The 10 Biggest Snubs of the 2012 Academy Awards

The Oscar nominations have been revealed and to be honest I am not as excited about this batch of movies as I have for previous years. But of course since it’s the Oscars, they always have their wonderful share of snubs, omissions, and disappointing choices. And here I am to rank what I think are the most disappointing snubs of this upcoming Academy Awards.

Note: Hans Zimmer decided not to compete this year, which means the fourth Pirates and Rango did not have a shot at Best Original Score. Although the fourth Pirates wasn’t too great, Rango definitely had a great chance of winning the entire thing. It’s a shame.

#10: Andy Sarkis
Did Not Get: Best Actor or Supporting Actor

He played the role of King Kong, Gollum, and Caesar of the latest Planet of the Apes. All phenomenal performances and none of them will have a shot at the Best Actor. This is a shame though, because he does bring plenty of life into these roles that not every actor can pull off. While I do believe he should not walk away with the big prize, he should at least have gotten a nomination after nearly a decade of excellent motion-capture work—from Lord of the Rings to Adventures of Tintin.

#9: Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Did Not Get: Best Picture

David Fincher is pretty much officially too underground for the Academy. With Fight Club, Seven, and Social Network under his belt, you would think he would finally get his Oscar opportunity with yet another highly acclaimed dark film, right? Well, unfortunately, the Academy was not feeling the darkness this year, as only one rated-R movie got a Best Picture nom (and it’s the Hawaii-backdrop The Descendants) . Total shame because Fincher (and Rooney Mara) went the whole nine yards with this production.

#8: Rango
Did Not Get: Best Screenplay

Westerns have been pretty much dead since Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. The Academy thinks so as well as the genre hasn’t seen much Oscar gold in decades and even those with glimpses of Westernness don’t find success. Just ask Tarantino and what happened to Kill Bill Vol. 2, arguably the best film of the 2000s. Rango is also on that boat as despite being one of the 10 best films of the year didn’t get the Best Picture nod, and more inexcusable, the screenplay nod. This movie was an adult film wrapped in a kids film body with plenty of subtle nods to the classic Westerns of the 50s and 60s while at the same time giving it a fun modern edge.

#7: The Adventures of Tintin
Did Not Get: Best Film Editing

Motion-capture is not easy to pull off, and I can guarantee you its even tougher to pull off when the film happens to be an action/adventure one. The Adventures of Tintin had a phenomenal set of great action pieces, and each of them are paced so crisply, so quickly you barely have time to breathe in between moments. A lot of detail and care was given to those action scenes and the editing team should at least have gotten a nod for it.

#6: Rango
Did Not Get: Best Song

Only two songs were nominated. Couldn’t this song have gotten a chance? Its catchy, its fun, and its full of spaghetti western flavor. Come on, only two songs were nominated!! What gives?

#5: Alan Rickman
Did Not Get: Best Supporting Actor

Alan Rickman has not been nominated for a single Academy Award, and this is a major disgrace. Of all the actors and actresses that successfully translated the Harry Potter books into decent films (with the exception of Half-Blood Prince, ugh), Alan Rickman’s portrayal as the mysterious Snape was by far the best and most compelling. And considering what his character goes through in the final film, Rickman did not disappoint by unveiling the softer and much more tragic side of the usually-polarizing character.

#4: Bridesmaids
Did Not Get: Best Screenplay

It was a zany script that was very funny, very heartfelt, and runs a bit deeper than your average comedy. But just like the original Hangover, originality and subtle depth does not get recognition if it has the raunchy R-rated humor attached to it. This is what happened to other great R-rated comedies like There’s Something About Mary, Caddyshack (seriously), The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Animal House, and National Lampoon’s Vacation. The similarity between all these movies? All great comedic classics, no Oscar gold whatsoever.




#3: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Did Not Get: Best Picture

We have spent countless years watching these characters develop, grow up, age, evolve, and further embed themselves in our lives. The last entry of the Harry Potter saga was a well-received one, as the franchise ended on a good quality note (despite the few little tiffs I have with it). And what most of us expected here would be a similar move to what the Oscars did with Return of the King---finally give it some Oscar recognition not for the film, but symbolically for the entire franchise. Sadly, the Oscars were not as heartfelt and didn’t reward Harry Potter with anything past a few technical nods. Harry Potter gave us two mediocre films, three decent films, and three fantastic ones (Goblet of Fire is still in my opinion the best). Isn’t it time they finally get at least, at the very least, get a Best Picture nod? Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire I believe were snubbed, and sadly, it happened again this year.


#2: The Adventures of Tintin
Did Not Get: Best Animated Feature

Let’s see. Great direction from the master Steven Spielberg. Script by (among others) Edgar Wright. Production work by Peter Jackson. Great motion-capture work. Superb casting. Plenty of action and humor throughout. Has the imaginative movie magic we just don’t see in the movies anymore. Got rave reviews from most of the critics. Won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Movie. But…..no Animated Film Nomination!?!?!? Puss in Boots got one before you did? Riiiiiiiight.


#1: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Did Not Get: Best Actor

50/50 was one of the best and most heartbreaking films of the year. Dealing with a young healthy adult that suddenly develops a rare cancer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt owned the role as the main character by giving us the many different layers and emotions that a cancer victim goes through during the battle, and during the mental and physical therapy. Gordon-Levitt has been a phenomenal actor and has given us phenomenal work in the past decade ranging from indie flicks like Brick and Manic to sleeper hits like 500 Days of Summer and Inception. But not a single nomination. Not one. The other omissions can be slightly justified, but Gordon-Levitt’s snub is inexcusable. He carried this film past its flaws and gave us a very entertaining and moving performance that made us moviegoers laugh as well as drive us to tears. He’s one of the best talents in Hollywood, and its about time the Academy recognizes this.




P.S. Jackie Chan still doesn’t have an Oscar. Ugh…