The Best Pictures of the Year is SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. I guarantee it will be one of the Top 5 Best Picture Nominations when the Academy Awards are announced on January 22nd. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is a great film by one of my all time favorite directors, Danny Boyle. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE MILK and MILK is a great film, but it's the 2nd best film of the year. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is the Best Picture of 2008.
I remember being riveted by the first Danny Boyle film I saw. It was a little foreign movie from the UK called SHALLOW GRAVE. It was the first film in what would be some of the overriding themes prevelant throughout Mr. Boyle's work....What happens to people when they are forced together in a confined space where the circumstances give you no way out. In this case, it was a roommate situation gone horribly awry. SHALLOW GRAVE was followed up by the brilliant, TRAINSPOTTING....(which also launched my screen love affair, and great respect for the actor Ewan McGregor - whom I actually met when he was doing a guest starring role on ER).
Honestly, directing is A LOT harder than it sounds. It's managing a company of potentially 400-600 people, or 1,200-1,500+ if you're Steven Spielberg or Michael Bay. The coordination is just unbelievable with the all egos, talent, and details....not to mention actually shooting the movie on time and on budget. It's a balancing act that literally 200 or so people can do on the entire planet. Directors are some of the most intelligent people I have ever met.
I definitely can direct a film or TV show. Give me enough money, a great cinematographer, and an amazing editor and I could direct a film. But what astounds me is when I go to a movie and I see a film and I think, "No matter how much money you give me or what cinematographer I get, or whomever edits the film, and with all the time in the world, I could NEVER, EVER have shot the movie the way they did." And that is what inspires me about directors and films. I could never have shot GOODFELLAS, or THE USUAL SUSPECTS, or ALIENS, or THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, or NATURAL BORN KILLERS.
Some go to the movies for actors, but for me, my total respect goes to the Directors. In my humble opinion, the best director shooting today is Martin Scorsese. My other favorite directors (in no particular order) are: Danny Boyle, Bryan Singer, Steven Spielberg, Paul Greengrass, Oliver Stone, James Cameron, Tony & Ridley Scott, and Quentin Tarantino. David Fincher is rapidly climbing onto the list (if only he could direct a film that comes in at 2 hours instead of 3).
What I like about Danny Boyle is that all of his films have been so radically different. Most directors stick to what they know and rarely stretch themselves artistically (or if they do stretch themselves artistically, it ends up being a big mess....). Not Danny Boyle, every film is so distinct.
SHALLOW GRAVE is a murder/dramedy, TRAINSPOTTING is a tragicomic drug/road movie, THE BEACH is an escape from civilization and create your own society/cult movie, 28 DAYS LATER is a zombie movie with a LORD OF THE FLIES twist, SUNSHINE is a scifi ALIENS movie about human isolation and desolation, and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is a Bollywood romance film. Every film stretches across every imaginable genre. It's almost as if Danny Boyle never wants to repeat himself....as if repeating yourself is too easy, too safe and far too boring. (I confess to not having seen A LIFE LESS ORDINARY, MILLIONS, or ALIEN LOVE TRIANGLE).
See SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. If you can get through the first 15 minutes, you'll enjoy the film. It does what all good films do....it transports you to a world on film that you never want to leave in your mind's eye.
UPDATE: Slumdog Millionaire won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 2008 and Danny Boyle won an Academy Award for Best Director.
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