The Dark Knight, Wall-E, AND Iron Man for Best Picture?!

Posted by on October 28th, 2008   Filed under: Animation, Awards
Source: New York Times

Well it’s that time of year again, when the Pixar fanboys come out of the woodwork and start calling for their latest animated masterpiece to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It happens every year, and while I certainly enjoy Pixar movies just as much as the next guy, personally I think that Wall-E is even less deserving than last year’s Ratatouille (which I wasn’t all that enthralled with in the first place). Still, I understand wanting to root for your favourite movies at the Oscars… no one likes to see those boring art house flicks steal all the recognition, right?

As it turns out, the 2009 Oscars could very well end up being the Year of the Fanboy. Not only is Disney launching a Best Picture campaign for Wall-E (does that automatically exclude them from the Best Animated Feature category?), but Warner Brothers is promoting The Dark Knight, and (get this) Paramount is touting Iron Man as a potential Oscar contender as well! Whether or not any of these movies will actually get nominated remains to be seen, but in a year when studios have been short on prestige films and delaying many to 2009, it doesn’t seem impossible. The question is, is this a good thing?

Obviously it could seriously increase viewership for the actual Oscar telecast. But a lot of the smaller dramas rely on Oscar buzz to make any sort of money at the box office, and considering the number of independent studios shut down this year, it’s looking more and more like blockbusters are the future of cinema, which is kind of a bummer. By the end of the year, I still believe that The Dark Knight will be one of the films that deserves to get some Academy love, but I don’t think I can say the same for Wall-E or Iron Man. What do you think? Do any of these mainstream movies stand a chance at being nominated?



  • Liz

    Didn’t we go through this last year with Ratatouille and what category it would be nominated in? I don’t think mainstream success should ever exclude a good film from being nominated for Best Picture (or any other category) but Iron Man? Really? Come on now.

    I feel like this year is going to be a really poor showing for Oscar and it depresses me.

  • I still have few clues on what else will get a nomination but I’d bet specific portions of my own flesh that DK (“DONKEY KONG!!!”) gets a slot.

    Also, I’m pretty sure that an animated film will never win let alone get nominated beyond it’s own category anytime soon.

    They are dumb fucks if they think Iron Man has a chance.

  • sad.

  • Bas

    I liked Wall-E, but didn’t love it. I don’t understand why it’s being pushed as something other than animation – as if there’s something wrong with animation! Just because mediocrity reigns doesn’t make a good animation something other than that.

    Iron Man was a really fun watch, just what I wanted from a summer movie. But an Oscar? Come on!

    The Dark Knight made a big impression on me and should get an award, but I’m not sure which one. Maybe they should make a new category: “Best Studio Honcho that trusted a Director”.

  • Christian

    I haven’t seen Wall-E yet but I concur with Sean in regards to Ratatouille which I happened to have watched for the first time last night: I thought it was alright but it didn’t strike me as anything special. Monsters Inc and Toy Story are Pixar’s best works in my opinion.

    I think Quantum Of Solace has a shot at best picture, Burn After Reading will probably get nominated and Tropic Thunder is a possibility.

    I’m hoping David Fincher finally gets some recognition at the Oscars this year. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button looks very promising and I think it’s the type of film that would get the academy’s attention.

  • Goon

    I watched Monsters Inc again last night. WIth more viewings I think its their second weakest film (Cars is the weakest). WALL-E wasn’t my favorite of theirs either, but I still think it has a better change of a best picture grab than anything they’ve done to date. Its just one of those movies.

  • I liked Wall-E but didn’t love it. It had a lot of story telling problems in the 2nd half. Ironman is a well done comic book film but no way will it get a best pic nod. The Dark Knight will get nominated. Im confident of that!

  • None of these films should really qualify as BEST PICTURE, otherwise it’s a sad and slow year. The Dark Knight has terrible editing and is a tad bombastic and Ironman is just lazy filmmaking and Wall-E’s second half isn’t nearly as strong as the first half.

    I’d love to see the nominations get really daring with something like BLINDNESS or SYNECDOCHE, NY.

  • swarez

    I’m sure Dark Knight will be nominated for best actor in a supporting role for Ledger, plus all the technical nods, cinematography, sets, costume and make up.

    Iron Man, maybe for SPFX.

    Wall-e will win best animation, not that it deserves it but it will win.

    Tropic Thunder will most likely by nominated for Make up and maybe supporting actor.

  • Now that WALTZ WITH BASHIR is disqualified in the documentary category, why not go for best animated film? That’d be an unconventional choice.

    I also dug THE SKY CRAWLERS and FROM INSIDE and I’ve yet to see PONYO ON A CLIFF BY THE SEA, so there is lots of good animated choices. (And you know what IGOR and HORTON HEARS A WHO are pretty solid little USA animated flicks)

  • I don’t see what’s so wrong with this. The best picture nominees never really represent the actual best movies of the year. The Academy might as well be honest about it and celebrate the movies that made their industry the most scrill this year.

  • caroline

    Okay, I’m SICK of people favoring Ratatouille over all the other Pixar movies. It was only about a rat who wanted to cook. Sure, I loved it, it was funnier than WALL-E, but where is the allegorial story? Movies that lack allegories, unlike WALL-E and the Dark Knight, are never Best Picture material.

    Did I mention that Ratatouille was never even near Best Picture material. It lacks conspicious allegory, something all Best Pictures should ALWAYS have.

    I hope WALL-E ends up on the Best Picture Nod. If it doesn’t, I will not watch the oscars.

    WALL-E costed 180,000,000 to make, just as much as the Dark Knight. So many people worked so hard on it. Ben Burtt did amazing voice design, Stanton wrote his most daring script, the computer graphics were realistic (with the exception of the human characters), Newman did a beautiful themed score (WHY DID HE NOT GET A NOD FOR BEST MUSIC AT THE ANNIES?!), etc.,etc.
    I also find WALL-E to be better than Beauty and the Beast. That was a great movie, but WALL-E told the better story.

    WALL-E is not one of the bloated romance films like the great, but overrated Titanic. Titanic did nothing but circled around Jack and Rose romance. There were many things going on beside WALL-E’s and EVE’s romance-There was a lethargic society, a polluted Earth, and machines discovering life. And WALL-E romance with EVE affected humanity.

    WALL-E is certainly better than Kung Fu Panda. Kung Fu Panda only took 130 million to make. Kung Fu Panda is certainly funnier, but comedy is not enough to define a good movie. Kung Fu Panda had a excellent storyline, but it is what it is, it was only meant to make children laugh and enjoy it. Kung Fu Panda is not of the universal. Young children will love the cuteness of WALL-E, and teens and adults will love the allegorical story.

    Dreamworks may be funnier, but Pixar suceeds in mixed comedy with out-of-this world storylines. Storylines matter more than comedy.

    If you think comedy defines how good a movie is, you are one of those inconsiderate people who give no damn toward the hard effort.

    What use is an Annie Award to WALL-E? WALL-E is no animated movie, it’s a romance made by animation. Saying that WALL-E is an animated movie is discriminating.

    If WALL-E doesn’t show up on the Best Picture category, I will never watch the Oscars again. Mark my words.

  • Andrew

    Ok, caroline. I’d have to disagree. While most BPs have some allegory to them, Wall-E is not as entertaining as the other pixar films.

    As far as im concerned, TWO movies in the past, that have not had much allegory, have been nominated. Beauty and the Beast(1992, also animated), and LOTR: the Return of the King(2004), which also won.

    Also, one little detail that was left out is that Iron man is NOT aiming for Best Picture, But Best Actor(guess who?)