Oscar Snubs and Loves The Oscar nominations were announced this morning and the world held its breath in suspense...or at least the parts of the world not steeped in war, poverty, starvation, or an economy on its death bed. Correction: the Oscar nominations were announced this morning and the motion picture industry was all a-flutter, and the rest of us were mildly interested, but ultimately distracted by harsh reality.
Revolutionary Road was all but ignored, except for a Best Actor nod for Michael Shannon, who represents the only voice of truth in a movie Dave McCoy, msn.com, lovingly refers to as an "overwrought piece of garbage."
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button earned 13 nods including Best Actor Brad Pitt and Best Supporting Actress for Taraji P. Henson.
Kate Winslet got a nod for Best Actress for her role in The Reader (oddly, she won for Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globes, when her character is the focal part of the movie--apparently Oscar has rectified the error). The Reader also earned nominations for Best Picture and Best Director.
Clint Eastwood was ignored in Gran Torino, as well as Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky and Kristin Scott Thomas in I've Loved You So Long; but the excellent Mickey Rourke earned a Best Actor nomination for The Wrestler in order to continue the Most Unlikely Comeback of the Decade.
But the obvious contenders have returned for the final fight: Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor in The Dark Knight, In Bruges for Best Screenplay, Slumdog Millionaire for Best Film, and Wall-E for Best Animated Film.
So, while the rest of us worry over our faltering investments and 401(k)s, Hollywood's best and brightest will put all of their energy into not eating and injecting military-grade botulism into their faces in order to look their best when they indulge in orgiastic self-congratulation. Since this is an annual tradition, I am, personally, rooting for all the underdogs.
For the complete list of nominations, see oscar.com