Now that I have seen all nine pictures nominated for the Academy Award, I anoint myself dutifully qualified to select my winner, and the winner. I have attempted to review movies before in the past and failed quite successfully. From the biggest asshole you’ll ever meet to the dirtiest bum you’ll ever smell, I am not sure I have met a person that has told me, “I don’t like movies”. Pick any other subject on Earth, and you’ll bind to find someone that doesn’t like something. Movies seems to be one of those rare subjects-that and Mexican food (I mean who doesn’t like Mexican food?). Yet, if we can all agree we like Mexican food (we did right?), then the true debate rages over what we like best: the taco, the enchilada, the chile relleno, etc. And so, it is the same with movies. We all like them. However, rarely do we agree on what the best movie is. What many pundits and layman alike forget,come Academy time, is that the Academy Awards go to the favorite items on the menu-and sometimes these happen to be the best-always, in this order. Now, that we have established that we love movies, let us move on…
The 2011 Best Picture nominees are: 127 Hours, Winter’s Bones, Toy Story 3, True Grit, Social Network, The Fighter, Black Swan, The Kids are All Right, The King’s Speech, and Inception.
Why I think I have failed to successfully be satisfied with my movie reviews in the past is because I sucked at it. And on top of that, I am not a huge fan of movie reviews, in particular. Especially, written ones. I want to know if the writer found the movie well done. I want to know if there is a consensus of critics that have found the work well done. And after that, stand out of the way and let me see it (because there is so much shit to wade through out there). The movie must speak for itself. With that being said, the true joy of discussing movies, is that there isn’t a set criteria in which to successfully determine what makes one movie better than another. Yes, the Academy Awards are a popularity contest, but it is a popularity contest amongst the people who work in the business and have some merit to their name. And another joy for me is being at home and yelling at the TV screen when they don’t get it right. In my home, I am the Academy and I have the final vote. It is truly, wonderful. Let’s get down to brass tack, shall we…
I do want to say that I have not seen all the pictures released this year, but one of my favorites that was not nominated was Hereafter. In fact, it would be in my top 5 of the year. I am not sure it would be my favorite, because, to be honest with you, I am not even sure what my favorite was. One of my objectives in writing this, is if I can determine what my favorite picture was. The first of these films I watched was Inception in July (maybe?) and the last was tonight, The Fighter. Why is this important? If you can say that all of these films are good in their own right, the momentum of the film you saw last, I believe, will be the one you thought was the best-all other areas being equal. It is not my memory of Inception that is important, for me, but its emotional impact. This is true of any film. And with that being said, let’s start crossing names of the list….
Black Swan, The Kids are All Right, Toy Story 3 and Winter’s Bones. You are off my island.
Let’s start with Black Swan. I like Aronfosky’s works, most of the time: Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler and now, Black Swan. The dude has a dark side, I mean come on. Black Swan-was DISTURBING. Should this eliminate it from being a nomination, no. For me, ehh, kind of? That’s great I get it. Cleverly done. Do I know what’s all going on? Probably not. Do I care? Not really.
The Kids are All Right. How did you end up on this list? Lesbians. Adoption. Shaking the accepted view of things. Great. I get it. It wasn’t cutting edge. It was Hallmarky well done.
Toy Story 3-Yes, it was sad. But I am not too sure what else to say about it. First of all, it’s Toy Story. Second of all, it’s the third segment. It has Woody, Buzz and all you’re other toys you played with it as a kid. It’s supposed to rope you in. And take your money-which it did, but Best Picture of the year- God, I hope not.
Winter’s Bones- Out of the four, this was my favorite. There was something relevant about this film: the poverty, the dark side of America, meth use up the yin yang. You kind of leave the movie going, what the shit just happened. I was not expecting what the hell this movie was going to be about, and it had me on the edge the entire time. The movie left an imprint.
Now, on the better batch: 127 Hours, The Fighter, Inception, Social Network, True Grit and King’s Speech.
Wow! All really good films. All deserving. All different. How do you pick a winner out this bunch. Let’s try.
