Motski's Oscar Watch Part 1

Hi folks, it's Oscar season again and I'm endevouring to catch all of the biggins before the big day, so I though I'd give you my lopsided views on what I've seen.

First up is...

Slumdog Millionaire
Which I felt was very good, but not excellent. Essentially your standard boy meets girl fairy tale, but with a vibrant Indian based twist. Dev Patel (off of Skins) was far better than I imagined in the lead role of Jamal (mostly nice and restrained) and the rest of the casting was spot on. Using the Who Want to be a Millionaire? show format to link the disparate elements of Jamal's past was clever and well integrated, but fequently less compelling than the flashbacks themselves. These flashbacks offer involving, exciting and often disturbing insights into life growing up in India's slums. Overall, it's an extremely well crafted piece of film making (the cinematography is uniformly stunning), but don't expect too many suprises...

It seems to have ended up as the Best Picture front runner, but I'd give it a 7.5/10
(If you've visited India however, you'll probably want to whack another 1.5 to that score. Friends I watched it with who've been to India absolutely loved it.)

Coming soon... The Wrestler, Milk and Frost/Nixon.
(I've actually already seen The Wrestler and Milk, but I thought breaking up the reviews would make for easier comprehension. Frost/Nixon's up next week...)