Why was District 9 nominated for Best Picture?

[DerekG]

The first hour was fresh and provocative, but the second half was little more than a standard-fare SF actioner.

And where the hell was the Academy four years ago, when Children of Men was released?

[Initech]

1. The question remains: why wasn't Dark Knight nominated?

[DerekG]

6. Because they had to nominate........The Reader!!!!!

And isn't THAT the movie people will be watching ten, twenty, fifty years from now?

No, not The Dark Knight. That was just a comic-book movie. Just as The Godfather was a mere gangster flick.

Schmucks.

[bigwillq]

18. I liked The Reader better

than The Dark Knight, but I also thought TDK should've been nominated for Best Picture.

[CBGLuthier]

14. Because it really wasn't that good?

The Dark Knight has become the most stupid and boring character I have ever seen. Poor poor fucking rich vigilante can't save everybody becomes a monster himself. Harvey Dent shoehorned into a cameo? Fight scenes filmed so dark and edited so fast that we just have to assume Batman is in there somewhere.

Watchmen was the much better "comic" film.

[Frank Cannon]

16. Another lifelong Batman fan who can't stand The Dark Knight

I loved Batman Begins and thought they were making a great new start. Then The Dark Knight came around, and it was clear to me once again that when it comes to Batman, Hollywood still doesn't fucking get it.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

20. I wasn't that impressed by The Dark Knight either.

Christian Bale's performance was totally forgettable and he had that weird voice he used throughout the film.

Heath Ledger was decent, but had he not died, I don't think people would have praised it nearly as much as they did.

And the Harvey Dent/Two Face story line was rushed and awkward. He was Two Face for about 5 minutes in the entire movie, and he still plays second fiddle to the Joker, so the role gets totally forgotten.

It wasn't an awful movie, but to me it was thoroughly "meh".

[SoxFan]

49. I still like Burton's version

I think he hit upon the right mix of darkness, absurdity, and "popcorn". The reboot seems to take itself a little too seriously.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

50. I know I'm in small minority here, but....

....I liked the Val Kilmer version the best. It was light summer fluff, but Kilmer was my favorite Batman. The Clooney version sucked (as most people would agree, no disrespect to George Clooney himself). The Michael Keaton films (a la Tim Burton) were okay, but I never found Keaton to be all that Batman-y.

[Orrex]

48. Watchmen actually wasn't that great. I'd call it "incredibly okay."

Between the slo-mo fight scenes and the incredibly rushed pace of it, it ultimately fell far short of what I wanted it to be. It's better than Burton's Batman, for instance, but then so is a battery acid enema.

The only thing that they got 100% right IMO was cutting out that unbearably overwrought "Tales of the Black Freighter" that Alan "look at me" Moore shoehorned into the original story.


Regarding The Dark Knight, I suspect that you didn't realize you were watching a Batman film. The "poor poor fucking rich vigilante" angle has been part of the character for seven decades. Dent was hardly shoehorned into a cameo, at least not in the version I saw. And the fight scenes didn't strike me as too fast or too dark. I greatly prefer that kind of choreography over the excruciating slow motion so favored by other films.

[Mojambo]

2. That unmitigated piece of crap got nominated for BEST PICTURE?

I'm going to set aside my longstanding incredible disinterest for the Oscars for a moment to say...

WTF.

[wickerwoman]

3. It was a painfully, painfully weak year?

I can't even name five movies that I would nominate.

[barb162]

30. I think you're right...a very weak year. n/t

[Yurovsky]

4. Increased the # of nominees to 10 vs. 5 in years past....

and as others have commented, it was a very weak year for major motion pictures.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. Because they had to throw a good movie in with the rest of the crap.

While though the second half of the movie was rather standard-fare SF actioner, it was very good standard fare SF actioner. Very good standard fare? Anyway...

With the first half very fresh and provocative, and the second half very well done despite in not being thought provoking, District 9 was definitely one of the better movies this year.

Anyway, four years ago the Academy was smoking crack out of a teenage camel's ass. Crash won that year.

Fucking Crash.

