Oscar Review, Part Two

Continuing on...

Slumdog Millionaire
Cinematography
Danny Boyle, Best Director
Music, Sound Mixing, etc., etc.,
Best Picture

I haven't loved a movie this intensely in a long, long time. I have already pre-ordered my Blu-ray copy on Amazon. March 31st can not get here fast enough.

There are lots of movies out there that try to get funky by mixing up past and present story lines. "Is this a flashback?" you ask yourself. You don't know where or when you are. I hate those movies. Just tell the freaking story, for crying out loud, and quit the time travel trickery. I thought Slumdog got it just right. Multiple story lines and eras tied together nicely. Loved it.

There are those who have complained about certain elements of this movie, and I would like to address those issues now. Is it violent? Yes. But not gratuitously so, and I don't think unnecessarily so. OK, sure, homeboy is getting tortured in the opening scenes, but it's not any worse than the torture scene in The Princess Bride. He gets electrocuted, but it's not like he froths at the mouth and loses control of his bowels. And the scene where the little kid is being blinded--it lasts two seconds maximum and you watch the scene from a great distance. The camera isn't all up in his face, showing you every gory detail. You have to see that scene so that you understand what the brother does next and why. I felt like the director exposed you to the minimum amount of violence possible. Violent things happened, but they certainly weren't the focus of the story.

And I don't think the movie had a Hollywood ending. The two main characters paid a heavy price to be together. It cost the main dude's brother his life. Last time I checked, Sleepless in Seattle didn't end with somebody committing suicide and Meg Ryan getting her face slashed up. Sure, the bit about her being his "Phone-a-Friend" was a little hokey, but who cares? It was sweet. Aren't these people allowed to have a little happiness at the end of this movie? Or because they've led such tragic lives, the director has to drag that tragedy through the entire movie until the credits roll? If that's what you're into, go see Babel. I wanted to kill myself after seeing that movie. I had no hope left for humanity. At least in Slumdog, you got the sense that even though some truly horrible things happened to these people in their lives, they still made it through with some integrity and some hope for a better future.

I can't excuse that Bollywood dance number at the end, though. Not sure where that came from.

Moving on...

Revolutionary Road
Michael Shannon, Best Supporting Actor
Art Direction
Costume Design

I hated this movie as much as I loved Slumdog Millionaire. One reviewer called it the "feel-miserable movie of the year," and I thought that was both hilarious and true. I pretty much knew I was going to hate this movie going into it, and I was right. I felt like the message of the movie was supposed to be "If you're unhappy with your life, do something about it. Don't waste the best years of your life wishing you could be doing something different." However, I felt like the real message of the movie was, "Life in the 50s sucked. Being a woman in the 50s really sucked. Suburbia sucks. Marriage sucks. Having kids sucks."

Kate and Leo are this married couple who had all these dreams, but then she got pregnant, they got married, he got a job working at the same company his dad worked at for a million years, and everyone is miserable. Then Kate comes up with this brilliant idea: Let's all move to Paris. She'll get a job and he'll take some time off to figure out what he wants to do with his life.

Here's the problem with that scenario. Even if they move to Paris, that won't change the fact that both of them are immature, impossible-to-please a-holes who don't know how to communicate. They'll just be a-holes who now live in France.

Anyway, the whole Paris plan unravels and everybody ends up hating, resenting, and cheating on each other.

So yeah, I hated it. Because suburbia is the BOMB, yo! There are lots of people living a pretty great life in the 'burbs. Some married couples are actually HAPPY. Some couples can fight and work it out without having to sleep with someone else's spouse. Some people are glad they had kids, as exhausting and frustrating as parenthood can be sometimes. You think people in Paris don't ever get depressed about their lives? Come on. I don't usually get this hot under the collar about a movie. If only there could have been a couple in the movie who weren't miserable. If there could have been more fairness in the portrayal of suburban life, I could deal with this one couple's tragic tale. But instead, I felt manipulated and preached at. I hate that.

Ok, I gotta wrap this up. It's getting late and I have to plan my Oscar Night menu. (Sure to make an appearance: Jalapeno Poppers. Delicious!)

Frozen River
Melissa Leo, Best Actress

I really liked this movie. I won't be adding it to my DVD collection, mind you, but it was good. As for Melissa Leo (never heard of her before this movie), I could tell from the very first scene that she deserved this nomination. She was sooooooo good. I would be thrilled if she won, but I don't think it's going to happen.

Changeling
Angelina Jolie, Best Actress

SUCH a good movie! The ads for it didn't really grab my attention much, so I wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect of watching it for my Oscar research. How wrong I was! Angelina was incredible, proving that she's the real thing, and not just a pretty face (eg. Natalie Portman). Such a compelling story. Probably not a good one for young mothers, but we barren spinsters with our underdeveloped maternal instincts can manage to remain emotionally detached. Loved it.

The Visitor
Richard Jenkins, Best Actor

Good movie. Slow at first, but it picked up. Richard was good, but not as good as everybody else in the movie, especially the lady who plays his love interest. She was super. Whatever. Richard Jenkins will be lucky if he comes home with an Oscar gift bag, let alone an Oscar.

Tropic Thunder
Robert Downey Jr., Best Supporting Actor

So funny. So inappropriate. There's no way he's going to win, but I think Robert Downey Jr. is a BRILLIANT actor. I hope his drug issues are behind him, because he's just so darned talented.

Dark Knight
Heath Ledger, Best Supporting Actor

He's got it in the bag, and he deserves it.

OK. That's all I got. Here are my official Oscar winner predictions:

Best Actor: Mickey Rourke
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger
Best Actress: Kate Winslet (but it should be Angelina!)
Best Supporting Actress: This one is hard. I'm going with who it should be: Penelope.
Best Picture: Slumdog, baby!

OK! Stay tuned for my post-show recap!