When the 81st Oscar nominations came out Jan. 22, many critics praised the Academy for going outside the realm of their traditional choices, while others were left scratching their heads at some obvious omissions.David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” racked up an impressive 13 nominations including Best Picture, which shows the Academy is willing to include box offices smashes, but they’re not quite ready to accept the full-blown comic book action of a movie like “The Dark Knight.”The exclusion of “The Dark Knight” in the Best Picture category, despite being the second-highest grossing film of all time, behind “Titanic,” is not really a surprise, since the Academy voters tend to shy away from blockbuster action-driven films.”The Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan wasn’t even given a Best Director nod for his commendable revival of the Batman franchise.The omission of Heath Ledger’s nomination for Best Supporting Actor in “The Dark Knight” probably would’ve started riots, considering petitions started immediately after the film’s release for his nomination.Ledger’s posthumous Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe may be indicative of his chances on Feb. 22. He is up against tough competitors like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robert Downey, Jr.Mickey Rourke, who was once thought to be completely off the acting grid, has made a return in recent years, especially with “The Wrestler,” which garnered him a Best Actor nod.Rourke’s portrayal of an over-the-hill wrestler trying to make a comeback may be the role of his career. But he faces a powerful Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, the first openly gay public official, in “Milk,” along with Frank Langella as a post-Watergate Richard Nixon in “Frost/Nixon.”Bruce Springsteen’s beautiful theme “The Wrestler,” for the film of the same name wasn’t even considered for a Best Original Song nomination. The same thing happened last year to Eddie Vedder, whose soundtrack for “Into the Wild,” was deemed “too song-oriented.”Crowd favorite “Slumdog Millionaire” took two of the three slots for Best Original Song. The other being Phil Collins’ “Down to Earth” for the charming robot animated film “Wall-E.””Slumdog Millionaire” accumulated 10 nominations including Best Picture and Best Director, though excellent newcomers Dev Patel and Freida Pinto were left off the ballots.Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino,” one of Eastwood’s best, got zero nominations, much to the frustration of many film critics.Eastwood’s tale of an old racist looking for friendship and redemption was easily one of the most powerful films of 2008.His haunting anti-hero Walt Kowalski can be included with his other iconic roles like Dirty Harry and the Man With No Name. Eastwood proves he only gets better with age, and makes the absence of “Gran Torino” all the more terrible.Eastwood might not go completely empty-handed though; he picked up a few nominations for “The Changeling.”The inclusion of “The Reader” in the Best Picture category left many people questioning the Academy’s decision.With so many high-quality films in 2008, the Academy opted for the safe pick, ignoring “The Dark Knight,” “Gran Torino” and “Revolutionary Road,” which snubbed Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, though she did get nominated for Best Actress for “The Reader.”Academy voters are very fickle and generally vote on    fall-back movies, while throwing the occasional bone to less traditional popular films like “Benjamin Button.”It’s impossible for the Academy to include everyone’s favorite movie in their nominations, though the voters sometimes have questionable decisions.I was personally disappointed in the oversight of “Gran Torino” and Bruce Springsteen’s “The Wrestler.”While many may disagree with this year’s picks, the Academy should be commended in recent years for considering and awarding controversial films like “Crash” and “Milk.”The Academy has come a long way in their choices for the best films of the year, as evidenced by last year’s violent Best Picture winner “No Country for Old Men.”But they still have a long way to go in terms of backing more eccentric films.__Contact Blake LeJeune at [email protected]