Best Picture:Silver Linings Playbook

Rating: 10/10 (11 January 2013)

And the winner isÂ…"Silver Linings Playbook!"
Let me tell you whyÂ…the stars could be aligned and by coincidence (NOT!) the film will finally role out in wide release this weekend after a run of building, building, and not quite yet, building to NOW!
Growing up my childhood idols were Muhammed Ali and Pete Rose (Same age btw as my dadÂ…) and at 46 my idol is the legendary film conquistador Mr. Harvey Weinstein; he loves film like fat kids love cake & ice cream and his track record of acquiring the right film at the right time is beyond legendary.
The most appreciative reaction in the foreign film category this morning was the announcement of The Weinstein Company's recent acquisition (immediately after its screening at AFI in NovemberÂ…) Norway's "Kon-Tiki." They were denied a double nomination with the remarkably inexplicable (but, this is the Academy we're talking aboutÂ…) slight of "The Intouchables" a popular and universally loved tale of both ends of the financial spectrum.
But along comes "Silver Linings Playbook" and it's Harvey magic time! The film received the Grand Slam of nominations (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Actress,) making it the first film to do so since 1981's "Reds."
Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro, Jackie Weaver and David O. Russell all signed up long ago with the game plan being be the underdog. A film not just chock full of stars but of "actors" and some of the best in the business at that and if you combined the receipts of Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Chris Tucker you'd have people in the seats because this trifecta of the future paired with the anchors of DeNiro and Weaver will do more for the veteran duo than vice-versa.
Solid formula and TWC strategy and boom! Eight nominations; for a comedy? A drama? A dramedy? No, eight nominations for the best winnable TWC type film. Herr Weinstein spun his magic for "Shakespeare in Love" (Directed by John Madden who's latest project "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" was snubbed loudly today) and that film beat "Saving Private Ryan" for Best Picture in 1998, remember? Was it a comedy? A drama? A dramedy? No, it was the foundation for a slew of Oscars yet to come and a recipe no one else has been able to master. The film is directed by David O. Russell and has been nominated to the big dance his last two times out with 2010's "The Fighter" and today for "SLP" and like "The Fighter" his cast was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Actor and had wins for both Melissa Leo (defeating fellow cast mate Amy Adams) and Christian Bale. So, TWC gets to work their magic because no major blockbusters stand in their way. They can manipulate in a Tom Sawyer kind of way convincing a movie with 5 A-Listers is the underdog film and should be considered for Best Picture and hopefully somewhere in the Amblin Entertainment/Dreamworks office someone in their machine will work day and night for the next six weeks to not let a repeat of 1998 happen to "Lincoln" what "Shakespeare in Love" did to "Saving Private Ryan;" and I think King Harvey has Mr. Spielberg right where he wants him; Again!
Peter Santana