It’s Oscar season! So here are my first thoughts on the competition, though with the caveat that there are a few of the nominated films I haven’t seen.
Best Picture
Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air. All in all, not a bad crop.
- Avatar certainly has momentum going in (here’s my review) but I don’t think it does everything it needs to to win Best Picture; its by-the-numbers story and gloss on characterization make it subpar. Its groundbreaking, gorgeous visuals won’t make up for that.
- Blind Side was heartfelt (heck, I cried), and I loved Sandra Bullock’s performance, but there’s nothing distinctive about it that would put it ahead of the other nominees.
- Inglourious Basterds was an inspired piece of filmmaking, featuring some nuanced and powerful performances; it’s certainly in the running, though its fantasy ending fizzled for me since we clearly know history says otherwise.
- Precious was precious (my review). Its depressing premise may relegate it to underdog status.
- Though I haven’t seen The Hurt Locker, I love the irony that James Cameron (Avatar) is up against this movie’s director, his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow.
- District 9? I liked it a lot, but let’s just leave it at “it’s an honor to be nominated.”
- I know critics have gone mad for An Education but nothing about its story made me want to cough up 10 bucks to go see it.
- Up? Wonderful, but I don’t see an animated film knocking off live-action performances of the kind represented in this list.
- Up in the Air was flawless, but I think its appeal is limited demographically.
- I meant to see A Serious Man since I’m a Coen Brothers fan but I just hadn’t gotten around to it. I will before Oscar Night but I don’t see it upsetting any of the frontrunners.
Oh, you and your Tomato-tron! Good size-up, but what I really want is a snub report from the king of snubbery (aka where’s the effing love for (500) Days of Summer?!).
BTWs, I’ve never seen someone so “meh” about the idea of killing Hitler by way of an expertly portrayed French chick. Roll with the fantasy!
Thanks for chiming in, Junkie1!
Allz I’m sayin’ is Kells has a long uphill battle to win in Animation if nobody’s bloody seen it yet.
My love for (500) Days of Summer is well-known throughout the land. As is my Particular Fancy™ for Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
As for Basterds, I think it’s an expertly made film but it’s fantastical ending being totally at odds with what we know is reality leaves me cold. Does it really feel good to imagine Hitler successfully assassinated by a sultry Franco-Jew when we know the dude sloughed off more assassination attempts than Heidi Montag had plastic surgery procedures?
The deal is: it’s Tarantino! It’s all fantasty, so I think it’s unfair to judge it through a realistic lens since it’s fiction set in historically-inspired surroundings. That lens is better applied to something like Valkyrie.
Nice dig on Mont-hag, btw.
I come bearing links: http://tiny.cc/CzdHO