OVP: Previously, in 2008

2008: A Look Back

This afternoon (or possibly this evening, depending on busy-ness at work, but it'll be out before I go to bed) we will review my final nominated film of 2008, and you know what that means-it's time for our sixth Oscar Viewing Project!  But before we can do that, let's do a little time-traveling back seven years (can you believe it's been that long?...he said, knowing how cliche that is to utter) to a different time for the world and the Oscars.

In 2008 the United States was choosing between a young senator from Illinois and a veteran senator from Arizona, and for most of the year we hadn't heard of a woman named Sarah Palin (ahh, that was a great time...at least we got Tina Fey an Emmy out of the situation).  We were mourning the loss of Tim Russert (who knew that most journalistic ethos would go with him?).  We couldn't stop obsessing over Britney Spears and wondering what would happen next for the faded pop princess and her craziness...though a young girl named Miley seemed to be gunning for her crown.  We were all trying to get Joe Jonas to take off his purity ring (wait, that might have just been me).  And of course, there were the movies...

Box Office

This is what the Top 10 at the (Domestic) Box Office looked like:

1. The Dark Knight

2. Iron Man

3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

4. Hancock

5. WALL-E

6. Kung Fu Panda

7. Twilight

8. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

9. Quantum of Solace

10. Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!

I hit 90% of these movies, with the only miss being Jim Carrey's Horton, which didn't look appealing to me at all (neither did Madagascar 2, but you can only miss films on cable so often before they suck you in at least once).  Looking down the list, I also didn't hit a few other high-performing films that made over $100 million domestically, including Marley and Me, Get Smart, Four Christmases, and most surprisingly Gran Torino (I usually make it to pretty much every Clint Eastwood film, and this was in Oscar conversation for Best Actor and Best Song even though it scored at neither).  The Box Office and Best Picture field didn't mix much (though Best Picture nominees Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button both cracked $100 million), which caused the Academy to panic, particularly when fanboys were outraged at the lack of a nomination for The Dark Knight, which caused the expanded Best Picture field we see today (it's worth noting that with seven Oscar nominations, The Dark Knight was doing just fine).

The Films I Missed

While I've seen all of the Oscar nominees, I haven't seen every film in 2008.  In addition to the Box Office champs I listed above, I missed a couple of films that got cited by precursors.  At the Globes, for example, I missed four nominated films: Pineapple Express, Gran Torino, Cadillac Records, and Everlasting Moments (I also couldn't finish Gomorrah, which is the only time I've ever actually left a theater, so really it's four and a half).  By-and-large, though, I hit almost every major awards contender out there in 2008, and will almost certainly hit Gran Torino and Pineapple Express at some point in the future (both are on my Netflix queue).

A Quick The Many Rantings of John Housekeeping Note

This is the first OVP since the launch of The Many Rantings of John: Part 3, and so I wanted to share how this will work for my more loyal readers who have come to expect their politics on Tuesday and Thursday.  Starting tomorrow through the end of the OVP writeups for 2008, we will continue with the regular think piece/articles on weekday mornings, and will be doing Oscar Viewing Project write-ups in the afternoons, with link roundups on Saturday and GTKY Sunday.  As a result, we won't be having regular reviews in the afternoons, but I will likely (to stay on top of things) throw in a review or two in the evenings and potentially on weekend afternoons if I'm not terribly swamped (this blog is not my full-time job and I put a lot of care/time into each article, so I'm not promising things, but I will surely get a couple of longstanding reviews at least out in the evenings).  With that out of the way, grab some popcorn, turn on your Viva la Vida CD and start second-guessing Hillary's campaign strategy: it's 2008 again!