Kelly the Dog Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 I have not seen Slumdog Millionaire, but I do have it on my list to see. While this was a huge win for it at tonight's Globe awards, I still can not say it is the favorite for the Oscars. It is a very wide open field this year. Having said that, films like Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, and Doubt went home emptyhanded tonight. Congratulations to Kate Winslet winning twice tonight. Although it is a bit unfair that her performance in The Reader was as a supporting role. If you have seen The Reader she definitely has a leading role. Let's also not forget about Gran Torino. I know it was'nt nominated for best picture, but with it's popularity among moviegoers, it could sneak in there and surprise some people. I couldn't really figure out why they put Winslet in the supporting character role category either for The Reader. It's surely a leading role even if they go away from her for somewhat extended periods of time. I also think that the Best Picture category is wide open for the Oscars, although, from a strictly "moviemaking" standard, including all of the elements of production value, story, direction, writing, acting, editing, music, narrative, etc, Slumdog IMO is far and away the best made movie of the year, as well as enormously entertaining. The others have some clear weaknesses. And that is what movies are supposed to be, and the Academy usually rewards. So I think Slumdog probably should and still will win. Good to see Mickey Rourke win, too. That was a tough category with some very good performances this year by Penn, Pitt, DiCaprio and Langela. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miyagi-Do Karate Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 I couldn't really figure out why they put Winslet in the supporting character role category either for The Reader. It's surely a leading role even if they go away from her for somewhat extended periods of time. I was talking to my secretary about this too. We surmised that there must be some kind of formula (i.e., number of on-screen minutes, etc.) to determine who's lead and who's supporting. Is there one? I saw "the assassination of jesse james" recently on DVD. Casey Affleck was nominated last year for best supporting actor, and I thought that while Brad Pitt as Jesse James was a "main" character, Affleck probably got just as much if not more screen time and was more central to the plot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in Chicago Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Call it the burden of my home city, but I walked out of the theatre after half an hour. I am from Mumbai and I just could not get beyond seeing that city shown in such poor light (slums, guy jumping in sh**...) I realize that one of the points of the movie was the rise of a boy from such surroundings. My decision to walk out was purely emotional - it sucks that Mumbai is frequently (also see Salaam Bombay) portrayed as place of slums and filth when it is far more than that. I have not heard the score of the movie but AR Rahman's music is quite different from the standard HIndi movie music. I happen to not be a fan of his cos there is not much originality in his music. And ... rap, Deano ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 I was talking to my secretary about this too. We surmised that there must be some kind of formula (i.e., number of on-screen minutes, etc.) to determine who's lead and who's supporting. Is there one? I saw "the assassination of jesse james" recently on DVD. Casey Affleck was nominated last year for best supporting actor, and I thought that while Brad Pitt as Jesse James was a "main" character, Affleck probably got just as much if not more screen time and was more central to the plot. There is not a formula, no. What happens is, the producers or distributors of the film nominate their own characters for awards. For example, they send DVDs of the movie to the Foreign Press or The Academy (for the Oscars) with "For Your Consideration" on it, along with the names like "Kate Winslet for Best Actress".* And then the members of the Press or Academy or WGA or DGA, etc, first vote on the nominees. Then the top five or so are usually on the final ballot. So the distributors of The Reader must have figured that Kate Winslet had a better shot of winning the supporting character award than the Best Actress award when they sent in their nominations. I honestly don't know what the Foreign Press or Academy would do if someone was SO blatantly out of category. *They pretty much nominate everyone that works on their movie for the awards, like a big movie such as "The Reader" will come on a DVD with "Best Actress", "Best Picture", "Best Director", "Best Supporting Actor" and "Actress". "Best Editing". "Best Score". "Best Composer". "Best Catering". "Best Director's Chair", etc. Some of the DVDs I get are laughable. They are four sections long just to put all the possible nominations on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dean Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 And ... rap, Deano ? I haven't seen the movie. I am just repeating the complaints of my brother-in-law. My sister described the music the same way, "Indian Rap". Understand, my sister and especially her husband, are even older and more fuddy-duddy-ish than am I. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Call it the burden of my home city, but I walked out of the theatre after half an hour. I am from Mumbai and I just could not get beyond seeing that city shown in such poor light (slums, guy jumping in sh**...) I realize that one of the points of the movie was the rise of a boy from such surroundings. My decision to walk out was purely emotional - it sucks that Mumbai is frequently (also see Salaam Bombay) portrayed as place of slums and filth when it is far more than that. I have not heard the score of the movie but AR Rahman's music is quite different from the standard HIndi movie music. I happen to not be a fan of his cos there is not much originality in his music. And ... rap, Deano ? Think the movie's title may have given you a hint what you were about to see in the first 30 minutes before you walked in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VOR Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 A lot of that (early part of the movie) was, of course, 1970s Mumbai. I think they tried to depict today's Mumbai as more modern. It's