Which other comic book superhero movies have been in consideration for serious oscars? I know that the original S:TM had 3 nominations, but that was 35 years ago, and it might be the exception that proves the rule.
I don't like Michael Bay either, I couldn't even enjoy The Rock, but I'm getting bored with all the Michael Bay hate in all geekdom. Actually, I'm not getting bored, I'm already bored. I don't have to like his movies to see that he is clearly doing something right. His three Transformers movies have each grossed incredible amounts, people are seeing them and loving them in great numbers. We may not be among those people, but that's not objectively important. What matters is that a lot of people really like these movies, so something is being done right. I'm more interested in finding out what that is than in pointing out that those people are dumb.
Similarly with Nolan. We don't all need to love Nolan. I like him a lot, but I cans see why other people wouldn't, he relies a lot on beautiful cinematography and obsessive and driven primary characters to further his movies, he cuts down on computer graphics, and he's obsessed with sound, and if that doesn't appeal to you, then you won't be able to dig his movies as much. Maybe you care more about the things Nolan doesn't do as well, such as humour or romance, that's fine. With that said, a lot of people really connect to Nolan's films, and even experts like them, so something is being done right. Don't confuse your own opinion with reality.
There are plenty of critically praised things that I can't enjoy, such as the Harry Potter books or The Maltese Falcon (since Huston was referenced). I don't go around claiming that they're garbage -- that would be immature. I simply realise that my own personal tastes don't extend to that region of literary parameter space. Like, I really found the first HP book boring and over-detailed, I put it down after 100 pages... but I cannot and will not tell you that these are "terrible books", that's the difference.
