1. Changeling

A movie from Clint Eastwood as director sounds always a sure candidate for the main prize. This time, the story (inspired in actual events occurred in 1928) about a mother looking for her missing child is not an exception. Eastwood has already won four Oscars for producing and directing Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby.

Superstar Angelina Jolie, who played one of the leading roles, could go for her second Oscar (she won one for Girl, interrupted in 2000).

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2. Australia

Baz Luhrmann’s epic and romantic movie has all the ingredients to be nominated for Best Picture: it’s a $ 130 million production with drama, adventure and the Oscar winner (for The Hours, in 2002) Nicole Kidman.

3. Revolutionary Road

The Titanic couple (Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet) came back with powerful performances in a big screen adaptation of a Richard Yates novel, with high chances of getting a couple of nominations. The direction of Sam Mendes winner with American Beauty in 2000 (and Winslet’s husband) is a plus.

4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The 1920’s Scott Fitzgerald’s story about a man “born under unusual circumstances” had a succesful adaptation to Hollywood made by David Fincher. Sex symbol Brad Pitt may get a nomination for Best Actor and Cate Blanchet is always a candidate (she won in 2005 for The Aviator and got three nominations in 2007 and 2008).

5. The Dark Knight

Best chances are for his director, Christopher Nolan or, mainly, for Heath Ledger, who could win a post mortem Oscar for his role as the Joker. Ledger had already received a nomination in 2006 for Brokeback Mountain.

6. W

Can a biopic movie about president George W. Bush be nominated for an Oscar in the Obama era? We’ll see. Director Oliver Stone can make it again after other works about prime minister’s lives such as J.F.K. and Nixon.

7. Milk

Another biopic film, in this case about the gay activist Harvey Milk, that could fight for the main prize and other categories such as Best Direction (Gus Van Sant) and Best Actor (Sean Penn).

8. Wall-E

An animated film never won as best picture before, but this year there’s a rumour about a possible nomination for this Pixar work.

9. Frost/Nixon

The last Ron Howard’s film (which recreates an historic television interview to the ex president Richard Nixon) is one of the big favorites for the Golden Globe Awards (it got 5 nominations) so it’s expected to have a good performance with the Oscars too.

10. Slumdog Millonaire

It’s the only film in the list without a cast of celebrities but it has been acclaimed by the critics as a brilliant portrait of the modern India.

 

Its going to be a tough year for predictors at the moment. With no clear cut favourite, any of five of ten or eleven films could make the cut. Usually at this stage there is at least one film which everyone knows will make it for one reason or another – but this year, as we’ll see there are pros and cons to each of the potential winners.

Of course this should make the build up a hell of a lot more fun. Since the Crash/Brokeback Mountain shocker a few years ago, it seems now everyone is back on a knife-edge when the ceremony rolls around. Nothing feels like a safe bet anymore. Not even the biggest film of the year.

There is little doubt of the shadow that The Dark Knight has cast over 2008. The biggest box-office film of the year (except for in the UK, where it was outsold by Mamma Mia! of all things) would have been huge even were it not for the passing of its co-star Heath Ledger, but after his tragic death, the whole world seemed to go a little bit crazy (The Dark Knight held the #1 spot on imdb.com briefly after release) and there was little doubt what would gross the most this year.

Not that Oscar is primarily worried by such things as Box-Office gross. But as with Titanic, there might be a feeling in the Academy that if The Dark Knight is nominated then viewing figures of the ceremony would skyrocket (after last years dull show, it’d at least shake things up). The trouble the Academy is going to have is that however it is dressed up (a lot of people talking about it as a crime thriller), it is still a comic-book movie. Not the sort of thing they would want to touch usually. They bowed to public pressure eventually by honouring the third Lord of the Rings though, so maybe they will here.

Elsewhere, most of the names in the awards tombola are yet to arrive. Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle (Sunshine, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later among others) has arrived a little early stateside to incredibly positive reviews, meaning its an early frontrunner for a nomination. The story of a street urchin who enters Who Wants To Be A Millionaire to attract a girl he knows watches the show, Slumdog should prove to be a crowd favourite that seems to tick the Academy’s boxes.

