I've seen a lot of stuff this year, and the biggies left for me are:

Kong
Munich
A History of Violence
The Squid and the Whale


Apart from that, I've seen pretty much every art house and major release, and I have to say, the most complete movie I've seen is actually Batman Begins. I realize popcorn flicks don't ususally make these conversations, and with good reasons. But two considerations, with respect to the movies I have yet to see:

1. 2005 is an awful year for "award" pictures
2. Batman Begins is not the typical popcorn movie

On the second point, its much more of a character study. The action is down and dirty and not grand in scope, apart from the rooftop chase.

And on the first point, I just can't believe the utter lack of any movie to rally behind or embrace.

Best Actor is a pretty strong category this year, so while I think Bale did a great job, he probably doesn't belong in the top competition there.

And perenial noms Caine and Oldman are both strong, but probably not deserving.

But I think Nolan and the Best Picture would be perfectly appropritate, at least as a nomination. Unfortunately, it looks like they didn't have the confidence to do a for your consideration push for it. Too bad, it might have been an interesting year for it.

No superhero film will ever win a best picture nomination. If Superman didn't get one Batman Beyond sure as hell isn't getting one.

The only thing I see this getting any nominations for are in the tech categories. Possibly art direction, sound editing..something along those lines. But with King Kong and Star Wars up for those same categories, BB could get 0 nominations.

Sure they will ... about, oh, thirty years from now, when they're considered obsolete and hence respectable, like Westerns are today.

But not now, and certainly not Batman Begins. There's nothing in it to appeal to the Oscar crowd--no tears, no Burning Social Issues, no pretty period costumes, etc. It doesn't even have the "grand epic" thing going for it.

If Spider-Man 2 didn't get any nods last year, Batman Begins doesn't have a shot this year.

I thought Michael Caine was getting some buzz on his role. He's nominated every year for something anway!

Agreed!

It does actually deal with one burning issue, terrorism. But something tells me Munich will be the Oscar darling in that area.

Batman Begins actually was well-regarded enough by critics and audiences alike that it should get some attention from Academy voters(at the very least in the Cinematography and Design categories), but bottom line is it's a superhero movie. The only genre less respected by the awards shows is sci-fi.

If Batman Begins wins any awards I'll stop watching the Oscars completely.

You're doing better than me. I stopped watching them two years ago. The Oscars are pointless and don't mean a thing except to the winners. It's certainly not an accurate arbiter of what's great in films. The Oscars are nothing more than a social event. A chance for the stars to get gussied up and strut for us lowly viewers at home.

I agree with you, but sometimes I find the awards shows entertaining and I watch them anyway. I don't know why I find them entertaining. Call it my guilty pleasure. The show has been getting worse, though. And if a corny movie like Batman Begins wins anything, I'll be joining you in not watching. I doubt it will win anything though.

I'm sure BB will be nominated in the tech categories, but what would make my year would be for it to be nominated in the top categories, specifically Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, and Adapted Screenplay. Will it happen? Are the Lions going to win the Super Bowl this year?

And the Oscar for "finally doing it right" goes to....

But, until that category...Oh well.

Cheers for the sentiment.

No, not at all. Who'd you nominate, and think to yourself, would this person be nominated for this?

Fixed

Yeah, who would nominate a cartoon anyways?

There's a list of great oscar potentials and Batman Begins is not one of them. Simple as that.

Bingo.

Spider-Man was about 100x better than Batman Begins, and I don't even care for the Spider-man mythos!

if thats the case... Battlefield Earth should get one......

I have to disagree pretty strongly, Batman Begins was IMO a very poorly done and sloppy movie. The plot was weak and beyond reasonable suspension of disbelief even for a comic book movie (hello call downtown and shut off the train...problem solved. Mind you i'm not even bringing up the technical problems with a device that vaporizes water through metal in a 360o arc but does nothing to the water in humans). The director didn't even bother paying attention to what was going on, onscreen (when the bad guy is tied up his pose is nothing like the bat signal shown in the sky...how much effort would it have taken to have his arms straight to the sides and his legs together not spread really?). Ugh this wasn't even the best Batman movie much less worthy of any Oscar talk.

ummm yeah.... so if Batman gets a nod... then Deuce bigalo should get one too