Despite the fact that I think The Dark Knight was dissed with the nominations, I’ve once again caught up with a few of the films that the industry’s elite are calling the year’s best.
Slumdog Millionaire
With small budget comparisons to Juno and Little Miss Sunshine I was very curious whether this movie would live up to the hype. Turns out it does for the most part. I think it was a very smartly made movie. There’s the excellent plot device in the game show, which propels the story along and connects an otherwise jagged connection of memories. There’s the smart use of language – primarily English throughout, but enough Hindi to keep it real. Plus there’s some nice camera work and editing – especially in the depictions of the Bombay to Mumbai transformation. On the weak side I thought the characters were simple dimensionally – maybe a lot of that you can explain away as being the impressions of a young boy. So, I’d say it was an OK story told very, very well. It didn’t blow me away, but it was a solid couple hours of entertainment. Plus, the closing credit sequence was nicely done!
Milk
This movie, about the first (openly) gay elected official, is a difficult one to form a fair impression of. With little to no knowledge of Harvey Milk going into the movie, I was as engrossed in the historical events as I was with the portrayal of it. Looking back, it’s difficult to separate the gravity of the real events, from the film itself. Without a doubt Sean Penn is deserving of the Best Actor nod. There’s not a moment you don’t believe him as a gay man, and Gus Van Sant makes sure of it by including plenty on onscreen intimacy. I found Josh Brolin on the other hand to be very flat and wooden and leagues less interesting than Heath Ledger’s Joker. As for Best Picture, it’s probably finishing that race in second.
Frost Nixon
Here’s another historical movie, but I was fearing this one would be more subtle and analytical. Turns out, this was pretty much the case, too. The acting in the film is great, but everything hinges on dialog – scene after scene. It doesn’t help that the two title characters, by nature, are pretty reserved, buttoned-down types. There are some nice moments where things get tense and bit fiery, but things quickly cool off and get buttoned-down again. It’s interesting, just not all that entertaining.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
This was maybe the largest budget flick up for Best Picture (between Brad Pitt and all the CGI) and was probably the front runner until the Slumdog hype ran it over. Unfortunately, the movie just isn’t that great. In the center of the premise there’s an interesting idea of a man aging backwards. Just around that there’s an interesting potential for what sort of relationships that would lead to. But then this movie gets a lot wrong. If Slumdog was a mediocre story told very well, then this is a good story told very poorly. From the slow pacing to the mostly worthless narrative framework this movie struggles to build any momentum. A lot could be salvaged by the romance between Pitt and Blanchett, but here too are so many starts and stops. Also, if there’s any meaning behind putting Katrina into the movie, that’s lost on me as well. I can only imagine it was used as a ploy to up the emotional gain, but it fails at even that. Worst of all, I think the progression of Button as he approaches death is so inconsistent and misconceived I’m amazed it made it into the movie.
And then there are the nominated movies I’d previously seen (and loved):
- The Dark Knight: It really should have been in the Best Picture running, but awarding Ledger with Best Supporting Actor will have to do.
- Ironman: I think it was every bit as strong as The Dark Knight as far as Visual Effects go, but it won’t see any Oscar love.
- Wall-E: It’ll runaway with Best Animated Feature by a mile, and really could have been in the Best Picture club.
