The big winner this year in the 2009 Oscar nominations has to be seen as The Weinstein Company.
Earlier this fall, they took a huge gamble when they very publicly rush-released “The Reader” against the wishes of the director Stephen Daldry and the producer Scott Rudin (They also pushed the fan-favorite “The Road” aside to make more room for the WWII film’s chances). What followed was a very ugly, public and press-followed fracas and many (or at least us) assumed would generate enough bad blood to keep the film away from Oscars. The exact opposite happened. Despite being a rather cold picture and met with mixed reviews (some of the lowest ratings in recent Oscar history), the film garnered 5 nominations including Best Picture and Best Director which stole slots from…
The big loser has to be seen as Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” which many assumed was going to get a Best Picture and Best Director nod. It didn’t happen, but ‘TDK’ did grab a not too shabby 8 nominations including one for Heath Ledger’s ferocious performance (naturally). Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s amazing score was also overlooked. The film did grab the prestigious Best Editing award which generally is held for one of the Best Picture nominees.
Many thought Clint Eastwood would come from behind and score a Best Actor nomination, but instead, like the SAG noms predicted, the quiet and internal performance of Brad Pitt in ‘Benjamin Button’ was awarded with a nod instead. Another major diss in our minds was the fact that Bruce Springsteen’s amazing titular “The Wrestler” song was snubbed from the Best Original song category. How did that happen?
Cate Blanchett in ‘Ben Button’ not receiving a nomination over Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” is a snub to many, but not us (or the guild? don’t think so…). Eastwood’s film was not the greatest, but Jolie was solid. Blanchett did nothing for us in ‘Button’ and was like a honking swan throughout.
To no one’s surprise, “Revolutionary Road” was very overlooked including Leonardo DiCaprio, Sam Mendes and even Kate Winslet who somehow was given the Best Lead Actress nom for the supporting role of “The Reader.” Poor Sally Hawkins also didn’t receive any love for “Happy-Go-Lucky” and the film itself was mostly overlooked aside from a requisite Best Original Screenplay hat tip. Sad, but also not unexpected were snubs for Kristin Scott Thomas in “I’ve Loved You So Long,” and Benicio del Toro in “Che” (both films were awarded with zero nominations). Also to no one’s shock was the exclusion of Michelle Williams in the Best Actress category for “Wendy & Lucy” and any acting nods for all the actors of “Nothing But The Truth” (there was talk there for a while, Kate Beckinsale was quite good).
Another major snub on “Revolutionary Road” was in the cinematography category and somehow the great Roger Deakins’ work was overlooked, however Deakins’ co-work on “The Reader” was recognized (Chris Menges however did the bulk of the work). Thomas Newman’s music was also given the heave-ho, but then again his better “Wall-E” music was not. Hey, Sri Lankan rapper/singer M.I.A. can now add Academy Award nominess to the list of her many accolades thanks to ‘Slumdog’s “O Saya” earning a nod in the Best Original song category.
The one consolation prize for us was the fact that Michael Shannon (“Revolutionary Road”) was rightfully awarded his Best Supporting nomination (and we scored our $25) and Dev Patel (‘Slumdog’) was rightfully left out in the cold (he’s ok, but he’s no Shannon). Rosemarie DeWitt from “Rachel Getting Married” will be seen as a snub to some, but she was pretty much shut out during most of the awards season (aside from the ISP’s) so it was no shock. “Wall-E” did not get a Best Picture nod, but no one in their right mind really expected that aside from the delusional Vulture guys (sorry dudes).
All and all, not that many surprises, but ‘Dark Knight’ not receiving Best Picture, Director and score is eye-brow raising. We called the major snubs on this film months ago, but went against our instincts when the rising chorus of critics convinced us otherwise. We should have stuck to our gut. The other major surprise is the aforementioned Bruce Springsteen snub. That and the ‘TDK’ score diss are probably the biggest two travesties aside from del Toro and KST, but we knew they unfortunately wouldn’t be given any recognition.
You can bet your bottom dollar geek sites are FREAKING over the ‘Dark Knight’ snub. There’s no major headline umbrage at /Film, FirstShowing or Film School Rejects, but a closer look will possibly show some outrage and at the very least, certainly in their comments section.