I've been doing a lot of thinking about it lately, and I think the fact that Revolutionary Road has sort of fallen a bit silent in terms of buzz is a good thing for the flick. If it had been touted all year as loudly as it had been at the start of the year, it probably would have fallen under its own weight in terms of recognition in the big categories by the Academy, ala Dreamgirls. Letting Benjamin Button and Slumdog and Milk get the mentions now leads it to almost fly under the radar and make a bigger splash. It certainly has the potential with the cast and crew, almost all of which are Academy favorites (excpet for the screenwriter Justin Haythe and Michael Shannon, but that could easily change with a nomination this year) like Leo and Kate and Kathy Bates, and let's not forget that Sam Mendes already has an Oscar on his mantle. Toss in the fact that the film is based on an incredibly well regarded novel by Richard Yates and that the early word doesn't make any mention of the book being butchered and I think we might just see Revolutionary Road make a, well..."Revolution" of sorts come Oscar time.
-What does everyone make of my little theory/rant?
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very interesting...never thought of it like that
ReplyDeleteI still feel like it's going to end up the best film of the year so this does make sense to me, but after all, I felt the same way about Into the Wild last year and it didn't turn out quite like I had anticipated, so who knows...
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a possibility. I still have faith in The Reader being the Kate Winslet vehicle that gets the most recognition, but maybe both films will (and wouldn't it be something if she was nominated for both). This could certainly happen though. Smart thinking, as always.
ReplyDeletethank you myles...credit more than anything else to the year being wide open...I honestly could see about 20 different films combining in any number of ways to make the 5 best pic selections, and can easily see Revolutionary Road, Milk, The Dark Knight, Benjamin Button, The Reader, Slumdog, Frost/Nixon, or even The Wrestler walking away with best pic
ReplyDeleteGran Torino too, since, well...Clint is Clint
ReplyDeleteInteresting. If the film is as good as expected, then this theory might be correct. Too much buzz is often fatal. I liken it to rankings in college basketball. Preseason rankings are generally based on "buzz" of some sort. UCLA finished in the final four last year, and were ranked in the top 5 this year. They clearly weren't a top five team, evidenced by their loss to Mich. Point is, too much buzz tends to make people look at a movie with a more critical eye. Flying under the radar might be better for some films. I'm just hoping its as good (or better) than the book. Let's hope.
ReplyDeletemost interesting RR related thing i've read in a while...
ReplyDeleteYou know, as much as I love Kate Winslet, and think Sam Mendes is a very gifted director, I wonder if audiences aren't a bit tired of American suburbia dramas - we've had Kate in Little Children (brilliant!) and Sam's American Beauty. And add into that equation the reteaming of Kate and Leo (audiences can be very cynical) and maybe this film will not do as well as expected?
ReplyDeleteWell, it's reviews have definelty been better than Doubt and The Reader so far(Rottontomatoes). So I do think you're on to something.
ReplyDeletewe shall certainly see
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