Today I saw 127 Hours, my ninth of the ten movies currently up for Best Picture at the Oscars. All I’m missing is Winter’s Bone and that’s only because I haven’t found a theater around Phoenix playing it. As a whole, 2010 was a TERRIBLE year for movies. It seemed like every weekend brought another sequel, another three-quel, another remake, another comic book adaption, or another super hero movie and to cap it all off, far too many movies were being made in 3D.
Despite the less than stellar year, I really like this year’s list of Best Picture nominees. The big reason is that I have heard of them. With the exception of Winter’s Bone these movies were all playing at the AMC theater by my apartment, meaning everyone and anyone could have seen them without having to hunt down a small art house that only plays movies that people who like to think they should be from New York but are really from Milwaukee enjoy. And if Hollywood can see that original, quality stories can make money too than maybe I won’t have to see Growing Up With the Fockers in 2012. Here is my take on this year’s Best Picture nominees, each with their own rating out of a possible score of five:
Black Swan – 4/5 – When I first heard people talking about this movie, I thought it was the story of a girl auditioning for Swan Lake. I thought it was supposed to be one of those inspirational stories about someone following their dreams. Thank god I was wrong and that Black Swan was actually semi-horror, semi-suspense, semi-psychological thriller but all good. Natalie Portman is great in this movie, and I usually don’t particularly care for her, as is Mila Kunis who shows she is much better than the crappy That 70s Show.
The King’s Speech – 4/5 – Excellent movie, plain and simple. Having a simple story and character development here is better than the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on CGI in crappy movies like transformers. My only complaint is that Geoffrey Rush was a bit gimmicky, though I attribute that more to the writing than his performance.
True Grit – 5/5 – I went into this movie expecting to hate it. I hate Westerns and those uber-Macho movies filled with “strong silent” characters. This movie, however, surprised me. I had not seen the original nor had I read the book. When I saw the main character was a 14-year-old girl I knew this movie would be different from what I thought. In fact that 14-year-old girl played by Hailee Steinfeld was the best part of True Grit. For some reason Steinfeld is nominated for Supporting Actress rather than Actress, but she should definitely win for her performace.
The Kids Are Alright – 4/5 – Interesting premise with great acting and writing. Annette Bening seems to be getting all the buzz but in my opinion, Julianne Moore did an even better job. I thought this movie would feel a little too indie for me, like it would be trying to be quirky, but I was wrong. Probably won’t win Best Picture, but then again most movies don’t and that doesn’t mean they are any less entertaining.
The Fighter – 3/5 – This rating comes from me being biased, it should probably be higher. It was a well done Cinderella story boxing style. I just don’t really care for boxing, sports movies, or East Coast accents. My parents liked it, there’s something positive.
Toy Story 3 – 5/5 – This movie breaks all rules I had with the typically awful three-quel. Not only was Toy Story 3 good, it was better than its predecessors. This is my personal favorite movie of the nominees and while it probably won’t win I would bet money it has the longest longevity. Kids today watch Disney movies from before World War II and this is the only movie of the nominees I can see being relevant in 10 years.
The Social Network – 5/5 – There is nothing bad about this movie. The writing, the acting, the directing; everything works. I sneaked into this movie after I saw Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of G’ahoole because I felt that the movie industry needed to give me something after sitting through that complete crap-fest. If Toy Story 3 doesn’t win, I hope The Social Network does.
Inception – 4/5 – Great concept movie with cool plot twists and that make you forget Leonardo DiCaprio is really an irritating Al Gore wannabe. My favorite thing about this movie is not on screen, however. This was a big budget Blockbuster that was genuinely good. It was an action movie but was not generic like 99% of other action movies are today. I just really hope they leave this alone, end on a high note, and skip the sequel.
127 Hours – 5/5 – I really like Danny Boyle. He makes big movies with that indie feel minus the annoying entitled, pretentiousness that a lot of indie movies seem to have. This was a great psychological, character study that really got the viewer thinking about what they would do had a rock fallen on their arm and trapped them in a canyon. I, personally, would probably just sit there thinking something along the lines “Welp, I guess this is how I’m gonna go.” But the fact that it even got me to think something like that without feeling grossly morbid is a sign of an excellent film. Side note: James Franco deserves the Oscar for this movie.
Winter’s Born – I have not seen this, but I imagine it being a small budget movie that thinks it is better and more important than it really is, along the lines of Crash. We’ll see though, I’m going to keep looking for this movie but if I can’t find it I’m just going to watch it on one of those Chinese pirated movie websites.
Judgmental Day 