Tag: slumdog millionaire

Final thoughts on the Oscars

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Sunday night’s Oscars were the best I can remember watching. Not in terms of technical execution, but just in that they cut out the annoying parts from years past, and moved the boring categories along quickly.

I’m glad Slumdog Millionaire won. It was fun to pick a movie without knowing much about it, get blown away by it, see it become this huge sensation and then watch it win the big prize.

Not everyone liked it though. NOW magazine’s Susan B. Cole had this to say last week:

Should Slumdog take the best picture Oscar, it will be the most violent film to do so ever. And I include the two Godfather movies and The French Connection when I write that.

Laughable commentary like that (and trust me, it doesn’t stop at movie reviews) is what made me stop reading NOW. Commenters on NOW’s site (including David Topping, the firstie who called Cole out on Torontoist) have suggested that films where the bad guy kills women to make suits out of their skin, where the best supporting actor kills several people with a bolt driver or where several cops shoot each other in the head might retain the title.

As is customary

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

As is customary we spent New Year’s Day in a movie theatre. We watched Slumdog Millionaire (imdb | rotten tomatoes), even though I’d seen it at the festival, because I promised Nellie I would, and anyway I loved it so I hardly minded watching it again. We also saw Milk (imdb | rotten tomatoes), which was excellent. Everything you’ve heard about Sean Penn’s performance is true, and every other actor with a major role — James Franco, Josh Brolin and Emile Hirsch — was great as well. Just once, though, I would like to see Diego Luna in a film where I didn’t want to punch him in the face.

As is customary I will not publish any lists of my favourite films, music or songs until later in 2009. I never see all the big films or listen to all the big albums before the end of the year, so it’s usually March before I weigh in. Not that any of you really care, but I enjoy deluding myself like this.