The Oscar Nominations For The Dawn Of The Obama Age-- Written By Jerry Dennis

“For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.”
-- Benjamin Button from The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

The historical events of the events of this week greatly overshadow the 81st Academy Awards nominations. The infectious glow of the events of this week refuses to dim. As President Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, there was a deafening joyous silence-- redemption and hope were offered up to all of us as history was being. As we purged ourselves of the “last throes” of George W. Bush’s Presidency, I felt something I have never felt on an Inauguration Day; a special sense of pride and joy. Bliss is not a common feeling in the Washington DC area, but the arrival of the Barack Obama Era has changed all that. . If George Pelecanos made me proud of growing up in the Washington DC suburbs, then President Obama has done something even greater, he makes me want to stay here. As the transfer of power was taking place, all I could think of was Raymond Massey’s speech he gives in Things To Come (1936). He played John Cabal in this futuristic tale based on H.G. Wells’ 1933 novel, The Shape Of Things To Come. Wells also wrote the screenplay for the film. The devastating decades long global war has ravaged mankind. Ralph Richardson’s The Boss leads a group of survivors. This part of Things To Come always seemed like the inspiration for The Road Warrior. A plague called the "Wandering Sickness" has wiped out most of the world population. Cabal returns to what is left of his hometown known as Everytown. He represents a scientific organization known as “Wings Over The World” that wants to rebuild civilization. The Boss has him put in jail, but soon the high tech aircraft armada from “Wings Over The World” comes to his rescue delivering "the Gas Of Peace." He finds the Boss Dead. He resisted the change too much:

“Dead and his world dead with him. And a new world beginning. Poor old Boss, his flags and his follies. And now for the rule of the Air Men and a new life for Mankind.”

Sure it is melodramatic, but this scene along with Arthur Bliss’s stirring score is the one of the closest cinematic analogies I could make with Tuesday’s events. The scene has been playing over and over in my head since the Election last November. Things To Come has always been a favorite film of mine. I am amazed at its staying power; it still has such relevance. Barack Obama’s speech with hope for a glorious future reminded me of this.

Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire is the first film of the Obama Era. Make no mistake; Slumdog Millionaire is a global phenomenon. The film deserves every ounce of its praise. Danny Boyle is the first director to truly get Charles Dickens right since David Lean. It is Oliver Twist for the 21st Century. The film has gained greater traction with me since the Mumbai terrorist attacks from last November. The film has poignancy ever since those horrific attacks. Mumbai may be the real star of the film. It is difficult to look at Slumdog Millionaire in the same light since then. For a film that was destined for the straight-to-DVD route after Warner Independent collapsed last year, the film was saved by Fox Searchlight. This could be the year that the little film finally takes home the best picture Oscar-- Little Miss Sunshine and Juno failed to take home the big prize. Danny Boyle and his cast of unknowns have a huge shot. In fact, I believe it is Slumdog Millionaire’s race to lose. Speaking of Danny Boyle, it is great to see that such a versatile film director is getting his due. The Beach and A Life Less Ordinary are his only disappointing films. He deserves to be in the company of David Fincher, Ron Howard, Gus Van Sant and Stephen Daldry. It is Stephen Daldry who seems out of place in this category. Certainly Christopher Nolan and Darren Aronofsky deserve to be here. Aronofsky proved he could make a film stripped of his usual visual tricks with The Wrestler. The film could be seen as mirror for him as well as Mickey Rourke’s iconic performance. Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is the largest blockbuster in years. The Dark Knight transcended its genre, but it also filled theater seats with people who normally do not go out to the movies. The Dark Knight deserves a best picture nomination even though it is big studio production; the snub is obvious. It really entertains on many levels. Christopher Nolan has yet to make a bad film. Everything he has made is pure visionary gold. Even had it been nominated for best picture and director, I still feel the momentum is with Slumdog Millionaire. The Dark Knight did deserve more than the technical nominations it has received. This was a mistake on the Academy’s part—- not the first in its history.

