First of all I'd like to diss the Academy

[Zar]

I can't understand why one of the most moving, and biggest money making movies of the year was not nominated for anything in the Academy Awards. I can understand if the movie was poorly made and stuff like that, because I critique stuff all the time in art calsses.You have to leave alot of personal issues aside and look at the art. But the Passion of the Christ was a powerful and amazing made movie, much better that alot of those which were nominated for best picture.
In one interview some guy even said about the Passion of the Christ, it was the only movie in which the academy screeners actually booed and hissed at the movie. I take that as a really biased attitude. Even if they might have some kind of personal issue with Christiantiy or something they should appretiate this as a well made movie. Thats pretty much all I have to say

[Stephen]

Moved to correct area.

[ShiroiHikari]

well...unfortunately that's the way the cookie crumbles. the Academy wouldn't know a good movie if it walked up and bashed their collective heads in. so, screw what they think. we don't need the Academy to tell us what's good and what's not.

although it is pretty darn discriminatory to overlook the technical perfection because of the subject matter. what about all these other stupid movies they've given awards to over the years? bleh, most of them have been trashy. then an account of the life of Christ comes along and they boo and hiss. it's a sad sad world.

[termyt]

What do you expect? It's the Academy. Are you really surprised? I was more shocked by the recognition the Lord of the Rings received last year than anything else the out-of-touch, clueless Academy has done.

[ShiroiHikari]

I was more shocked by the recognition the Lord of the Rings received last year than anything else the out-of-touch, clueless Academy has done.

ditto. although they did wait til the third movie to recognize it. LOTR is one of the few movies in a long time to actually deserve the recognition it was given.

[Saint Kevin]

Yeah, I don't know about the Academy's bias (I can't deny or confirm it by anything I know) but I guess it would explain why The Passion was left off the list. I agree that it should have at least been among the final nominees. I also personally feel that it should have gotten best picture, but what can you do.

I've really given up on Hollywood in so many ways. Here's just one more reason to.

[Ashley]

But the Passion of the Christ was a powerful and amazing made movie, much better that alot of those which were nominated for best picture.

Actually, from what I understand this movie was out of the running because it was not in English, and therefore judged no differently than say "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". There are other rules for academy award nominee films; like for example, I know Farenheit 9/11 isn't in the running because it was broadcast on national television before the election and somehow lost its eligibility status. While I don't necessarily agree with all the academy's decisions (especially since we don't know who's IN the academy) but I did think it was important to share a few other aspects to the process people seemed to be foregetting.

[Saint Kevin]

Wow, I had no idea.

Still, that seems like splitting hairs when the clear intention of the movie was to be aimed at an (originally) American audience (hence the english subtitles).

Also, I went on the academy's website and I DID see Passion of the Christ as a nominee for 2004 Best Picture (in the original list with 100-200 movies or whatever.

[Technomancer]

Well, as Ashley pointed out the academy does not pick non-English speaking movies for best picture regardless of how good they are (a rather parochial sort of view but there it is). Regadless of that in some respects, it is not at all surprising that it was not nominated. As powerful as the movie was, it was not a very accessible film. The movie is a rather brutal sort of passion play and is designed to reinact the crucifixtion without regards to the context of that event. There is virtually no plot, character development or other story elements that go into a conventional film. Moreover, anyone not already intimately familiar with the subject matter is going to be rather lost, seeing only the brutal torture and execution of a man; hardly material worth spending two hours watching.

The film was nominated for cinematography BTW.

[Zedian]

The movie is actually up for a few technical awards and even a Best Foreign movie category. But really, aside from The Aviator and Sideways, none of the finalist even deserved the recognition.

[Kisa]

I don't care what they vote or not, I base a good movie on my own opinions of it and if they don't wanna recognize the good ones, then its their own darn loss....

[The Doctor]

Of course The Passion didn't get alot of nominations.

The only way you win big at the Oscar's is if your movie has all or some of the following:
Over 50 curses.
Gratuitous or at the VERY LEAST implied sex scenes involving the main characters.
NUDITY IS A MUST!!!!!!!
Have God in your movie if you have to, but portray Him as flawed, or not really interested in helping man. In fact, trash His character altogether.


