Happiness For Blessing

This is the third year that I've reviewed all of the movies nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, but the first that I haven't dedicated a separate blog post to each one. I'm rather busy, what with the job and the upcoming baby and all. Oh, and did I mention that I now blog for a real website?

In any case, I did watch all 1o movies again and I've provided a short (in most cases) review for each one. In my opinion, this is one of the strongest years for nominees in recent memory, and I honestly liked all of them. The reviews, therefore, can sometimes take a negative tone, but that's because I'm nitpicking. I've ranked them all from #10 to #1 below. All you have to do is follow the jump.


10. Winter’s Bone 3.5/5

I’ve seen a lot of praise for this movie for accurately portraying the culture of methamphetamines in the Ozarks and how it turns people into animals. I agree with that. The setting is adequately drab and the actors did the best they could with the material, and there are some memorable scenes. The story, however, was entirely forgettable and not quite the world-changing narrative some would have you believe. I also took great issue with the way the children are treated as props instead of characters. There was a great opportunity to further humanize Ree, and by extension, Teardrop, but instead we are treated to occasional shots of the seemingly nameless kids playing on their trampoline. It was easy to sympathize with Ree based on the principle of her desire to raise her siblings properly, but not because of any sort of character development. Truly the only movie on the list I wouldn’t necessarily recommend to anybody.

9. The Kids Are All Right 3.5/5

What should have been a wonderfully touching statement about a family overcoming conflict was marred by two things: (1) Having ½ of a lesbian couple have an affair with a man perpetuated the stereotype that all gays are just straight people who are fooling themselves or living a lie, and (2) Having the conflict in a marriage manifest itself in an affair was an incredibly obvious and boring choice. I did think the ending was ultimately redeeming, while a tad bit cheesy, but not enough to cover the flaws present. Still, I think it’s worth a look.

8. The Fighter 4/5

The Academy loves boxing movies. The format allows for plenty of drama and commentary on the strength of the individual fighting spirit. The Fighter is no different, and it is a quality movie that manages to be about more than just boxing. Christian Bale is nothing short of amazing as Mickey’s cocaine-addicted half-brother, and his performance helps sell the family-oriented storyline, but what he brings to the table the gaggle of sisters takes away in equal measure. Their roles are lazily written and performed. They play the role of the unnecessary, annoying villain. It’s really a shame, because otherwise The Fighter had a chance to be mentioned among the great movies in a rich genre. As it is, I think it’s merely a pretty good movie.

7. True Grit 4/5

The Coen Brothers are often criticized for the endings of their movies. I am a noted supported of the Coens and have defended some of their more maligned endings (No Country for Old Men and A Serious Man) in the past, but I thought this time that the narrative framing device using Mattie Ross as an older woman was lazy and made an interesting character pretty unlikeable. The strong performances of several actors plus the fast-paced, witty dialogue made this an enjoyable flick, but I thought the story itself was formulaic and ultimately forgettable. It’s one of the better westerns in recent years, which I’m afraid is more an indictment of the genre than praise for the movie.

6. Black Swan 4/5

Just as The Fighter isn’t really a boxing movie, Black Swan isn’t really a ballet movie. Natalie Portman plays a ballerina who must make the transition from a dancer who possesses technical skill but must learn to dance with feeling, and gets lost in the role along the way. The result is a psychological thriller, one that culminates in a brilliant final sequence. While I did appreciate the parallelism between the story and the story within the story, I found the execution to be a little heavy-handed. Director Darren Aronofsky relies a little too much on horror clichés, such as Portman’s reflection not responding correctly (this actually happens twice, just in case you missed it the first time). Portman’s character has a “pure” personality and wears white; her foil has a bad girl attitude with a tattoo to match and wears black. This film is still very good and a must-see, but the excessive hand-holding places it outside the top tier of movies on the list this year.

5. The Social Network 4.5/5

How do you make a movie about a couple of lawsuits over intellectual property compelling without resorting to unnecessary courtroom theatrics? By focusing on the character development (or lack thereof) of a genuinely interesting person. Telling the story through flashbacks with the depositions as a framing device is effective as well. The Social Network is characterized by sharp wit and a penetrating look at a boy millionaire who has no friends and a million friends all at once. David Fincher has an excellent sense of pacing and does a great job of keeping the story moving. My quibble is with the unnecessary storyline with Eduardo’s crazy girlfriend. It seemed that the only purpose of exploring this relationship was to put a clip of a girl setting things on fire in the trailer, and that really bothered me. Otherwise, I thought it was a great character study that didn’t try to do too much but still accomplished quite a bit.