funny though. I've been thinking of visiting India for a while now (that's my heritage)--haven't been there since I was 3 years old--and that didn't really motivate me to book a ticket anytime soon. Wow, didn't know there were so many desis on the board (parents emigrated in the 60's and I was born here)! The poverty of 70's Bombay was the main focus of the movie. That is, a "slumdog" who lived through some of the worst experiences, who made something of himself (even though he was just a chaivala) and got a chance to become a millionaire. I agree that the modern Mumbai was shown to be a modern, up-and-coming city, but not without the poverty of any modern city, and that's probably what FiC missed. As for myself, I liked the movie. I didn't think it was great, but I love the attention it's getting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in Chicago Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Think the movie's title may have given you a hint what you were about to see in the first 30 minutes before you walked in? Ofcourse, Kelly. But not the way it was handled. I went to see it 'cos it was a Boyle movie and my wife wanted to see it cos her friends said it was great. Imagine the aftermath of walking out (on our anniversary !!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills44 Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Wow, didn't know there were so many desis on the board (parents emigrated in the 60's and I was born here)! Haha...I thought the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Vader Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 There is not a formula, no. What happens is, the producers or distributors of the film nominate their own characters for awards. For example, they send DVDs of the movie to the Foreign Press or The Academy (for the Oscars) with "For Your Consideration" on it, along with the names like "Kate Winslet for Best Actress".* And then the members of the Press or Academy or WGA or DGA, etc, first vote on the nominees. Then the top five or so are usually on the final ballot. So the distributors of The Reader must have figured that Kate Winslet had a better shot of winning the supporting character award than the Best Actress award when they sent in their nominations. I honestly don't know what the Foreign Press or Academy would do if someone was SO blatantly out of category. *They pretty much nominate everyone that works on their movie for the awards, like a big movie such as "The Reader" will come on a DVD with "Best Actress", "Best Picture", "Best Director", "Best Supporting Actor" and "Actress". "Best Editing". "Best Score". "Best Composer". "Best Catering". "Best Director's Chair", etc. Some of the DVDs I get are laughable. They are four sections long just to put all the possible nominations on them. It's interesting that there is no formula, but that does explain a lot. I remember when Denzel Washington won Best Actor for Training Day, Ethan Hawke was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, even though Hawke had more screen time than Washington. Also, Jennifer Connelly won Best Supporting Actress for A Beautiful Mind which was very unfair because Connelly had a large role in that movie and it was definitely a lead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 It's interesting that there is no formula, but that does explain a lot. I remember when Denzel Washington won Best Actor for Training Day, Ethan Hawke was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, even though Hawke had more screen time than Washington. Also, Jennifer Connelly won Best Supporting Actress for A Beautiful Mind which was very unfair because Connelly had a large role in that movie and it was definitely a lead. Now that I think about it, since they knew Revolutionary Road was out, and had Leonardo DiCaprio and Sam Mendes attached to it, from a classic novel, that it would be a major hit film and that Kate Winslet would likely be nominated for Best Actress in that one, they may have nominated her in the supporting category as a favor to her, as well as a calculated risk to get their movie more publicity if she won. There have been instances I believe that an actress or actor was nominated for two films in the same year, and the votes were split between the two, so the person ended up with nothing. By the way, I just finished the book Revolutionary Road and it's amazing. The movie is pretty decent but the book is awesome writing. Incredible that it was written in 1961. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VOR Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Haha...I thought the same thing. So that makes 4 of us (me, you, FiC, and JR)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in Chicago Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 So that makes 4 of us (me, you, FiC, and JR)? Nice ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills44 Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 So that makes 4 of us (me, you, FiC, and JR)? ha, yaar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jukester Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 So that makes 4 of us (me, you, FiC, and JR)? Make that 5! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills44 Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 so are you guys Doctors, Engineers, Computer Scientists, or MBAs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in Chicago Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 so are you guys Doctors, Engineers, Computer Scientists, or MBAs? Wow Jukester joins in. Now we are all coming out of the proverbial woodwork. I am an Engineer (Chemical) and an MBA. And "what do you mean, 'you guys' ?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VOR Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Make that 5! Cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills44 Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Slumdog is cleaning up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dean Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Slumdog is cleaning up! Kicking ass. My brother-in-law is probably going nuts, if he's watching, as he didn't like the movie much. He particularly hated the music, and that's winning everything, too. (I have to say, I didn't think much of the one song they played, either. I don't think the song I heard won the award, though.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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