No Moore at Oscars - Academy snubs ‘Capitalism’

Critics and US film-goers may have fallen for Michael Moore's latest documentary Capitalism: A Love Story, but the film has failed to make the Oscars 'longlist' in a surprise snub by Academy Awards voters.

Capitalism, Moore's zeitgeist look at Wall Street and the excesses of corporate greed, had been tipped as a front-runner to win 'best documentary'. It is the year's highest-grossing documentary in the United States and received excellent reviews when it opened in September. Capitalism also drew wild applause when it had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival earlier that month.

"Moore has not lost his zest for confrontational antics," wrote Los Angeles Times reviewer Kenneth Turan in a four-star review.

The Hollywood Reporter's Deborah Young said: "Although it's less focused than Sicko or Fahrenheit 9/11 because its subject is more abstract, this is a typical Moore oeuvre: funny, often over the top and of dubious documentation, but with strongly made points that leave viewers much to ponder and debate after they walk out of the theater."

Moore's film is not the only high-profile documentary to be snubbed by the Academy. Both The September Issue, about American Vogue editor Anna Wintour, and James Toback's documentary about the boxer Mike Tyson have also been left off the longlist of 15 films.

Documentaries which did make the longlist for the 2010 Oscars include Valentino: The Last Emperor, about the 77-year-old fashion designer's final days before retiring and The Cove, which turns the spotlight on the clandestine slaughter of dolphins in Japan.

Capitalism opens in the UK on February 26 – less than two weeks before the 82nd Academy Awards take place in Los Angeles on March 7.