The Oscars

It's Oscar week again, and like I have done for the past several years, I'm ranking the nominees.


One of my favorite scenes of the year
It's a little tougher this year, because the Academy has upped the best picture crop to 10. Needless to say, seeing 10 movies is more difficult that seeing 5. Amazingly, I had seen 6 of the 10 before the nominations were announced, but had to figure out how to see the last four in Oxford without spending money. I used somewhat illegal tactics to see the last 4, and thus didn't see them in the theater.

Here are my rankings, from first to worst.

The Hurt Locker was my favorite movie of the year. I would have felt that way, even if it didn't get a best picture nod. It was kind of buried in the early summer crop of movies, so I was somewhat surprised to see it receive the accolades it has at the end-of-year awards. I usually am not a big fan of war movies, but this one really got to me; the tension the movie creates was great, but what I liked even more was the love the main character had for his job. It kind of reminded me of me (except the whole bomb defusing part that I don't have to do on the job).


Inglorious Basterds wasn't on my radar for some reason, until my friend Jason raved about it (I'm sure it's his favorite movie of the year). Another summer movie that was very good. If you don't like violent movies, don't see this, but if you like phenomenal acting, Chrisoph Waltz can't be beat. He gave the performance of the year, in my opinion. If he doesn't win the best supporting actor Oscar, the entire academy should be shot by Nazis.


Precious brought me to tears. This was a tough movie to watch because it reminded me of a few of the students I've had over the years. While Christoph Waltz gave the performance of the year, Mo'Nique gave the female performance of the year. A scene where she confronts her daughter's social worker was fantastic. While the movie as a whole was very good, the ending of the movie did leave me a little bit disappointed.


Avatar is the most technically amazing movie ever made. The special effects blew me away, but I just didn't like the story. It was too simplistic of a story, but I guess when you're spending gazillions of dollars on special effects, you can't expect a spectacular story also. Still, I was impressed with the special effects enough to say it did deserve a best picture nomination.


I liked District 9 a lot more than I thought I would. I liked the story, which I didn't think I would going in, I liked the acting of the title character, who starts and ends as two completely different people, literally. I kind of think he should have gotten a best supporting actor nod, even though he was clearly a lead actor. I don't think this movie would have gotten a nomination if there were 5 nominees, but it was in my top 5 of the list presented.


Up in the Air was over-hyped. Was it good? Sure, but not as good (in my opinion) as all the ads made it seem. I had read the book a few weeks before seeing the movie, and that may have tainted my view. The story diverged enough from the book, even introducing a major character that doesn't exist in the book, to leave me disappointed. I did really like the scenes with the people, many of them non-actors, reacting to losing their jobs and how they have survived since. I would love to see a movie of just those interviews.


Up was cute. Cute movies, in my opinion, shouldn't be nominated for best picture. Was it good? Yes, but it didn't have an affect on my like other movies. I happened to see this on my birthday last June, but it just didn't stick with me. I'm sure it will win best animated picture, as it should, but it's out of it's league in this crop.


So I have to admit, I liked The Blind Side more than I thought I would. It was the last of the 10 nominated movies I saw (I just saw it a couple of days ago) and I had been putting it off because it just seemed like a sappy "based on a true story" movie. It was that, but it was good. Should it win best picture? Absolutely not, but it was better than I expected.


I didn't realize that A Serious Man and A Single Man were two different movies until a few weeks ago. A Serious Man got the best picture nomination, and it was just alright for me. It had it's moments, but I'm sure I won't remember much about it in a month. Like some other Coen brothers movies, I thought it was trying too hard to be cool, like you needed to be in to get it. I guess I didn't. As odd as this sounds, the ending of this movie reminded me a little of the end of No Country for Old Men (another Coen brothers movie). I loved that movie, I didn't care much for this one.


I think the premise of An Education kind of creeped me out; 30-something man going after a 16 year old is not really my idea of a movie I'd want to watch. I know it got a lot of accolades, but I just didn't think is was more than "good", except for Alfred Molina, who was very good. I was somewhat disappointed, because I thought I would like it more than I did.