ABM is successful for a movie which is not a box office smash, and is thought to be of the highest quality. It has been hurt by the Weinstein political attacks. Moulin Rouge has gotten a lot of talk from those who like its corrupt values which are the values of Hollywood, also they like Ms. Kidman, I think.
LOTR has a number of things against it.
It is a New Zealand production with relatively unknown actors directed by a director not taken seriously by many in previous years.
It is a fantasy, and many, including Medved, I guess, look down on all costume dramas, except for historical dramas, like Gladiator.
It has positive values which can even be interpreted as Christian values.
It has made, and will make a lot of money, and while they like to get paid well, they look down on pictures that do well.
The fact that it was even nominated, not to mention being a serious contender, against these considerations is a measure of LOTR's quality.
It was odd to me what the critics were saying, though, because most of the predictions I thought had been placing LotR up higher in its chances than the folks on E! were.
Ah well, I'm still not expecting much from the Oscars tomorrow night. I know everyone from LotR is just thrilled to even be nominated.