A week ago with the announcement of the Directors Guild Awards (DGA), it seemed Christopher Nolan and “The Dark Knight” were headed for Oscar night, with nominations for Best Picture and Best Director highly likely. But like a full balloon with a slow leak, the air is slowly hissing out as “Gran Torino” and “The Reader” seem to be gaining momentum.
I loved “The Dark Knight.” It was, for me, the best film of the year and highly deserving of top tier nominations. Regardless of its comic roots, Nolan’s accomplishment in giving the film a heart and soul on a grand scale is even greater, and I hope the Academy sees it that way.
“Gran Torino” has gained enormous momentum since being released wide, racking up more than $30 million at the domestic box office. Audiences are coming in droves to see Clint back on screen. He surrounded himself with largely or complete unknowns, amplifying is screen presence. Very shrewd. Audiences are going to see him, possibly for the last time, as he portrays the sort of character they love to see.
Perhaps we Oscar bloggers have under estimated the power of Clint. Perhaps we misread the writing on the wall. The Academy loves Eastwood (as do I), but come one, “Gran Torino” for Best Picture of the year? It didn’t even crack my top 10 list (though “Changeling” did) and the Oscar Eastwood will possibly win for Best Actor is obviously sentimental.
Like the director’s more recent films, “Flags of Our Fathers” excepted, this is a lean storyline, deceptively simplistic with a power that sneaks up on you. My wife commented that she thought about the film for days after seeing it, the character’s final confrontation in particular, which does not go as we think it will, but is still perfect in every way.
But, again — Best Picture? The supporting performances are weak, a couple of them downright terrible and the film has no sense of being an ensemble piece. Some of the younger actors’ line readings sound just like that, and there is a lack of conviction in some of their performances. This is a one man show, an actor’s showcase. Let the lead actor nomination be enough.
And “The Reader?” I loved Winslet as always, as she delivers a brilliant performance, but again, are they seriously considering this for Best Picture of the year? The film is alive when Winslet is on screen, yes. Beyond that I was not the least bit interested. Ralph Fiennes, for me, has been brilliant just once, and that was in “Schindler’s List.” Otherwise I find his ice-cold presence to be ill-suited to the material he chooses. I understand last minute momentum for “Gran Torino” because it has become a somewhat surprising box office hit, but “The Reader” has struggled to find a strong audience.
But here they are, threatening a Best Picture nomination. The consensus is that “The Dark Knight” is the weakest link, but “Frost/Nixon” or even “Milk” could succumb. Due respect to Clint and Ms. Winslet, but I’d be pissed.
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[…] might be saying the same thing about a certain Caped Crusader in a week if this last minute surge for “Gran Torino” and/or “The Reader” proves to be a major […]
I don’t like the Dark Knight as much as you do, but it is absolutely superior to The Reader and Gran Torino. The Reader had a ridiculous plot, and Gran Torino had pedestrian acting. I have not been blown away by any of the Best Picture favorites, but they are much better than those two films.
James – Agreed. I really don’t like this Gran Torino/The Reader nonsense. The 5 “Favorites” are clearly better than these two. And even a few of them are iffy.
Frost/Nixon and Milk were both solid but there were a shit-ton of other films from 2008 which are more deserving of a Best Picture Oscar nom than those.
Come on, Wall-E!
If Gran Torino had been released a few weeks earlier, I think it would probably make it in. Right now, with suddenly 4 films fighting for the last spot, I’m unsure.
Maybe with all this nonsense over the fifth spot, The Wrestler could sneak in. Unlikely, but I have to hope.
Ralph Fiennes was also brilliant in the masterful “The English Patient,” and I thought his work in “The Reader” was perfectly suitable to a very subdued and quiet work.
I see The Wrestler as the biggest threat to TDK, not The Reader or Gran Torino.
I agree that Fiennes has had some remarkable performances beyond Schindler’s List.
That would be atrocious to even consider putting The Reader and Gran Torino up for a nomination before The Dark Knight. TDK has everything that a typical Oscar movie generally needs, the only difference is that it’s about a superhero.
I don’t think the BAFTA nominations have much to do with what gets picked for Oscar nominations.
