Paramount Shows Off Amazing Sense of Humor, Submits ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’ to Academy for Best Picture

In case you didn't know, not every movie that comes out is automatically eligible for an Oscar nomination. If you want the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to consider your work, you have to submit it to them. And this in turn adds another layer of politics to an awards show your 12-year-old niece actually believes is all about artistic merit.

You see, it's the studios who decide what movies get submitted for what awards, because they're the ones who own the rights to distribute the movie. So if a director or producer wants his or her work to be submitted, they have to convince the studio to do so. And this can get tricky. Studios won't be taken seriously by the academy if they just submit everything. They have to pick and choose and present only the stuff that's going to make them look good. Moreover, since they'll have to spend a ton of money on parties and private screenings for Academy members just to make sure they actually see and consider their movies, studios only bother submitting movies in categories they think they have a reasonable chance of winning.

That's why it's so utterly amazing that Paramount Pictures has submitted Transformers: Age of Extinction in every category, from cinematography and best achievement in sound editing to best actor, best director, best screenplay, and even best picture.

The movie made a billion dollars worldwide this summer, so obviously it was popular with fans. But it was panned by critics, who are always obsessed with things like "plot" and "quality acting" that are seldem found in Michael Bay films.

So what's going on here? If I had to take a guess—and maybe this is just wishful thinking—I'd say this is another example of Michael Bay telling his critics they can go f%#& themselves.

[H/T Screen Junkies]