Risk and Christopher Nolan's next project following THE DARK KNIGHT do not belong in the same sentence.

James Cameron could pitch home videos of his family and get it made.

Truth be told, I'd probably have found that more entertaining than INCEPTION.

Catering to the Academy because they triumph the little guy and independent spirit by championing your film as an "indie sweetheart" when it is in fact a big blockbuster from a hugely successful blockbuster director makes me think -- he either thinks the Academy is incredibly stupid, or that it has worked in the past.

There's nothing about the concept, execution, distribution, or marketing of the film that makes me think INCEPTION is any different, more original, or less of a blockbuster than predecessors like THE MATRIX.

James… great post.

Scott, if you’re going to say it’s “absurd” Nolan didn’t get nominated at least tell us who he should replace. Aronofsky, Coen Bros, Fincher, Hooper or Russell? Which one Scott?

Inception simply has no heart. That’s the problem.

If we’re handing out best director nominations for complexities of filmmaking then why hasn’t Michael Bay been nominated? His movies look great, are extremely loud, technically complex, make tons of money and have no heart either. The only difference is Bay doesn’t have legions of fanboys defending his work.

The screenplay nomination is what’s truly absurd.

Of course I’d rather Nolan make original movies vs. his batman nonsense.

Did The Wachowski’s get nominated for a similar but extremely superior film in The Matrix? No, but they should’ve got the nod over Lasse Hallstrom who directed “The Cider House Rules”.

@Leonard: Fair question. I'd say swap out Nolan for Aronofsky. Unsure if you loved Black Swan or not, but while I admired it visually and thought Natalie Portman was stupendous, it was -- for me -- an unsatisfying story. Drama? Thriller, Horror? It varied in tone from one subplot to the next. As I understand it, Aronofsky shot it that way having the actors approach each scene from a variety of angles tonally so he would have a maximum of choices for the edit. And I think that shows. But that's just my reaction. And I'm happy to see the movie do well at the box office because I like to see any independent movie succeed in order to sustain that market.

"Did The Wachowski’s get nominated for a similar but extremely superior film in The Matrix?"

That was totally my sly point I slid in there lol. Glad you thought the same thing.

Not only do I think THE MATRIX just trounces on INCEPTION in terms of originality, but it's a better blockbuster that justified it's budget. It works as entertainment, before it works on a deeper level. I really think that's where Inception failed.

I, personally, also don't think Inception needed to cost what it did. I thought The Matrix pushed technology further, created a bigger scoping world, and did so on a tighter budget, while LOOKING like it had a much, much bigger budget than Inception.

I mean, The Matrix created bullet time which has heavily been duped, copied, borrowed, and put into Gap commercials.

And did it get recognition from the Academy for its storytelling prowess. Nope. Much like STAR WARS before it.

I thought some of the INCEPTION visuals of a "dreamscape" were straight up -- Oh shit! We ran out of money. I mean, that ski lodge dreamscape? Did they rip off a Bond villains mountain top lair for that?

Anyway, I'm not knocking Nolan. I don't think he was snubbed. I also think BLACK SWAN is one of Aronofsky's better films. I'm a bigger Nolan fan than Aronofsky to tell the truth, but I definitely enjoyed Black Swan more than Inception.

I don't know. I'm not going to say Nolan doesn't deserve to be up there. He probably does.

I just don't think pretending like a studio film slated for a summer release with a budget of a 160 million dollars (that doesn't even include advertising) starring Leo Di Caprio is anything other than a blockbuster.

THE DARK KNIGHT was pushing for Titanic territory in terms of box office. It also generated that box office much faster than any other movie before it.

I said James Cameron could have pitched home movies and gotten them made. Nolan could have as well.

And he basically did. He used it to make a passion project. I say good for him. But that doesn't make me like the movie any more.

INCEPTION made about the money that INDY IV made with roughly the same budget.

I am all for Blockbusters being able to compete for Best Picture with smaller films. I've been begging for it for years. I just think good blockbusters can stand on their own without having to pretend like they are really small indie flicks that a shit ton of money was thrown at. Films like THE MATRIX should have been contenders.

Shit ton is the technical measurement of that much money. :)