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The Ten Most Egregious Oscar Snubs of 2010

By Dustin Rowles | Lists | February 1, 2010 |

By Dustin Rowles | Lists | February 1, 2010 |


The Oscar nominations are set to be announced tomorrow morning (8:30 EST; we should have them up by 9 EST). One of everyone’s favorite pieces to write, about 30 seconds after the dust settles, is the list of Oscar snubs. Oh, how we love to express faux outrage for the delight of our readers — how dare they deny an extremely well paid (and handsome) celebrity from the recognition he so deserves! Stars aren’t in it for the money — they’re in it for the recognition, dammit.

Yeah. I like to write about Oscar snubs, too. In fact, before the nominations are even announced, I thought I’d go ahead and get a jumpstart on 2010’s Biggest Oscar Snubs:

10. Best Actor - Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker: The Hurt Locker will get nominations for best picture and best director, but Jeremy Renner undeservedly gets the shaft. Screw the Academy!

9. Best Actress - Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones: Terrible movie, but one hell of a fine performance from Ronan, who loses out to the likes of Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side. What an injustice!

8. Best Actor - Sam Rockwell, Moon: Rockwell turned in an outstanding performance as every character in the movie, save for a robot voiced by Kevin Spacey. And yet, sadly, the only Oscar attention he’s gotten was about how little Oscar attention he’s getting. Damn you, Academy voters. Get your head out of your ass!

7. Best Supporting Actor - Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles: Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles was barely marketed. Hardly anyone saw it, and it was mostly thought of as Zac Efron’s (pretty good) attempt at breaking out of the Disney mold. But Christian McKay — who played Orson Welles — was outstanding. He’d still lose out to Waltz, like everyone, but McKay at least deserves a nomination. How can the Academy deny it? Assholes!

6. Best Actor - Tobey Maguire, Brothers: Jim Sheridan’s Brothers didn’t get a lot of attention this year. The movie wasn’t quite up to the caliber of the other expected Best Picture nominees, but Maguire turned in a remarkably good performance as a soldier dealing with post-traumatic stress. And yet, it’s that damned Clooney who gets all the recognition. Maguire will cry into his millions and millions of dollars, as he should!

5. Best Original Screenplay - Greg Motolla, Adventureland: So much emotional depth, and so much understanding of the characters, Motolla’s Adventureland was one of the more subtle, richly played coming-of-age/loss of virginity movies in recent memory. Do you think the Academy cares about subtlety? Absolutely not (see Avatar and The Blind Side).

4. Best Supporting Actress - Rosamund Pike, An Education: The thing about all the deserved attention that Carey Mulligan has gotten for her performance in An Education is that Rosamund Pike in a supporting role has been largely ignored. It’s a shame, too, because Pike is effortlessly brilliant. Why can’t the Academy see this? What’s wrong with those people.

3. Best Original ScreenplayIn the Loop: Hands down the best script of 2010, in either the adapted or original category. In the Loop was one of the smartest, funniest, scathing political satires I’ve ever seen. The Academy hates funny and smart. Somebody start the Murdertank. Outrage!

2. Best Original Score - Karen O., Where the Wild Things Are: Yes. Yes. I know. It’s not even eligible for an Oscar nomination, having been disqualified for some bullshit Academy reason. This is the first movie soundtrack I’ve actually purchased in years, and it’s not only outstanding as a stand-alone CD, it was as memorable and perfect a score as could ask for a movie. Sadly, the only music the Academy cares about is the music that comes out of Celine Dion’s inhuman windpipes. Who do we have to curb stomp to get the Academy to change the rules!

1. Best PictureDistrict 9: Actually, with ten nominees, District 9 has a decent chance at a nomination, but I’m getting out ahead of this just in Avatar gets a nom and the better, smarter, more entertaining District 9 does not, in which case I’m going to be hugely pissed (double that anger if The Hangover gets a nomination instead of District 9.