Ironman 2 Best Picture Oscar ?

[night0205]

OK two things. First, Avatar got nominated for Best Picture purely because of the Visuals... and seriously guys, can you blame them? Avatar showed the best CGI ever put on film... fact. And for that point alone, it should be honored. I, for one, am a story lover, the CGI can suck but if the story is amazing, I'll love it, but even I have to admit that Avatar did something special visually.
Two, why the hell do Kick Ass fans get offended so easily? Guys, every forum is full of people who hate and love whatever movie is being talked about, yet you don't see people who loved Iron Man 2 up here getting offended because others hated it. And this isn't even a Kick Ass thread! Stop getting offended about people who didn't like Kick Ass, I'm one of them. Stop taking it personal. You shouldn't see dozens of Kick Ass supporters trying to attack other posters in an Iron Man 2 thread. We respect your opinion, but some don't agree.

[Red Mask]

Originally Posted by Keyser Soze

I think The Dark Knight is the only superhero film that was seriously deserving of a Best Picture nomination. So much so, that the backlash against it being snubbed led to this whole "10 nominees" thing they've got going now.

Oh please. The Oscar for Best Picture is supposed to reflect films that America finds in line with its cultural values.

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Frost/Nixon
3. Milk
4. The Reader
5. Slumdog Millionaire

You think Dark Knight could compete against that? A superhero flick should beat that? Road to Perdition had a better chance and it never was nominated for Best Picture.

[Keyser Soze]

Originally Posted by night0205

Two, why the hell do Kick Ass fans get offended so easily? Guys, every forum is full of people who hate and love whatever movie is being talked about, yet you don't see people who loved Iron Man 2 up here getting offended because others hated it. And this isn't even a Kick Ass thread! Stop getting offended about people who didn't like Kick Ass, I'm one of them. Stop taking it personal. You shouldn't see dozens of Kick Ass supporters trying to attack other posters in an Iron Man 2 thread. We respect your opinion, but some don't agree.

I think you've got the wrong end of the stick, mate. All I said was that I liked Iron Man 2 but thought Kick Ass was better, and topdog got all bent out of shape about it and started insulting fans of Kick Ass and saying if we liked that movie we must still be in high school. The attacking of posters with other opinions came from the other side of the fence on this occasion.

[Keyser Soze]

Originally Posted by Red Mask

Oh please. The Oscar for Best Picture is supposed to reflect films that America finds in line with its cultural values.

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Frost/Nixon
3. Milk
4. The Reader
5. Slumdog Millionaire

You think Dark Knight could compete against that? A superhero flick should beat that? Road to Perdition had a better chance and it never was nominated for Best Picture.

Yes, I do think it deserved to be at least nominated. Slumdog Millionaire was a deserving winner, but I think The Dark Knight at least merited a place on the shortlist. It was better reviewed than many of the other films on the shortlist, and had a bigger cultural impact than those films.

Realistically, I know quality doesn't necessarily reflect in Oscar noms, but I thought The Dark Knight was the best shot the comic book movie genre had yet had to break through Academy politics and get some award recognition.

[Red Mask]

Originally Posted by Keyser Soze

Yes, I do think it deserved to be at least nominated. Slumdog Millionaire was a deserving winner, but I think The Dark Knight at least merited a place on the shortlist. It was better reviewed than many of the other films on the shortlist, and had a bigger cultural impact than those films.

Realistically, I know quality doesn't necessarily reflect in Oscar noms, but I thought The Dark Knight was the best shot the comic book movie genre had yet had to break through Academy politics and get some award recognition.

I disagree. Putting politics aside nominating a film based on its popularity isn't good enough for best picture. The films on that list each presented something that was far more relevant to modern American culture than Dark Knight. Disney's Beauty and the Beast couldn't get the prize back in the day. A Batman film would deserve even less.

[Crook]

Originally Posted by Red Mask

I disagree. Putting politics aside nominating a film based on its popularity isn't good enough for best picture. The films on that list each presented something that was far more relevant to modern American culture than Dark Knight. Disney's Beauty and the Beast couldn't get the prize back in the day. A Batman film would deserve even less.

I'll call this out, I wanna hear what specific, relevant modern values were represented in each film.

I'm especially interested in how TDK touched upon political corruption, invasion of privacy, and terrorist attacks are somehow not relevant to our times.

Look, I don't think TDK really belonged on the Oscar shortlist (though it has been the closest in the genre), but it's exclusion is purely to the opinion that I don't think it was an Oscar-caliber film. Suggesting it wasn't culturally relevant, when the film has solidified it's place in pop culture and whose themes have directly commentated on what this country has faced within the past 10 years...it's all bullcrap. This is way far down on the list of reasons why TDK didn't get nominated.

