So I was looking at all the oscar nominees yesterday and was feeling underwhelmed. I know the awards have turned into a popularity contest but I still think they should be about rewarding quality. I was particularly surprised by a couple movies that got lukewarm reviews that are nominated, so I cross referenced with Rotten Tomatoes to check the score.
They seem to have gotten Slumdog Millionaire (95%) Milk (93%) and Fost/Nixon (91%) right as those three movies got excellent reviews. But then there's Benjamin Button (72%) which is an OK score, but nothing special. I know I've read plenty of mediocre reviews for it, and no great ones. And last is The Reader (60%) which is quite poor for a "best picture nominee"
To put it in perspective here's some other movies that got far better reviews:
The Wrestler (98%)
Wall E (96%)
The Dark Knight (94%)
Happy-Go-Lucky (93%)
Iron Man (93%)
The Visitor (91%)
Transiberrian (90%)
Rachel Getting Married (87%)
Vikki Christina Barcelona (81%)
Most of these movies are nominated in other major categories and have far better reviews than Benjamin Buttons and The Reader.
Heck, even Tropic Thunder gets 83% !
I know a lot of these movies aren't typical "best picture nominees" but I don't think a movie should get extra consideration just because it's about the holocaust. Just like I don't think a movie should be ignored because it's animated, or a comedy, or a comic-book movie, or a little-seen indie.
There's plenty more too. If you look at the Rotten Tomatoes list of best-reviewed movies for the year Benjamin Buttons doesn't even crack the top 100. Granted a lot of those are documentaries, re-releases, or super-indies, but it doesn't change the fact that the movie is middle-of-the-road at best.
Don't forget Rotten Tomatoes is a compilation of hundreds of critics' reviews so it gives the most accurate consensus of what kind of reviews a movie got.
Just bloggin'
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