10 Best Pictures?

THE 10 BEST PICTURES? On Groundhog Day the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences announced they’re nominations for the Academy Awards and this year instead of the traditional five nominees for Best Picture, they announced ten. Now I personally think that 2009 wasn’t the best year for movies and when the Academy announced during the summer it was going to extend the Best Picture category to ten, I kind of laughed about it. However, when I saw what movies were nominated, it turned out I saw all but three, so I made the effort to see my last three. Here’s my opinion about the movies and which ones deserve recognition and which one deserves the win. Avatar: Definitely the most talked about movie of the year and now the highest grossing movie of all time, well, depending on inflation and other factors. Does it deserve all the hype? Yes and No. The special effects and revolutionary 3D technology made me feel like I was on another planet even after the movie ended. However, the plot was a bit cliché and a little preachy, but I think an epic movie with everything from action to romance is something the world was starved for. It was good and expressed what filmmaking is supposed to be about: escapism. A contender. The Blind Side: This was one of the three movies I had left to watch after the nominations were announced because I thought it was a football movie, but it’s not. This movie demonstrates what it means to be a decent human being and since it is based on a true story, it makes it even more heartwarming. Sandra Bullock is phenomenal in it and even though I cried during it, out of happiness, the movie gave me a happy feeling overall. It gave me hope for humanity. A contender. District 9: A gritty, gross science fiction movie with a message set in South Africa. After viewing this movie I could see why people liked it. It really is an allegory about racial inequality and since the setting is South African, helps to reiterate it. What really makes the film good is the documentary style it was shot in, making the notion of discriminated aliens plausible. Should be happy it’s nominated. An Education: My personal favorite nominated movie because I’ve always had a thing of May-December romances. What makes this particular one enjoyable to watch is the depth of the young girl and how she approaches her relationship with the older man in a curious and semi-logical way. No real chance. The Hurt Locker: Yay women directors in charge of critically acclaimed films! I don’t like war movies at all, but I sat through this without getting bored. I did like how it dealt with soldiers and what they go through without bringing the politics of the Iraq war into it. A contender. Inglorious Basterds: I love Tarantino and tend to like his lesser stuff more than his critically acclaimed films, but this movie was wonderful. True to Tarantino fashion it had a strong female protagonist and a climatic end that made everybody wish that Tarantino could truly rewrite history. Also the Academy has always favored WWII and Holocaust movies so it made sense the bloody, good time of a film go nominated. A contender. Precious: This is one of those movies which are good in a “we can do better no matter what obstacles life presents” us kind of way. A minute into the film I was crying and kept crying until the credits were done rolling. The acting is amazing because of the depth each actor gives their character. However, the last plot twist takes this already tragic story over the edge. Would have more of chance without the last plot twist. A Serious Man: This was the last movie of the nominees that I saw because honestly the Coen brothers are a bit hit and miss with me. This is one of the movies I thought didn’t truly deserve the nomination. It is obvious within the first five minutes what the themes of the movie are and the movie hits you over the head with them repeatedly. I didn’t care about any of the characters and turned on my laptop to check my facebook halfway through the movie. Why was this nominated? Up: A cartoon! Animation has its own category and this just proves that there were slim pickings last year for quality films. Pixar did wave their magic wand again and create something special and unique with a wonderful beginning and it totally deserves to win Best Animated Feature, but that’s it. Again, why was this nominated? Up in the Air: After seeing this supposed critically claimed film I wanted to scream “the emperor has no clothes!” Nothing about this film was surprising, fresh, or original and had way too many filler shots to fill up the empty void of uniqueness. Why do so many people like this? Were they paid off? I think that the big contenders are Avatar, The Blind Side, The Hurt Locker, and Inglorious Basterds. My vote out of those is for Inglorious Basterds, but I won’t be surprised if Avatar or Hurt Locker win.