Best Film&Best Director,the big two,who should win

jdscrubs

Just seen Ben Button. Have now seen all 5 films that are nominated for the top 2. Wondering what film people think should win both.

Frost/Nixon. Great film. All the actors were very good, most especially Frank Langella who should get best actor nod. Good direction cos even though you know what was said during the interviews in real life, the way the film was made, it created tension. It should win both. If not then,

Ben Button. Good film. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett were very good. Not sure if it should win direction cos every time the film went to the present it spoilt the flow of the story. At least Titanic did it only once or twice. This film did it to often and what was happening in the present wasnt interesting one bit and didnt add anything to the film. It just slowed it down. Should only win Best Film, not direction, Frost should get that.

The Reader. Good film. Kate Winslet is very good in it. She should get best actress if Jolie doesnt. Havent seen the other 3 ladies so can only give judgement on the two of them.

Milk. Alright film. Sean Penn was very good in it. If Frank Langella doesnt win, then Penn should. Both are a thousand times better then Rourke in the wrestler who was nothing special. Like Frost/Nixon, we knew the ending. Unlike Frost/Nixon, there was no tension running up to the actual event. Thus was kinda bored at times.

Slumdog. Didnt like. Found it boring and repetitive. Direction sloppy. Only good thing was the music.

In my view, Slumdog shouldnt have been nominated at the expense of the Changeling which was very good and deserved more nominations especially for Clint Eastwoods direction.

Would love to know what other people think

Brimmy

If Doubt doesn't win at least one of the best actors (supporting or main) I'm giving up on the Oscars.

Fincher will probably get best director, although I hope Danny Boyle gets it.

jdscrubs

Brimmy wrote: »

If Doubt doesn't win at least one of the best actors (supporting or main) I'm giving up on the Oscars.

Fincher will probably get best director, although I hope Danny Boyle gets it.

Afraid I havent seen Doubt as it isnt out here yet but I want to.

Fincher would be my choice over Boyle. The one problem with Fincher is that he allowed the flow of the story to be interupted by constantly cutting to the present. Had he not done that the film would have been shorter and the better for it. Thus for that reason, Ron Howard should get it for Frost/Nixon

grimm2005

I reckon slumdog and ben button will win best film and best director. just not sure who will win which. i think danny boyle should win the directors and ben button should win best film, although judging by how slumdog won best film at both the globes and bafta's i'd reckon it has a very good chance of winning it.

I don't really mind either way so long as they both get a nice share of oscars as i think they are deserved very much so.

Also think mickey rourke deserves best actor. really loved the wrestler and the guy deserves a good come back.

have yet to see doubt but its on the "to see" list and i skipped the reader and revolutionary road as they didn't really look like my kinda thing but i'll prolly catch one or both in the future

Brimmy

Doubt aired as part of the film festival. The film itself is good but the performances are all amazing.

I don't think Ben Button deserves anything tbh and that that it pales in comparison to Slumdog which was just much better. I haven't seen Milk yet though so can't really comment on that.

johnny_ultimate

Out of the nominated films, I would hope Milk (a very effective biopic IMO: Sean Penn was outstanding, and Van Sant's direction assured) and Slumdog Millionaire (flawed, but has a wonderful sense of directorial energy to it that will hopefully be rewarded) win something. Benjamin Button perhaps could walk away with best director, and Fincher did a great job, but it doesn't come close to deserving best film. Frost / Nixon was well made, tense and very entertaining, but not the masterwork you'd hope would win best picture (but again acting deserves some recognition). Kate Winslet deserves best actress (although Anne Hathaway was superb too), but wasn't a fan of the Reader otherwise.

I really don't have much interest in the Oscars, but the shortlist this year does have a bit more substance and quality than usual. However, it is probably inevitable that the truly remarkable films - Rachel Getting Married, Synecdoche New York or even WALL-E (which really has to win in the animated film category, but if any animation deserves a best picture nod this is it) - don't get the support they deserve. Also think Revolutionary Road has been unfairly sidelined (hopefully Michael Shannon will win best supporting actor). That said, there are a number of very high quality films competing, and will be curious to see the outcome on Monday morning.

jdscrubs

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Out of the nominated films, I would hope Milk (a very effective biopic IMO: Sean Penn was outstanding, and Van Sant's direction assured) and Slumdog Millionaire (flawed, but has a wonderful sense of directorial energy to it that will hopefully be rewarded) win something. Benjamin Button perhaps could walk away with best director, and Fincher did a great job, but it doesn't come close to deserving best film. Frost / Nixon was well made, tense and very entertaining, but not the masterwork you'd hope would win best picture (but again acting deserves some recognition). Kate Winslet deserves best actress (although Anne Hathaway was superb too), but wasn't a fan of the Reader otherwise.

