Further comments on the Oscar nominations from Jon...
I saw Slumdog Millionaire last night and that's where my money's going: one of the most vibrant, atmospheric and gripping films of the last 10 years - overcoming a thin main storyline through great framing and superb cinematography. Danny Boyle's masterpiece.
In the directors category it's the same again, though David Fincher would be an acceptable second choice from where we're sitting.
As far as Best Actor goes, this is difficult, but I'd hope it would go to the underdog, Mickey Rourke, for coming from nowhere with such a unstated performance. Otherwise, Brad Pitt deserves one for holding The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button together so well.
It's hard to believe that Meryl Streep won't win in the Best Actress category. One of the finest - perhaps the finest - actress of the current generation of stars, it's impossible not to be captivated by everything she does.
I'd love to see Robert Downey Jr take the Best Supporting Actor nod. (If you haven't seen Tropic Thunder, now's the time to enter our giveaway ). But let's be honest, it's going to be Heath Ledger (and fans must be gritting their teeth that he didn't get "actor"...)
In Best Adapted Screenplay, Slumdog Millionaire falls down... so we're hoping for Frost/Nixon, a powerful play between two powerful characters. For Best Original Screenplay, Wall-E barely counts, having only about ten lines of dialogue the whole way through! Milk should be the clear winner here, although it's nice to see Mike Leigh's film in the running.
As for the winners, they'll find out along with the rest of us in a months' time, on the 22nd February.
In the best actor category, I'm plumping for Langella. it's a great performance, humanising a difficult subject, and the academy falls over itself for political figures. And I think Streep's not done enough to win it this year, although she's due one - Anne Hathaway may get it if her personal problems don't swing voters to Kate Winslet
Posted by: Rob Watson | 23 January 2009 at 04:21 PM
Isn't Kate due one?
Why wasn't Michael Sheen nominated?
At least Streep wasn't nominated for Mamma Mia. Ugh.
Posted by: Michael | 23 January 2009 at 05:09 PM
I would absolutely love Kate Winslet to win, not only because she's a fine actress but also for the line in her performance in Extras:
"I've noticed that if you do a film about the holocaust, you're guaranteed an Oscar".
And so it was for The Reader....
There's too many films on the nominations list that I've not seen yet, but as a big fan of David Fincher I'm looking forward to Benjamin Button.
And having watched The Wrestler a few weeks back, I'd say Mickey Rourke is a shoo-in for best actor, and am quite astonished that Springsteen's not even been nominated for Best Song.
I did love Slumdog Millionaire as well, but worry that excessive hype could damage it. I already know a couple of people who went to see it and were disappointed. Maybe a similar effect to the Sound of 2009 blog discussion thread?
Posted by: John Murphy | 24 January 2009 at 12:15 AM