What John Thinks...of the 81st Annual Oscar Nominations

Boooooorrrrrriiiiiinnng.

That pretty much sums up my thoughts on this year’s crop of Oscar nominees. In a year with so many terrific and varied films and performances, the Academy’s picks were disappointingly typical, especially in the Best Picture race.

I mean don’t necessarily mean any offense toward “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Frost/Nixon”, “Milk”, “The Reader” or “Slumdog Millionaire.” I’ve actually only had the chance to see one of this year’s Best Picture contenders so far, but I plan on seeing them all before the Oscar telecast on Feb. 22 and, for all I know I could end up thinking they were the five best movies of the year.

However, as it stands now, the picks look like they came out of the same overdone Oscar playbook that’s been used for the better part of the last decade. There’s the painfully obvious Oscar-baiting, big-budget prestige pic (“Benjamin Button”), the biopic/true story of a famous figure (“Milk” and “Frost/Nixon”), the Holocaust pic (has this ACTUALLY become a genre?) and the indie sensation that everyone is possibly (probably?) overrating just a tad (“Slumdog Millionaire”, welcome to the “Juno” and “Little Miss Sunshine” club.

What’s especially maddening is that there were actually a couple of big ‘ol Hollywood hits the Oscars could’ve picked for the big race to make things interesting in “The Dark Knight” and “Wall-E.” I wish I could say I was shocked that “The Dark Knight” was left off the Best Picture race (I’ve always had an “I’ll believe when I see it approach”), while Wall-E being relegated to the “Best Animated Feature” race was one of the day’s more predictable outcomes, despite the fact that it’s the best love story of the year (and the last couple of years).

I’m not saying that the Oscars needed to include “The Dark Knight” or “Wall-E” JUST to make things interesting for the casual viewer that may not make it out to theatre to see the prestige pics. The Oscars should ALWAYS be about honoring the year’s best. What I’m saying is that, in my humble opinion, “The Dark Knight” and “Wall-E” WERE among the year’s best, and the MAIN reasons they didn’t get nominated is because a lot of people liked them (the general public can’t know what’s good for them, right?) and they happened to be an action movie and a cartoon, which are, unfortunately, not part of the Oscar playbook.

There WERE a few pleasant mini-surprises in the acting categories. I was happy to see Melissa Leo and Richard Jenkins in the Best Actress and Best Actor race, respectively. (I’m especially happy for Jenkins since I’m a huge “Six Feet Under” fan). However, the rest of the pics were ho-hum. Yes, it’s good to see Mickey Rourke get an Oscar nom, but that was a given thanks to all the awards and nominations he’s picked up so far during awards season. Yes, it was wonderful to see Heath Ledger get a Best Supporting Actor nomination, but, again, it wasn’t exactly a shocker and, after “The Dark Knight” snub for Best Picture, it actually feels more like the measly bone the Academy decided to throw at the year’s biggest movie.

So what’d you think of this year’s Oscar nominations? Anyone you were particularly delighted to see or shocked to see left out?