That is how Hollywood is today, and little do they realize that these things HURT more than HELP a story along. They resort to cheap tricks and thrills and call it art. True artists should weep at this lack of ingenuity and celebration of debauchery.

This isn't "art", this is glorified pornography.

And those who think Hollywood doesn't have an agenda needs to do a case study. There is more at work here than we realize and the public needs to be aware of it.

As for them NOT nominating Fahrenheit 9/11, I believe that was just a calculated move to protect their rears from being bashed by conservatives.
Frankly, I think the few nominations the Passion did get was just little give aways by Hollywood hoping it would appease the masses.

[Jeikobu]

I would've liked in ways to see PotC get nominated, because of the theme. But I didn't enjoy the way the makers of the movie messed up alot of the content, so it's not one I would care to see again.

[Cap'n Nick]

That is how Hollywood is today, and little do they realize that these things HURT more than HELP a story along. They resort to cheap tricks and thrills and call it art. True artists should weep at this lack of ingenuity and celebration of debauchery.

Very true. I wonder if they realize how predictable and trite these devices make their movies. Instead of something original I get a little skin and some God-bashing pathetically substituted for profundity.

Sometimes it gets downright ridiculous. I remember when The Village came out. Just from watching the previews, I not only predicted both major plot twists but also correctly inferred the presence of anti-authoritarian and anti-religious themes.

When I told this to a friend that had seen the movie, he wrinkled his nose at me like I had just shot the Easter bunny and said, "Well it really isn't any fun now..."

I think that sums up the problem pretty well.

[termyt]

There's also a certain culture to the academy. They have things they think are important and things they do not prize, which often does not mesh well with what he general population believes. The academy is made up of Hollywood insiders, not ordinary people with "mid-western" values.

The academy simply didn't choose animated movies for the top draw, either, that is until Beauty and the Beast was recognized. They can place any movie they want in the Best Picture category, it is just very unlikely that a movie that doesn't fit the Hollywood mold will generate enough support to be selected.

[Shao Feng-Li]

What The Docter said...

Amen to that.

[Ashley]

Does anyone even pay attention to the academy awards? To me, to hear a movie has one x many academy awards is like hearing a book is on the Bestseller List in the New York Times--along with everyone else.

[true_noir_chloe]

I'm with you Ashley. My personal subjective bias always wins out on what movie I see or what book I read. If it's won an academy, I don't much care. :p

I only watch the Academy Award show at the beginning to see what beautiful dresses they're wearing, I mean the gals are wearing, not the guys, and that's about it. ^__^

[Mangafanatic]

The only thing I'd add that hasn't been said yet is the one quam (sp?) that I heard raised against the Passion (or should I say the only one I thought had any merit). The story telling wasn't that great. I mean, if you didn't know the story already and know who the characters are, you'd be totally lost.

I was raised in a church and know the gospels very well, but even I came out of the movie say "Now which disciple was the one that did such and such?" I can't imagine how confusing it would have been if I didn't have that information coming into the movie.

Don't get me wrong. The Passion was a movie that served a mighty purpose, but I'm not sure I'd say it was the best movie (based on PURE movie merit) of the year.

[The Doctor]

Well, for me I thought the Passion was great. Mel Gibson stated what his objective was, and that was to show people just the extent of pain and torture Christ went through on our behalf, to make it real to us. And boy did he accomplish that!

We were brought into His world, the pain He endured, we were there. I thought that was pretty powerful.

And when I hear Hollywood argue that they wanted to see more "spiritual" side of Christ, I roll my eyes. What some of them are really saying is that they wanted another Temptation of Christ where THEIR version of Jesus wonders if He should have dated Mary Magdelene. I don't want to be in Martin Scorsese's shoes when He faces the Almighty. And the incredible thing is that God doesn't want Scorsese to have to be there either. The Bible quotes God as saying that He takes NO pleasure in punishing the wicked, and that God desires for ALL men to be saved. To think that God could love men and women who have made movies trashing His character and His Son's is incredible. We should all praise and thank God for having mercy on us, an unworthy race of beings.

