I can't get over how awful it's going to be this year.
-No Diving Bell (since France chose Persepolis)
-The Band's Visit...which is supposed to be really great, had too much English to qualify
-category is so bad that The Orphanage is almost a lock to get in! It's decent for a horror film, but compared to what usually gets in this category, it was mediocre.

I mean, last year this was so crowded that Volver didn't even get in! This year they have the scrape the bottom of the barrel to fill up 5 spots.

There's really nothing to like besides 4,3,2 and Persepolis.

EDIT:
Thanks to xiayun for the sucky shortlist:


So....4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days and Persepolis miss. The frontrunners are out. Also, so is The Orphanage.

I don't think Spain chose Volver.

If Cruz got a Best Actress nominee, the movie could've managed a Foreign Film nom too, no?

I can't remember the last Almodovar film that WAS nominated for Foreign Film, even though he hasn't had a single critical disappointment yet. His films are constantly upper 80s - 90s on RT.

The last Almodovar film to get nominated (and win) is All About My Mother in 99/00.

Though I think Volver was Spain's submission last year, it just wasn't nominated...

Yup, Spain chose Volver, it just didn't get in (it wasn't very good either, so I'm glad :-P)

This year, I dunno, I haven't seen any of the submissions. Russia's 12 is apparently great and The Counterfeiters is solid, as I read.

France got screwed because it produced three quite acclaimed films this year: La Vie En Rose (to a lesser extent), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Persepolis. I now think, however, that not subm,itting The Diving Bell for Best Foreign was a clever idea and one of the reasons it is doing so well now.

I think Diving Bell was also screwed by the fact that it's also closer to an Iwo Jima like situation where it's a part-American production with an American director. Both of those certainly helped detract from its chances of being selected.

How someone can like Downfall and not like Volver is beyond me.

On IMDB:
Volver - 41 wins, 47 more nominations
Downfall - 14 wins, 14 more nominations

I know that having taste is beyond you, you don't need to emphasize that

Not being eligible for Foreign may be in fact helping Diving Bell's BP chance, so if Diving Bell ends up getting nominated for BP, France's move will be brilliant in retrospect.

Just because the films are not as well-known does not mean they suck, necessarily. How many of the submitted films have you seen?

This is one of the categories in which one can only vote if you've seen all the films, right? So I think it's very likely that we'll get a very strong lineup, but it will probably be made up of films that we haven't heard much about. Volver being snubbed in favor of After the Wedding last year, I think, was not right. At least Persepolis and 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days have gotten rave reviews this year, and will likely take 2 of the 5 spots in the category.

The shortlist (now this really sucks) for Oscar:

Austria, “The Counterfeiters,” Stefan Ruzowitzky, director
Brazil, “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation,” Cao Hamburger, director
Canada, “Days of Darkness,” Denys Arcand, director
Israel, “Beaufort,” Joseph Cedar, director
Italy, “The Unknown,” Giuseppe Tornatore, director
Kazakhstan, “Mongol,” Sergei Bodrov, director
Poland, “Katyn,” Andrzej Wajda, director
Russia, “12,” Nikita Mikhalkov, director
Serbia, “The Trap,” Srdan Golubovic, director

Please let Cao Hamburger win the Oscar.

Poor guy. He probably gets "Would you like some fries with that?" like fifty times a day.

Great, the two "locks" didn't even make it.

Although I see heavyweights like Arcand, Tornatorre, and Wajda. They're in. Maybe.

WHAT??

No Persepolis?? No 4 Months..???

I don't know which selection process is worse: Docs or Foreign. Each and every year their nominations are complete bull.

Persepolis for Animated Feature, perhaps?

WTF

oops

It should be a lock there. I think with all the heavyweights either being ineligible (Diving Bell, Lust, Caution) or not selected (4 Months, Persepolis), we could see some good representation in the regular categories, even with American films having a tremendous year. And 4 Months hasn't been released in the states yet, so it could pull off a City of God.

WTF where is Persepolis? This is f-f-f-fucked. To atone, the Academy needs to award it Best Animated Feature.

And I at least expected Lust, Caution to make the shortlist.
How does this selection process work?

I'm assuming a dartboard or a giant hat come into play.

Yeah, really...THE FUCK?!

No 4 Months...?!?!?!?!?!

12 will get in, it got quite big acclaim so far (it's pretty much the Russian remake of 12 Angry Men) and The Counterfeiters will too because of its topic...

Was it even eligible?