OSCAR
RACE 2008
commentary
by Nathaniel R
Approximately
days since Hollywood's High Holy Night
Best PICTURE
Slumdog MillionaireReaders Choice Slumdog Millionaire
Nathaniel's Choice Rachel Getting Married
My best picture ballot has none of these films on it though Milk is on my top ten list.
Preference From the Nominees Milk
Final NOMINATION Predictions 4/5. I missed The Reader which I actually assumed would be in 9th place. I though The Dark Knight or WALL•E were good for the occasional blockbuster spot -- especially since both had that very rare combo of populist AND critical pull. I assumed Doubt and The Wrestler were the runners up. I forgot about the Holocaust rule. Never count Holocaust movies out. Even when the response is mixed and the precursor showing isn't great.
The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button d. Fincher |
Frost/Nixon
d. Ron Howard |
Milk d. Van Sant |
The
Reader d. Daldry |
Slumdog
Millionaire d. Boyle |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Other
Awards: St. Louis, Houston |
Other
Awards:Las Vegas, Detroit (ensemble) Release: Dec Box Office: $17 Company: Universal Genre: Drama (Political) Synopsis: A talk show host aims to take down Richard Nixon for his role in Watergate after he resigns the Presidency. Based on the Tony winning play my grade: B |
Other
Awards:NYFC, NYFCO (ensemble), San Francisco, SEFCA
Release: Nov Box Office: $28 Company: Focus Features Genre:
Biopic (Political) my
grade: A- |
Other
Awards: None my grade: B |
Other
Awards: BAFTA, BIFA, NBR, AWFJ, Boston (tie), NYFCO, Satellites,
Globe, PGA, SAG (ensemble) and 9 regional critics orgs my
grade: B- |
Also
Nominated In the Following Categories |
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Should
Win / Will Win |
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| Should
Win: Milk. Hands down.
It's the only film among the nominees that should feel as entitled to
its nomination as Harvey Milk did about his civil rights. Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire. The scrappy foreign flavored hit has already won. A huge and non-stop campaign + public & critical hysteria = Done. Every once in a while there seems to be a case of mass hypnosis and this is one of those once in a whiles. An energetic movie certainly but I can't see how it fits any of the other labels it's won. And I think in a year's time people might be wondering what hit them? |
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What
Got Robbed? |
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And think of it... they could have had two critical AND popular smashes in WALL•E or The Dark Knight that nobody would have been that angry about -- even if they personally disagreed with their merits. And if they wanted to embrace something small and lacking in populist appeal (as they did with Frost/Nixon and The Reader) why couldn't they have chosen something really daring and artful like Rachel Getting Married? This isn't one of those years that they're going to be proud of their lineup later like 2000, 2001 or 2007. This is going to be one of those years like 1999 where people will be like "you had THESE to choose from and you chose THOSE?" (sigh) |
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There's
too many to mention. But I guess we should have seen the mediocrity
coming. It's a pendulum with Oscar voters. 2007's list was absolutely
stunning --I hope they're so proud of that one. Five terrific films?
Together. No party crashers! How often does that happen???
Just about never. So to counterprogram this year we got a list of
pretty good / solid efforts that either don't have big ambitions or
don't really meet those big ambitions. It's a difficult Best Picture
list to get excited about and you could feel the air going out of
the room once people got a good look at it.
MORE SOON
discuss the Best Pictures @ the blog
