A Few Thoughts On Gus Van Sant

Gus Van Sant is one weird director. It seems like only he would make an Oscar nominated film like "Good Will Hunting," and then use his new found fame to do a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" (shot by shot mind you). Since then he's made lots of films, mostly art house films that audiences just didn't connect to (his turn at directing "Gerry" alianated many people). When I heard of "Milk" earlier this year I felt it would have Oscar written all over it. I was right, though the film wasn't quite the masterpiece I was expecting. What surprised me most was how subdued it felt for a Van Sant film. With the exception of a few choice shots, most of the direction was very straight-forward and predictable. Anyone could have made this film, which is not something I usually get when watching a movie from him. I left it on the Oscar list though, simply for a lack of better films to list.

Well, all that's changed now. More movies have been released. "Milk" seems to be losing it's grip on the "lock" it had for an Oscar. Worst of all, Van Sant has been outdirected by Ron Howard, Mike Leigh, Steven Soderberg, Danny Boyle, etc, etc...you get the point. This basically means his shot at Best Director is looking more slim. So while I'm not going to remove "Milk" from the BP lineup yet, I'm going to remove Van Sant from Best Director. I think his direction is fairly weak, and the actors make most of the movie work anyway.

Boston Film Critics Awards

And now the Boston Film Critics have given out their choices and awards. They are:

Best Picture: WALL•E and Slumdog Millionaire (tie)
Best Actor: Sean Penn for Milk and Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler (tie)
Best Actress: Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Best Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Director: Gus Van Sant for Milk and Paranoid Park
Best Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black for Milk
Best Cinematography: Christopher Doyle and Rain Kathy Li for Paranoid Park
Best Documentary: Man on Wire
Best Foreign-Language Film: Let the Right One In
Best Animated Film: WALL•E
Best Film Editing: Chris Dickens for Slumdog Millionaire
Best New Filmmaker: Martin McDonagh for In Bruges
Best Ensemble Cast: Tropic Thunder

Wow, "Wall-E" is working some magic. Something tells me the final five could be:

Slumdog Millionaire
The Dark Knight
The Curious Case of Benjaman Button
Milk
Wall-e

So where does that leave "Frost/Nixon?" This keeps getting more and more interesting (and it's making that sting from the Golden Globes seem like no big deal now).

Cases For and Against Potential Nominees

A new predictions chart has appeared over at Awards Daily.com showing that there are five films that are predicted to be nominated for Best Picture at the end of the year ("The Dark Knight" just missed the boat, appearing at number six). Now I obviously haven't seen all of these films, but let's look at the films and, based on the trailers and posters alone, pick up some of the pros and cons of the material:

Number 1

Frost/Nixon

Cases For Nomination

• Academy Award winner Ron Howard is directing it.



• Frank Langella and Michael Sheen are looking promising.



• It's a biopic. The Academy LOVES biopics!



• It's about a lousy Republican President. The voters tend to be very liberal and eat this stuff up.



• If John McCain wins election the voters will likely vote this film in just to make a point.

Cases Aginst Nomination

• Ron Howard hasn't directed anything of much critical acclaim in the last few years.



• The subject matter might not be compelling enough to make it great.



• If Barack Obama wins voting for this film could create a backlash for kicking the opposing party while their down

Final Verdict: Unless the movie isn't good I'd say this is a pretty good bet for a nomination.

Number 2

Milk

Cases For Nomination

• Love for Gus Van Sants "Good Will Hunting" could carry over to this film.



• It's a biopic. The Academy LOVES biopics!



• Sean Penn looks like a scene stealer, which could help seeing as he's in the lead role.



• With bills debating on whether or not gay marriage is to be legalized the subject matter will be difficult to ignore.



• If voters vote down legalizing gay marriage the voters will give this film a synpathy vote.

Cases Against Nomination

• Though the trailer looks promising the movie could be a one man show (AKA: "Capote").



• The gay facter could be offputting.

Final Verdict: I think this ones in.

Number 3

The Curious Case of Benjaman Button

Cases For Nomination

• Brad Pitt attracts a lot of Academy attention



• David Fincher has been racking up critical hit after critical hit, and he's sure to be honored somewhere along the line.



• The trailer looks so very intriguing.

Cases Against Nomination

• The book isn't as popular with the general audience



• Brad Pitt tends to get more acclaim in supporting roles then leading roles.



• The secrecy surrounding this movie could hurt it in the long run.



• May be too weird for the voters taste.

Final Verdict: I personally don't see this film getting nominated unless the reviews are really, really good.

Number 4

Slumdog Millionaire

Cases For Nomination

• Raves reviews coming from Sundance



• Would fill the "uplifting comedy" criteria.



• Witty screenplay could get a big push from the writers.



• Audience discovery could make this a surprise hit at the box office.

Cases Against Nomination

• Raves could cool down.



• Audiences might not connect to film, and thus not see it.

Final Verdict: This is one of those cases where we really won't know until it's released. On paper it sounds like a sure hit, but you never know.

Number 5

Revolutionary Road

Cases For Nomination

• Kate and Lwo reunite for the first time since "Titanic."



• Subject of marriage that traps freedom ressonates more today then ever before.



• Sam Mendes first major hit since "American Beauty?"

Cases Against Nomination

• Reuion has gotten relatively little attention.



• Sam Mendes isn't an Academy favorite.



• "American Beauty" has held up poorly.



• Movies about lovely marriages are a dime a dozen since "American Beauty" was released.



• Audience anticipation for this movie is lower then the rest of the potential nominees.

Final Verdict: I'm not convinced this is going to get nominated. It might, but I would not put any stock in it happening.

Hey this was fun. How about we do this in a few days with the next potential five?

"Milk" Trailer

The trailer for Gus Van Sant's "Milk" has been posted and the movie is looking more and more promising. I've still got concerns about Penn, but Josh Brolin and Emile Hersh are looking fairly promising for Best Supporting Actor nominations (though they won't likely win because...well, you know why). Enjoy:

"Milk" Poster Reveled

The poster for Gus Van Sant's upcoming biopic "Milk" has been released...and I have to say I'm a fan. Looking like an old fashioned 70's political ad, this is one of the few "stylish" posters I've seen recently (even if its still all about Sean Penn). I'm starting to warm up to the idea of Penn as Harvey Milk, but we'll still have to see whether or not it picks up Oscar nominations. If "Brokeback Mountain" didn't go the distance I don't think "Milk" will. After all, when was the last time you saw a biopic win Best Picture? Has it even happened?

Update: 9-4-2008

Boy, do I feel stupid. As someone pointed out in the comments below, biopic movies HAVE won Best Picture! A few of them are even some of my favorite films of all time; "Schindler's List," "The Last Emperor," and "Amadeus" (though the latter is possibly up for debate with the, shall we say - loose - historical accuracy). Oh well, I'm glad I made this mistake because it shows that someone is reading, and they care enough to comment.

Update: 9-5-2008

Well the poster had to be taken down because it wasn't the official poster that Focus Features authorized, so I guess we'll have to wait a bit more to see what the real poster is.

Sean Penn In "Milk"

I've got my reservations about Gus Van Sant's upcoming biobic "Milk," starring Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be electing to any political position of importance. Having seen the Oscar winning documentary "The Life and Times of Harvey Milk" makes me wonder why Penn was cast in a role that requires a fun loving individuel. I don't know, maybe it will be a good movie. In the mean time someone managed to tape a video of Sean Penn filming a scene live in San Francisco at City Hall. The audio isn't too clear, but now we have some clue as to how Penn will be acting in this movie.