Changeling is another one already in cinemas, but it has received disappointingly mixed reviews stateside. The Academy loves Clint, but they might feel its time to honour him for his acting (his “last role” in Gran Torino is also in the mix). Angelina Jolie should pick up a nomination here for her revelatory performance.

Ron Howard’s new one Frost/Nixon should garner a few nominations. An adaptation of a wildly popular stage play, it tells the story of the meeting of the fallen British journalist and the even further fallen post-Watergate president. It’s kept the same cast as the play, so assuming it doesn’t look too stagey, should be in with a good chance. Frank Langella is looking a strong bet for Best Actor too.

Australia by auteur Baz Luhrmann was my pick for Oscar gold this year, with its epic look and feel, a director the Academy does like, and a starry cast with the chance for some revelatory turns it looked a shoe-in. The film has been hampered with bad press in the last week or so though after Fox spoiled the film for everyone by announcing they were changing the ending. No spoilers here, but if you look it up you can find it easily enough. Will the Academy be put off by the studio interference?

Revolutionary Road could be a good bet for a nomination too. Billed as a reteaming of Titanic duo Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio, the adaptation of Richard Yates classic novel takes apart the myth of Suburbia – much like American Beauty, which won Oscars for Revolutionary Road director Sam Mendes.

The Wrestler is an odd one. Darren Aronofsky’s latest is being billed as a comeback for Mickey Rourke, which should be enough to see him nominated in the actor stakes. Whether it gets a Best Picture nomination or not will depend on how seriously the Academy takes a film about wrestling. I think they might need convincing.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a popular choice, seeing a reteam of Brad Pitt and David Fincher. The story of a man who ages backwards, it might just come down to whether the Academy thinks its too cutesy or weird. It has been getting mixed press from the festivals, suggesting it isn’t as good as it sounds on paper. The Academy might feel it’s a good chance to give Fincher a nod though, as all his previous work wasn’t really Academy material.

Milk is another front runner, by cult director Gus Van Saant. There is no getting away from the reason this might not get nominated, gayness. With Brokeback Mountain they proved they would nominate a film about homosexuality, but that was about coming to terms with something that was difficult – and even that divided the Academy. Milk has the theme of gay pride. One fears that unfortunately, this might be too much for the conservative Academy. Let us hope not.

Lastly, Valkyrie. Its an interesting one, on paper it looks like Oscar gold, Bryan Singer, Tom Cruise, and a heroic film about taking down Hitler. The press snipes towards the film however have been nasty. Mostly of course this is aimed at The Cruiser, who has committed the sin of believing in something that most of us don’t. I actually think the film looks really good. But whether the negativity will put of the Academy, I don’t know. Perhaps what The Cruiser needs to do is take a couple of years doing nothing and then star in a film like this and present it as his “comeback”, the Academy love that shit.

That's where the second journey began. It describes the route taken from Moore River back to Jigalong. At that particular time Molly faced many challenges as well as difficulties. Such as encouraging Gracie not to go separate ways as a man told her that their mother was at the station, finding comfort, food, shelter, protection for herself and her sisters. Thus Molly had experienced an inner journey as she has to take more responsibility. At the end, Molly achieved it to get back home, but unfortunately she lost one : Gracie.

Features

Music is used to create and influence the mood as well as emotions of the audience.

As an example, in the beginning of the movie there was a traditional aboriginal tribal music played, which makes the audience aware that they are watching a movie involving Aborigines. Another one was in the "removal scene". The music played at that particular scene was hectic, loud and uncomfortable and symbolizes danger. Implementing this technique allows the audience to easily create an emotional response, since they may have realized how painful and cruel it was for the Aborigines.

Sound effect has a similar purpose as with the music; only that sound effects aimed to build anxiety or expectations of the audience. For example, in Daisy's capturing scene and at the beginning, the audience was able to hear a car coming. The sound effect makes the audience aware that something bad is going to happen. (capture).

