'The Dark Knight' Snubbed By Oscars

Nominees for the 81st annual Academy Awards were announced this morning in Los Angeles, and to the dismay of many, the Academy failed to include The Dark Knight for Best Picture and the ridiculously talented Christopher Nolan for Best Director. Seriously? If you're like me, you watched every single special feature on the Dark Knight Blu-ray disc and just knew it would be nominated for Best Picture.

How could the Academy have screwed up so badly? The Dark Knight has already secured nominations from the Producers, Writers, and Cinematographers guilds earlier this month and racked up nominations and awards from the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes, and the Grammys.

Fortunately, the late Heath Ledger earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his brilliantly diabolical portrayal of the Joker. Ledger's nomination comes on the one-year anniversary of his death. Ledger will compete against some pretty big heavy hitters: Josh Brolin for Milk; Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt; Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road; and Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder.

The Dark Knight was nominated, and rightfully so, for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing & Editing, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup, and of course, Best Visual Effects.