True Grit-a remake by the Coen brothers that sort of recently won for No Country for Old Men. There are two reasons it won’t win. Another great, crafted, well-done film by these guys. And a phenomenal job by Jeff Bridges. I talked like Rooster for about 4 hours after seeing this film. It was beyond my control.
127 Hours- A movie based on a true life event. Minimally done, with great success, by Danny Boyle, winner of Slumdog Millionaire. Yes, he won, there is a reason I mention this. James Franco does a very good job in this film and it is believable from beginning to end. It’s weight is low when compared to the others, though.
The Fighter-I just got done watching this one tonight. I was sort of expecting the same ol, the same ol from a boxing movie. In a way, it was formulaic, but it was also well done. Christian Bale, steals almost every scene in his movie with his performance, and while Mark Walberg wins the title, the true victory is Christian Bale’s character overcoming his crack addiction, with much humor along with way. Seen from this light, the film is diluted.
And now on to the Heavy Weights-Inception, Social Network and King’s Speech
Wow! Wow! I have to pick one. Let’s start with Inception, since that was the film I first saw of the bunch. First of all, you might a film of this originality comes every decade, in my opinion. From top to bottom, this film was so tight. It had people talking. The concept by itself was so hard to pull off, and I can’t think of a film in Hollywood history that has attempted the subject matter. That says a lot when you start to think how many New York cop movies, or Nazi Germany movies we have seen in the last God know how many years. Was the action necessary for the storyline? Did it sell out for that summer movie time box office ticket? You can argue it had everything, but that’s not always best. While there were segments of this film that will go down in the lore of Hollywood, and that in itself is one of the highest honor of a film-award or not-I don’t see it taking the prize. But is it my favorite movie of the bunch?
The Social Network-the first time I knew of this movie was the trailer before Inception. It’s delivery was subtle. It was one of the films that you first thought, oh, that would be nice to see-on video. Yet, the scene that stands out for me was when Jesse Eisenberg is in his flip flops on front of a group of adults being accused of something and brashly telling them that he thinks he deserves their recognition? Defiance, so artfully done. Not to mention the scene in the robe going up the stairs of some building on Market St. Mind you, this was all in trailer. I remember thinking that if they could pull off what they showed in that trailer, that would be a good film. And it was. My partner in crime, Coleen, after watching it didn’t see what all the hype was about. And I can see it from her angle. There is really nothing extraordinary that goes on in the film. Like 127 hours, it is based on a true life character. The film spoke to me on a lot of levels. Yes, it was nice daydreaming for however long the movie lasted that I could have been a computer nerd that made lots of movie, but the final scene of this guy hitting refresh, refresh, refresh, to see if a girl that dumped him at the start of the film will be his friend is genius. Was it my favorite?
The King’s Speech-I was not expecting to like this film as much as I did. I think is probably the best acting out of the group of nominees. Colin Firth, Helen Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush knock this shit out of the ballpark. And this isn’t mentioning the supporting cast. Another film based on true life-I was not familiar with this subject matter at all. Similar to the Social Network, where Mark Zuckerberg is like American royalty and we are vicariously taken away in his fortunes, the royal family of England serves that same role. Don’t we all wish to be prince and princess, king and queen? Here we are, in the movie-a family of exactly that. Yet, all is not what is told in the fairy tales. Like all of the films nominated, it is about overcoming. This was a film I could watch over and over again. But does it make it my favorite of the year?
After writing this, I think I have concluded that my best film of the year is, The Social Network. It speaks more to what is going on in this age than any other film nominated. On more levels than one. Inception was just so well crafted. I truly do believe that 25 years from now, Inception will have made more of a mark in the timeline of Hollywood than any film nominated on this list. And finally, The King’s Speech. Two years from now, my bet is that I will have watched this movie more than any movie on this list (unless my kids fall in love with Toy Story 3 and I have to watch it because they are watching it). If you watch a film over and over, doesn’t this make it your favorite?
In other words, I love tacos, enchiladas are my favorite, but I feel like fajitas-I think chicken, tonight.
