Oscar nominations 2009

Maybe I’m just in a bad mood this morning, but theOscar nominations that just came out
really suck this year.
Here are the Best Picture nominees:
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Frost/Nixon,” “Milk,” “The Reader,” “Slumdog Millionaire.”

I want to see “Frost/Nixon,” but as for the rest I am really indifferent. I was hoping that “Gran Torino” would get a Best Picture nomination, but no such luck.
I’m sure the ones that made it are all good films, but I just can’t get excited about them. I’m having a hard time seeing the appeal of a movie about a guy who is born old and gets younger as he ages. It sounds depressing. And I’m sure “Milk” is a well-done bio-pick, but I am more interested in seeing Oliver Stone’s “W” instead.
Why can’t they make room for at least one of the hugely popular and extremely well done films this year such as “Dark Knight” or “Iron Man” or “WALL-E.” They used to do that. Remember when “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was nominated for Best Picture? Or “Star Wars”? They didn’t win, but at least they got some well deserved recognition. But these days the Academy is extremely snooty and refuses to acknowledge any film that brings in more than $100 million at the box office. I think they are shooting themselves in the foot.
I’m glad that they gave a posthumous nomination to Heath Ledger for “Dark Knight,” but they will probably end up giving the Oscar to Robert Downey Jr. for his goofy role in “Tropic Thunder”. Downey is a great actor and is overdue for an Oscar, but he should have been nominated this year for “Iron Man”.
And I’m disappointed that Clint Eastwood didn’t get recognized for his acting in “Gran Torino”. Instead, they gave that slot of Richard Jenkins in the Not-Appearing-At-Your-Theater Indy-flick “The Visitor”.