Power Rankings for 12/4/08
Best Picture
|
|
| P/R |
Last |
C/R
|
Film |
| 1 |
-- |
95 |
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button |
| |
Rewind films are in. Memento missed it by -that- much. |
| 2 |
-- |
90 |
Slumdog Millionaire |
| |
Fox Searchlight knows how to go for the gold. You have to go back to Quills in 2001 to find the last National Board of Review winner that wasn't nominated. |
| 3 |
-- |
70 |
Frost/Nixon |
| |
Our primary concern was that the last Ron Howard production with similar buzz, Cinderella Man, wound up with only three nominations. Two of those were in minor categories. |
| 4 |
-- |
55 |
The Dark Knight |
| |
We know this is a comic book action film and we may be overrating it. Our counterpoint is that the only other movie that made $500+ million won 11 Oscars. It's money that matters. |
| 5 |
-- |
50 |
Milk |
| |
This one arguably has the most potential upward mobility of any film on this list. Its success appears to be mirroring the passion against the Prop 8 vote in California. |
| 6 |
-- |
45 |
WALL-E |
| |
We're like Charlie Brown and the football with these Pixar films. But this time, we really believe it has a chance! |
| 7 |
-- |
43 |
Revolutionary Road |
| |
This is a perfect yin/yang with the #6 entry. One film is an exercise in pure joy, while the other is an examination of a couple's abject misery. In bleak economic times, optimism will probably play better than pessimism, pedigree be damned. |
| 8 |
-- |
41 |
Gran Torino |
| |
Earlier in the year, we would have thought the Clint film to get the attention would be Changeling. Now, that film's best shot looks to be for Jolie. All of the pieces are coming together for Gran Torino. |
| 9 |
-- |
34 |
Doubt |
| |
Strong ensemble cast is getting gobloads of accolades. Our primary concern is that this film reminds us of Notes on a Scandal, a film that got a couple of acting nominations but was ignored in the Best Picture category. |
| 10 |
-- |
30 |
The Wrestler |
| |
We suspect that this may be like Milk in that the performances drive the popularity of the film itself. A key end-of-year award would quickly change our minds. |
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