Oscar snubs Michael Moore, Mel Gibson

Netscape Movies/ Reuters ^ | 01/25/05 | Dean Goodman

[outlaw1_2003]

LOS ANGELES, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Michael Moore's attempt to turn voters against U.S. President George W. Bush failed and on Tuesday he lost his gamble as well for a coveted best-picture Oscar nomination for his incendiary documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11."

The omission from the coveted category marks a major misfire for the liberal firebrand who withdrew his anti-Bush polemic from contention in the documentary category, which he won two years ago with "Bowling for Columbine," in order to focus on the big prize. No documentary has ever won the best picture Oscar.

Conservative filmmaker Mel Gibson, who performed a miracle by turning an Aramaic-speaking Jesus into a worldwide box office star with "The Passion of the Christ," also was shut out of the major award categories.

The Biblical saga generated zero buzz among Oscar prognosticators, and Gibson declined to campaign for the film he directed and funded with his own money after all the studios passed. It did, however, land three minor Oscar nominations for makeup, cinematography and score.

Earlier this month, "Passion" won a lowly People's Choice Award for best film drama to go with the two Oscars Gibson won in 1996 for producing and directing "Braveheart."

[Emmett McCarthy]

It's been scientifically proven that only 12 heterosexual Americans care about or watch the Oscar crap. That being said, Mel Gibson made a timeless movie that will be watched over and over through every Easter season from this point forward. It is the story of God's love for all of mankind vividly portrayed for all to see.

Michael Moore, on the other hand, produced nothing more than a political bumper sticker which archaeologists will find stuck under the seats of Subarus in junkyards years from now - right there with the half-eaten burgers and the condom wrappers left by the car's owners.