I just saw Slumdog Millionaire over the weekend with the girlfriend and friends, and, even without having seen any of the other nominees, I have to agree with the Academy's decision regarding Best Picture, at least compared to the nominees. (My favorite movie of 2008, In Bruges, wasn't even nominated.) I do have some reservations about the decision to give Danny Boyle the award for Best Director, though. Again, I didn't see any of the other nominees (I thought Darren Afronosky did the best job of the year in The Wrestler, making the only first-person movie I've ever seen), but I have to imagine that they didn't fill a large chunk of the middle of their films with a music video. If you haven't seen it, there are a series of scenes depicting the main character and his brother living on a train, stealing goods and then selling them to get by. The entire sequence serves as an excellent music video for M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes," and then is followed by a Taj Mahal-set music video for DFA's remix of the same song. Both would be the best music videos I've seen since Zach Galifianakis stood in for Kanye, and they were certainly enjoyable, but they don't seem like examples of great directing. That being said, it's good to not only see the 80s montage back in full force, but to see it recognized by the esteemed Academy.
RELATED VIDEOS
Danny Boyle's video for "Paper Planes"
MIA's video for "Paper Planes"
DFA remix of "Paper Planes"
"It's got an 'S' on it" from The Wrestler
Fucking Bruges
Zach Galifianakis is Kanye West
Monday, February 23, 2009
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