2008

Best Picture Nominees:

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

***

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Film was based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but almost a 3-hour film.  Reminded me of Forrest Gump which goes on and on. Breakout for Taraji P. Henson, who mostly jumped to TV's Empire.

Frost/Nixon - The story of the big interview with Nixon by British journalist David Frost, based on a play.  Anthony Hopkins hams up the whole thing with his special American accent.

Milk - Special tour-de-force for Sean Penn (again) as Harvey Milk, a murdered (gay) supervisor from San Francisco.  This won an Oscar for Penn and Best Screenplay, but wasn't quite as good as Brokeback Mountain a few years ago.

The Reader - A little seen movie about a illiterate woman who had prisoners at Auschwitz read to her and then later carries on an affair with a German teenager who also reads to her, and then her trial and the aftermath.  I enjoyed the early scenes in this movie, and the second half isn't nearly as good, but Kate Winslet does a good job.

Slumdog Millionaire - I loved this movie because it combined game shows, Bollywood, and a classic love story (and wasn't in Hindi).  I was surprised that it won Best Picture, because it wasn't your typical epic or director's pet project or lifetime award, just a fun movie.

***

My ranking of the Best Picture nominees:

1.  Slumdog Millionaire
2.  The Reader
3.  Milk
4.  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
5.  Frost/Nixon