Varun Mathur

Slumdog ? How come no one mentioned Gran Torino..

Ok, I skipped the Oscars completely and heard that Slumdog won big, including best picture. And I don’t get the hype.

I saw Slumdog, and found it to be a ‘touching’ movie in parts. Child actors, who actually were from the slum, were great; so was the initial cinematography. After that the movie tapered off. Sure, the script was unique as well, but overall, out of 10, I’d give this movie a 7.5.

Oscar worthy ? I don’t know, since I don’t care/understand much about their criteria. But I know I saw some very fine movies of ‘08 last year which were nowhere even mentioned. For instance, Gran Torino, which starred Clint Eastwood as a disgruntled/grumpy war vet who seeks to improve the life of his teenage asian neighbour. Some great acting and storyline in there.

And how about Wall-E ? That movie was romantic, touching, had a great message, etc etc - sheer amazing. Sure, it was animated, but so what ? A movie’s a movie. They are ALL fictional in any case, so why put it in a separate category ?

And then there were others as well. Slumdog Millionaire was good, but not the best, at least in my opinion.