» Academy Award Nominees: Best Picture
Blast thoughts:
Avatar
Winner. The hype machine has to be proved correct in order to preserve future multi-billion-dollar Cameron franchises.
The Blind Side
To-see.
Sci-Fi films always get short critical shrift. That said, I think this turned into too much of a shoot-em-up to be considered “good”.
An Education
I enjoyed this film, kinda. I’m left wonder if the “education” referred to in the title is “men are pigs”?
The Hurt Locker
To-see.
Really good, but for a reason that won’t win it awards: It’s a bald-faced essay on American violence that made me emotionally sick. A tough trick, but not one people appreciate.
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
To-see. I’ve been avoiding this one because I’ve heard that it, like Inglorious, eviscerates the viewer.
A Serious Man
To-see. Cohen Brothers.
Up
Amazing film. The House of Jobs really, really, really gets you with this one. Another eviscerator.
Up in the Air
Cloooooney! This film was almost fantastic, but fell just-shy of the mark. Enjoyable though.
I’m probably going to watch all the nominees this year, including those in the foreign film category. I just heard Un prophète called:
the coolest European film in decades — it should have been up for Best Picture and Best Director
That perpetuates a common myth about the awards. The competition is between MPAA members, and so is restricted to commercially-released American-friendly (ie, English-language) films. The Festival de Cannes is a better barometer of film quality.
The Hurt Locker was really good — I think. I had to leave about 30 minutes into it, throw up, splash cold water on my face, take a five-minute breather, return to my seat and then spend the rest of the movie listening with my eyes closed and re-open my eyes briefly when the scene changed.
I fucking hate shaky-cam. I hope I will be able to rewatch it at home, but it’s not like the Princess has a monstrous, immersive screen.
Don
2 Feb 10 at 2:22 pm