And the Nominees Are . . .

Being that Lori and I are HUGE movie fans, I thought I would comment on the list of movies for Best Picture for the upcoming 82nd Annual Academy Awards on March 7th. (Typically I blow off the actual show cause I find the entire awards ceremony mostly a boring mess, but with the right host(s) and IF I'm interested in some of the nominees then I may tune in. You never know)

So anyway the LIST for Best Picture is a colossal one showing TEN movies instead of the typical 5 to choose from and I'm still shaking my head and saying, "Seriously?? Ten movies nominated for BEST picture?!?" Surely they jest. (No, and don't call me Shirley. Bada-tish!) Just in case you haven't seen it here it is:

Avatar
The Blindside
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

I will say that after seeing the list I was a bit proud that I had actually seen six of the ten movies listed which typically I've only seen one or two so yay for me! Still, with a more critical eye, of the ten nominated I think you can scale it down to the usual five. I will be frank that I can't comment on the Oscar worthiness of The Blindside, An Education, Precious, or A Serious Man since I haven't seen them so perhaps they actually DO deserve to be nominated for Best Picture . . . but I'm thinking not.

Of the movies I did see, I think Avatar, Hurt Locker, Up, and Up in the Air are probably the actual contenders though I'm being nice including Up as it is an animated film but I LOVED the first 5 minutes (Yes, I perhaps had a misty moment there or maybe just something in my eye) and think it definitely should win Best Animated Feature Film if not Best Picture.

Why not include District 9 or Inglourious Basterds? Well, let's get real here folks. District 9, while being a well done and thought provoking movie done in a docu drama style shoot, its still a hard core scifi flick. Personally, I liked it cause I'm a total scifi fan but even I don't think it has a chance to be voted BEST Picture. And Inglourious Basterds is a Quentin Tarantino wacky and darkly entertaining WWII What IF flick that I thought has some great performances by Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Diane Kruger, and Melanie Laurent, but will it win Best Picture? Really long odds for that to happen.


So which film will win between Avatar, Hurt Locker, and Up in The Air? Well, the smart money is on Avatar cause its . . . Avatar, duh! Yes, it is a visually stunning movie with incredible special effects, etc. but honestly the acting is so-so and the storyline is a tale as old as time. However, it is SUCH a box office mega hit that it seems a shoe in for Best Picture. Personally, I think either Hurt Locker or Up in The Air would be a better pick from the more dramatic point of view. Both films have great casts that gave really dynamic performances, good direction, and really visually interesting cinematography and are thought provoking in their respective ways. So it will be interesting to see which of those three wins the little gold guy this year so tune in March 7th to hear "and the winner is . . ."