Ryan McNeil
Alright Oscar geeks, the final precursor before the Oscar nominees are announced has arrived; that being the Directors Guild of America nominees. And they are…
David Fincher, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Christopher Nolan, THE DARK KNIGHT
Ron Howard, FROST/NIXON
Gus Van Sant, MILK
Danny Boyle, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
So what does this mean?
For starters, it would be more than a bit surprising if on Januray 20th22nd, these were not the five nominees announced for Oscar’s Best Picture. As the the year has wound down, almost all of these titles have been nominated time and time again by damned near every voting body not handing out statues that look like Golden Globes. One might not carry over, but two or more of these not making the cut would be a surprise.
Secondly, over time, the DGA has had a knack of calling Oscar nominees (and often the eventual winner when they announce their top dog) with startling accuracy. So if long standing trends are to believed, these five will be named best-in-show.
For what it’s worth, if any of these five titles are vulnerable, it’s THE DARK KNIGHT. While it has made a great case for itself by getting nominated by the directors, producers, and writers guilds, it still has that slight uphill climb of getting over the “But it’s a big budget comic book movie” hump.
Here’s hoping it can!
Jeepers, the exact same 5 films as PGA? *blink blink* Wow. Well, I guess I could start getting out to the three I haven’t seen safely before Jan 22nd.
That leaves me curious Moxie…which three haven’t you seen?
The three unseens are:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
I will wait to the Oscar noms to trek out, although I *do* want to see Frost/Nixon and Milk whether they are nominated or not.
This seems a pretty weak roster to me. While Boyle certainly pulled out all the stops in Slumdog (whether that’s a good thing has been a matter of some debate – as for myself, I was generally with him to the end), Van Sant’s work with Milk was good but probably not five 5 best material. I haven’t seen Benjamin Button or Frost/Nixon, but while Fincher may merit a nod (though I’ve heard BB described as too cold), consensus generally seems to be that direction is Frost/Nixon’s weakest point, and that Howard’s contribution to a well-written, well-acted piece adds nothing.
As for Nolan, I enjoyed The Dark Knight but its strength was in the writing – the direction was fairly conventional and certainly not worthy of an Oscar, in my opinion.