My #90 on our 101 in 1001 list is to see every movie that’s nominated for best picture before the Oscars.  As you know, the Oscars have been around for quite a while.  Since the very first year of the event in 1929, there have been 5 nominees chosen for the Best Picture category.  Until, of course, I decided to add good old #90 to my list, after which they promptly decided that there would now be 10 nominees chosen.  Thanks a lot Oscar – you just made it twice as hard to complete my goal between mid January when the nominees are announced and the late February awards date.  As of today, Ryan & I have seen only 4 of the nominees . . . and there’s 6 more.  Yikes!  That’s a lot of movies for 30 days.  But we’re determined to make it happen – or die trying!  (Ok, maybe not die trying, but we’re going to work really hard at it.)  Cue mission impossible music!

The Mission:

• Black Swan
• The Fighter – CHECK!
• Inception – CHECK!
• The Kids Are All Right – CHECK!
• The King’s Speech
• 127 Hours
• The Social Network – CHECK!
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter’s Bone

Let the pursuit of #90 continue!

We thought it would be fun to share our thoughts about each movie on the blog too.  You know,  just in case the Academy should ask us to weigh in (yeah right).  So here are a few thoughts on the ones we HAVE seen (in the order we saw them:)

INCEPTION:

• This film created TONS of buzz when it was released.  People continued to talk about it and debate about it long after their first viewing.  Discussion like that is not very common in an action based movie that was essentially intended to entertain and didn’t have a deep application to real life.
• The concept was original.  With so many years of great movies, sometimes it feels like everything has already been done.  And it was visually interesting throughout.  The cast was good, but I wouldn’t say that any of the performances were especially remarkable.
• I didn’t love that at some points that the switching back and forth between time sequences actually seemed to lessen the anticipation, rather than make you stay on the edge of your seat.  (It didn’t bother Ryan, but for some reason that element kinda stuck with me as being a weak point.)

THE FIGHTER:

• Strong performances from a good cast.  I am a big fan of Mark Walberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams who were all really great in their roles.
• I had kind of a love/hate relationship with the grittier style of filming (not a lot of makeup, unflattering lighting, etc.)  I’m normally totally ok with it, but there are just some characters I didn’t need to see in an extreme close up – yes, I mean you every one of Mark Walberg’s big haired sisters.
• The story line felt a little tired.  The whole boxer/fighter thing has been done A LOT so even though the film was a slightly different take because the conflict came from the main character’s family rather than the actual opponents, it still kinda felt like I’d seen it before.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK:

• Even though I had heard a lot of good things about The Social Network, I was still kind of skeptical about how they were going to make the story an interesting film.  I was as curious about the Facebook story as the next person and had read up about about it, but it just didn’t sound like a great movie to me.  Boy was I wrong.  This was honestly one of the most compelling movies I’ve seen in a long time.  Truly a great piece of storytelling.
• Great casting.  And yes, I say this even though Justin Timberlake plays a supporting role LOL!  He’s actually really great in it.  And Jesse Eisenberg could not fit the “Zuckerberg” role better.  He nailed it – at least it sure seems that way from what I’ve read about the real guy.  I enjoyed the fact that they didn’t cast anyone who people would flock to see and just choose actors that really fit the roles well.  There was a very strong sense that the characters were real people.  There wasn’t a good guy vs. bad guy, it was more like a complicated moral dilemma in which every character was both right and wrong.  It made the story really fascinating.
• It was relevant.  I don’t think anyone can deny that the world has been changed by Facebook so the story of it’s creation is certainly one that holds a ton of interest in this day and age.

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT:

• Strong performances by the whole cast, especially from Annette Benning and Julianna Moore. Definitely a character driven movie.
• The story was a new twist on the complications of relationships, infidelity and the modern family.  I can appreciate the fact that they were trying to go out on a limb with making the central relationship between two women, but the story line still felt pretty unrealistic to me.  The trailer pitches it as a comedy, but be forewarned that it has some funny moments, but there’s a lot more depth to it than humor.  Such a big pet peeve of mine!  If you tell the audience they’re getting one thing and they end up with another, a few may be pleasantly surprised, but most will just be disappointed that it wasn’t what they expected.
• It’s nice that it earned an Oscar nod for being kinda edgy and topical.  However, I would say that it was a good movie, not a great one and I doubt it’s quite special enough to win Best Picture.