[night0205]

Originally Posted by Keyser Soze

I think you've got the wrong end of the stick, mate. All I said was that I liked Iron Man 2 but thought Kick Ass was better, and topdog got all bent out of shape about it and started insulting fans of Kick Ass and saying if we liked that movie we must still be in high school. The attacking of posters with other opinions came from the other side of the fence on this occasion.

I apologize, I wasn't referring to your comment. It was some other ones that I felt a little randomly out of the blew Kick Ass supporters, that jumped on people who said they didn't like it very much.

[Mr. Earle]

Seriously... what was the theme of the Reader that made it so great? Kate's saggy breasts?

[Keyser Soze]

Originally Posted by Red Mask

I disagree. Putting politics aside nominating a film based on its popularity isn't good enough for best picture. The films on that list each presented something that was far more relevant to modern American culture than Dark Knight. Disney's Beauty and the Beast couldn't get the prize back in the day. A Batman film would deserve even less.

I'd say the War on Terror parallels give it a sense of cultural relevance. If indeed, it's really "cultural relevance" that Best Picture nominations are based on. Was Chicago culturally relevant? Was Shakespeare in Love "culturally relevant"?

Oscar nominations seem largely to be decided by how "Oscar friendly" the content, how popular with the Academy the director is (how many times has Ron "safe hands" Howard got a subpar film into the shortlist purely because his name was on it?), the timing of the release, and how heavy the "For Your Consideration" marketing campaign is and who sent Academy voters the most lavish gifts in helping nudge that "consideration" along. All too rarely is it about quality. It's rare enough that I remember the 2008 Oscars being a breath of fresh air, with the two best films of 2007 - No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood - being the two front-runners, though sadly Zodiac and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford were ignored.

I think The Dark Knight was genuinely the best film of 2008. And yes, it was popular with filmgoers, which doesn't always count for much. But it was also popular with critics, and some high-profile, respected critics were citing it as an early Oscar contender. For a while it seemed like it had real awards momentum behind it. In a lot of ways, it ticked plenty of the right boxes. A respected heavyweight ensemble cast, made lots of money and so benefitted the industry (this was enough to get Titanic the Oscar nod over the far superior LA Confidential), it had the critical praise from the right sources behind it, and it had a story that seemed to capture a kind of cultural zeitgeist - not just in terms of the War on Terror parallels, but in fact also touching on many of the same themes of moral decay and the assault on basic human goodness that featured prominently in the previous year's nominees - No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. But ultimately, the "A Batman movie doesn't deserve awards... because it's Batman" attitude was enough to nullify all it's good qualities in the eyes of the Academy.

And to bring it back on-topic, if a "we're not letting superheroes into the Oscars" prejudice blocks out a movie that had real aspirations to weightier ideas and more enduring appeal, then a total popcorn summer blockbuster like Iron Man 2 has no chance.

[topdog1]

Originally Posted by Keyser Soze

I think you've got the wrong end of the stick, mate. All I said was that I liked Iron Man 2 but thought Kick Ass was better, and topdog got all bent out of shape about it and started insulting fans of Kick Ass and saying if we liked that movie we must still be in high school. The attacking of posters with other opinions came from the other side of the fence on this occasion.

All I said is that maybe if I was still in high school, I would have enjoyed Kick Ass more... as in the lead character is a high school kid. Geez. Kick Ass being a small time movie that had tone problems kept getting mentioned over and over but I guess that rule only applies to Iron Man.

I am glad you took time to research my old posts. Maybe you'll learn something your degree didn't teach you.

BTW- visit IMDB for a minute and you'll see Batfans freely admitting they are attacking the film for no other reason then they want TDK to remain the king. (In their own minds apparently) I'm not making that up or blindly creating conspiracies.

[Keyser Soze]

Originally Posted by topdog1

All I said is that maybe if I was still in high school, I would have enjoyed Kick Ass more... as in the lead character is a high school kid. Geez. Kick Ass being a small time movie that had tone problems kept getting mentioned over and over but I guess that rule only applies to Iron Man.

I am glad you took time to research my old posts. Maybe you'll learn something your degree didn't teach you.

BTW- visit IMDB for a minute and you'll see Batfans freely admitting they are attacking the film for no other reason then they want TDK to remain the king. (In their own minds apparently) I'm not making that up or blindly creating conspiracies.

IMDB is full of morons. Every board has its fair share of trolls and imbeciles, and the Dark Knight board is one of the worst of a rotten bunch.

And I don't really need to do research. In my experience of you on the boards, you've long shown yourself to be a Marvel homer. You have this bizarre persecution complex where you seem to view Dark Knight fans as cackling hobgoblins out to sabotage Marvel at every turn. It's not as black-and-white and as us VS them as you make it. I'm not a Marvel fan, or a DC fan. I'm a comic book fan. I'm looking forward to Thor and Green Lantern equally.

