Film School Rejects: 2009 Oscar Winners – Slumdog Millionaire Dominates
DMuff
· 9 months ago
Not at all surprised that Heath Ledger won and rightly so.
Paisan
· 9 months ago
Yes i think everyone there knew Heath would win it, and even the people he was up against knew it too.
Jjdv
· 9 months ago
The Dark Knight was snubbed, but some of the nominated films were so deserving of it that I didn't mind too much.
DMuff
· 9 months ago
Arg, Rourke should have won, yes Sean Peen was good but I don't agree with him winning.
Jeff
· 9 months ago
Rourke should have won, Taraji P. Henson should have won, Button should have won for cinematography, and Fincher should have won director. Those are the only categories I'm upset about. I do feel that there was too much love for Slumdog. Way too much love. My last comment on this site about Slumdog was deleted because I called it a contrived film. Hopefully this one won't be.
Dan
· 9 months ago
Slumdog is officially the most overrated movie of the year. I haven't seen a Best Picture movie this mediocre since "Crash".
Kangaroo Be Stoned
· 9 months ago
I would have to agree. But I think "Crash" is superior than "Slumdog Millionaire".
blckmanjew
· 9 months ago
I had my Jergins ready but nothing..
jack2jack
· 9 months ago
Crash is superior to Slumdog. Mickey was jipped! As sson as I saw Penn, I knew he won. Viola Davis was jipped.
Nick
· 9 months ago
And watch as the report comes out about this year being the lowest rated Awards ever.
I didn't watch (out of protest) and feel perfectly fine with it.
swisschez
· 9 months ago
looks like the Academy is overly prone to hype. I wonder why I bother with them sometimes...I am also severely disappointed in the lack of recognition Doubt received....Cruz & Winslet? Really? Really??
harold
· 9 months ago
i actually think at least out of the 3 films nominated for best picture that i've seen (slumdog, tccobb, frost/nixon), slumdog was the strongest film. i hear a lot of good things about milk and there's no doubt that stephen daldry is talented at making films, but honestly, just based on reactions i don't think anyone cared about the reader. i think a lot people probably liked milk, but based on the comments above, not enough to want rourke to win over penn.
since i can't really making any genuine comments about those two films, i'll say that benjamin button was too long, too reminiscent of forrest gump + big fish, and not compelling enough to garner an actual win. brad pitt's performance was good but nothing close to "best" of anything this year. taraji p henson was, again, good but not spectacular. it was a technically proficient film. good editing, cinematography, blah blah but again, length played a big issue. the other issue was that it was really really boring. i didn't really care about benjamin nor about daisy nor any other character really. it won what it deserved, and didn't really deserve anything more than mere recognition.
as for frost/nixon, it was much much stronger than tccobb, but it didn't have the momentum any of the other films had except maybe a little more than the reader. i think the recognition is good enough as it was more of an actor's film than anything else.
as for slumdog, sure the story is contrived, but it was told in a way that appealed easily to all audiences. and i think that's what people need sometimes. i agree that crash was definitely mediocre, but i think it can be grouped along with the other extreme underdog nominees like little miss sunshine and juno. if there's anyone that can make a story about "who wants to be a millionaire" into some sort of sensation, it would be danny boyle. i mean, just describing the synopsis to anyone else sounds boring. i had a lot of difficulty persuading my friends to see it, but they came out a lot happier than they expected.so yeah, it sure does follow the same formula as other films and it is a little too easy to follow and predict, but it was so masterfully done and well-liked. and who's to say a film that's well-liked by the general public is necessarily bad? i mean, for once in every blue moon, an underdog film actually gets an overwhelming amount of recognition and it's gotta be branded as overrated. also, i figure they always award the nominees, not just for their work on the nominated film but also on their repertoire, and if you've taken a look at danny boyle's filmography, it's pretty impressive despite the non-presence of accolades: 28 days later, trainspotting, millions, sunshine. for a group of films that have been very underwhelmingly recognized, i figure he should get a break now and then and slumdog is not exceptionally mediocre. he connected with the audience pretty well without too much gimmick and moreover, was able to bring a GREAT deal of attention to india, where nobody would have considered as a topic or area of interest, let alone for film.
all that being said, i speak with a biased pov and feel free to refute me in as hostile a fashion as you see fit, but i believe that it's fully deserving of that best picture, best director and best writing award if not the most of the rest of the awards that it won for. on another note, i also think the nominations might have been better selected if say "the wrestler" got a nod for writing, directing, and original song, or clint might've been recognized for his work in gran torino where brings light to the hmong community, an ethnic group that is very little known in hollywood or pretty much anywhere else but nevertheless situated in america, or quantum of solace for its technical and sound work, or the dark knight for a lot of things, but all this has been said before and i've written so much that i don't know who would actually bother to read what i just said so i think i'm done
Aleric
· 9 months ago
Another reason why I didn't even bother to watch the show for the 5th year in a row.