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button has grown on me since first seeing it. I do not think it is perfect by any stretch, but I am amazed by how much of it did work. I think it is a beautiful film from David Fincher-- a very different kind of film from David Fincher. I feel Zodiac was one of the best films of 2007. Zodiac was one of the first truly great films of 2007 and we ended that year with another visionary masterpiece, Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood. Granted, 2008 does not measure up to 2007, but there still were some good films last year. While I think Brad Pitt is perfect in the film, the real star of the film may be Alexandre Desplat’s Oscar nominated score which keeps the film alive and is inseparable from some of the film’s most emotional moments. I think the last shot of the film sums up the whole film beautifully. At first, I was put off by using Hurricane Katrina as a framing device, but when the film is done, I get it, I truly get it. Benjamin Button and Cate Blanchett’s Daisy are metaphors for New Orleans. The last shot of the film is one of absorbing melancholy. The broken clock that goes in reverse is washed away. I do believe that Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton should have received nominations, but I have no problem with Taraji P. Henson’s best supporting Actress nomination as Queenie. She is the heart and soul of the film as Benjamin’s surrogate mother. The film, like Slumdog Millionaire, has enormous staying power. Eric Roth’s script, loosely based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, addresses death and in many ways is just as obsessed with death as Charlie Kaufman’s underrated Synecdoche, New York. While the film is about death, it is a film that celebrates life. In many ways, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button has things in common with Zodiac. Both films are celebrations of life while the specter of death haunts both films-- the reverse aging in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and the exhaustive and exhilarating hunt for a serial killer in Zodiac. The performances in both films beam with life. I do think The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button could have been better in the first half, but the second half is where the film truly comes alive. It is the middle of our lives where everything comes together. The film understands this fact very well. We are waiting for him to turn into Brad Pitt. I think the film is a technical marvel and visual marvel. Still as far as visual marvels go, nothing compares to Tarsem Singh’s The Fall. The Fall is the most visually stunning film this year. Baz Luhrmann’s Australia and Fincher’s film cannot compare with The Fall’s visual flair and imagination. My memory of The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is far greater than the actual watching of the film. It is the distorted memory of the film which is far more pleasing to me just as it was with Baz Luhrmann’s Australia. They are imperfect, but fascinating films.

Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon is a first rate drama. I think it is Ron Howard’s strongest film since Apollo 13. In both films we know the outcome of the historical events they are based on, but Mr. Howard manages to keep the audience engaged. It is hard not to think of the Bush Administration while watching the film. I see the parallels and I think the film works as a great companion piece to Oliver Stone’s under appreciated W. Frank Langella truly inhabits Richard Nixon. Think of it, he has played Dracula and Richard Nixon in one lifetime. It is not impersonation, but a fully fleshed Richard Nixon. He played the role on stage and he has brought it to life on the big screen. Langella’s Nixon does come across as the very beast that Dr. Hunter S. Thompson described so well. Yet it is not only Frank Langella who makes the film come alive. The film is a verbal boxing match between Langella’s Nixon and Michael Sheen’s David Frost. Sheen is equally good in the film. The supporting cast of Sam Rockwell, Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon, Rebecca Hall and Toby Jones is extraordinary. Speaking of Sam Rockwell, this film, along with Snow Angels and Choke represented a triumphant year for the gifted actor. If there was an ensemble acting category, this film, along with Synecdoche, New York, The Dark Knight, Snow Angels, and In Bruges certainly deserve to be in it. And while Frank Langella received a very well deserved nomination, I think Michael Sheen deserved one as well. He speaks one of the great truths in the film: Being successful in America is unlike being successful anywhere else in the world. It is the most pro-American film in a long time.

