Saturday, March 1, 2008

Round 1 Predix: Best Picture

I love first round predix! Let's start with the big one...

BEST PICTURE
1. Body of Lies-The Academy's newfound love for darkness should help this one quite a bit. Also, most of the early contenders sound kind of destined to fail. This is looking solid right now.

2. Frost/Nixon
-A Tony Award winning play being brought to the screen with its original, all-star Broadway cast and Ron Howard behind the camera? Sounds good to me, but this kind of stuff isn't the Academy's favorite thing ever anymore.

3. Doubt-My prediction is that either this or Frost/Nixon will get the nod, but not both. That said, I'm still predicting both because they look like they have equal chances right now.

4. Australia-Baz Luhrmann has yet to fail completely, but...I dunno. Seems fishy to me. But the premise is good enough for it to make the lineup (for now).

5. Synecdoche, New York-Mixed reviews leave me on the fence for this...but it's in for now just because I need a comedy.

IN THE RUNNING
6. Hamlet 2-I think it sounds promising, and the reviews have been mostly good, but the cast and premise aren't exactly Academy friendly.

7. The Changeling-I thought it sounded good initially, but I'm getting more and more hesitant. Jolie will probably be in my Actress predix, though.

8. Revolutionary Road-Reuniting two former co-stars is a good gimmick for box office and early buzz, but the film itself just doesn't sound that great.

9. Milk-This is probably more an acting film than anything else.

10. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-There is no denying that this sounds great, but will it end up being "too weird" for the Academy? I kind of think so...

Well, there we are. This is going to look funny a year from now.

3 comments:

ePastor James said...

Glad to see you've got Hamlet 2 in mind. But remember, Juno wasn't incredibly friendly either...not a single Oscar nominee involved with the project (well, except produer John Malkovich).

Meanwhile, Hamlet 2 DOES have Catherine Keener....

Anonymous said...

Isn't Synecdoche, New York like a borderline horror movie?

Anonymous said...

Maybe it's true maybe not, but I have a feeling around Crossing Over (Trafic/Crash/babel Style) around the illegal inmigration with big stars (Harrison Ford, Sean Penn and Ashley Judd) and newcommers (Jim Strudgess, Summer Bishil, Alice Eve and Alice Braga)

About you propose Hamnlet 2, well the Academy receives the comedy very well in the last years (juno, little miss sunshine, sideways) so maybe it's possible, including the leading actor Steven Coogan. Cathertine Keener is in two different films: Hamlet 2 and Synedocvke, New York.

finally don't forget The City of your final destination, with Anthony Hpkins, Omar Mellarty, Charlotte Gainsbourg and now the Hollywood darling Laura Linney (This year confirms my theory, Laura Linney is beloved in Hollywood and has important friends like Clint Eastwood and Sean penn) directed by james ivory