… to show their utter lack of appreciation for animation as an art form. Or they can see what film critics across the country saw.
They can decide that cartoons are just for the kids. Or they can get what the L.A. Film Critics, the Chicago Film Critics, the Online Film Critics Society, and it placed third (behind #1 Flight of the Red Balloon and #2 A Christmas Tale) in IndieWire’s survey of 100 film critics.
Check out Rotten Tomatoes.
WALL•E deserves more than a Best Animated Feature nomination. It deserves a Best Picture nomination.
Considering the Academy’s record, I’m not optimistic. But I’d love to be very, very surprised. Go, Andrew Stanton!
They already have a visual-effects category. Now, if they nominated Waltz with Bashir, they could get a twofer and show that they were taking animation AND documentaries seriously!
Very disappointed, but not surprised, to see WALL-E shunned in Best Picture. But hey, even Scorsese never received an Oscar until “The Departed”–a fine movie, but not his best by a long shot. So Andrew Stanton will either be recognized in time or he’ll be one of the few legends of cinema who is embraced by everyone but the Academy.
I know you weren’t a “Slumdog” fan, but I was very glad to see it nominated…along with the surprise nomination for The Reader and Frost/Nixon. But I thought “Milk,” while a great showcase for Seann Penn and Josh Brolin, was extremely overrated and succumbed to the usual biopic problem of lionizing its source. And “Benjamin Button” deserved a nomination for its first hour…and then threw away all the goodwill as it plodded on for two more. Forrest Gramp.
But there are little things I’m happy for. Obviously, Heath Ledger deserved his nomination and I was very heartened to see Michael Shannon recognized–he’s the best thing about “Revolutionary Road” (a film I thought deserved a Best Picture nomination). Thrilled to see Richard Jenkins nominated for “The Visitor” and Marisa Tomei for “The Wrestler” (Mickey Rourke already owns the award this year, but the film and his character would have fallen flat without her counterpoint performance. Personally, I’ve found “The Wrestler” to be a film that has stuck with me since I’ve seen it and I would have loved to see a Best Picture nom squeaked out for that).
And the world has to be a little bit fair if they had the good sense to nominate Robert “Just Because it’s a Theme Song Doesn’t Make it Not True” Downey Jr. for “Tropic Thunder.”
In my mind, here’s how the Best Picture nominees should have shaped out:
1. WALL-E
2. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
3. FROST/NIXON
4. THE WRESTLER
5. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
Jeffrey,
It’s OK – Brett McCracken’s pick, Gran Torino, didn’t even make the cut. So, perhaps the good movies – truly good movies – (once again?) got the shaft this year.
Yes, I was happy to see the Tropic Thunder appearance 🙂
But, I was so disappointed to see Wall-E shut out. The other competitors for Best Animated Feature are an insult to Wall-E. It’s like throwing a gladiator in the ring with a litter of kittens. Years from now, Wall-E will be the only film to stand out as a classic, likely on the whole list of films mentioned in the nominations. It’s the only one that has that special something in it (at least that I saw) that makes movies magic. It is an instant classic. And I’m not the only one that thinks so by a long shot. So, how does that not even get a nod?
upon seeing walle i immediately said best picture. i loved it. but honestly, it belongs in the category the animators fought for. animation.