[weezerspider]

Originally Posted by Red Mask

Oh please. The Oscar for Best Picture is supposed to reflect films that America finds in line with its cultural values.

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Frost/Nixon
3. Milk
4. The Reader
5. Slumdog Millionaire

You think Dark Knight could compete against that? A superhero flick should beat that? Road to Perdition had a better chance and it never was nominated for Best Picture.

TDK had quite a bit of "American Culture" in it. Batman's "War On Terror" against Joker causes the public to hate him and go after him....sounds like a Texan I know... Oh wait, Hollywood hated that Texan so I guess those political points in a movie don't count. *rolls eyes*

[Dr Lee]

great movie?

Certainly...

Oscar?

nope.

ask me again later in the year though... may change my mind when i see what the other movies this year are like...

[Keyser Soze]

Originally Posted by Dr Lee

great movie?

Certainly...

Oscar?

nope.

ask me again later in the year though... may change my mind when i see what the other movies this year are like...

Speaking of which..... anyone have any predictions for possible Oscar contenders?

Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me could be a possibility.... the advance reviews I've read make it sound like it could be really brilliant. Though it's extreme violence and sexual content might ultimately make it too controversial for Academy voters.

[ElMariachi]

I think we can all agree that TDK should have at least been nominated for Best Picture. All of those other films are forgetable already. Nobody saw Milk, The Reader, or Frost/Nixon to begin with. The other two are good, but forgetable along the lines of Traffic, There Will Be Blood, or Crash. In hindsight, TDK should have been there. It is among the most loved/memorable films of this past decade. It made alot of money AND was good, with an iconic score to boot.

Why shouldn't Iron Man 2 have a chance based on last year? Avatar wasn't a good movie. I made alot of money and had good CGI. It wasn't praised for it's acting. Iron Man 2, for all the criticism, has been lauded for it's acting by RDJ, Rourke, and Rockwell. Last year, you also had The Blide Side, which was earlier compared to an after school special before it made a splash at the box office. District 9 was great, but it wasn't without flaws. For my money, Star Trek was the best sci-fi that year, but I may be alone on here with that.

[night0205]

Most movies that win Best Picture, I've never seen. The ones that I have, are usually not my type of film. So I could really car less about what wins at the Oscars.

[Mr. Para-Normal]

I haven't seen Ironman 2 (can't wait until Friday) but I don't think it will be nominated for an oscar simply becuase the academy award looks down on superhero and sci fi movies. I loved Ironman 1 and I sure I will love the second one, I also loved Dark Knight and Kick-ass (Yea I am in college and liked Kick-ass). I also liked Avatar so why do we need to bash a film to just say hey my film is superior to yours.

I am going to be honest here. I loved Ironman, Dark Knight, Kick-ass and Avatar. I don't really compare them because they are different movies but one thing is clear NONE of them are perfect or really oscar worthy.

People on this site put the Dark Knight on some grand pedstool as the greatest comic movie ever. Sure it is a great movie but seriously it would not even be mention as the same sentence as oscar if it was not for ledger. If Heath did not do such a great job as the joker The Dark Knight would just be on par with Batman Begins. Simply put Heath Ledger is the reason the dark knight broke records and made so much money. No disrepect to Nolan or any actors in the movie(they all did a great job as well) just being real.

Avatar is a good movie but the only reason it was nominated for an oscar was because of the visuals and the technology that was behind it which I agree it should have won. But it did not deserve best picture the story was super predictable and the characters did'nt have a lot of depth to them.

Kick-ass was good as well. In my opinon was the most realistic of all the superhero movies I have seen. It was even more realistic to me than Nolans batman movies. The only part that was totally unrealistic was the jet pack. But for the most part it does give you an idea of what it would be like if someone just woke up one day and decided to be a super hero. Though some of the tone of the movie was off sometimes it wanted to be a superbad type comedy and others a serious movie.

Ironman was a great fun movie but the action scenes are not the greatest. And I think RDJ really made the movie because of his awesome performance as Tony Stark.

As you can see none of the movies are peferct so stop comparing and bashing. Just enjoy each movie for what they are. If you like one of the other fine that is your opinon but you don't have to come to other movie boards cramming your opinons down everyone else's throat! End Rant lol.

[Keyser Soze]

Originally Posted by ElMariachi

I think we can all agree that TDK should have at least been nominated for Best Picture. All of those other films are forgetable already. Nobody saw Milk, The Reader, or Frost/Nixon to begin with. The other two are good, but forgetable along the lines of Traffic, There Will Be Blood, or Crash. In hindsight, TDK should have been there. It is among the most loved/memorable films of this past decade. It made alot of money AND was good, with an iconic score to boot.

