List #10: Best Picture

Always wanting to be as timely as possible in light of last night's Oscars, here is a list of the Best Picture nominees that I haven't seen,* ranked by how much I actually want to see them.

* This means that "The King's Speech," "Inception," and "Toy Story 3" don't make the list, since I have actually seen those three.  Short review: all are excellent.  King's Speech had the Oscar-bait of being an English period drama and was stunningly well acted.  Inception had the cool sci-fi hook and I *loved* the ending, although the whole seemed somewhat less than the sum of its parts.  Toy Story 3, like almost all Pixar films,** was exceptionally well done but missed a chance when the evil bear stayed evil instead of being more conflicted and when the kid came back for his toys (even if he ended up deciding to let the new kid keep them).  A slightly more conflicted but still real ending would've been better IMHO.


** I've never seen "Cars," and honestly have no intention of ever seeing it.  Given how great everything else they've done has been I should probably give in, but both that one and it's sequel just look terrible.


Also, a brief note: any thoughts on frequency of posts are actively solicited.  Not sure if thrice-a-week is too much or just right or if a regular(ish) schedule is even desirable.  If folks want to see more nonsense from me, I'm happy to accommodate that of course, but if people would be more likely to converse or mock or whatever if this was twice-a-week or once-a-week or whatever, I can certainly go that way too.

Anyway, here's today's list:

(7) The Kids Are All Right.  While Benning and Moore are certainly quality actresses, neither of them have ever really particularly grabbed me, and I'm not a huge fan of family dramas.  Obviously there are some twists here, but nothing that I've heard about this sounds like it's the sort of thing that I would be interested in.

(6) 127 Hours.  I understand that James Franco is awesome in this, and I do like the idea of the big movie star who is simultaneously getting like his 4th and 5th Masters degrees and his PhD at Yale, but frankly I'd really rather not think about whether or not I would have the mental toughness to saw my own arm off in order to survive.  The very idea of hearing the sound effects......ugh.

(5) The Fighter.  I've seen Rocky, and really that's more boxing movies than I ever really needed to see.  Small-time boxers overcoming their hardships and being tempted by drugs and gamblers, only to rise through his toughness.....I dunno, I'm sure that it's well done given all the publicity,* but hasn't this been done to death?  Only beats 127 Hours on my ranking because Christian Bale is consistent fun and because the premise of 127 Hours is far too squirm-inducing.

(4) The Social Network.  We've now hit the ones that I would actually try to see, although this is a "add to the netflix queue" movie for me.  The concept is just a little too precious in part - too many college babes were involved on the promo for me to feel the verisimilitude, and all those programmers were so *excited* all the time.  I may also be influenced by my general bad feelings toward facebook.*  But the story is nevertheless interesting to me - maybe they'll explain how a website that has no noticeable monetization can be worth billions.

* Oh goody, a way for people that I haven't bothered keeping up with since high school to track me down and show me pictures of their pets!  And maybe I can get 10-times-a-day updated on their farmville games!  If not for some actual friends using the damn thing to actually impart information from time to time, I'd have walked away long ago.  As is I can only bring myself to check it once every couple of weeks (thereby missing the good information anyway and defeating the whole point).

(3) Winter's Bone.  Okay, so, in a sense this is another family drama like "The Kids Are All Right," but it's framed in the context of a classic heroic journey set in the badlands.  I can also be a sucker for a good female empowerment motif.

(2) Black Swan.  I'm actively disappointed that I haven't seen this yet.  Total psychological collapse movies always sound like fun to me,* and I would enjoy arguing about what really happened.**  Also, as someone who was introduced to Natalie Portman in the Star Wars prequels, I'm frankly stunned by the idea that she could win an Oscar.  More evidence that Lucas is a historically terrible director of actors, I guess.

* So, those who have seen it, should I see "Fight Club"?


** I've avoided finding out too much about the actual plot and film, but my understanding is that there is an ambiguous resolution.


(1) True Grit.  I'm a fan of the Coen Brothers, the acting is supposed to be spectacular, the plot is time-tested, and the cinematography looks like it would be good enough to make the film worthwhile by itself.  Very much want to see this asap.