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Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2009 > January > 08 > Entry
It’s starting to look like the Oscar nominees are …
The Directors Guild of America announced its nominees today, and they are:
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant, Milk
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
I have no problem with this group except for Van Sant, whose direction of Milk was surprisingly obvious and overstated for a filmmaker who’s normally much more inventive. This is a very likely final five for the Oscars - the Producers Guild, also a good predictor for Oscar, nominated the same five films last week.
Personally, I would prefer to see Doubt in the group; WALL-E would have been wonderful, but I didn’t expect voters to be gutsy enough to push it that far. Best Animated Film will have to do, it seems.
The Writers Guild nominated the following:
Original Screenplay
Burn After Reading, Joel and Ethan Coen
Milk, Dustin Lance Black
Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Woody Allen
The Visitor, Thomas McCarthy
The Wrestler, Robert Siegel
Again, a fine group (I’m taking The Wrestler on faith, as I’ve not seen it yet), but I’m not fond of Milk’s screenplay; WALL-E would have been a better choice, as would have Rachel Getting Married. Of this group, I’d actually vote for Burn After Reading, which is more complex than it seems.
Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Roth
The Dark Knight, Christopher and Jonathan Nolan
Doubt, John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan
Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy
No major complaints here, although I’m not quite as high on Button, I thought the lack of focus in the narrative was the movie’s Achilles Heel.
And my favorite technical guild, the cinematographers, have announced as well:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight, Wally Pfister
The Reader, Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
Revolutionary Road, Roger Deakins
Slumdog Millionaire, Anthony Dod Mantle
Mostly deserving, although I didn’t see anything particularly special about the photography for The Reader. Two excellent DPs did solid but unexceptional work; Deakins’ canny lensing of Doubt would have been preferable. My favorite here is Slumdog, not only for how its lit, but for the great variety in the way the camera moves. Still, I would also like to see the unjustly unheralded Deakins finally get his due.
What do you think of these awards and the way the race is shaping up?
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Movie awards
Comments
By SRCputt
January 8, 2009 7:28 PM | Link to this
I expect to see Milk, Slumdog, Button, and Dark Knight. I think there’s a possibility Doubt slides by Frost/Nixon to get in. And anything else by now would surprise me. On the screenplay front, Pixar always does better in the Oscars than the WGA, and I suspect the ingenious plot will get Wall-E a nomination over The Visitor.By Sir Critic
January 8, 2009 4:35 PM | Link to this
Let’s not forget, Kim, that there’s much, much more to a screenplay than dialogue - a fact that people too often forget. You also have to consider story concepts and construction, and WALL-E shows ingenuity in both. Really, the fact that it CAN’T lean on dialogue makes its writing all the more impressive and deserving.By Kim S.
January 8, 2009 4:28 PM | Link to this
I think the noms for Pic are - “Slumdog”, “Frost”, “TDK”, and “Milk”. I would LOVE to see the 5th slot go to “The Wrestler”, but I don’t know if they’ll go that way. I do disagree with your hope for a screenplay nod for Wall-E. I wouldn’t give a screenplay nod to something that didn’t even have dialogue through most. Inventive, yes- but not Oscar caliber. And I consider “Doubt” more of an acting showcase than anything else. I pick “Slumdog” wins Best Pic and Boyle wins for director.