GASP! How DARE you rank There Will Be Blood alongside Traffic and Crash? There Will Be Blood ranks in my all-time top ten movies, and is a modern classic. Blasphemy!

Why shouldn't Iron Man 2 have a chance based on last year? Avatar wasn't a good movie. I made alot of money and had good CGI. It wasn't praised for it's acting. Iron Man 2, for all the criticism, has been lauded for it's acting by RDJ, Rourke, and Rockwell. Last year, you also had The Blide Side, which was earlier compared to an after school special before it made a splash at the box office. District 9 was great, but it wasn't without flaws. For my money, Star Trek was the best sci-fi that year, but I may be alone on here with that.

Yeah, looking at it like that, with a 10 picture shortlist, Iron Man 2 MIGHT have a chance at nomination. But I still think it's unlikely. And I think Moon was the best sci-fi of the year.

[redfirebird2008]

Keyser, I don't have TWBB in my top 10 but I agree that it's a modern classic. The themes are awesome. So much social commentary mixed with stellar craftsmanship, and I don't mean James Cameron's over the top brand of social commentary or craftsmanship.

[ElMariachi]

Originally Posted by Keyser Soze

GASP! How DARE you rank There Will Be Blood alongside Traffic and Crash? There Will Be Blood ranks in my all-time top ten movies, and is a modern classic. Blasphemy!



Yeah, looking at it like that, with a 10 picture shortlist, Iron Man 2 MIGHT have a chance at nomination. But I still think it's unlikely. And I think Moon was the best sci-fi of the year.

Don't get me wrong, I liked There Will Be Blood---but it really isn't a memorable film to the vast majority of people to the same degree as Gladiator, Pulp Fiction, Saving Private Ryan, etc. DDL was excellent of course, but sadly his "milkshake" line is the most memorable thing in that movie to most people (the soundtrack is mine).

Forgot about Moon. Great film. Still, I loved Star Trek a bit more. There was something special and fresh about that movie.

[ashleyej21]

Originally Posted by Red Mask

Oh please. The Oscar for Best Picture is supposed to reflect films that America finds in line with its cultural values.

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Frost/Nixon
3. Milk
4. The Reader
5. Slumdog Millionaire

You think Dark Knight could compete against that? A superhero flick should beat that? Road to Perdition had a better chance and it never was nominated for Best Picture.

I think The Dark Knight is a brilliant film but i understand what you are saying. 2008 was a very good year for films and they only had 5 nominees for Best Picture not 10. I still think The Wrestler shoulda been nominated at least. Milk was good but forgettable in my opinion.

[redfirebird2008]

Originally Posted by ashleyej21

I think The Dark Knight is a brilliant film but i understand what you are saying. 2008 was a very good year for films and they only had 5 nominees for Best Picture not 10. I still think The Wrestler shoulda been nominated at least. Milk was good but forgettable in my opinion.

The Wrestler was the best film of the year IMHO.

[ElMariachi]

TDK could have won if Batman was gay, the Joker was a Nazi, Harvey Dent was a Democrat ranting against the Republican Party, or if Hans Zimmer used a sitar for his score.

[weezerspider]

Originally Posted by ElMariachi

TDK could have won if Batman was gay, the Joker was a Nazi, Harvey Dent was a Democrat ranting against the Republican Party, or if Hans Zimmer used a sitar for his score.

HAHAHA!

I don't think anyone here means to disrespect IM2 fans or the film itself. I know I'm not, I loved the film, but its just not Oscar worthy. Also, the Academy is not going to pick a movie that doesn't have great reviews. IM2 is going to make the $ and have positive reviews, but based on the early critic reviews, there is no way this is going to be a HUGE critical success. It will be positive, but nothing extreme.

[ashleyej21]

Originally Posted by redfirebird2008

The Wrestler was the best film of the year IMHO.

you got that right! I loved that movie. I've seen in like 8 times. It never gets old. Its just a brilliant film. I think Darren Aronofsky shoulda been nominated for Best Director that year I mean, he had like a 5 million dollar budget to work with and he made a masterpiece. Glad he fought for Rourke to be in it. Cuz they were gonna get Nicholas Cage to do it instead cuz they could get like 20 million for the budget with him. No one trusted Rourke. He hadnt been the lead star in a film in years. Had never seen any of his films before The Wrestler, didnt even know who he was, but thank god i saw that movie. He's a brilliant actor. Reminds me of Marlon Brando. When he lost to Sean Penn i was furious but you know what he can do better than The Wrestler. I don't think we've seen the best out of him yet. He's that good. PS if your interested watch Angel Heart. It stars Mick and Robert DeNiro. Awesome flick.