May 25, 2009

Did Cannes do anything to clear up the Oscar race?

In a word, no. Projects like Taking Woodstock and Inglorious Basterds, two films that could have moved to the head of the class with raves were met with less than raves (Taking Woodstock seems to light, and people are still fantastically divided over Basterds). A film like Antichrist has chatter on its side, but that doesn't make the film any good, and we all know the Academy hates controversy or original films. Essentially, between Cannes not clearing anything up (The winner of the Palme d'Or, The White Ribbon, might make a play for Foreign Film, but not much else) and recent trailers debuting for things like Woody Allen's Whatever Works, Rob Marshall's Nine, and Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, the race seems about as close to status quo as possible. We also got further evidence that winning the top prize at this festival doesn't do much for you in this corner of the globe...
-I put it to you...what do you think at this point will be the five nominees for Best Picture?

10 comments:

  1. i second pretty much everything you said, though I think Bright Star will be a player from Cannes...

    That being said, here are my five:
    Avatar
    The Human Factor
    Nine
    Precious
    Up

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  2. i still believe in Tarantino!

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  3. what about Shanghai? nobody seems to remember that one...it's been so long in development and has such potential!

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  4. i think at least 1, if not 2 of the films that will be nominated, we don't even know exists right now
    -Matt

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  5. I agree with the latest post, I just don't think it's soon enough to be able to tell. Most of us hadn't even heard about Slumdog at this point last year, but it was a foregone conclusion by the time the ceremony hit. I am really hoping that Nine and The Lovely Bones don't turn out to be the "Rev. Road" of this year and fizzle out by the time they get released.

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  6. I know it may not be an ideal contender, but The Road speaks to me as getting some nods, and wins even. I've yet to read the book or see the film, but I definitely won't count it out.

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  7. I think it will be something like this:

    Nine
    The Lovely Bones
    Precious
    Avatar
    Shutter Island

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  8. Nine
    The Lovely Bones
    Shutter Island
    The Road
    Avatar

    Would be a pretty cool and diverse lineup

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  9. I don't have too much faith in Avatar, but it certainly could happen...

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