My Picks for Best Picture and Director

Finally, here are my final picks for Best Picture and Best Director. Both categories are in the same order so I have lumped them together. For extra fun, I have a tie for last place in both categories because I do not think these particular movies should have been nominated for Best Picture or Best Director.

5*. (In alphabetical order) The Reader- Directed by Stephen Daldry
The Reader, as I described in my Best Actress post is about an illicit love affair between a middle-aged woman (Kate Winslet) and a 15-year old boy (David Kross, played in later life by Ralph Fiennes) in 1958 Germany. It is the boy's first love affair and it has a profound effect on his life, especially when he finds out about her secret horrible past. The movie is incredibly fractured; the first half centers around the love affair with graphic nudity and sex scenes. The second half is about the betrayal he feels when he finds out about her past and how he reconciles it with their history. It really did not feel like a complete film to me and I have major issues with Kate's performance which anchors the film. This film and the next, in my opinion, should be replaced by either The Dark Knight or The Wrestler, which were whole films that balanced entertainment with goodness.

5*. Frost/Nixon- Directed by Ron Howard

As I mentioned in my Best Actor arguments, F/N portrays the time before and during the famous interviews where the Brit David Frost (beautifully played by not-nominated Michael Sheen) interviewed the legendarily disgraced Richard Nixon (played by first time nominee Frank Langella). What the public wanted was an apology from the former President, and Frost fought hard for this but Nixon was an incredibly adept opponent. Before seeing the movie I had seen the play and the original tapes which were recently released on DVD (Netflix them right now) and needless to say I loved the actual footage but thought the play came off as awkward. I was looking forward to the movie because the subject matter is naturally compelling. The movie, as it turns out, is not. Something does not transfer from actual material to screen, and the filmmakers would have been better off just playing the actual tapes instead of their movie.

3. Milk- Directed by Gus Van Sant


Milk follows the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay official elected into office, as played by Sean Penn with a supporting cast of Josh Brolin, James Franco, Emile Hirsch and Diego Luna. The acting could not be better in the movie, and I am still surprised it did not win Best Ensemble at the SAG Awards. That being said, exemplary acting does not necessarily make a great movie, and in this case the movie is very good but it is simply outmatched by my top two picks both in scale and in story. It is extremely well done, but Van Sant's direction is choppy in parts that need to be smooth.

2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- Directed by David Fincher

Brad Pitt plays Benjamin Button, a man who ages backwards while exploring themes of death and love with a supporting cast including Cate Blanchett as the love of his life and Taraji P. Henson as his mother. It is unfortunate that the movie is so long and so similar to Forrest Gump (they share the same screenwriter among other things) because it truly is excellent. The Visual Effects, Makeup and Art Direction come together to put together a peerless film to look at, and it upstages the actors at some stages. Any other year I would say this movie is a shoo-in to win because it is the protoypical Hollywood epic that Oscar loves, but this year I am hopeful another movie can take the prize.

1. Slumdog Millionaire- Directed by Danny Boyle


Slumdog Millionaire features an unknown cast including Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor and the best child actors I have ever seen on screen to tell the story of how a boy born and raised in the slums can come one question away from winning 20 million rupees in India's version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, a vast sum in India (I have no idea what that translates to here). The film is not unique in its broad theme of love no matter what, but it is unique in how it tells the story. Based on an almost completely dissimilar book called Q & A by Vikas Swarup, Danny Boyle and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy tell the story of the lead character Jamal's life one question at a time, eventually leading up to the finale and the final question in real time. It is such a beautiful and uncynical film, and such a different film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar that I cannot not embrace it. Slumdog was originally going to be sent directly to DVD, but luckily someone kept the faith and let word of mouth do the rest. Despite the fact that its won so many preseason awards, I still consider it the underdog to win on Sunday because I cannot believe it will actually win. However, I will be very happy if it does.

All images found via Google images.