hapgilmore

Seriously, more proof these award shows suck. They single out a few films and essentially give them nominations in damn near every category (American Gangster, No Country etc...). Zodiac was the best film of 2007 in my opinion, but it is being shown no love, ridiculous!

wendersfan

I would think an obvious answer is that it's just not that good of a movie.

JPRaup

Yeah, it should get more recognized, but o well, the nominated films are good for the most part.

Joe Molotov

It's a heck of a lot better than American Gangster.

Groucho

I would agree. It's not a bad picture, but once the second half begins and the focus is exclusively on Jake Gyllenhal's character it really starts to drag, especially with all the red herrings and slow plotting.

hardercore

Personal opinion? It's not that great a movie. Decent, unsettling, but starts off at a good pace before losing all momentum. By the two hour mark, it starts to drag and the last 30 minutes feels an hour.

And, for what it's worth, American Gangster is falling off the radar fast. Even though I thought it was a heck of a lot better than Zodiac.

Chrisedge

QFT...It was OK

The Monkees

I think its because the movie came out in march of this year so the voters forgot about it. they were focused on the movies that came out from september to the end of the year.

Jericho

It's a great excuse, but voters aren't so dumb that they just forget two thirds of the entrants based on time.

The Monkees

I think that they do. Very rarely do voters look at the begining of the year. Even though there are some great movies that come out in that time of the year voters forget about those movies. I mean they forgot about Breach too.

Nesbit

Early year release + poor box office = no nominations. Had it come out in October or had a better run at the box office I bet Downey and the film would be up for some awards.

hardercore

The other reason may be that Paramount knew it wasn't really awards material. As much as voters forget, studios know to position those they think are in with a chance for a release within the Sept-Dec time period.

And enough positive word has carried early releases to the Oscars before. As far as I recall, Little Miss Sunshine last year opened in March or April (is that when Sundance was?) and kept picking up momentum towards awards season, culminating in two Oscars for a little indie March release.

wendersfan

I think the real question is how I'm Not There only got the one nomination.

hardercore

Agreed! In an ideal world, Marcus Carl Franklin would be this years Abigail Breslin. But I think the film was a bit too out there for voters. Hopefully it does well at the Independent Spirits, where it got four or five nods.

toxie321

So far, from what I have seen this year, nothing has come close to Zodiac. I don't care that it's too slow and I think every act of the film is flawless. It would win every award in my book. The storytelling is amazing.

project86

I agree about Zodiac being better than American Gangster. American Gangster has a great story to tell, but it barely focuses on it. It turns into a generic cop movie. Denzel doing his usual performance, not doing anything new, and Crow as your typical cop. Zodiac on the other hand told the story how it should have been. With great performances by the whole cast (Gyllenhaal being the only mediocre character.) and actually trying to tell the story of both the zodiac killer and the cops.

But what do I know?

chris_sc77

I liked Zodiac more than American Gangster and No Country for Old Men.

RyoHazuki

It got shafted, no doubt. It was easily one of the best films of the year. I can't believe how many people are calling American Gangster one of the years best. What a mediocre movie. Without the star power, its a cable movie at best.

Groucho

That's the big problem right there. Even if he is the only mediocre character, the film suffers because it spends too much time on him.

dick_grayson

what about the part in that dude's basement when you think he's the guy but then he turns out not to be the guy and they never explain why. maybe I missed it

Groucho

The whole thing with Roger Rabbit was a red herring. But it was an enormously well-crafted scene, which is why I guess they didn't cut it out.

PopcornTreeCt

But American Gangster was directed by Ridley Scott and starred Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington...so obviously it had to be good. Awards shows are kinda like all-star voting in sports if you're a great player and have an off year don't worry you're still going.

Mr. Cinema

Zodiac is still the best film I've seen in 2007.

wilky61

In my opinion, American Gangster was a decent film, but it didn't stand out in any way at all... while Zodiac was just plain uninteresting.

American Gangster gets nominations because the overrated gangster film that comes out in November each year always gets nominations, though.

clemente

Because the voting bodies have their own subjective opinions just like you do and they didn't rank Zodiac amongst the top 5. Fairly simple, it was good, just not great.