunning movie with the best villain performance in years, but has no sense of story). The real loss is that the Academy didn’t see fit to nominate
Wall-E, which is as close to a masterwork as we’ve seen in film this year. It’s also a perfect 2008 movie: in the year that we most radically came face to face with the consequences of our over-comsumption, we had a gorgeous, prophetic movie about that exact subject, both chiding us and showing us how to overcome ourselves.
It’s a shame that animated films don’t get nominated for Best Picture, because it is not unusual for some of the best storytelling, cinematography, acting, and all-around movie-making to happen in cartoons.
The Iron Giant,
Finding Nemo,
The Incredibles, and
Ratatouille were all among the best films of their years, and that’s just to mention American work.
I’ve yet to see Slumdog Millionaire, The Reader, or Frost/Nixon–studios are still reluctant to shed their old rollout distribution habits, so it takes forEVer for good movies to get to Colorado Springs. (But hey,
Fireproof is still showing!). So of the nominated pics, so far my vote would go to
Benjamin Button. Awesome movie to look at, with fine acting. Way too Forrest Gump-y for my usual tastes, but I was taken in by its audacious attempt to tackle big huge human themes: Loss. Regret. Responsibility. Colorado’s own
David Fincher has proven his ability to make movies in the big, classy old Hollywood style.
posted January 22, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Wall-E was a great movie, for sure. But doesn’t the availability of Wall-E stationary, bed sheets and shower curtains bring its credibility into question? Great message, but it was still a part of the problem. Maybe this is why it was left out?
posted January 22, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Hey, I got a Wall-E action figure for Christmas which brings me great joy. Rather than see it as a product of crass commercialism, I choose to see it as a sacred object that reminds me of Wall-E’s creativity, industriousness, and wonder, and I am encouraged to emulate!
posted January 22, 2009 at 1:45 pm
You’ll notice I didn’t mention the action figure. Though one could argue that it belongs on the list, the issue I’m taking are common household items rebranded and purchased at a higher cost because they have a cartoon character on them.
posted January 22, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I’m pretty sure it wasn’t left out b/c it participates in the system it critiques. And that it does participate in that system makes me love its message even more. I mean, _of course_ Disney is going to merchandise its properties. The real irony is they are also paying for one of their properties to critique them! (What is the Axion if not Disney World in space?)
posted January 22, 2009 at 3:55 pm
er, the AxioM
posted January 22, 2009 at 4:10 pm
I agree with you whole heartedly about the animated movies getting snubbed by Oscar. I have seen many animated features that had better story and depth of feeling in them than the traditional Hollywood fare. I also think it is interesting that you mentioned The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille, other than being produced by Pixar they also have another common name behind their story writing and that is Brad Bird. I think that Mr. Bird is a fantastic director as well as screenwriter and will be one to watch as animation takes on traditional movie making for a shot at Oscar. If you have a copy of The Incredibles on DVD check out the commentary with Brad Bird and producer John Walker. I normally don’t listen to the commentaries, but I did on this one and Brad talks about how animation is not a genre…check it out.
posted January 22, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Frost/Geithner ? at 100th Oscar at 2029