[proteus_lives]

7. It was ok.

A bit heavy-handed but I've seen worse.

It doesn't deserve a best picture oscar though.

But the mech and battle at the end were awesome.

[quakerboy]

8. because not everyone is as wise

as those who hate district 9.

I would put it over most of the movie's Ive seen this year. Which still dosn't make it great, but what the hell. Might be better to hold these awards 5 years after the year the movies were made. Give them a little cooling period and see what stands up to time.

[LostInAnomie]

9. At least it was a creative idea.

Unlike "The Blind Side". Wow! A feel good sports movie! How fresh and original!

[RubyDuby in GA]

10. Because they were too busy participating in the giant circle jerk that was Crash

God I still hate that movie and everyone who voted for it to win.

Munich. Hands down.

AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN NOMINATE EMILY BLUNT FOR BEST ACTRESS FOR THE YOUNG VICTORIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the hell Academy? WTH?!?!?!?!

[JCMach1]

12. Thought Munich was WORSE then Crash

hated both of them...

Brokeback Mountain was the clear winner there!

[Tommy_Carcetti]

22. Am I the only one to have found Brokeback Mountain overrated?

I found the story slow and meandering, and honestly I really didn't find that all much chemistry between the two leads as I was hoping to find. Plus I couldn't understand what the hell Heath Ledger was saying half the time.

But hey, much like music, everything is so subjective.

[Auggie]

25. No. I totally agree with your entire critique.

[JCMach1]

28. It was as much about the unsaid as the said... Ledger

was fuckin' brilliant.

[JCMach1]

11. I am still mad No Country beat out There Will Be Blood

The Oscars rarely get it right!

The only thing worse is the Grammies.

[peekaloo]

17. As a longtime fan of both the Coens and PTA

I agree. Having recently(I know, I'm slow) watched TWBB I was mesmerized from the opening sequence until the bloody end. Not that my opinion of NCFOM was lessened just the realization that it wasn't the better of the two.

As for Oscars....Fargo and L.A. Confidential ,imo, were the better movies in their respective years yet lost out to overblown, overlong pieces of tedious "storytelling". Pt-tooey!

[JCMach1]

29. You are right about the Coens, they are brilliant... one of my least favorite movies

by them wins the damn thing! Arg!

[JCMach1]

13. Here is the LONG list of CRAP from Oscar's history

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Picture

[WCGreen]

15. children of Men is one of the best movies of the last decade...

It was griping, provocative and had a great cast...

Apocalyptic movies at their best.

Plus that one shot battle scene was totally awesome from a technical and cinematic event.

I liken it to Gene Kelley's dance in Singing in the Rain. Only two camera shifts in that four and a half minute shot. Compare that to the multi take splice together of "the king of dance" and you see genius.

Another reason my appreciation of Usher continues to rise...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFy4NDlS5kI

[Fire Walk With Me]

27. Seconded on Children of Men. It's one I'll eventually own

and I don't buy many DVDs.

[DainBramaged]

19. DU, where political purity extends into movie purity......

Ya just can't account for taste, thank God we don't vote for movies......

[Tommy_Carcetti]

21. The concept was better than the execution, but it was decent enough.

Does it deserve Best Picture? No. But it wasn't bad.

[WildEyedLiberal]

23. Because it was a very good movie?

I do agree with you that Children of Men should have been nominated, but the Academy has always relentlessly ignored "genre films." So I'm just glad a good sci-fi movie is actually being recognized this year, instead of the same slate of five obscure overlong "character dramas" they usually nominate.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

24. I'm wondering why "The Blind Side" was nominated.

Any movie whose trailer features the dialogue exchange...

- "You're changing that boy's life."
- "No, he's changing mine."

... automatically sucks.

Then again, the Academy had to make some concessions to the general public because the movies normally nominated are too "arty," i.e., that require you to think instead of being spoon-fed a steady stream of unchallenging and cliched thought fit for a Hallmark card.

[wickerwoman]

32. Disabled + black + sports = Academy Gold

Wasn't that an Eddie Murphy bit back in the day? All he needed to win an Oscar was to play "Bucky the Wonder Slave"?

