One of my favorite hobbies is movies. Whenever a friend has a question about who was in a movie, what famous lines where from a movie, what awards a movie won, they come to me. I’m the “movie guy.” Winter time is the part of the calendar where most of the award worthy movies are released. Spring and summer is the time for big explosions, superheroes, and comedies. Winter is where the dramas are hiding. If I were to make a top five of the movies that came out this winter it would look like such: “Frost/Nixon,” “Milk,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Wrestler,” and “Slumdog Millionaire.” I will try to keep this spoiler free as to not ruin these movies for people who haven’t seen them.
“Frost/Nixon” tells the story behind the famous one on one televised interviews between David Frost, played by Michael Sheen, and Richard Nixon, played by Frank Langella. Taking place shortly after Nixon’s resignation as president, Frost is compelled to find the truth that American public is waiting for about issues such as Nixon’s foreign policy and Watergate. Frost is willing to go to great lengths to make it happen. This was a classic political thriller, directed by the always fantastic Ron Howard. I really enjoyed this movie because it was something I didn’t know about. The interviews took place approximately a decade before I was born and I really liked watching them become recreated on the big screen. Langella has earned an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Nixon, and the film has earned a best picture nomination as well as three other nominations.
The next movie I saw was “Milk,” which tells the story of Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay man to hold high political office. This is another film based off actual events. The film covers the last ten years of Milk’s life as he rises from activist in San Francisco’s Castro district, to politician. “Milk” stars the great Sean Penn as Harvey Milk and features an all-star cast that includes James Franco, and Josh Brolin just to name a few. “Milk” was an excellently cast film, and all the performances are worth the accolades that their getting. I enjoyed this film for the performances and for the story. Again, this was a moment in history that I wasn’t around to see, and never learned about growing up. Directed by Gus Van Sant, “Milk” is nominated for a total of eight Academy Awards.
Next up was “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” The title role played by Brad Pitt, tells the unordinary story of a New Orleans man who grows younger, and his life experiences. This movie has the classic compelling romance behind it, as Pitt’s character gets younger physically while his life long love Daisy, played by Kate Blanchet gets older physically. The movie flashes forward to the future, surrounding itself around one of the nation’s most deadly natural disasters. I really enjoyed this movie because of the story. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is based off of a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1922 which I previously wasn’t familiar left. In addition, I thought the concept of a man growing younger was very interesting and I had a curiosity of watching this film ever since I saw previews for in during the summer. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is nominated for 13 Academy Awards and is directed by David Fincher.
My personal favorite movie of the past winter was the “Wrestler” starring Mickey Rourke’s. Rourke’s plays Randy “the Ram” Robinson, a once successful professional wrestler is now struggling to make ends meet by wrestling on independent circuits. Rourke’s character is also battling inner demons as he struggles to build a relationship with his estranged daughter, played by Evan Rachel Wood, and win over the heart of an exotic dancer played by Marisa Tomei. What sold this movie to me was Rourke. His performance is a true example of excellence in his craft. His character is one of the great underdog stories to be put on film of all time, and is being compared to “Rocky.” Rourke also performs nearly all of his own stunts during three matches shown in the film and another interesting fact is that Rourke wasn’t even paid a base salary for the movie because of an extremely low budget. Personally I want to see Rourke win the Academy Award for this movie because I thought that there hasn’t been a better performance by an actor this year. Nominated for two Academy Awards, “The Wrestler” is directed by Darren Aronofsky.
The last movie I saw this winter was “Slumdog Millionaire.” This film tells the story of a young man named Jamal Malik, who goes on India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” wins, and then is accused of cheating. He’s next questioned by the police, as they view the tape of the show while asking Jamal how he knew the answers. The films structure peaked my interest because each question that Jamal and the police review from the show, relates to some memory of his life which gives him the answers. Jamal and his brother Salim Malik are shown surviving the dangerous and poor slums of Mumbai, India by any means necessary. This film also has another great love story behind it. Jamal’s love is centered around a young woman named Latika, who also grew up on the streets. The three characters are shown as children, then teens, and then young adults, and Jamal’s love for Latika carries along throughout the years as they are constantly separated and re-united. I went into this movie not expecting much. There aren’t any big names involved in this film, but there was a lot of hype around it. That hype was what possessed me to pay the $10.25 to see this film, and I was absolutely blown away by it. It’s one of those movies that has a little bit of everything to it. Directed by Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire” is nominated for 10 Academy Awards and in my opinion should win the best picture Oscar. Not bad for a film that almost went straight to DVD according to Boyle.
It was a great winter for movies. On a side note, I will also be tuning into the Academy Awards on February 22nd to see the result of category of sentimental importance to me. The category is for “Best performance by an actor in a supporting role.” The late Heath Ledger is nominated for the Oscar for his portrayal of the Joker in last summers “The Dark Knight.” Batman has been my favorite superhero since I was four years old, and I have following every movie religiously as I did with “The Dark Knight.” Ledger died on January 22nd, 2008 after accidently overdosing on prescription drugs. I’d been a light fan of Ledgers having seen most of his previous movies. However once I saw the first images of Ledger in the Jokers makeup and costume, I was drawn in forever. Soon trailers were released for the film and we were given a taste for Ledgers brilliance. The late actor completely revolutionized the character, and made Jack Nicholson’s version of the Joker in “Batman” look inferior. The nomination for this years Academy Awards were announcing on January 22nd, 2009, exactly one year to the day of Ledger’s death. The actor has swept all other major awards for the same roll, only the biggest one remains. And the Oscar goes too…We’ll find out on February 22nd.Photo Credits:
http://tinylittlethoughts.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/academy_award_poster.jpg
http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/frostnixon_1.jpg
http://www.collider.com/uploads/imageGallery/Milk/milk_movie_poster.jpg
http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2008/11/17/benjamin-button-poster-1.jpg
http://celebritytoday.today.com/files/2008/11/wrestler-poster-final-medsize.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3233/2968978540_b3a8f207bc.jpg?v=0
http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/080122/heath-ledger-joker_l.jpg
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