No way they are getting in. Too little to late. The only reason Reader got baftas was because its British and Grand Turino opened too late. I think the Wrestler might be the surprise on nom day…just a hunch.
WALL-E, The Wrestler, and Doubt have much better shots at besting The Dark Knight (or any film other than Slumdog) for a nomination spot.
You’re an awful writer John. Awful. You’re just so…. bad! Your sentences are filled with trashy sentimentality… it’s just so… ugh… gross.
@ Chris
Totallty agreed. Take the cape and cowl out of it, and TDK’s an Oscar guarantee. I’m really surprised that 2 mediocre films have been the ones discussed to knock out TDK. Neither one of them are even as close to as good as TDK is. In fact, they’re rather disappointing. Anyone who hasn’t seen them, need not fret. Go to rottentomatoes.com and read the consensus; it says all you need to know.
The Dark Knight fanboys attack!
Take the cape and the “cowl” out and you have an even shittier movie!
@ Jackass
OK..here we go…so you’re assuming we’re TDK “fanboys”. Never mind the fact that your inclusion of “Wall-E” s a possible replacement screams Pixar Love-fest. Next you’re probably going to tell me that you’ve seen over 300 movies this year, and there are SO many better films than these 5, and you know the industry, and blah, blah, blah…Please give me a reason why The Reader or Gran Torino are better than TDK, or any of the other potential nominees? Jackass, indeed.
Although I’m essentially repeating myself, I just don’t buy any of this talk. When every day you have a new film being “the one” it brings the entire theory into question. So me a film everyone agrees is catching up and I’ll consider the possibility, but until then I will simply continue saying this smacks of the same “please god let us have a story” desperation out of the media that we had during the election. I stills ay the two films really in danger of dropping are Frost/Nixon and CCBB.
Are we surprised at all?
I took a few minutes last night to check Rotten Tomatoes (say what you will) and compared it to what pictures were nominated for Best Picture over the past few years.
Arguably, some of the best reviewed films of their respective years have been snubbed for Best Pic…High Fidelity, Before Sunset, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Memento, American Splendor…so a Dark Knight snub would be of little surprise to me.
Heck, even Iron Man should be knocking on Oscar’s door before Benjamin Button in my eyes.
@ Kyle
Agreed…A TDK snub wouldn’t surprise me either. All of the snubbed films you mentioned were definitely overlooked. I think Benjamin Button is definiely the worst of the bunch too. All I’m saying is that, in my opinion ( and a lot of others) TDK is clearly one of the best pics of the year.
oh noes! you’ve caught me! i love me some pixar!
keep sucking on the proverbial bat penis you bastards!
Way to go, Jackass. You’re officially “that guy”.
10 years from now no one is going to be talking about the Reader or Gran Torino, but the DK will still be considered a classic, and i have no doubt it may one day end up on AFI’s 100.
gah is probably right that it will be remembered. Gran Torino will be remembered as well, but for different reasons. But the Academy has never cared for that. Brokeback Mountain over Crash, anyone? I can’t recall one scene from Crash.
If Gran Torino is nominated for Best Picture… well I’m going to be very sad. Very very very sad. And if Clint wins Best Actor, well I’m going to be – you guessed it – very very very sad. Extremely sad. Sad enough to be tempted to swear off the whole Oscar race. I won’t, but I’ll certainly be tempted in a wholly non threatening way.
The Dark Knight was a brilliant film regardless
of genre and well and truly deserves a nomination
at the very least. It was 2008’s best film and
actually should win Best Picture for what it is
and not what they the Academy want it to be.
If The Oscars are to be taken seriously then they
should reward a film that the majority of filmgoers loved and that everybody wants to see
win. If The Dark Knight doesn’t win or get enough credit then i’m going to stop watching
the Oscars as there seems to be a lack of interest
in rewarding enjoyable movies.
The Dark Knight is far more thrilling than the
run of mill movies that permiate the Oscar race.
Benji Button – too gentle, Milk – good but slow,
Slumdog – possibly great but a classic? and
Frost/Nixon – merely a film of a stage play of
a hyped up interview. Come On! TDK is honestly a better film than any of these, they know it and we know it! Saying that i’ll bet
Gran Torino is great to see Clint kickin’ ass
but not Oscar material.
