As for some of the snubs here, the gritty, violent, and stylized Drive was beloved by so many film fans (including plenty of us MoFos), and it definitely had some of the year's most memorable scenes (have you been able to look at a hammer or strangers in elevators the same way since?). For whatever reasons, it didn't make the cut come Oscar time. Even though Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is dark and graphic and nihilistic and intense, certainly it might well have made the rolls for Best Picture. But it didn't. I know each installment of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings got a Picture nomination and the finale won a zillion awards, including Best Picture...but fantasy fanboys and girls, it does not then follow that every big series will replicate this success. So for those of you who love Harry Potter, it doesn't mean an Oscar nom was inevitable. The Lord of the Rings wasn't a pattern or a precedent for the genre, it was its own thing.
Since the recent expansion from five nominees, the frontrunner in the animated feature category has also been making an appearance here for Best Picture. Not this year, though it probably points to there being no one, clear favorite there (and conspicuously, no PIXAR or Adventures of Tintin). Hard to call that a snub, but it is a break in the recent pattern.
George Clooney's The Ides of March got a screenplay nod, but didn't have enough gas to break into Picture. Clint Eastwood's ambitious J. Edgar didn't seem to get much of a consensus among critics, audiences, or the Academy, so it fell by the wayside. Same thing for Cronenberg's Jung & Freud piece A Dangerous Method. Sadly Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy underperformed a bit, Polanski's Carnage was completely ignored, and the two indie faves that generated buzz during the summer months, Take Shelter and Martha Marcy May Marlene, may have simply peaked too early.
Lars Von Trier's Melancholia was one of my personal favorites of the year, but I certainly didn't expect it to get any Oscar attention. The one I really wish had made it was the aforementioned Take Shelter. Loved that movie, but other than the Independent Spirit Awards and a few critics prizes it was generally shut out this awards season. Its Oscar no-show was not unexpected, but it is too bad. Amazing flick.
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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
Last edited by Holden Pike; 01-28-12 at 07:47 PM.