I just read the recently announced nominees for this year’s Oscar ceremonies, and quite frankly, I feel a bit disgusted. After months and months of talk that a super hero film (The Dark Knight) had the potential to be a serious contender for best picture and Wall-E even had a bit of talk about becoming only the second animated film in history to be nominated, the Academy Awards disappoint (again). Unfortunately, the blatant ignorance of the Academy Awards knows no bounds, and the films in the running for best picture look about the same as they always do. Y’know, I was always under the impression that great storytelling is what made a great movie, but apparently in order to be a great movie the film has to revolve around drug addictions, mental disorders, politics, and anything else that only appeals to a particular crowd (in this case, pretentious snobs who think far too highly of themselves).

The reasons why The Dark Knight didn’t get a mention can be summed up by these few words: The main character wears a mask…

Because you know great acting, superb writing and a slew of technical achievements don’t make it “best picture” worthy because the hero dresses like a bat so it can’t be THAT good.

And of course, the reason why Wall-E wasn’t nominated: It’s animated….

The biggest bias in hollywoodland once again rears its ugly head. Heaven forbid a highly intelligent, well written work of art be nominated because *gasp* it’s a wholesome, family-friendly film about robots! It doesn’t matter how much more acclaimed it was than the movies nominated, it was created using computers and drawings so the academy couldn’t possibly take it seriously.

I find it rather repulsive that a vile individual like Roman Polanski can win an Oscar (forget all the unspeakable things he’s done) but mainstream masterpieces can’t even get a nomination because they don’t just appeal to one particular, elitist group.

Sure, the academy had their head on straight a few years ago when The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King took top honors (and the kitchen sink), but since then they seem to have reverted back to their biased and ignorant ways.

Hopefully with time, the Academy Awards will change their ways and CELEBRATE THE BEST IN FILMMAKING instead of celebrating their own overblown, pretentious egos.