Oscar Nod Marathon, Part I

This year, shortly after the Academy Award nominees were announced, I decided that for the first time in my life I would watch all the Best Picture nominees before the awards. It would have been a lot easier before last year (when there were only 5 nominees instead of 10). I already saw a bunch of them prior to the announcement, and the last week or so I've been watching more as I find the time.

In no particular order, here is the first batch of movies and my super-abbreviated reviews.

127 Hours
I saw this film just last night. I'm finally starting to appreciate James Franco as an actor, as his 5-day descent into madness in 127 Hours was extremely convincing. It's not my favorite on the list, however the Academy really fucked up by not nominating Danny Boyle for his directing work.

The Fighter
My personal favorite of this list, and Christian Bale is pretty much guaranteed the Best Supporting Actor award. Though Mark Wahlburg's laid-back underacting was an intentional contrast to Christian Bale's performance, I still found myself looking for somebody to high-five during Wahlburg's fight scenes. I'd love to see it win Best Picture but against the behemoths The Social Network and The King's Speech it's an underdog of a contender. Pun intentional.

Inception
I don't get it. No, I mean I get the film, I just don't get why people are so completely in love with it. The effects were phenomenal and the idea was great, but I just felt like halfway through they tried to lose their audience with an overcomplicated plot and thin character development. Winning a Best Picture Oscar based on exceptional technical details worked for Gladiator, but I don't think it will work for Inception.

The Social Network
Alongside The King's Speech, TSN is one of the behemoths dominating the nominations list and for good cause. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, saw it twice in the theater and picked up the Blu Ray so I can see it with commentary. Ben Mezrich's story, Aaron Sorkin's screenplay, David Fincher's directing, Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield's acting, and Trent Reznor's score all fit together perfectly into an absolute Best Picture winner.

Toy Story 3
Many site members have kids, so most of us have already seen this movie. It's great and I thought the best in the series, particularly courtesy of the last half hour, which contains a scene so emotionally profound I was amazed to see it in a kids movie. But does it have a shot at the big prize? It will easily take Best Animated picture but once again the playing field is dominated by some fantastic live-action performances you just can't see in a kid's movie.

True Grit
Another solid contender for Best Picture. While I didn't think it was as good as Fargo (not many films are!), the Coen Brothers did a great job at pacing a western without a whole lot of action. Jeff Bridges absolutely deserves Best Actor for his role as Rooster Cogburn (though we will see how he fares against Colin Firth) and the Coens have a shot both for the screenplay and their direction.

Black Swan, The Kids are All Right, The King’s Speech, Winter’s Bone are the last movies left to watch. I'm planning on seeing The King's Speech next, and to be honest I don't know much about The Kids Are All Right or Winter's Bone.