Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[Ghoulish Delight]

Yes, but were any of the others that good either? Milk and Frost/Nixon are the only two we've seen. Both good, but not amazingly good where I'm surprised that something else won. I could see the argument that Milk "deserves" a leg up because of its timely emotional and political importance, but those are external factors and don't change the fact that outside of its context it's just a pretty good, maybe very good, but not great film. I imagine that people for whom the realities of Indian poverty is an important issue would feel that Slumdog deserves the same artificial leg up due to ITS timely emotional and political importance.

[innerSpaceman]

Nope, I think MILK was very good. Hard to separate my bias, but as soon as I watched it, I felt its script was way beyond standard biopic kaliber and deserved the Oscar (which it won), and that Penn's performance was his best in forever and deserved an Oscar (which he won). The film was very well directed, and packed an emotional wallop (hence me crying many times) ... yeah, perhaps more of one for me, but everyone has a different emotional threshhold anyway.

So, with all those things going for it .... why not Best Picture? It was waaaaay better than Slumbog in every conceivable quality.


OK, it's all subjective. I happen to LOVE Chicago.




But that's because I'm so GAY ... and that's not the reason I love MILK.

[innerSpaceman]

For the record, for the widespread raves it got, Wall-E should by rights have won Best Picture.


Same with The Incredibles. Easily the Best Picture that year. Probably true of many Pixar films.


The Best Animated Feature category is a rip.

[Gemini Cricket]

Slumdog was glossy and the music was great. I don't know if it's Best Pic either but I'm beginning to care less and less about who/what the Academy picks for their awards. For me, a movie validated with an Oscar doesn't mean much any more. I don' know if it's just me getting older or having worked in the industry for a period of time but movies that I love are ones that impact me personally or which have such a unique and interesting take on a subject that it makes me take notice. Some awards can be bought and can be way too political to deserve much merit. Milk was not perfect but it hit me in a specific way that many, many others before it have not. That makes it a good picture, that makes it important to me. And, ironically, the awards Milk won are also political. Not sure if it would have won the two it won if Prop 8 didn't rear its ugly head close to its release. But I guess the Oscars mean stuff to lots of people and if it makes people actually watch the film then I guess I'm fine with that aspect of the awards thang regarding Milk and my own gay activism. I guess if you've read this far, you've realized that I'm just thinking 'out loud' and am rambling.


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On a completely different note, Jackie Earle Haley is apparently going to be the new Freddy Krueger in the new Nightmare on Elm Street movie. I'm sure that'll make him some dough, but I'm not sure I'd accept the part in fear of being type-cast as Freddy.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Wall-E was not best picture material.

[Alex]

Wall-E was better than Slumdog Millionaire, so while I agree I wouldn't pick it for best picture I'd say it was more deserving than the one that won.

No, it wasn't a great year. None of the actual nominees really soared and the Oscar bait movie I liked better was roundly canned by critics and did nothing at the box office.

But of the five nominees I rated Slumdog fourth or fifth (I'd have to go back and find where I said it to be sure of my mood at the time).

For me, Slumdog was simply poverty porn where we get to pat ourselves on the back for feeling bad about how such people live because poverty doesn't deprive you of the life-fulfilling happiness of true love, and hey maybe one of them will get lucky and win the lottery. In my opinion it infantilized those it was portraying.

[Morrigoon]

I liked Chicago too, so I'm not sure how much I can go by Alex's ratings guide.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Piping in to say (or repeat from earlier discussions) that while Slumdog is flawed, I think Milk is also flawed, as is The Reader, as is Frost/Nixon, as is Benjamin Button. It wasn't that great of a movie year. Wall-E and The Wrestler would've been my top two picks, I think.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by CoasterMatt

You gotta see Point Break Live!- and sit in the "wet seats" - I think I wanna go back and try out to be Keanu for the evening.

Holy crap, it's at the Alexandria Hotel in downtown....where I attended my very first rave. Awesome place.

[Prudence]

While I tend to enjoy any movie that reminds me of the great hair bands of old (wow! Haven't heard from Cinderella in years!), The Wrestler seemed to consist largely of Mickey Rourke grunting.