Lexington, KY - The voters have spoken. As I predicted last month, "Slumdog Millionaire" overwhelmed the Oscar competition to win best picture and best director. In all, it won a total of eight awards. I may not have been totally on board the Slumdog bandwagon. But obviously the movie's theme of overcoming great adversity resonated with the Academy this year.
In the wake of the Slumdog tidal wave, several other good films from 2008 run the risk of being swept away. They may not have been best picture contenders, or never quite found a huge audience, but they're worth a look if you missed them the first time around.
Doubt
A priest suspected of abusing a student in a Catholic school was the basis for John Patrick Shanley's award-winning play. He brought it to the big screen this past year with a powerhouse ensemble of actors. All three - Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams - were nominated but failed to win acting Oscars. Still, this was a brilliant ensemble piece, and the chemistry among the three principals was electric. No question that Kate Winslet certainly deserved her best actress Oscar in "The Reader," but Streep never ceases to amaze. Her turn as the dragon-lady nun who takes on the suspected priest was something to behold.
In Bruges
Two hit men, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, bungle a job and hide out in an ancient Flemish city, waiting on instructions from mob boss Ralph Fiennes. What began as a fish-out-of-water story, slowly turned darkly surreal. Martin McDonagh, whose script was nominated for an Oscar but didn't win, combined comical moments with a fable about coming to grips with sin and mortality. Was the setting for this film really in Bruges or perhaps an otherworldly waiting room? You decide.
Rachel Getting Married
The girl from "Princess Diaries" grew up. Anne Hathaway established her serious acting credentials playing drug addict Kim who gets out of rehab for her sister's wedding. But this was a picture that transcended Hathaway's breakout performance. Director Jonathan Demme explored a hurting and dysfunctional family, but he also immersed us in the wedding itself, an uninhibited, joyful celebration of life that almost jumped off the screen and swept you into it. You've probably never been to a wedding like this - if you have, I want to be introduced to your friends.
Seven Pounds
Audiences shied away from Will Smith in the role of a mysterious IRS agent on a mission to help random strangers. And critics dismissed "Seven Pounds" as overly sappy and heavy-handed. But to me, this was an intriguing nonlinear puzzle, made even more compelling by Smith's troubled soul and Rosario Dawson, who could make terminal illness look luminous. Yes, the message is hammered home awfully hard, but putting all the pieces together made for a fascinating film journey.
Valkyrie
Tom Cruise bombed at the box office with his big budget WWII saga of the assassination plot on Hitler, and Oscar ignored it. But by thriller standards, "Valkyrie" delivered. Bryan Singer directed a taut, briskly paced action picture with great attention to authenticity and a top-notch supporting cast. The outcome was never in doubt, but the suspense still worked for me, a sure sign that it was pushing all the right buttons.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Two women travel to sun-drenched Barcelona, drink a lot of wine and fall under the spell of a sensual Spanish artist and his crazy ex-wife. Penelope Cruz, who won the best supporting actress Oscar as wacky Maria Elena, is amazing. But, like "Rachel Getting Married," this is another film that is greater than one performance. "Vicky" is Woody Allen's best movie in years. Beyond the beauty of Barcelona and his patented comic touch, Woody forces us to look at the prisons we build around ourselves that keep us from drinking in the joys of life.
The Visitor
Richard Jenkins, a veteran character actor everyone knows but no one can name, made his mark in "The Visitor," playing a college professor shut off from the world and stuck in a terminal rut. He discovers an immigrant couple living illegally in his New York City apartment, and his life makes a dramatic turn. This was a small and easily overlooked picture, but Jenkins' performance made it memorable. Sadly, he had to be nominated in a year when Mickey Rourke, Sean Penn and Frank Langella were giving their own performances of a lifetime.
WALL-E
The little trash compactor robot from the future may not have been neglected; after all, he won the Oscar for best animated feature. One of these years an animated film will be nominated in the overall best picture category, and I thought this might be the year with "WALL-E." Let's face it: this was a dark and apocalyptic vision of how we managed to destroy our planet - quite an ambitious agenda for an animated film. Still the picture conveyed great heart-tugging appeal. It lapsed into a cartoonish final act, but it's still worth your time if you missed it.
The Wrestler
By failing to recognize the performances of Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler," the Academy dropped the ball big time. No disrespect to Sean Penn or Penelope Cruz, but Mickey and Marisa were simply stunning. Still, this is a hard movie because all of the characters are incredibly scarred. It's tough to watch this story of damaged lives without coming out of it a little damaged yourself. It's a brutal film, but I've rarely seen actors show such pain and vulnerability. And I can't imagine what else Mickey Rourke needs to do to win an Oscar.