[Lunis]

Regadless of that in some respects, it is not at all surprising that it was not nominated. As powerful as the movie was, it was not a very accessible film. The movie is a rather brutal sort of passion play and is designed to reinact the crucifixtion without regards to the context of that event. There is virtually no plot, character development or other story elements that go into a conventional film.

That is exactly what I was going to say about it not winning. As wonderful as the message is, the movie itself wasn't that great. And also that thing about it not being in English. So they actually have good reasons not to nominate it. But then again...

In one interview some guy even said about the Passion of the Christ, it was the only movie in which the academy screeners actually booed and hissed at the movie. I take that as a really biased attitude.

I guess they're using more than facts to disapprove of the movie.

[termyt]

Violence and objectionable content didn't stop movies like Silence of the Lambs or The English Patient from winning, let alone being nominated.

To be honest, though, I'm not sure if the Passion was Oscar worthy or not. I have no idea what makes a film worthy. I really don't pay attention anyway. I watch what I want to watch and winning oscars has never caused me to watch a movie I wouldn't have otherwise watched.

[Twilly Spree]

I'm personally more upset that Paul didn't get a best actor nod for Sideways, when he should have gotten one last year for American Splendor.

[SManBeyond]

[quote="Ashley"]Actually, from what I understand this movie was out of the running because it was not in English, and therefore judged no differently than say "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". There are other rules for academy award nominee films]

From my understanding, the film was not out of the running because it was not in English. The official reason that the Academy gave was because the film was not a huge critical success, and thus it (in their minds) did not deserve to be considered. Like it or not, critics were pretty much split on the film. Some praised the film, while others called it an artistic failure. The split was pretty incredible, though...I believe half of all the critics liked it.

Films like The Aviator and Million Dollar Baby were more well-liked and generally approved of by most critics, and thus the Academy selected those.

The film also could not have been considered for the Foreign film entry because it was an American film.

I agree that it was a shame that the film was not nominated. It was the most powerful film I saw all year. However, as MANY members have alread said, it's not all that big a deal. While I am studying film criticism and thus awards like this are of interest to me, I've be amazed by how many great films in recent years have been overlooked for awards because of snobbery.

[Rocketshipper]

Silence of the Lambs was cool!! The book is really good and the movie was a very close adaption ^_^.

I remember when The Village came out. Just from watching the previews, I not only predicted both major plot twists but also correctly inferred the presence of anti-authoritarian and anti-religious themes.

O_O? What anti-religious themes. I didn't get that message at all.

I think I agree with what Manga Fanatic said about Passion back on page 2. It was powerful, but for someone not familier with the story it could also be very confusing.

[greyscale42]

Because its a religious movie, and a christian movie. It could be one of the most awesome movies ever, which it is, and the "academy" would throw it out. It you want good movies never listen to the academy.

[wilson1112000]

Actually. I heard that the Acadamy did nominate The Passion of the Christ, but only for best music and something out. It's not fair in my opinion that there is so much crap out there, and when something that is very beautiful and weldone comes along, the bloody liberal media tries to tear it to sherds! Its dreadfull! The funny thing is that I found out that the Passion is actually the best selling R rated movie in the world at the present moment! (Of course, I could be wrong.)

[CephasWhite]

Hey guys, I agree that the Passion of the Christ is the best and I love it as well, and I also think it should have been nominated but remember the movie got best picture in the People's Choice Awards.

To me, The People's Choice Awards are more important then the Academys. Mel Gibson was very happy and was almost in tears, I could hear it in his voice. The Academy Awards is just the peers of the academy voting for their favorites, that's about it. The People's Choice is...well...the people's choice of their favorite movies and if you think about how many people there are in the world...I am very happy, and pleased with The Passion of the Christ winning the Best Picture.

It is loving to know how many Christians there are in the world, and people who aren't, respect us and our faith and are interested in what we believe.