Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a Spider can — which doesn't include getting nominated for best picture, apparently.
Much to the dismay of Marvel fans — including repeat Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel — "Spider-Man: No Way Home" did not receive a nomination for the top prize at this year's Academy Awards. Despite wowing audiences and critics alike, the Sony blockbuster was almost entirely shut out of Tuesday's nominations, landing only a single nod for visual effects.
On Tuesday's episode of his late-night show, Kimmel did not mince words while lamenting the film academy's lack of love for Spidey. For reference, the 10 movies competing for best picture are "Belfast," "CODA," "Don't Look Up," "Drive My Car," "Dune," "King Richard," "Licorice Pizza," "Nightmare Alley," "The Power of the Dog" and "West Side Story."
"The biggest snub today, in my opinion — and I'm actually even angry about this, I'm kind of embarrassed to say — is the unforgivable omission of 'Spider-Man: No Way Home,'" Kimmel declared.
"How did that not get one of the 10 nominations for best picture? There were only 11 movies made this year! Forget the fact that the movie made $750 million and is still going. This is a great movie. It wasn't in the top 10 best movies of the year? There were three Spider-Men in it!"
Worked up and on a roll, Kimmel contended the superhero flick was more deserving of a best picture bid than some of the actual nominees — namely Netflix's "Don't Look Up." (For what it's worth, Los Angeles Times film critic Justin Chang placed the star-studded disaster satire dead last in his ranking of this year's best-picture contenders.)
"You're telling me 'Don't Look Up' was better than 'Spider-Man'?" Kimmel continued.
"It most certainly was not! Even if you go where the critics' reviews [are] on Rotten Tomatoes, 'Don't Look Up' ... got a [46%] — 'Spider Man' has a 90! For God's sake, 'Jackass Forever' has an 89. When did we decide that the best picture has to be serious? As far as I know, this was not the point of feature film when they started making them."
(For the record: "Don't Look Up" actually got a 56% score, "Spider-Man" got a 93% and "Jackass Forever" got an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, but points were made.)
Directed by Jon Watts, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" is the final installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's web-slinging trilogy starring on- and offscreen love interests Tom Holland and Zendaya. Helmed by Adam McKay, "Don't Look Up" is an allegorical comedy with an A-list cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence.
"You want to know what happened? The academy voters ... saw the names Leo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep. They checked that box, and then they put their kids in the car, and they went to see the movie 'Spider-Man.' We may need to get Doctor Strange to go back in time to fix this. I mean, my God, [lead actress nominee] Nicole Kidman can't even shoot webs out of her wrists!"
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