Zack
· 9 months ago
Man, I'm still pissed that Rourke was robbed. Glad to see Danny Boyle win.
As for Slumdog, was it the best movie of the year? No. Was it better than the other flicks nominated? Definitely. So there. And no way is it worse than Crash. Seriously does nobody remember A Beautiful Mind winning? Or Milion Dollar Baby? American Beauty, Shakespeare in Love or friggin' Chicago?! Now _those_ were weak flicks.
MrDeath
· 9 months ago
On the blogging last night, someone (I can't remember who) said that for best picture, the list of films not nominated is much more strong than the ones that were. I have to agree, but if we are working with the ones that were, I'd say Slumdog is deserving. It was a genuinely great film and probably the best out of the choices given to us.
Also, Neil, can you hook me up with those Bikini girls' numbers?
All Comments
I didn't watch (out of protest) and feel perfectly fine with it.
since i can't really making any genuine comments about those two films, i'll say that benjamin button was too long, too reminiscent of forrest gump + big fish, and not compelling enough to garner an actual win. brad pitt's performance was good but nothing close to "best" of anything this year. taraji p henson was, again, good but not spectacular. it was a technically proficient film. good editing, cinematography, blah blah but again, length played a big issue. the other issue was that it was really really boring. i didn't really care about benjamin nor about daisy nor any other character really. it won what it deserved, and didn't really deserve anything more than mere recognition.
as for frost/nixon, it was much much stronger than tccobb, but it didn't have the momentum any of the other films had except maybe a little more than the reader. i think the recognition is good enough as it was more of an actor's film than anything else.
as for slumdog, sure the story is contrived, but it was told in a way that appealed easily to all audiences. and i think that's what people need sometimes. i agree that crash was definitely mediocre, but i think it can be grouped along with the other extreme underdog nominees like little miss sunshine and juno. if there's anyone that can make a story about "who wants to be a millionaire" into some sort of sensation, it would be danny boyle. i mean, just describing the synopsis to anyone else sounds boring. i had a lot of difficulty persuading my friends to see it, but they came out a lot happier than they expected.so yeah, it sure does follow the same formula as other films and it is a little too easy to follow and predict, but it was so masterfully done and well-liked. and who's to say a film that's well-liked by the general public is necessarily bad? i mean, for once in every blue moon, an underdog film actually gets an overwhelming amount of recognition and it's gotta be branded as overrated. also, i figure they always award the nominees, not just for their work on the nominated film but also on their repertoire, and if you've taken a look at danny boyle's filmography, it's pretty impressive despite the non-presence of accolades: 28 days later, trainspotting, millions, sunshine. for a group of films that have been very underwhelmingly recognized, i figure he should get a break now and then and slumdog is not exceptionally mediocre. he connected with the audience pretty well without too much gimmick and moreover, was able to bring a GREAT deal of attention to india, where nobody would have considered as a topic or area of interest, let alone for film.
all that being said, i speak with a biased pov and feel free to refute me in as hostile a fashion as you see fit, but i believe that it's fully deserving of that best picture, best director and best writing award if not the most of the rest of the awards that it won for. on another note, i also think the nominations might have been better selected if say "the wrestler" got a nod for writing, directing, and original song, or clint might've been recognized for his work in gran torino where brings light to the hmong community, an ethnic group that is very little known in hollywood or pretty much anywhere else but nevertheless situated in america, or quantum of solace for its technical and sound work, or the dark knight for a lot of things, but all this has been said before and i've written so much that i don't know who would actually bother to read what i just said so i think i'm done
As for Slumdog, was it the best movie of the year? No. Was it better than the other flicks nominated? Definitely. So there. And no way is it worse than Crash. Seriously does nobody remember A Beautiful Mind winning? Or Milion Dollar Baby? American Beauty, Shakespeare in Love or friggin' Chicago?! Now _those_ were weak flicks.
Also, Neil, can you hook me up with those Bikini girls' numbers?