Gus Van Sant’s Milk is a traditional biopic. The film is all about Sean Penn’s portrayal as Harvey Milk. Sean Penn is absolutely mesmerizing as the title character. The film is a good film, but I cannot say I was blown away by it. Here is the thing; I do not expect a conventional film from Gus Van Sant. Along with Steven Soderbergh and Danny Boyle, he is a very versatile filmmaker. His resume consists of such mainstream fare as Milk, Good Will Hunting, To Die For and Finding Forrester. His truly independent films like Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho are classics of the American independent film movement. Gerry, Elephant, Last Days and Paranoid Park demonstrate a director who refuses to be labeled. Gerry is the only one of this quartet of experimental films I am not wild about at all-- but that could be from the horrible Q & A afterward where the interviewer asked the most moronic questions of all time. The shot by shot remake of Psycho was unforgivable and Even Cowgirls Get The Blues was a true disappointment which never captured the magic and beauty of Tom Robbins’ classic novel. The film should have more of an emotional punch than it does. I think Sean Penn’s nomination is well deserved as is Josh Brolin’s supporting Oscar nomination for playing Dan White. Josh Brolin deserves something for the last two years of the incredible work he has done. The major problem with Milk is that it is competing with Rob Epstein’s 1984 Oscar winning documentary, The Times Of Harvey Milk. It is hard to compete with the real thing. It is hard even for Frost/Nixon to compete with the real footage of the interviews. Although I think Milk deserves to be there for Sean Penn’s performance, it is a way for Academy members to feel good about themselves after Brokeback Mountain lost to Crash in 2006. To me, Milk really comes alive when Sean Penn and James Franco are onscreen together. James Franco is excellent as Milk’s lover, Scott Smith. When he is not in the film, the film loses a lot of its heart. I have to hand it to screenwriter Dustin Lance Black for making the relationship work. I wish Franco had more screen time, but the film is all about Sean Penn. Although the film draws powerful parallels to the current Proposition 8 Ballot measure that was passed in California, I do not think releasing this film in October would have changed the sad outcome in California. The film is still preaching to the choir; I really do not think people who voted that way were ever going to see Milk. Milk is a good film, but it had the potential to be a very powerful film from Gus Van Sant. It is in Milk’s personal moments, where it truly shines.

The Reader is the one film that seems out of place here. It should have been better than it was. Yet, I am not surprised it received an Oscar nomination. Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack are the film’s producers. Both of them passed away last year. I believe that is the main reason it has gotten as many nominations as it has, but at the expense of The Dark Knight. Kate Winslet is good as Hannah Schmitz. Kate Winslet predicted this role on an episode of the show Extras when she guest starred playing a nun in a World War II film. She is doing the film because any film about the Holocaust guarantees an Oscar. That was back in 2005 and she was right. The Reader did stack up a lot of nominations, but Winslet’s role is more supporting than main actress in this film-- so much for Revolutionary Road. The Reader could be easily described as The Night Porter meets The Nasty Girl with the tagline you never forget your first girl. I think Stephen Daldry did a better job with The Hours and Billy Elliot. I like Ralph Fiennes, but he does not leave much of an impression in this film as the older Michael Berg. David Cross who plays the younger Michael Berg is very good. The first half of the film is its stronger part. The film works very well whenever Winslet is onscreen. The trial sequence between her and the judge is excellent and is the highlight of the film. Hannah Arendt’s “Banality of evil” is perfectly displayed. The film’s third act is where the film falls apart completely. The tagline could have easily been reading is fundamental. Lena Olin portrays a concentration camp survivor whom Ralph Fiennes go to see at the end of the film. She was a victim of Hanna’s crimes in the camps. Lena Olin tells him “That nothing came out of the camps” and they were “not therapy.” Perhaps she was talking about this film and others which came out about the Holocaust last year. The Reader runs out of steam halfway through. It is neither therapy nor catharsis, but pandering at its most typical. They really should have given Kate Winslet the Oscar for Little Children. The Reader is surprisingly mediocre. The Holocaust, as a genre, has been trivialized far more than anyone will admit.

It is great to see Melissa Leo and Richard Jenkins get acting nominations for their roles in Frozen River and The Visitor. They give towering performances. It is a year where two supporting actors get to prove they can carry a film on their own. In another year, I would give Richard Jenkins the Best Oscar for The Visitor, but this year belongs to Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler-- it is his year. Although, I would have nominated Clint Eastwood for his performance in Gran Torino-- one of his best performances in a very long time. I was really torn between Mickey Rourke and Clint Eastwood because The Wrestler and Gran Torino are excellent character studies. I have to say that watching Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler is an awesome experience; he just deserves the Oscar more than anyone else. Speaking of snubs, Bruce Springsteen deserved a nomination for his song from The Wrestler. Hell, he won the Golden Globe for crying out loud. Everyone nominated in the best supporting actor category is excellent, but the award belongs to Heath Ledger. Robert Downey Jr., Philip Seymour Hoffman, Josh Brolin and Michael Shannon are very good in their respected roles, but this belongs to Heath Ledger. He became the Joker in The Dark Knight. His brilliant portrayal captures the essence of the Joker. Let him join Peter Finch in receiving this rare honor posthumously.