A Dark Knight comes along once in a blue moon so Academy do the right thing and reward it!!!
Jackass…am I supposed to care about your opinion?? You don’t like my stuff, don’t read it…
Well with that many Holocaust films not making the cut they’d at least might wanna add one to the final five. Or is this too far fetched a theory?
I’m not sure, thus far there hasn’t been that much love shown stateside for The Reader.
The thing that you and it seems all the Oscar columnists are forgetting is that voting ended Monday, and its not like any thing close to a majority votes last day, so any buzz and movement by Gran Torino since this weekend is meaningless to the nomination process.
Doesn’t anyone see that?
Oh I understand that Ryan, but this buzz has been building since December, know what I mean — these films were screened for the Academy members and press long before audiences get to se them, many Academy members are the reason for this turn of events, they are talking amongst themselves and some of us are hearing it – I know for a fact several Academy members are going for “Gran Torino” and “‘The Reader”…otherwise I would not have written the piece.
I loved “The Reader.” I would not mind for it to be nominated for more than the inevitable Kate Winslet nom (hopefully a win there too). The cinematography and music were lovely, and so were the performances by Kross, Fiennes, and Olin. I can’t comment on “Gran Torino” though. And yes, I really liked “The Dark Knight” too. In my world, they’d both be nominated along with “WALL-E.”
~Steven
I totally agree with you John. After recently seeing Gran Torino I was in complete shock about all the awards talk. Whenever there is a scene without Eastwood you want to laugh at how terribly acted it is, personally I didn’t even thing he was that great, and he doesn’t deserve a nomination let alone a win.
Personally I enjoyed the reader but it is nothing compared to the Dark Knight or any of the other five main oscar films, with Milk as the only exception.
The only film currently with any chance of taking out the Dark Knight that I would be okay with is Revolutionary Road, and it has already reached it last breaths.
Do you wonder it was ever Eastwood’s intentions for all the other performances in GT to be aweful, so that he could make all people under 60 look stupid? because that’s what I got out of Gran Torino: It’s a fairy tale for people who hate young people.
I’m not accusing you of this, but if the talk has been out there since December, why only now are we hearing it. Trust me, I’ve read every post on here, awardsdaily, theenvelope, and before last week, i heard no industry talk about GT or The Reader in any serious contention for the big awards with the exception of Eastwood in Actor and Winslet for Supporting Actress.
notion that eastwood could kick out jenkins or pitt in best actor – plausible
notion that winslet could win supporting actress or perhaps crash best actress nominations for rev road due to residual effect – plausible
gran torino or the reader being nominated for best picture – not plausible, wall-e is ahead of them both
I liked Wall-E and Happy Go Lucky and Revolutionary Road much better than The Dark Knight. For me, Wall-E and The Dark Knight are on the same plane, but I’m much more fascinated by what Pixar accomplished in the first act of Wall-E and I find Wall-E’s beeps much more interesting than the Batman voice.
And Happy Go Lucky is an hour and a half or so of Sally Hawkins owning the screen. I loved it. I went in with it with high expectations and also expecting to be annoyed by her cheerfulness. I was pleasantly surprised.
Revolutionary Road is just amazing on every plane. Read the source. I’ll guarantee it’ll make you love it ten times more.
I haven’t seen Frost/Nixon, but does anyone actually LIKE this movie?
I think almost all can agree that if you look at it objectively, Wall-E has about a 2% chance of getting in, and Rev Road is probably 1%.
That leaves:
Slumdog (Locked)
Button (Locked)
Milk (All but Locked)
And for the other 2 its
First Tier:
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Second Tier:
Doubt
Gran Torino
Third Tier:
The Reader
The Wrestler
If any film in the first tier is vulnerable, its Frost/Nixon, and maybe its my perspective because I found that film as a big “Who Cares?” so I don’t see how anyone gives it any #1 votes.
Is it possible Gran Torino and The Reader get in? Yes. But its not probable based on all the information we have over the last month and a half.
