Rian Johnson has been waiting for an invitation to The Ball ever since Brick burns its way onto the screen in 2005. Looper gave him a bigger playground to play with, more prestigious stars to work with, and a stronger repertory company than ever in the hands of Joseph Gordon Levitt and (the criminally underrated) Noah Segan. Johnson exceeds with ensemble casts, further evidenced by everyone from main players Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt to supporting actors Piper Perabo and Paul Dano. While The Academy loves cerebral films that also just happen to show off an awesome concept, they also happen to have a weird anti sci-fi bias. Films like Star Wars and Terminator 2: Judgement Day were the scarce Oscar darlings, back when it was more competitive to get a nomination for Best Picture. Since the expansion we've seen good sci-fi (District 9, Inception) and bad (Avatar) get token "crowd-pleasing" nominations. If nominated, though, the Academy would no doubt view it as a token, whilst some of us would see it as well earned acknowledgment of a job well done.