Okay, let me say that 2008 was a truely exceptional year for movies- the mega-hits Ironman Dark Knight, Eastwood's superb Gran Torino, Doubt, Revolutionary Road, The Reader, Bejamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire- these are all really good films, and many of them deserve a major award. So where did the moronic academy voters blow it this year?

1) Gran Torino is a terrific film. It's a no-brainer that Clint, in his finest performance, shoud have nominated for Best Actor. Best Picture and Best Director are debatable, Best Actor isn't. I was looking forward to who would win, Micky or Clint. Which begs the question: did Warner Bros. make a huge mistake in holding off the film's wide release until the weekend before nomination ballots were due?

This is one of the biggest mistakes in Oscar history.

2) No nomination for Dark Knight in Best Film or Best Director, although it did receive 8 lesser nominations.

I know what I'm about to say will piss off a few people- Dark Knight did not deserve to win either. I mean the whole mobile phone echo thing- it was just a lame device. I would also point out that the whole film is just too dark, in terms of cinemtography. There are times it's hard to see the whole set. And Christopher Bale's growling gets pretty one-dimensional by the end. I didn't like the Harvey burnt face effect, either. And Maggie Gyleenhall, am I alone thinking she's a terrible actoress who the media has tried to convince us is a great one?

But Heath Ledger, the whole spectaculer event nature of the thing, the truck trip- that's all good stuff. And the way it drilled down into superhero characters, the unflinching look.

Dark Knight deserved to be nominated in both Best Film or Best Director.  The academy blew it.

3) Brad Pitt for Benjamin Button. Please. The only acting of any note he did here was CGI enhanced. There are just too many times his character should have been heartbroken and instead had just this dazed look. I like Pitt, I just wish he could leave this ridiculous celebrity thing behind and grow up already.

4) Best supporting actor - Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road. This is just stupid. The guys on screen for like 10 minutes. He's good, but it's not like it's a memorable role.

Notes: Unfortunately, the Academy Award show is in real trouble. Because the voting has been so odd lately. I think the voters are trying to do the best they can, but it's become a price war as to who wins. Last year Miramax paid out 20 million in gifts and publicity to suade voter for the Cohen Brothers and No Country for Old Men.

Yet there is a bigger reason why the crisis exists. Here it is- the best films nowadays are indies. Relatively few people see indies so they don't care about them. That doesn't make the films any less good.

Big time studios are so clueless nowadays that they rarely make the kind of big budget, high quality epic of yesteryear, the kind of films that would sweep awards. "Benjamin Button" is the best big budget movie of the last several years- and it's very good but not great. The smaller films are all better. Go see them. And demand Hollywood makes better big movies.