Hey Everyone, The Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), of which I’m a member, voted Up In The Air the best film of 2009 and George Clooney best actor. Usually I complain every year about what eventually ends up our winners but this year I really can’t complain although I personally wanted to see Star Trek get something! Other winners included Mo”nique Best Supporting Actress for for Precious, Up for Best Animated Film, Inglourious Basterds for Best Original Screenplay. Check out the full list of winners.
We have tickets for the Washington, DC Screening of Matt Damon’s The Informant. The movie is getting a lot of good advance buzz and everyone is saying Damon will be nominated for an Oscar for his performance. You know you want to see it. The screening will be tomorrow night at 7:30 pm in Georgetown. To get your tickets read the rest of this post carefully. If you had subscribed to our twitter feed @eclipsemagazine you would have seen the secret code yesterday.
MOVIE NEWS: Michelle Selects the Best Films of 2008
I say this every year and every year it’s true – I hate doing lists of any sort, especially the yearly Top 10 re-caps. I can’t even remember the last ten films I saw, that alone rifle through my brain and remember everything from an entire year. Overall this was an interesting year, the beginning of the year was terrible as usual but this year’s crop of summer Tent Pole films were surprisingly great – not just good mind wasters. But intelligent, well crafted and acted pieces of cinema. Then the bottom dropped out in the fall, which is generally the time you see the Oscar Wannabes. Everything was boring, bland – safe. My number one choice of 2008 is a clear for me, but there’s a 3 way tie for the #2 spot. Without further adieu, here is my list (Without a lot of verbiage this year) of the best of 2008.
10) Che
9) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
8) Let The Right One In
7) Tropic Thunder
6) Son of Rambow
5) Iron Man
4) Slumdog Millionaire
3) The Dark Knight
2) Prince Caspian
1) Speed Racer
I didn’t see nearly as many films this year as in the past. Generally speaking I don’t like American animated films, so I didn’t see Wall E or Kung Fu Panda. I’ve seen all the award wannabes except Revolution Road, Valkyie, and 7 Pounds. I’m a huge X-Files fan, but I don’t know if I Want To Believe would be classified as a big disappointment because I walked in with no expectations, so the fact that the film was terrible didn’t annoy me.
Oscar Race: Heath Ledger, Named Best Supporting Actor!
This year’s Oscar campaign has been pretty lackluster, but there were a few jems to be discovered. Today, the Washington, DC Film Critics Association has named Slumdog Millionaire the year’s best film. I’m a member of WAFCA and this year’s selections are all about 75% of my choices, so I won’t complain like I usually do. Heath Ledger took home the Best Supporting Actor nod and Wall E best animated film, while Danny Boyle took Best Director. My favorite foreign film of the year the indie Vampire flick Let The Right One In took Foreign Language film. Here’s the complete list of winners.
Best Film: Slumdog Millionaire/Fox Searchlight
Best Director: Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Actor: Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)
Best Actress: Meryl Streep (Doubt)
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
Best Supporting Actress: Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married)
Best Original Screenplay: Jenny Lumet (Rachel Getting Married)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Animated: Wall?E/Disney&Pixar
Best Documentary: Man on Wire/Magnolia Pictures
Best Foreign Film: Let the Right One In/Magnolia Pictures and Magnet Releasing
Best Ensemble: Doubt/Miramax
Best Breakthrough: Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button/Paramount
Director Danny Boyle has crafted one of the best and most surprising films of the year. Slumdog Millionaire is a dour film to watch but somehow manages to maintain a heart. It’s a brilliant film that surprisingly enough, I don’t really have much to say about it. I mean, how many different ways can I say it’s great and well worth the advanced buzz that it’s getting.
I first heard about this film several years ago when Danny Boyle discussed it as his next project. Back then he told me “It’s about two brothers and a girl they both love. They grow up in the slums and are uneducated, but when one of the brothers turn 18 they go on the Hindu version of Who Wants to be a Millinoaire. The Hindu version of the show is much tougher than the American version. There’s a real professiona class in India who is highly educated, but cash poor. They are really suspicious of how this kid with no education won the show. He knows the answers because they are all based on his life experience. He doesn’t care about the money, he hopes that if he stays on the show long enough the girl will see the show. It’s a love story.”
Boyle’s description of the film is a little misleading, Millionaire is a love story between Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) and Latika (Freida Pinto). They go through a lot through their 10 year relationship, including Jamal’s jealous brother Salim (Madhur Mittal) who decides he doesn’t like Latika when they are children in the slums and for the next decade or so he goes out of his way to make Latika’s life hell and keeps her separated from Jamal. Everytime they finally find each other, there’s Salim to muck it up. His hatred is never really explained, Salim, you get the feeling that Salim isn’t jealous because he loves Latika, he’s jealous because Jamal is happy, or he fears losing his brother to Latika.
This is a surprisingly brutal and bleak film, watching how Latika, Jamal and Salim grow up, you have to marvel at the human will to survive in the worse conditions possible. So in that sense, it’s also a hopeful film. You really want to see Jamal achieve his dream of being with Latika. My minor quibble is that I never quite got the sense that Latika felt as strongly for Jamal. You never really see her putting herself on the line or pining for him as much as Jamal does for her. That’s a function of Simon Beaufoy screenplay and the fact the film is told entirely from Jamal’s point of view. I get that there were some subtle hints, like when she goes with Salim and forces Jamal to run. You know she’s doing it to protect him, but it doesn’t explicitly state that’s why she did it.
I loved the out of left field Bollywood dance during the credit sequence. And for all it’s harshness, the film is beautifully shot by Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle. Don’t be surprised to see this film get some Award nods this season. It’s pure Oscar bait.
Final Grade A
EM Review By
Michelle Alexandria
Originally posted 12.07.08
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