Would both agree and disagree with you say.

Re Milk, good film alright & Sean Penn was outstanding as you say but I wouldnt agree on what you say about Gus Van Sant's direction. There was no tension. We knew what was going to happen at the end. Thus the film should have had tension past the halfway mark. For me it didnt. The fault would lie with the direction here.

Re Frost/Nixon, would agree that it was well made, tense(again knew the ending like Milk but unlike milk, had tension) and entertaining. Thought Howard's direction was excellent so he should win it and so should Langella for actor or if not him then Penn.

Re Button, it should get best film but not direction cos fincher allowed the film to drag which broke the fluidity of the story by cutting to the present far to often. The scenes in the present made the film way to long and didnt have anything that was of use to the film.

Re Reader, would agree that Winslet should get best actress. Havent seen doubt or rachel getting married or for that matter Wall E which I keep meaning to but its always out so I ended up getting its competitior Kung Fu Panda which was crap so hopefully Wall E is better

Nolanger

Who care what wins - modern movies are sh*t - unoriginal, derivative, and overrated. Compare American movies from the early '70s with what we have now. Back then filmmakers were challenging the system - now they're just trying to win awards.

Pigman II

I think this is the first time I've managed to see all 5x movies prior to the oscars.

Anyway I think Fincher should win best director and The Reader should win best picture (a "least bad" choice as I don't think any of the 5 are 'classics' with possibly only Frost/Nixon and TheReader being movies I'd actually recommend).

I'll just be happy so long as Slumdog doesn't win anything. It really is nothing special.

johnny_ultimate

Nolanger wrote: »

Who care what wins - modern movies are sh*t - unoriginal, derivative, and overrated. Compare American movies from the early '70s with what we have now. Back then filmmakers were challenging the system - now they're just trying to win awards.

What an absurd comment. Sure, maybe the Oscars aren't the place to look for originality, but to say 'modern movies are ****' is a statement I'd consider ridiculous. There are many, many directors breaking boundaries, and sometimes you have to look beyond the best picture shortlist to find them. Sure, old movies are great and all (well, some of them anyway - there was a very similiar '**** to good ratio' as the one today) but if you honestly think every modern film is unoriginal, derivative and overrated (and yes, alot of the Oscar films are just so) then you're standards must be unreasonably high.

jdscrubs wrote: »

Re Milk, good film alright & Sean Penn was outstanding as you say but I wouldnt agree on what you say about Gus Van Sant's direction. There was no tension. We knew what was going to happen at the end. Thus the film should have had tension past the halfway mark. For me it didnt. The fault would lie with the direction here.

Re Button, it should get best film but not direction cos fincher allowed the film to drag which broke the fluidity of the story by cutting to the present far to often. The scenes in the present made the film way to long and didnt have anything that was of use to the film.

With Benjamin Button, I felt alot of the problems were script based (and like you, I despised the flashback-based structure, which is a very lazy decision). Fincher produced an excellent technical film for sure, and yes some of the story problems are his, but still the direction and style stood out above the story for me. As an overall film it was flawed, but the director did a good job IMO. But I think the distinction between best film and best director is a very tricky one.

And yes, while Milk wasn't quite as tense as Frost / Nixon (except for the end scene which was well handled) I think they got more out of the characters then Howard did. As purely entertainment, Frost / Nixon is probably superior, but Milk had a bit more depth and flair to it.

Nolanger

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

if you honestly think every modern film is unoriginal, derivative and overrated (and yes, alot of the Oscar films are just so) then you're standards must be unreasonably high.

Here are the Oscar-winning movies from the early '70s:
French Connection
Godfather
Sting
Godfather 2
One Flew Over Cuckoos Nest

Still all great movies 35 years later.
No-one will bother with Slumdog Millionaire a few years from now.

johnny_ultimate

Nolanger wrote: »

Here are the Oscar-winning movies from the early '70s:
French Connection
Godfather
Sting
Godfather 2
One Flew Over Cuckoos Nest

Still all great movies 35 years later.
No-one will bother with Slumdog Millionaire a few years from now.