The speaker's voice is mainly aimed at showing the audience that this is a personal journey. At the beginning of the movie Molly spoke and thus showing that "Rabbit Proof Fence" is about Molly's journey being an aboriginal girl. In addition, it also aimed at providing the audience with the point of view of the narrative; with makes it more personal and make the audience feel to be involved in the story.

The movie as well contains of different character with different personalities, in order to convey a particular message and to make the story more "colourful".

Molly, as the main character, was shown as wise. In the second journey she met a man, telling her that their mother was at the station but she did not easily believed a stranger. Nevertheless she also carried characteristics of care ness and responsibility. as she did protect and take care of her sisters, such as providing shelter, food and protection. Additionally, audience may have realized her "tough" side, as she walked 1500 miles through a desert with 2 small children and didn't give up.

On the other hand, Gracie was stubborn. Molly told her not to go to the station, but she resisted and was captured there, which also shows that she can be easily influenced. However, she is not a "risk-taker", as she firstly was not brave enough to run away from the Mooreriver Settlement. Another character, Mr Neville was shown as cruel and egoistic, as he didn't consider the feelings of the Aborigines when breaking their family apart and also didn't consider that they may not be able to recover the pain and suffer. Additionally Constable Riggs was as well cruel and egoistic, as he also did not consider the feelings and effects it has on the Aborigines. He's also acting like a dictator, as he said:' There's nothing you can do, old woman. Nothing you can do.', which shows that people had to follow his command or action. Moreover, he is also not initiative enough as he only does what his leader told him to do instead of evaluating his actions.

Using several camera techniques assists in communicating certain ideas and sometimes allows the audience to feel as they would be part of particular scenes.

Tracking shots were used in the removal scene, where the women and the children were running away from the car, which makes the viewer feels as if they are being chased as well. This builds empathy between the viewer and the characters. Nevertheless, in the same scene cuts were also used. Moving from inside the car (the girl's view) to the view from the outside looking in (through the eyes of the mother) gives the viewer an insight into how both the child and the adults must be feeling. Additionally close-ups can be found at that particular scene, in which the camera moves from the constable's face to the children's faces to show their fear, thus helping the viewer to focus on the emotions of the situation. It also communicates the concentration and determination of the constable, and the fear of the children.

Conclusion

Different techniques have different purpose as well as different impact on the viewer. While music and sound effects tend to influence the mood and emotions as well as to build some anxiety and tension, camera techniques and different characters tend to convey particular messages and allows the viewer to feel to be a part of the story. Nevertheless, they all aimed to assist in communicating the message the author wishes the audience to understand and evaluate.

Day after day he comes back with nothing but guilt, he begins to show regret in his eyes. He then attempts to drown himself in alcohol, trying to forget bout what has happened but only for a while, realizing it is only making it worse he gives up.

When he sees his wife leave and come back with the tracker and the lost child he is absolutely shattered, his face shows pain, distress and unbearable guilt. He realizes his stubbornness had killed his own daughter. The next day in the movie it repeats the opening scene with the father singing the sad song. The audience then realise it has been a recount, singing about how it his fault and the pain and guilt he feels. He walks outside not even saying a word to his wife, he kills himself.

The Mother of the young girl is conveyed to have suffered the most through her inner journey as well as physical, pushing herself to do whatever she can, she shows this pain through out the movie by crying and resorting to whatever she has to do to get her daughter back. This Suffering is emphasized ed by the magical calm scene in the beginning, were her and the daughter are laying down singing about how beautiful and magical the moon is; this gives us the strong feeling of a typical fairytale mother daughter relationship.

This Loss of the girl causes her to become very quiet and depressed. Hey emotional journey also continues in her sleep by nightmares showing that the only person that can find her is the "black tracker". The dreams she has and the pain she goes through makes her resort to getting the "black tracker" to help her, even betraying her husband.

At this point the mother's love for the husband fades and hatred of his stubbornness towards getting help from the "black tracker". When the daughter is found the mother's "inner journey" is at its climax, with the shock, pain, stress and disbelief causing her to almost scream in pain.

