*"• The best thing about 10-time nominee "Slumdog Millionaire" is its music, and it got three nods between original score and original song. Go A.R. Rahman!"*
The nominees for the *81st Academy Awards*<http://www.oscars.org/awards/81academyawards/nominees.html>have been announced, and the fanboys are none too happy. "The Academy just slit their own throats," proclaimed Harry Knowles, editor of aintitcool.com. A reader named Halik at joblo.com cried out: "CURSE THE HEAVENS!!!" One particularly disgusting post at IMDB.com blasted the Academy for forcing the gay agenda on America by nominating "Milk," and wondered: "maybe if bruce wayne came out then TDK would be in there too." Yes, this is what happens when an Academy full of pseudo-intellectuals, Old Hollywood cronies and pompous blowhards declines to nominate a superhero movie as best picture. And what does it matter? "The Dark Knight" has already made more than $500 million in America and is all but guaranteed to be considered a classic of its genre(s). Who cares if 5,000 people who don't care what "the folks" like or think decide it's not worthy of winning a gold statute? Most of the Web fanboys will tell you how meaningless Oscar is, and point to best-picture wins by "Shakespeare In Love," "Crash" and "Chicago" as evidence. So settle down already, people. The Oscars, in the long run, mean ... *nothing*. But that doesn't mean they're not fun to watch or to talk about. Some random Oscar tidbits: • I am thrilled to see Richard Jenkins ("The Visitor") and Robert Downey Jr. ("Tropic Thunder") get nominations. Neither has any hope of actually winning, but it's nice to see the Academy recognize a long-suffering character actor and a truly brave comedic performance. • The best thing about 10-time nominee "Slumdog Millionaire" is its music, and it got three nods between original score and original song. Go A.R. Rahman! • How in the world did "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" get 13 nominations? It's almost as if the picture was carried on hype alone. The reviews were good, but they weren't *great*, and I think most who have seen the picture can agree that, of the two leads, Brad Pitt wasn't the one you'd nominate. • "WALL-E" got shut out of best picture, like I knew it would, but I do have a little glimmer of hope that it could win for its screenplay. (The animated feature Oscar is in the bag, of course.) • Can someone explain to me what was so great about Josh Brolin's performance in "Milk"? I loved the movie and I even loved Sean Penn in it (which is really saying something for me), but Brolin left no impression at all on me, thanks mostly to his underwritten part. • I really didn't want "Frost/Nixon" to get nominated for best picture, because I didn't want to feel obligated to go see it. I guess you can't win them all. • This must be the first time I've ever seen two of the documentary feature nominees: Werner Herzog's "Encounters at the End of the World," and the vastly overrated "Man on Wire." So where the hell was "Dear Zachary," Academy voters? • "Hellboy II" got a nomination for best makeup. Get 'em, Red! • Kate Winslet's performance in "The Reader" was named a supporting performance by the Golden Globes, but as a lead performance at the Oscars. She won for both "The Reader" *and* "Revolutionary Road" at the former. I wonder if she'll win in a landslide because voters will be giving her credit for two movies, essentially. • My official predictions: *Best Picture:* "Slumdog Millionaire" *Best Director:* Stephen Daldry, "The Reader" *Best Actor:* Sean Penn, "Milk" *Best Actress:* Kate Winslet, "The Reader" *Best Supporting Actor:* Duh. *Best Supporting Actress:* Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/1291
