From now until the 2008 Oscars air on Sunday night, I'll be breaking down the five contenders for Best Picture, giving you the scoop on why each film could win and why it might not stand a chance. Today, I'm kicking off the series with a closer look at There Will Be Blood.
Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood is a stark and stunning look at greed, power, and success viewed through the lens of the oil boom of the late 1800s and early 1900s. The bulk of its acclaim has come for Daniel Day-Lewis's performance as tycoon Daniel Plainview, but the movie has many other things going for it, as its eight Oscar nominations — for diverse categories including cinematography and sound editing — show. To see how I think There Will Be Blood will fare in the Best Picture race, just read more.
Why It Might Win
- Three words: Daniel Day-Lewis. His Daniel Plainview is a greed-driven maniac, neglecting all — social conventions, religion, even his own son — in the service of his quest for power, fortune, and oil, oil, oil. Delivering the year's biggest movie catchphrase ("I drink your milkshake") is just the icing on the cake.
- It's well-rounded. As its Oscar nominations show, it's strong in a number of different filmmaking categories, from the visual (including Best Art Direction) to the auditory (Best Sound Editing). It's still a shame that Jonny Greenwood's score was disqualified, because his music added yet another compelling dimension to the film.
- It's ambitious. Through its focus on Plainview (and its secondary story of Paul Dano's young prophet), it seeks to tell a bigger story about religion, greed, community, and fatherhood.
Why It Might Not Win
- It could have used some editing. As I noted in my review, the movie is a series of interlocking conflicts that can, at times, detract from the central story. A few of the subplots just didn't feel necessary enough to justify the film's 158-minute running time.
- Day-Lewis truly does make this movie. The Academy could be content with rewarding him with the Best Actor nod and giving the overall prize to another film.
- It could be a victim of its own success. Its ambiguous ending could be frustrating for some viewers, and voters who heard the movie described as "the next Citizen Kane" could have expectations too high for this film to meet.
Chance of winning: Moderate to good
Photos courtesy of Paramount Vantage
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I loved this movie, but "could have used some editing" is an understatement...as usual, PTA started with such a fantastic plot and storyline, was enriched by one of THE BEST performances of ALL time - Daniel Day-Lewis, and many other greats - Paul Dano, Dillon Freasier, Ciarán Hinds (everyone in that movie rocked) - and was frosted with such refreshingly simple and different cinematography. However, once again, Anderson's obsession with the saga quality that so many great movies have resulted in a flawless 2-hour masterpiece being dragged out into a 3-hr. torture session...
1I drink your milkshake! Slurrrrrp
I honestly wasn't really all that impressed with the acting in this. I've seen spoofs which are just as good. He's lucky that there isn't much competition this year!
2gotta see this before sunday!
3I just saw this today. I thought it was good, but not great. Daniel Day-Lewis was amazing, however.
4daniel day-lewis is an amazing actor. i fell in love with him after gangs of new york. i really want to see this movie.
5I'm so looking forward to watch this one, Daniel Day-Lewis is always a good sign.
6I agree with lizlee89 almost completely. I didn't love the film for all of the reasons she mentioned. It needed serious editing. Honestly, if I didn't know that Daniel Day-Lewis was supposed to give the best acting performance of the year I would have left halfway through the film. Day-Lewis did a great job, as did Paul Dano, but the pace and overly dramatic score really got on my nerves.
7I just watched this last night and I thought it was SO good. I was a little tentative to watch the movie just because the trailers made it seem so creepy and I'd heard that it drags on. It was definitely a long movie and could have been edited down a bit but I never found myself checking my watch. I thoroughly enjoyed DDL's performance and his character and Paul Dano totally gave me the creeps - but in a good way. And the score was excellent!! Overall, great movie but I still think 'No Country for Old Men' is my favorite so far this year along with 'Eastern Promises'.
8I saw this movie yesterday and I thought it was great. DDL definately deserves the oscar.
9This is one rare year when I've actually seen all 5 of the best pic nominees and I truly loved There Will Be Blood one the most but I think No Country will win, and that's alright with me since it was also wonderful.
10I loved this movie, I thought it was perfect. I wouldn't change a thing!
11I don't under the hype about this movie either. I didn't think it was that good.
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