After this morning’s Oscar nominations were announced, Fandango.com ran a poll from readers to determine what the top snubs this year were. The results were:
1. Top Oscar Snub: Christopher Nolan – Best Director, Inception (48%)
2. Tangled – Best Animated Feature (9%)
3. Mila Kunis – Best Supporting Actress, Black Swan (8%)
4. Despicable Me – Best Animated Feature (6%)
5. Ryan Gosling – Best Actor, Blue Valentine (6%)
6. Waiting for Superman – Best Documentary (5%)
7. Black Swan – Best Original Screenplay (5%)
8. Andrew Garfield – Best Supporting Actor, The Social Network (5%)
9. Julianne Moore – Best Actress, The Kids are All Right (4%)
10. Inception– Best Editing (3%)
Seems like the Fandango fans are about right. Christopher Nolan (and Ben Affleck for that matter) were snubbed in the Best Director category. I have always felt like nominating the directors who created strong achievements in films. Often times this favors more sci-fi/epic directors–and Nolan has now directed two of these achievements (the other being “The Dark Knight”) and failed to receive a nomination.
I could generate a lot of flack for this–but is this not a superior effort than say, Tom Hooper? “The King’s Speech” is a front-runner for Best Picture, and is the front runner for Best Actor. But while the film was very well written, it was carried by the acting performances. Did Hooper really put forth a notable entrance into the annals of directing? I think not.
Often directors of well-received art films carried by their performances receive the nods for Best Picture. They win sometimes as well. But this year, Darren Aronofsky put together a great film in “Black Swan.” Ditto for “True Grit” and “The Social Network,” which were also truly guided by the hands of their directors. But “The Fighter,” and “The King’s Speech?” I don’t think they were achievements in directing.
Fans were pretty upset also that “Tangled” and “Despicable Me” didn’t receive nominations. I’ve never been especially keen on a category for “Best Animated Feature,” as the great films–“Beauty and The Beast,” “Up,” and “Toy Story 3” all receive nominations in the Best Picture category.
Mila Kunis deserved a nomination for Best Supporting Actress; it was her best work. Ditto for Andrew Garfield; they were both Oscar-worthy performances.
My longstanding belief that Julianne Moore should have been nominated along with Annette Benning is well-published. What isn’t is my love for Gosling’s performance in “Blue Valentine.” His co-star and cohort in the film, Michelle Williams, was also nominated. His lack of a nomination is sad; I likely would have voted him over Colin Firth as the best performance of the year.