I completely agree that the Oscars have lost crediblity, and (most) of the films you listed are still great, but outside of Oscar winners (which are usually conservative as can be) there are plenty of films I will remember years from now. Take this decade alone, and not counting the huge variety of quality foreign films, you still have directors like Chris Nolan, PT Anderson, Michel Gondry / Charlie Kaufman, Darren Aronofsky, the Pixar crew and many more producing inventive and memorable films within the Hollywood system. I agree the Oscars may not support originality, but to say all contemporary American films are dull and lifeless is what Id disagree with.

Handsome Bob

Slumdog Millionaire in both cases.

What takes IMO Milk and The Curious of Benjamin Button out of the running is that in both cases they just aren't phenomenal stories. In both cases, what makes the two of these two films great are their respective leading actors, take them away and both films lose a lof of their effectiveness. The same goes for The Reader, good film but more because of the acting rather than the effectiveness of the story.

Frost/Nixon is in my view the nearest challenger in terms of Best Film to Slumdog Millionaire as it consists of both a polished plot and very nice acting. In regards to best Director I'd say Fincher would be the closest rival to Boyle.

Nolanger

Know what else bothers me?
Frost/Nixon is a movie based on the TV interview - from the '70s!
Milk is based on a feature documentary from the '80s called Times of Harvey Milk.
These current Oscar-nominated movies are all stale derivative movies without the raw originality of their earlier versions.
I rest my case :rolleyes:

Handsome Bob

Nolanger wrote: »

Here are the Oscar-winning movies from the early '70s:
French Connection
Godfather
Sting
Godfather 2
One Flew Over Cuckoos Nest

Still all great movies 35 years later.
No-one will bother with Slumdog Millionaire a few years from now.

I think it's a matter of personal taste. For me Slumdog Millionaire is one of the best films I have seen in recent years, I certainly won't be forgetting about it in the years to come.

Daelus

Nolanger wrote: »

Here are the Oscar-winning movies from the early '70s:
French Connection
Godfather
Sting
Godfather 2
One Flew Over Cuckoos Nest

Still all great movies 35 years later.
No-one will bother with Slumdog Millionaire a few years from now.

Know what else bothers me?
Frost/Nixon is a movie based on the TV interview - from the '70s!
Milk is based on a feature documentary from the '80s called Times of Harvey Milk.
These current Oscar-nominated movies are all stale derivative movies without the raw originality of their earlier versions.
I rest my case

Several of those films you mentioned are based on books from the '60s.

I haven't got around to seeing Milk yet, but this is the first time I've seen a substantial amount of 'Best Picture' films before the Oscars.

I don't think Slumdog Millionaire deserves Best Film, though maybe Best Director. I really enjoyed the film but I don't think it was particularly powerful and I certainly don't think most people will remember it in five/ten years. The cinematography was wonderful though.

Benjamin Button is another for Best Director; I thought it was really well done. The story and characters were fairly flawed but looking at it from a technical viewpoint I think it was very well done.

I feel like Frost/Nixon is maybe too... I don't want to say lightweight, but it doesn't seem to have the same kind of vibe to it as a lot of previous Oscar winners. That's a good thing, though, I suppose. It'd be my choice for Best Film out of the given options, though I'm disappointed that Revolutionary Road wasn't nominated as that was fantastic.

eagle eye

Well I hope Danny Boyle and Slumdog Millionaire get both awards. I think it was a great movie and as Christopher Nolan as best director for The Dark Knight I hope Danny Boyle gets best Director as well.

Milk should not be in for either award imo. If you don't want The Dark Knight in there, I feel that Changeling should have been there also.

Curtainrail

JDScrubs, you obviously don't know WHAT you're talking about if you think that Benjamin Button should win Best Film over Slumdog Millionaire. Maybe you just don't like the idea of a poor kid/s improving themselves?

Sútalún

Curtainrail wrote: »

JDScrubs, you obviously don't know WHAT you're talking about if you think that Benjamin Button should win Best Film over Slumdog Millionaire. Maybe you just don't like the idea of a poor kid/s improving themselves?

Maybe you just don't like the idea of personal taste.

Basq

I reckon Slumdog Millionaire will take the main prize.. and I hope Fincher gets Best Director (and I think he deserves it personally), but I've a sinking suspicion he won't win it.

Danny Boyle would be a very worthy winner of Best Director though.

I'd actually be happy with Boyle or Fincher winning Best Director.