Slumdog Millionaire - The Winning Indie that Looks like Oscar Gold

Hopefully, you didn’t miss the column over the Thanksgiving break. With the majority of Oscar-bait films having finished their screenings for the press and Academy members, the buzz on Oscar noms is really heating up. So this week’s column puts together a top 10 list on the leading contenders for Best Picture.

10) WALL•E (On DVD)
While only one animated film has ever been nominated for Best Picture, and that was before animated features were given their own category, it seems inevitable that like very universally accessible foreign language films, an animated feature can break through into the Best Picture category. And if it’s going to be someone, it most likely will be Pixar. In a soft year like this year, WALL•E looks more like the little robot that could. But it’s still a long shot.

9) The Reader (Dec. 12, Expands Jan. 9)
With many WWII-themed films arriving this award season, Stephen Daldry’s THE READER seems like the mostly likely one to sneak into the final five. Like I’ve said before, Kate Winslet could read a book for two hours and get an Oscar nomination. Here she reads to a younger lover and sheds more clothes then she did in VANITY FAIR, so how can’t she get a Best Actress nod?

8) Rachel Getting Married (In Theaters)
As of Dec. 5th, with at least a dozen more films to see before the end of the year, many of them being ones on this list, this is the best movie I’ve seen this year thus far. Even if the film can’t make a last minute push to get past some of the heavy-hitters, Anne Hathaway and Debra Winger seem certain to get Best Actress and Supporting Actress noms, respectively. Rosemarie DeWitt is gaining momentum in the Supporting Actress column as well. And that one Best Director slot that goes to a director whose film is not nominated for Best Picture will most likely be Jonathan Demme.

7) Doubt (Dec. 12)
Pit two previous Oscar winners — Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman — against each other in a battle of wills and you get Academy members’ attention. Add in Best Supporting Actress nominee Amy Adams and a buzzed about scene-stealing performance from Viola Davis and you get more attention. Leaving the ending ambiguous and you start losing steam. Can’t make ‘em think too much.

6) Revolutionary Road (Dec. 26)
What an Oscar pedigree this film has. Re-teams TITANIC couple Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Directed by AMERICAN BEAUTY helmer Sam Mendes. The Robert Yates book, in which the film is based on, was a 1962 National Book Award finalist. TIME ranked it one of the 100 best English-language books of all time. Critic Todd McCarthy has already given it praise as a solid film treatment of a complex novel. And budding star Michael Shannon is on the short-list for Best Supporting Actor. So how could the buzz be dwindling? Could the downer tone be its Achilles heel?

5) The Dark Knight (On DVD Dec. 9)
Heath Ledger is a lock. Finding someone to accept the award on behalf of the deceased actor is all that seems left to do. Those in the summer that laughed at a superhero movie getting a Best Picture nomination have stopped laughing. The same argument still applies that if RETURN OF THE KING can win Best Picture than DARK KNIGHT can at least get a nomination. Oscar likes getting in one blockbuster. Three of the current top five grossing films of all time have been nominated for Best Picture. So that only leaves out SHREK 2 (which was at least nominated for Best Animated Feature) and DARK KNIGHT from Best Picture. When the box office is adjusted for inflation the top nine were all nominated for Best Picture, and #10, SNOW WHITE won a special achievement Oscar. DARK KNIGHT’s Best Picture nod seems more likely every day.

4) The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (Dec. 25)
While it’s still an Oscar contender and still a very good movie, Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett’s less-sentimental-FORREST GUMP-like epic is no longer the leading contender for Best Picture. But the epic part is what the Academy might go for. But then early frontrunner DREAMGIRLS was supposed to be a big splashy lock too. But don’t be surprised if the new-Meryl Streep Cate Blanchett gets an acting nom.

3) Frost/Nixon (Dec. 5, Expands Dec. 12)
As one of Hollywood-heavyweight Ron Howard’s best films, this great safe bet is going to be really easy for older Academy members to get behind. Frank Langella seems like a lock for a Best Actor nom. Michael Sheen is still in the hunt for a Best Supporting Actor nod as well.

2) Milk (In Theaters, Expands Dec. 12)
Prop 8, banning gay marriage in California, has almost locked Gus Van Sant’s wonderful biopic on gay activist Harvey Milk into a nod. Look for Sean Penn in the Best Actor category as well. James Franco’s breakout year has his name making longer lists for Best Supporting Actor, and Josh Brolin’s National Board of Review win helps his Oscar chances.

1) Slumdog Millionaire (In Theaters)
The biggest buzzed about film coming out of the Toronto Film Festival is now the leading contender to get an Oscar nomination, if not win the whole samosa. If the inevitable bashlash doesn’t diminish the love for this film before nominations, stars Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto could ride the wave into acting nods as well. The National Board of Review win just begins the praise fest from the critics that will only help.