We haven’t even had a second to check, but there’s probably venom dripping down the bathroom wall of the Internet right now. Geeks are probably scoffing and dismissing the “Hollywood Foreign Press” for being “foreigners!” and out of touch and god knows what other xenophobic epithets for mostly shutting out their beloved “The Dark Knight” by the 2008, 66th Annual Golden Globe nominations.
“The Dark Knight” was a juggernaut at the box-office, both in the U.S. and worldwide, but it scored one measly nomination for Heath Ledger, the one most of us sane, non-street-team people figured it would get. But some still believe ‘TDK’ is a Oscar contender, but the film and Christopher Nolan were totally shut out and we feel this will continue when Oscar comes around (Nolan himself has the best shot for another nod besides Heath; though yes, technical nominations aplenty). Even Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard failed to get an nomination for their thrilling and atonal score. Geeks are angry right now.
“Milk” was just lauded up and down yesterday by the most important U.S. critics, but it too was given only one lousy nomination for Sean Penn. Its director Gus Van Sant, its entire, very-strong supporting cast (including Josh Brolin) and the picture itself were totally shut out. Oops, Danny Boyle was nominated, we’re going too fast! Nevermind (*whistles out the room*).
If you thought the rest of the world would sympathize or understand the plight and scope of “Che” Guevara and Steven Soderbergh’s epic, forget it. Benicio del Toro might have won the Best Actor at Cannes, but again, he was cockblocked here. His Oscar chances must be unfortunately now seen as completely negligible. Another Best Actor hopeful left in the cold (again), was Josh Brolin. In September, many were calling him a sure-fire awards-season nominee, but it appears like this won’t happen (which is probably a good thing cause he was good, but not great). Clint Eastwood not earning himself a Best Actor nomination is probably viewed as a snub, but you can tell from our “Gran Torino” thoughts that we called that one at least a week ago when we finally saw it.
In the Best Actress category, poor Michelle Williams was left in the dark for her excellent turn in “Wendy & Lucy,” we pretty much figured, even though we prayed for it. Likewise, strong performances by Vera Farmiga and Kate Beckinsale in “Nothing But The Truth” were ignored. The biggest female shut-out at this point must be viewed as Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” who has a ton of U.S. praise. Not a total shocker, but Rosario Dawson’s startlingly good performance in “Seven Pounds” was also forgotten. Readers remind us that Cate Blanchett not receiving a nomination for ‘Ben Button’ must be viewed as a snub and they’re correct (especially when Brad Pitt got one and some were suggesting he was the weak link).
There’s a contingent of fruitcakes who think “Wall-E” can get into the Best Oscar Picture category and the Pixar animated cartoon was relegated to the Best Animated category where it will surely stay (thank god).
In the Best Supporting Actress category, the emotional and gut-wrenching turn by Evan Rachel Wood was overlooked for Marisa Tomei’s portrayal of a stripper in “The Wrestler.” Evidently one cancels out the others (though to be honest we’re not sure anyone was campaigning for her other than us). In the Foreign Film category, France’s Palm d’Or-winning feature, “The Class” didn’t make the cut and neither did strong contenders like “Let The Right One In” (Sweden), “Three Monkeys” (Turkey) and “Il Divo” (Italy).
The big surprises and perhaps ones that are an indication of Foreign taste were the four nominations for “The Reader,” and the three nominations for the underachieving “In Bruges,” but then again, the Globes have a comedy and or musical category where ‘Bruges’ picked up most of its nomination prizes and of course that category does not exist for Oscar. No one probably expected “Tropic Thunder” to score two acting nominations either. It’s cute and amusing that Tom Cruise got one, but there’s no way he has a shot at Oscar and anyone with two eyes that has to pick between Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (who also got snubbed in the Best Supporting category, which is outright poppycock!) and Robert Downey Jr., well, the choice is super obvious unless you’re completely blind or mentally retarded, frankly.
Lastly, it’s not a snub because no one else seems to care, but Eddie Marsan’s awe-inspiring performance in “Happy-Go-Lucky” as a repressed psychopath was overlooked. We championed all we could, but no one was ever in the tank as deeply for him as we were we don’t think. It’s shame. It’s still one our favorite performances of the year. Other performances, not necesarily snubbed, but worth a second glance at, is our Breakout and Breakthrough Performances of 2008 piece.
Who else do you think got snubbed? For once, we’re actively asking you to “sound off” (god we hate that term) in the comments section. Maybe we’ll even update our piece if we think you’re on the money.