I like Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married. She is a real revelation in the film, but Melissa Leo is just as good in Frozen River. Angelina Jolie‘s performance in Changeling seems very lackluster. I like Angelina Jolie, but I found the first half of the film ridiculous. Changeling is not one of Eastwood’s better films. Where is Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky? I am not the film’s biggest fan, but her performance deserved a nomination. Still one of the best performances of the year was overlooked. Kristin Scott Thomas was snubbed for her role in I’ve Loved You So Long. It is a truly moving performance and Thomas is such an underrated actress. Meryl Streep in Doubt is good, but for the first third of the film she seems to channeling Emperor Palpatine. She is so over the top in the film that it reminded me of Al Pacino in The Devil’s Advocate. Yet Amy Adams and Viola Davis are very good in Doubt. Once Streep settles down, her scene with Viola Davis is one of the highlights of the film. The supporting actress category is very good this year-- not a bad performance in the bunch. Marisa Tomei is incredible in The Wrestler. Still, no one steals a film like Penelope Cruz. She steals Vicky Cristina Barcelona from everyone. Her entrance in the film is unforgettable. She brings such life into the film; it would be a great crime not to give it to her this time. Her performance in Volver was reason enough to give her an Oscar and she was up against an equally deserving Kate Winslet for Little Children. They both lost to Helen Mirren for The Queen. For me, Penelope Cruz was the pulse of Vicky Cristina Barcelona.


I was happy to see that In Bruges got an original screenplay nomination for Martin McDonagh. In Bruges is my favorite film of 2008 tied with Pineapple Express. In Bruges is one of the freshest and most original crime films I have seen in many years. It is perfect. I can think of nothing wrong with it; the film is in a class by itself. The acting is beyond first rate, it is stellar. Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes deliver astonishing performances across the board. As much as I adore Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes in this film, it is Brendan Gleeson who steals the show. I cannot rave enough about the film. Why Pineapple Express? David Gordon Green directed the bleakest film of the year, Snow Angels and the funniest film of the year, Pineapple Express. We speak of versatility with Danny Boyle and Gus Van Sant, but David Gordon Green has it in spades. Not only that, James Franco comes into his own as the drug dealer, Saul Silver. His comic timing is perfect. He and Seth Rogen make a great team in the same manner as Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. This film, like In Bruges, was an unexpected treat. I do not adore any of the best picture films this year the way I have in previous years. There are no films like There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men and Atonement to really get behind. I can safely say that I adore every inch of In Bruges.

The snubbing of The Dark Knight is a sad state of affairs. I also feel that WALL*E deserved a best picture nomination and not just to be relegated to the best animated film category. WALL*E is more involving than any other film from Pixar and it also has more on its plate than most live action films. The film works as brilliant social commentary. The best thing was that the film never preaches to us, it just shows us where consumerism and environmental neglect will lead us. The effects of our habits on the planet and humanity’s future have never been more effective on the big screen. The film is ultimately about responsibility. It is about humanity being responsible for the stewardship of the Earth and being given a second chance at that. In the film, mankind has let Earth become a global junkyard. Mankind has left for the stars to become a race of obese infants who live in a giant spaceship. The humans are too lazy to do anything; machines do everything for them. It is a little robot left on Earth who is more human than anyone else in the film. WALL*E is responsible for humanity’s legacy. WALL*E, maybe more so than even Slumdog Millionaire, is the perfect film for the dawn of Obama Era. Our new President is asking us to be responsible again and put away our “childish things”. It is time for us to care about our surroundings and leave them better than we found them. It is time for us to leave not only our country in better shape, but also our world in better shape for future generations. We may not get a second chance to make things right. WALL*E has more going for it than all five best picture films put together. The film arrived at the right time for the right era. It is a shame the Academy has never been any good at thinking outside the box. WALL*E was one of the best social commentaries to come out from a major studio in a long time. In fact, not since Things To Come, have I seen a film more prescient than WALL*E; a film not ahead of its time, but right about its time. Both films use the future to address the concerns and anxieties of the present. The future is now!