While Rotten Tomatoes should never be an indicator of whether or not a film is worth a damn (that will always be a subjective matter), how the fuck does a movie that barely passes for "favorably reviewed" get nominated for the single most prestigious award in all of film?
Of course, I'm talking about the Academy Awards, which announced its nominations earlier this morning. The Reader, a drama in which Kate Winslet apparently goes full nude multiple times, was one of the five Best Picture nominees, usurping such beloved and critically lauded films as The Dark Knight, Wall-E, and The Wrestler.
What makes this nomination all the more bizarre is that this film was barely a blip on many Oscar pundit's radars. For one, I go back to the critical consensus for this film:
At Rotten Tomatoes, a movie review aggregate, the film scored a measly 60%, 1% away from being considered critically "rotten". At Metacritic, another review aggregate site, the film scored a pathetic 58%, earning "mixed or average reviews". This in favor of a film like The Dark Knight, which earned a 94% and a 82% at Rotten and Meta respectively.
The critical consensus aside, look at how this film performed with the pre-Oscar guilds and associations. The Reader wasn't nominated by the Directors Guild. It wasn't nominated by the Producers Guild. And it wasn't nominated by the Writers Guild. Add in the fact that the film has earned a measly $12 million worldwide, and I have to ask:
How the fuck was this even nominated? And to add to that, how was this nominated over The Dark Knight? That film was nominated by the Producers Guild, Directors Guild, and Writers Guild, while netting a ridiculous $997 million in worldwide ticket sales.
Now, look, I know what you're thinking: "But, Anonymous Blogger, The Dark Knight is just a comic book movie."
And here's my response to that: Fuck. That. Shit.
The film's subject matter aside, how can a movie like The Dark Knight earn that much money (indicating a strong public appreciation for the film), receive that kind of critical praise, and earn those honors from the major Hollywood guilds, but then turn around and fail to earn a nomination for Best Picture? To say it doesn't make any sense would be the understatement of the decade.
The most baffling thing about this snub is that when you take a step back and look at it, the Academy had so much to gain by nominating a film like The Dark Knight. The film would have not only served to enhance the Academy's rep from a public standpoint, but it would have been a major boost to their ratings, which hit an all-time low at the 2008 ceremony. And it's not like The Dark Knight wouldn't have "deserved" it.
Now, let me make something very clear: I haven't seen The Reader. So what I'm saying here isn't based on my own personal assessments on the merits of the film. This is merely an observation based on the facts and general Oscar-predicting theory. All I can really say at this point is that there is going to be a significant amount of backlash over this decision. The universal take on the Academy is that they're a bunch of old, stuffy, conservative fools who are out of touch with the state of film today. And when you look at it, doesn't this move completely justify that assumption?
Another point I'd like to add is that I think this will go a long way to furthering the devaluation of film critics. Not only do you have critical failures doing gangbusters at the box office, but now you've got films like The Reader being nominated for Best Picture with incredibly mixed reaction from most respected critics.
Just ask yourself: how does a film that only 60% of critics even remotely liked (let alone loved) earn a Best Picture nomination, when films like Wall-E are being called masterpieces by nearly every noted film critic? And then, in turn, how does that fail to transfer over to Academy voters? It's like we're seeing the death of the film critic's importance.
So, yes, folks. Another movie surrounding the Holocaust has been thrown into the Best Picture fray. A movie not many people have seen, and not many critics have even loved. I guess if Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan had ended his film with a single ten minute still photo of Anne Frank, the film would have been the darling of the ball.
To quote many a great man: this is some ol' bullshit.
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