Slumdog Millionaire

Liked the Sweet and Lowdown musical soundtrack a good deal, and own it.

 

Very mixed feelings about this one. Emotionally it pulled me in a lot of directions, but at the same time I couldn't convince myself that this wasn't some cleaned-up Disney-fied version of India's plight. It all seemed so heavily contrived.

If this was at all based on reality, Jamal would have went blind and would be working the streets. No children would escape from the grasp of child slave drivers. Perhaps he would have starved to death by his mid-teens. Salim would not have fared much better. Latika would have been sold into prostitution. Her beauty would make her that much more profitable for sex acts. She would be used up and discarded by 20.

Here's a review I thought provided some much needed insight into why we like films like this one.

 

Disney-fied? A kid had his eyes melted out on-screen. Their mother was murdered in front of them. The brother was a hit man.

 

I enjoyed 'Slumdog Millionaire,' but it doesn't reach the quality of the other two.

 

Disney-fied is a relative term, here. Have little doubt that for many, the day-to-day reality is far worse than the ugly acts depicted.

 

Saw Slumdog last night. Very good movie in many ways. I went to India this time last year and a few of the scenes in it were things I did see during my trip. I definitely think it's a serious Oscar best picture contender. Still haven't seen a few others that will likely be Oscar candidates, but Slumdog is certainly near the top.

 

Exactly. Just imagine if they showed it how it really is.

 

As previously-noted, it's the clearcut favorite, especially after the GGs.

 

Here's my current Best Picture order of finish:

1. Slumdog
2. Frost/Nixon
3. Milk

Revolutionary Road not getting a nomination from me.

Still need to see: Dark Knight, Gran Torino, Button, Wrestler.

 

I was watching it on the link GBNF provided. Got 1:10 in, and an ad popped up and wouldn't let me return to the movie. I guess I have to restart it and hope the ad doesn't come up.

I was VERY meh on it to start with. Not sure it's worth rewatching an hour of a movie I didn't particularly like. We'll see.

 

EDIT: I'm done. Just tried it a second time, with the volume off until I could catch up with it. It put another ad up, locking up the movie. I quit.

For all your all's sakes, I hope that movie got a lot better in the last 50 minutes.

 

Girl, you didn't like Superbad. You have weird taste in movies