Recently I’ve caught up on a lot of movies I missed this year. From Vantage Point, (which was good but I hate that style of storytelling) to Hancock last night. And then I went to see Benjamin Button, and we are heading out for an early show of Slumdog Millionaire today. So far I can say there are reasons to miss all of them. I’m surprised that Benjamin is a best picture nominee. It’s a good movie, but is it top 5? It’s hard to distance myself from my fanboy leanings but I think even from a non fan view, Wall E and The Dark Knight are much more cinematic achievements and both of them have been nominated for more awards this season than Button. It seems the Oscars like the Television Emmys are still not ready to reward Genre media as serious competition. Well America has responded with their wallets and if people won’t go the theatre to see your movie, then do you think they are going to turn on their televisions to watch you give them an award? It would have been good for the Oscars just from a viewership standpoint to at least nominate The Dark Knight. Even the Art House Elitists would agree, this wasn’t just your mall summer movie popcorn fare. And to leave it out of contention, is wrong, especially when you have rewarded dreck like Titanic in the past.