Damien aisde, those pundits really suck. Tom O'Neil and Dave Karger worse than others. David Poland is pretty OTN.
Damien, I didn't know that you liked 'Paranoid Park' so much. I think it's Gus Van Sant's best since 'Drugstore Cowboy' but best exemplifies what it is the filmmaker does and has evolved into, so it's probably his strongest piece of work to date.
I define Best Picture as the best movie of the year. I think 'The Assassination of Jesse James...' was my favorite movie last year, but I would give Paul Thomas Anderson the award for Best Director because it felt more product of cohesive vision in every facet, whereas 'The Assassination of Jesse James...' while the superior picture was more "found" later on in the editing room.
Voting for the Best Picture Oscar must be like voting for President of the United States. Most people vote for the hype, not the film ('Juno'). It's usually not the right choice to begin with but a clear stand-out in lieu of others ('Babe'). Were I an Academy voter, I'd perhaps vote for 'Shakespeare in Love' over 'The Thin Red Line' because I find it superior to 'Saving Private Ryan', just like I voted for Gore instead of Nader in 2000. So like our political system, the Oscar voting system is similarly obnoxious and reductive.
This year, I'll be amazed if I see a better movie than 'WALL-E' but I LOVE 'Reprise' and 'Chop Shop' as well. I think 'Rachel Getting Married', 'The Dark Knight', 'Paranoid Park', 'Burn After Reading', 'The Band's Visit', 'In Bruges', 'Iron Man', and 'Shotgun Stories' are terrific pieces of work as well. I prefer all of those to 'Crash', 'Chicago', 'A Beautiful Mind', and 'Gladiator'.