[Starbucks Anarchist]

37. LOL, I remember that.

:rofl:

[JonLP24]

51. I never seen the movie but the it's a very good story which is true

I was aware of what Oher went through long before this movie was even made and it was a great story. A lot better story than the fictional movies that come out and I look forward to seeing it.

[Tailormyst]

26. Children of Men was excellent

District 9 was barely more then a Sci-fi channel Saturday night made for tv movie.

[Mojambo]

33. Agreed.

in 2009 "Moon" was a FAR FAR better film than District 9 could ever hope to be.

[jobycom]

42. Thanks for the tip.

I don't even remember that one coming out. I just added it to the queue. :thumbsup:

[GreenPartyVoter]

53. I just read the blurb for "Children of Men." Sounds somewhat like Brian Aldiss' "Greybeard."

[jobycom]

31. Children of Men was great, but it wasn't high on my list of films that should have won an Oscar.

I haven't seen District 9, but most of the nominees this year seem weak. You've got empty but exciting special effects fests, you've got meaningful but boring serious flicks...

I think I'm pulling for "Up!"

[WildEyedLiberal]

34. I actually think this year's nominees, on the whole, are superior to those of two years ago

I thought There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men were both dreadfully overrated. No Country was good, and deserved the win, but I don't think it was vastly superior to the best of this year's lot. There Will Be Blood was just long, tedious, and pedantic. What a dreadfully dull and pointless movie.

[jobycom]

39. I thought No Country was a once in a decade type movie.

Up there with Unforgiven or Amadeus.

I never saw Blood. Funny how one captured my attention and the other didn't interest me, when they seemed so similar in some ways.

[WildEyedLiberal]

41. The first time I saw it, I had to think about it for a bit

The second time I saw it, I did appreciate it much more. So yes, it richly deserved its Oscar.

Having seen both movies, on the whole, you've got it right. I found No Country to be a much better study of human nature in the face of changing and vicious times than TWBB.

Edit: Unforgiven is one of my all-time favorite movies.

[JCMach1]

45. No Country was one of my least favorite Coen brothers movies

They deserved it for some of their other work, so maybe it's just karma.

[LynneSin]

35. Because Peter Jackson's name was on the project and they didn't want to nominate "The Hangover"

I know "The Hangover" is raunchy comedy but it a very solid script - funny from start to finish, perfect casting and acted. It deserved the Golden Globe that it won for best Comedy. The Academy just doesn't want to reward movies like this even if the movie in question was done as well as "The Hangover".

[Blue-Jay]

36. Because District 9 was a good movie?

We watched it at an actual honest-to-god drive-in theater when it came out. Maybe there was a little overuse of the "shaky camera" effect, but it was a good story and well-acted.

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

38. why is Avatar nominated as Best Picture and

not best animated feature?

[jobycom]

40. Up! is nominated, too. Nothing precludes animated films from Best Pic awards.

Beauty and the Beast was nominated, too.

[pinniped]

43. I was disappointed in D9, and Peter Jackson sucks.

The bus shelter posters were cooler than the movie!

The UFO on the DVD box is cooler than movie!

[Odin2005]

44. Because it was an AWESOME movie?

[Alexander]

46. I am puzzled as to why some people hate this movie so much.

It's a lot better than most of the garbage spewed out this year. Certainly better than Avatar.

I will agree, though, Children Of Men was awesome.

[fujiyama]

47. Children of Man was good

I saw it a while back and don't remember it too well. I'll have to see it again.

I saw D9 recently. Although, I agree with you for the most part it was...meh...

I have to admit, I kind of found the whole Mech warrior blowing up people bit kind of funny in a twisted way. The movie itself was not Award worthy in anyway. I found it a disappointment overall and kept waiting throughout the movie for it to go somewhere. It didn't.

[jrandom421]

52. Probably

for the same reason Ordinary People won best picture in 1980 instead of The Great Santini (the opening scene with the mushroom soup is a classic), and for the same reason Dustin Hoffman won best actor for Dog Day Afternoon instead of Robert Duvall.