Nominated For Nothing: How Was ‘Contagion’ Not Oscar Bait?

EW:

Every year, brilliant movies are utterly ignored by the Oscars. The Searchers, Groundhog Day, Persona, Breathless, Hoop Dreams, King Kong, Caddyshack — the Academy has a long history of overlooking comedies, action movies, horror flicks, artsy foreign films, and documentaries that aren’t about World War II. This year, we’ll be taking a closer look at films that were too small, too weird, or perhaps simply too awesome for the Academy Awards. These are the Non-Nominees.

The Film: Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, a globe-trotting chronicle of an apocalyptic epidemic featuring a ridiculously star-packed A-List cast, including Oscar winners (Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, and Laurence Fishburne), nominees (Jude Law, Elliot Gould, John Hawkes), and even a tiny role for current TV demi-god Bryan Cranston.