Academy Awards Controversy: Wall-E Gets Snubbed For Best Picture Oscar

Even though the technology has progressed so much in the last few years, animated films just can't get real respect. That's the reaction that movie geeks across the globe are having to the list of nominees for the 81st Academy Awards, announced today, with the notable exclusion of Wall*E for Best Picture. A bunch of the commenters at movie news site Ain't It Cool are mad. Here's one example:

WALL-E was amazing and it would have been nice to see it recognized, but now that they have the Animated category you will likely NEVER see an animated feature make it for BP.

Courtesy of Disney/Pixar and AMPAS

There's a good case to be made that it was a mistake to nominate Wall*E only for Best Animated Feature and not Best Picture. It got a better critical reception than any of the movies nominated for the most prestigious award. As of today, Rottentomatoes.com says that Wall*E has a 96 percent positive rating based on an aggregation of movie critic reviews. That's higher than the Tomatometer registers for any of the five Best Picture nominees:

The Reader -- 60 percent

Milk -- 92 percent

Slumdog Millionaire -- 95 percent

Frost/Nixon -- 91 percent

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button -- 72 percent

The Dark Knight--another movie the geeks are mad got snubbed--comes in at 94 percent. Better than four out of five ain't bad.

by USNews

Heath Ledger's Family Still 'Nursing Broken Hearts'

by People

Heath Ledger's family gathered at an Australian beach to remember the actor, who died a year ago and is now being honored with an Oscar nomination for The Dark Knight.

"We are still all nursing broken hearts," older sister Kate Ledger said Friday in Perth. "Like anyone who loses a family member, it has opened our eyes to the intense suffering and painful journey that is death."

Kate and two half-sisters, Ashleigh Bell and Olivia Ledger, stood under clear blue skies at the Indiana Tea Room on Cottesloe Beach, one of Ledger's favorite spots and the site of his wake after his funeral. Ledger's father, Kim, and mother, Sally Bell, were also in attendance but did not speak to the media.

Ledger, 28, died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. He left behind his 3-year-old daughter, Matilda, with actress Michelle Williams.

"Michelle is doing an amazing job with 'our girl' and together we will cherish every moment of her steps through life," Kate Ledger said.

The actor's younger sister, Ashleigh, acknowledged his Oscar nomianation Thursday for his wicked portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight, noting that "in Heath's words, he had 'the time of his life.'"

"Although we would love to have him here with us, we are so proud and so excited on his behalf," Ashleigh said. "We will take this opportunity today to honor his wonderful life and take comfort in knowing Heath will continue to touch future generations through this amazing art form."

She added: "What an unbelievable legacy he has left for Matilda and our family."

The family enjoyed a commemorative lunch in the Indiana Tea Room after speaking with the media.

by People!

Start the Campaign: ‘Wall-E’ for Best Picture!

Courtesy of Disney/Pixar and AMPAS

Well, the first major-media reviews are in for Wall-E, and — as we suspected — it looks like Wall-E might be the best Pixar movie ever: As entertaining as every other Pixar movie, but even more artful and visually arresting than usual. "Breathtakingly majestic and heartbreakingly intimate," says the Voice's Robert Wilonsky. Pixar "has just topped itself. Again," writes The Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt. And the Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips calls Wall-E "the best science-fiction film so far this year, the best romance so far this year and the best American studio film so far this year."

So, let the debate begin, as it does every year: Can Wall-E become the first Pixar film — and only the second-ever animated film — to get an Oscar nomination for Best Picture? Could this be the year that the Academy finally realizes that Pixar movies are the closest Hollywood comes anymore to the great, classy populist entertainments that used to be nominated for a gazillion Oscars — the kinds of movies that everyone complains have disappeared from the Academy Awards?

Without even having seen Wall-E, we can easily say that nominating it for Best Picture would be the smartest thing the Academy's done in years. Wall-E will be critically beloved: We'll lay money on no major-studio release earning a higher Metacritic score this year. Wall-E will be popularly beloved: It will definitely make more at the box office than last year's five Best Picture nominees did combined. And think of the audiences you would get for an Oscar ceremony in which lovable Wall-E faces off against whichever quasi-indies get the other four slots. It could be a return to the glorious ratings (and popular relevancy) of yesteryear.

Make it happen, Academy! Nominate Wall-E for Best Picture!

by mynag