Talking kiddish... TOY STORY 3, 83rd academy awards. I think that's the one where people noticed them really trying to grab at the ratings that year. But, I'm still wondering if partly the reason is because film-wise there weren't really any similar films to go after the following summer. None of them seemed to deserve it, whereas this year we're looking at a rise in quality. With the AVENGERS basically being RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (basically saying, the 'light-hearted' blockbuster popcorn filled movies HAVEN'T been up to par for quite a number of years - the darker ones have - but the lighter ones really haven't up until very recently the best of those mainly (at least imo) come from the 80s still - where they WERE nominated).
The PROBLEM is - too many of these summer movies are often not liked that much by the critics. And sometimes it's because they're not as well made films. Or maybe it's because they're just spectacle and nothing else. That's granted. HOWEVER, as said - they wouldn't really be giving a nod towards just the Avengers but the MARVEL film plan of having films released all coming together for the first time in recorded cinema history. And see the above.
The films they nominated last year, I'd also agree with. There were no 'big' movies that deserved it or at least a nod like the year before that.