Hello ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I invite you to witness this, my first ever blog post. In this blog I will review whatever movie I have just seen, as well as some scripted TV shows (LOST in particular), and whatever else happens to come to mind. With Oscar season coming up quickly, I will start this blog off by reviewing the nominees that I have seen. I picked "Slumdog Millionaire" for my first post because it happens to me the one that I have seen most recently.
"Slumdog Millionaire" deserves the praise that it is getting. Danny Boyle continues to surprise me every time I see one of his films. "The Beach" was not good, but it was not good for reasons that had nothing to do with Danny Boyle. He got strong performances from many of the actors, he made interesting directoral choices, and, despite having not really liked it, I strangely enjoy watching it. That is the difference between a movie that is simply bad, and a bad movie that is well made. Danny Boyle knows how to make movies well. His "28 Days Later" was more than just a zombie movie. It was emotionally affecting and the plotting was smart and tight. Was it one of the best films of its year? No. It was one of the best horror films I've ever seen though. "Sunshine" was interesting. If you are a Sci-Fi fan, I recommend you check this one out. A strange beast in these times, "Sunshine" was a low-budget hard sci-fi drama featuring Cillian Murphy, a favorite of mine and (apparently) Boyle's. This is a pretty fascinating movie, and while not my favorite sci-fi ever, it is a very well made. That brings us to his most recent film, "Slumdog Millionaire."
This is the second best film I've seen in 2008. It loses out only to "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." The music rocks, the screenplay is as solid as they come, the direction is awesome, and the actors excel. Even the child actors are great. It kind of makes me mad every time I see a movie full of child actors that are wonderful. Why couldn't George Lucas have picked one of them to play Anakin Skywalker in "The Phantom Menace"? But I digress. This movie deserves the best picture nomination. But I don't think it deserves to win. I like my best picture winners to take a little more time to explore character and emotion. What I don't get from this movie is a deeper level of insight into what drives the main character and keeps him going in the face of all this adversity. I don't get insights into my own life, or the human condition in general. As a drama about a specific time and place and set of characters, this film soars, but as a film with lasting themes, I am not yet so sure. I am sure that I continue to look forward to future Danny Boyle films. He will continue to surprise.
