If you’ve been on the Internet at all this past week, you’ve probably heard that Heath Ledger could receive a posthumous Oscar nomination for his performance in The Dark Knight. That’s with emphasis on could, because, after all, anyone could be nominated. Uwe Boll could be nominated for Best Director. He won’t be, but he could be.
And apparently Ledger probably won’t be nominated either. A Reuters article has collected quotes (not new) from the realists commenting on Ledger’s actual Oscar chances, which Los Angeles Times‘ Tom O’Neil says is a “long shot.” He also provided the following expert comment: “That’s how reluctant Oscar voters are to hug the dead. These awards are all about hugs and there’s something creepy about embracing the dead.” Meanwhile Leonard Maltin says the excitement is a “phenomenon of the Internet age” and is merely a “wish-fulfillment rumor.”
Does this mean the Internerds are over-hyping Ledger’s performance and in doing so are maybe actually ruining Ledger’s chance for that posthumous Oscar?
Certainly Terry Gilliam (who thinks the buzz originates from Warner Bros.) would again be grateful to the legions of movie geeks on the web, but is it only the bloggers and the even less respected geeks who are doing the worst damage?
Now that the real promotional appearances and actual reviews are out, it seems that bigger buzz is coming from people who typically receive more respect than those of us who are mere blog writers:
TDK costars Michael Caine, who has championed for a nomination on such venues as The Tonight Show and The View, and Gary Oldman, who mentioned Oscar in an AP article.
Filmmaker Kevin Smith, also quoted in the AP article.
Toronto Star critic Peter Howell, who also wants Oscar noms for Best Picture and Best Director and who acknowledges the death=Oscar junk by writing, “Ledger, whose incandescent performance would have attracted serious Oscar talk even without the actor’s untimely passing.”
Non-”top critic” — but still non-blog critic — Gina Carbone of Seacoast Newspapers, who apologetically yet non-apologetically writes, “I’m tired of the early Oscar talk too, but when you’re talking the best performance in years, if not decades, it’s worth talking about.” She also wants an additional Oscar nom, for Best Makeup.
For awhile there, I thought so much Oscar buzz would disappointingly influence a nomination for the wrong reasons. Now I think so much Oscar buzz could disappointingly influence a snub for the wrong reasons.
What do you think? Is Ledger’s performance really worthy of an Oscar? Or is it being overhyped? And either way, is it unrealistic or unhelpful (especially when considering the others deserving of posthumous Oscars) to continue championing him so far in advance?
Surely you are going to see The Dark Knightthis weekend. Even if you already saw it at a preview screening last night/this morning, you’re probably geeky enough to be planning on seeing it again before Monday morning comes along. After all, Warner Bros. has dispersed a record amount of prints to a record amount of screens and the pundits are predicting a record box office gross for the weekend (never mind the fact that fellow new releases Mamma Mia!and Space Chimpsand other still-strong blockbusters Hellboy II, Hancockand Wall-Ewill be supposedly be assisting in this matter). It’s almost being forced to be a monumental event. So, yeah, you’re totally going. You probably even already bought tickets, since Fandango reports that advance tickets for TDK have been the fastest sell since Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (while writing this I received a new Fandango press release claiming they’re selling 10 TDK tickets per second today).
Wait, what? You say you’re skipping out on TDK this weekend? Not possible. Whatever your lame excuse, I have a rebuttal:
10. You Didn’t See Batman Begins- This should be a decent enough reason not to see TDK, except that apparently it’s not really necessary to see the previous installment. I’ve seen TDK called better than BB, I’ve seen it called The Godfather Part II of superhero movies and I’ve seen it called the Empire Strikes Backof the franchise. But more importantly, I’m pretty sure I read somewhere (or maybe I dreamed it) that TDK should be where Christopher Nolan’s take on the series begins. So just retrospectively consider BB a prequel.
Yes, I could have embedded the cool new Watchmentrailer, but the YouTube clips I saw just didn’t do the visuals justice (watch it on Apple.com instead). And sure, I could have shared the long-awaited Twilighttrailer, but it doesn’t actually look all that appealing — I know the books are popular, but the adaptation just looks like The Lost Boysmeets Dawson’s Creek (if you must, view it on Yahoo!). Anyway, I’m sure you’re seeing The Dark Knightthis weekend (unless you have a really lame excuse not to), so you’ll likely see both those trailers, as well as the one for Terminator Salvation, ahead of the film.
So, here’s something better, or at least cuter. It’s also very, very silly. Almost to the point of not being worth its time. Fortunately, that Bat-kid riding around on his Bat-tricycle is a real gem. And the outtake at the end with him running after the junior Joker is even more precious. I’m a sucker for anything involving little kids and movies (unless it’s little kids at the movies or, often, little kids in the movies), in case you couldn’t tell from that Star Wars review I embedded awhile back (and yet, no, I still haven’t seen either Son of Rambowor the kid-made remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark).
For more with kids and Batman costumes, also check out this video, which, if a comment made on this week’s Project Runwaypremiere is true, might actually be of Heidi Klum’s son. And for more videos made by the people who made the one above, check out Wizard Universe.
Last week, I wondered when the presidential campaign and Warner Brothers’ campaign for The Dark Knight would merge. Today, the political and the movie promotional have become fully intertwined, although on a much more local scale than I had originally predicted.
According to the Village Voice (via Gothamist), Queens Councilman Hiram Monserrate is lobbying to officially brand New York City with the nickname Gotham City in time for The Dark Knight’s July release. Apparently, Monserrate thinks associating his city with a fictional flying crime fighter and a deranged, make-up wearing lunatic will be good for tourism. “I see that as a marketing tool,” he told the Voice. “‘Come visit the real Gotham City,’ taking advantage of this movie which will be one of those gate-breaking, record-selling movies like it always is.” He then mumbled something about how how Christopher Nolan’s Chicago-shot movie will help New York’s “art community to strengthen its reconnection to being a Gotham City,” and also something else about how frappuccinos embody the spirit of Batman.
Check out the full crazy at the link, and then tell us: if a studio were to, uh, make it worthwhile for a city official to sponsor a crackpot resolution involving one of their films, would that be bribery, or just really, really good viral marketing?
Last week, I 
