When I mentioned yesterday that the winner of the 2007 Best Picture Oscar will most likely be one of those Iraq War/Afghanistan movies (Charlie Wilson’s War, Lions for Lambs, In The Valley of Elah), I didn’t mention three others set in that troubled area. My reasons for excluding them are mostly sound. Peter Berg‘s The Kingdom is sounding more like an out-and-out thriller. Marc Forster‘s The Kite Runner may be a bit too smallish and exotic to be considered an early Oscar favorite. And Brian DePalma‘s Redacted looks…wow, interesting as hell. But the day-and-date release scheme places it in a exposure category that handicappers tend to dismiss.
