F**K YOU ACADEMY AWARDS

Classy title, eh? Well, no more classy than the announced Academy Nominations today, which snubbed the Dark Knight for both Best Picture and Best Director. Had Heath Ledger not died tragically, they might not have been afforded an easy out by nominating his stunning performance as a conciliatory gesture to the best movie of the year, hands-down.Now, I haven't seen every since film that has come out, but I've certainly seen my share of the 2008 crowd. But who has? Film critics, generally speaking. So, let's just take a peek at the five nominations put against our boy Batman with the ratings from Rotten Tomatoes:

The Reader: 60%
Frost/Nixon: 91%
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: 72%
Slumdog Millionaire: 95%
Milk: 91%

and

The Dark Knight: 94% of 263 reviewsNow I know that "Best Picture" is not technically a popularity contest (don't tell that to Titanic), but doesn't it at least merit some consideration. I mean, if 4 out of every 10 critics didn't even like the film (yes, I'm looking at you, The Reader), how can it be considered in this category?I shouldn't be unfair, because The Reader is the only film I haven't seen yet on this list. (I promise that once I see it, I'll do an update.) However, I can be ruthlessly unfair to the others that I have seen. Both Frost/Nixon and Milk were good, serviceable, above par films. I don't think they don't deserve a nomination, but not at the expense of a superior film.The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is another case entirely. Clearly not a critical darling, I felt the film was very good, but I thought its nominations would be only in visual effects/makeup and maybe Brad would get a nod for Best Actor (he did). This isn't even close to Fincher's best film (Fight Club, duh), but I don't have any problem with the nomination. Unless of course you are comparing it to...Lastly, super-darling Slumdog Millionaire, which I really liked, and its spot is well-deserved. Probably the strongest of all the films on the list. Well acted, well directed, good story, emotionally moving. I highly recommend it.But keeping with the theme of being classy, Slumdog doesn't even deserve to shovel The Dark Knight's shit. For me, it was a stunningly directed film, a masterpiece screenplay, perfect-pitch performances, amazing action theatre, shocking and moving drama, and emotionally draining. In short, I was blown away. Blown away.

And it doesn't even rate as a nominee.

{Repeat blog entry title.}