Very few DON’T like “Frost/Nixon.” Hard not to like. The question is how many people actually feel passionately about it.
I thought there was really nothing bad about Frost/Nixon, but nothing was spectacular, and I left the film with no lasting impact whatsoever.
Take the cape and cowl out of TDK and you get a relatively routine action flick that grosses about $75mil at the box office and has people saying “wow, way to rip off michael mann!”
And that’s from someone who likes the movie (but doesn’t want to marry it and have its babies like some others out there).
The Constant Gardener was one of the best performances I’ve seen in an acotr of his generation, on par with some of Day-Lewis best work.
Frost/Nixon got some pretty great reviews in Europe now it’s come out here as well. It’s simply a gripping thriller of an historic event. Well executed and indeed hard not to like. Especially with such a finale.
I loved ‘The Reader’, but i loathed ‘Gran Torino’
Could be, TDK really isnt film for AMPAS, but which film will get nod, if TDK should be replaced? The Reader with no PGA, DGA, SAG or WGA support? I dont think so. BAFTA means nothing. WALL-E again with no guild support, but with great reviews? Four years ago had Incredibles from Pixar PGA and WGA nod and missed Best picture nod. Gran Torino? Not so good reviews, no nod from guilds or Globes/BAFTAS. But in last week, it gained momentum. Revolutionary road is weak part. The Wrestler could get nod if Aronfonsky will. But again, no guild support (only WGA).
If the Academy wants to honor Clint’s last performance, then nominate him for Best Actor and leave his mediocre movie alone.
I was racking my brain trying to come up with a parallel for Gran Torino, and I’m reminded of Lean On Me with Morgan Freeman, tour-de-force (borderline over the top) performance by Freeman, mediocre in every other sense.
Up until now, I haven’t bought into the idea that Eastwood could do ANYTHING and get a nomination, but if Gran Torino gets nominated for BP over The Dark Knight or Revolutionary Road, I will drink the koolaid.
The last 2 years the winners were the ones that deserved to win, imo TDK is the best movie of 2008, do these voters will watch The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Doubt, 4 or 5 times, really? I think reaplay value (of course all the technical stuff and performances) should be a factor in the voting, why they dont shock, suprise people, most of the time (97% of the time) they always go with the facking dramas, try something different for a change.
Kokushi, you have an excellent point, but you’ve made it about another movie without realizing (or probably intending) it: all I keep reading is there is one movie and one movie only whose screener Academy members are popping in their DVD players over and over again since getting them and that’s Slumdog Millionaire.
Except Mogan Freeman was not nominated for “Lean on Me” — nor should he have been — perhaps the better parallel is Pacino in ‘Scent of a Woman”, weak movie, wilding over the top performance yet honored for his work in the seventies through it — another? Jack Lemmon in ‘Save the Tiger”…good piece of acting, but hardly stronger than Nicholson in “The Last Detail” or Brando in ‘Last Tango in Paris” — it happens…never under estimate the Academy’s adoration of an icon, ever, it has led to many an unjust Oscar win.
And come on, let’s be real, the cademy has in the past got it wrong.
Sorry Morgan — how dare I…
Jack Lemmon and Save the Tiger is a good example. Butterfield 8 and Elizabeth Taylor is probably another good one, but everyone thought she was going to die of pneumonia which obviously played a part in her winning.
All of Hollywood’s awards take things besides quality into consideration. It’s a very sentimental town at times which is why people get Lifetime Achievement Awards in the form of competitive awards.
I’ve always felt that a film will creep in and steal The Dark Knight’s spot. But, I’m of the opinion that the film doing the nomination-stealing will be Doubt.
The weight the acting branch carries within the academy is enough to put a film over the top, and the SAG nomination is a clear indication of their love for the film.
If The Dark Knight does somehow squeek out a nom I will be pleasantly surprised, but I refuse to get my hopes elevated.
I won’t deny I’m rooting for it like a raging fanboy though.
Can some tell me what was thrilling about Frost/Nixon? Like at all? Like seriously, one moment?
Ryan, why does it have to be thrilling? Some of us just really like history and it was fascinating to be a fly on the wall watching what it could have been like behind the scenes of this historic moment in television history.