Thursday, January 8, 2009

The Oscars Just Got Interesting



Well then.

Now it's a party.
The Directors Guild of America just released their Directorial Achievement nominees for 2008.
The DGA picks are a strong indicator of the which way the Academy will lean.
Up until now the conventional wisdom has had four spots locked in:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Slumdog Millionaire
Frost/Nixon
Milk

The question was who gets the fifth? Revolutionary Road, The Reader, The Wrestler, The Crazy Old Man Clint Movie?

Well like the Frank Miller hero above, Batman has swooped in to give the art films a run for their money. The DGA picked the four above and The Dark Knight.

Why Batman?

Well it's great. But besides that, the Academy voters, they like popular movies. Movies people see. (Remember best picture of the year The Gladiator?) Batman means big box office, it also means more viewers for the Oscar show.

Myself I'm happy to see Bats in the running. I think it's a great mix of low brow and high brow art. And if it makes it in as Best Picture nominee for the Oscars, it will make for a heck of a show.

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