This realization of how fast the "tracker" found her makes her not feel anything for the stubborn father and so allows him to tragically kill himself at the end.

The Aboriginal "Black Tracker" is shown to be less affected but truly experiences the most agonizing inner journey. He begins with appearing at the families land then almost instantly kicked back off by the racist father, forbidding him to ever appear on his land again. This act greatly affects the "tracker", he feels he is unneeded and so quits being a policeman. This exclusion of his help tears him up inside, knowing he can find the young girl but forbidden to help he experiences many thoughts and consequences.

The conflict between him and the father is showing by the tension in the music and song duets they have. Always showing opposite points, the audience is shown the Aboriginal is trustworthy, singing “land is ME” while father sings “land is MINE”. Showing the Aboriginal is in touch with "the land".

His urge to help is shown by him always wandering around the families house, tracking which direction the girl might have gone.

The Aboriginal breaks the tension between him and the wife while caught searching the little girls room and giving the wife the girl's doll symbolizing he feels her pain and he wants to help.

Later he is approached by the wife who finally brings up the courage to betray her husband. He leads her through the country following the girl's exact tracks. He finds the young girls dead body, on the edge of a cliff. He comforts the wife while she mourns, showing how gentle the Aboriginal is.

His journey ends when he comforts the wife once again at the girl's funeral/burial.

On this particular year, however, the men come across a dead aboriginal woman floating on the river, and instead of reporting it straight away they do what most other white Aussie blokes would do in the situation - continue fishing.

The movie the gets more interesting when the four men return home and their actions split the small country community. As one person puts it to one of the men, "what would you have done if the body had been a white person?"

Jaa’s first movie can be found in the foreign language section of the video store. It’s called “Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior” and it also a great movie. “The Protector” was initially released as “Ong-Bak 2” overseas but was sponsored into America by Quinton Terantino’s production company, Baa Ram Ewe.

Tony Jaa is being billed as the next Jackie Chan and he lives up to it. In fact there is a cameo by Jackie that seems to indicate an official passing of the torch.

This film does several things right, which will look familiar to fans of Chan. The portions of the film that are in Thailand everyone speaks Thai (subtitled). When in Australia they speak English. Given Australia’s tight gun laws it’s possible that most thugs rely of brute force, so it’s not the type of martial art movie where the whole movie should have been over in a five minute fire fight. Instead the fight scenes are phenomenal and original, but not ridiculously implausible, and not repetitive.

I also demand a “smart factor” from my action hero’s. I can’t stand when the hero runs out of ammo but doesn’t pick up any of the half-empty guns on fallen enemies. Our protagonist uses a weapon when it is available.

What about the “R” Rating?

There wasn’t any tough language in the film and if there is nudity it’s not gratuitous.

The R is definitely for violence, and that is best reserved for films where a hero is attempting to do something noble. Our protagonist has more than enough reason to seek revenge but it’s clear that his mission is to find his elephants.

The bad guys are clearly aggressive and violent, but our hero doesn’t really stoop to their level. He shows remarkable restraint through-out the movie. There are no coupe de grace scenes or much collateral damage. The R is probably 90% for a fight scene nearly movie’s climax. Every Martial Artist under the sun will reply the same way if asked, “What would you do if someone attacked you with a knife.” The answer is, “break his arm.” At the risk of spoiling the surprise there are probably 50 guys wielding knives.

Larger Story

When I say larger story I speak in reference to John Eldredge although he makes no claim to have created the concept. It’s become a style of film criticism in which secular movies are examined for elements of truth that transcend the intended scope of the film. Not necessarily Christian themes so much as human themes from the perspective of a person who believes we are all in God’s story.

Our hero’s mission doesn’t change because the odds against him grow. His mission is relational—he wants his family back. Our hero has virtually no resources, no local connections, nor is he even familiar with local customs. Still he is able to conduct an investigation into organized crime, and determine who to trust in the crime family and in the corrupt local police department. He is a classic example of a hero who knows who he is and what he must do—and does it.