4. Toy Story 3 5/5

I love Pixar movies, so it’s not an insult for me to say that Toy Story 3 is probably third on my list of favorites produced by the studio (behind Up and Finding Nemo). However, I’ve found that whenever I mention this to people, they’re shocked I haven’t placed it immediately at Spot Number One. Toy Story 3 is probably the best of the Toy Story trilogy (again, high praise) and it had a great emotional impact on me, I’m not sure it belongs in the All-Time category. Like so many other Pixar masterpieces, it takes advantage of the medium and tells stories that wouldn’t be the same in live action. Toy Story 3 goes deeper than other animated movies dare to go, and the result isn’t sugarcoated, but somehow the ending is happy. That’s a hard line to walk. Have I praised the movie enough yet? My nitpicks with the movie have to do with some of the new characters. I didn’t think the Ken storyline was particularly compelling or funny, and I found Lotso to be a just a tad bit on the shallow side as a villain. Still, I hate that this movie will not be seriously considered as a contender because it’s animated. One of these days Pixar will win, and it won’t be because they finally made a good movie; it will be because their movies were finally accepted as legitimate. A year with several weak nominees will help, too.

3. The King’s Speech 5/5

The King’s Speech satisfies the Academy’s requirement that at least one nominee reference World War II, and specifically Hitler, but to saddle this movie with that distinction is really pretty unfair. Yes, the story revolves around the King of England’s ability to inspire solidarity among his countrymen at the outset of the war, but the focus is more on the King’s personal struggle than the implications for the common person, though I believe that side of the equation was handled very well. Most royal movies are epic and broad visually, but we never view the King from the point of view of the common man. Instead, when he stammers and stutters in the opening speech, the audience members are shown to be more embarrassed for the man than disappointed that they didn’t receive the inspiration they were searching for. The final triumph is far from perfect (which adds a sense of realism, by the way), but just the same the victory belongs to King George VI and his instructor Logue as much as it does the people, which I believe was the best way to handle this story. It’s the relationship between Logue and “Bertie” that keeps this story afloat, and Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush definitely have the chops to keep it interesting.

2. 127 Hours 5/5

I had incredibly low expectations going into this one, so that may have skewed my view of this movie, but I think I would have loved it anyway. My low expectations were due to my perception of the story as unwatchable. It takes 10 seconds to describe the real-life story (a guy goes hiking, gets his hand stuck, and has to cut it off to survive), and somehow Danny Boyle, who himself described the challenge of making this film by saying, “It’s an action film about a guy who can’t move,” made the story compelling for 94 minutes. He accomplished that by focusing only on the necessary elements of story and making quick cuts (the fantastic performance of James Franco helps, too). In addition, Boyle uses the real life video that Ralston himself shot as an inspiration and frames the narrative quite well. I also enjoyed the way he used the split-screen, something that bothered me when the film first started but which I quickly grew to appreciate. I love it when a director pushes the boundaries of what the art-form is capable of communicating without unnecessary flourish, and Boyle walked that line perfectly here. One more note: I love the authenticity. They actually filmed several scenes in the actual spot where the incident happened. This story from The Guardian featuring an interview with Aron Ralston further illustrates just how realistic the depiction was.

1. Inception 5/5

Inception is a summer blockbuster. It is epic in scope, was quite popular when it was released, has tons of special effects (though even less CGI than Christopher Nolan’s previous project, The Dark Knight), and it requires a massive suspension of disbelief to enjoy. In the months following its release, much was made of the ambiguous ending and of the complex rules that govern the world of the film. I believe that all of this has contributed to the backlash that Inception has seen in the popular culture.

I just don’t see it. This film is an absolute achievement in filmmaking, both technically and in terms of storytelling. Repeated viewings show that the complexity goes beyond just the framework of the story arc. Various reviewers have posited that the film stands as an allegory for filmmaking itself, while others suggest that Nolan was commenting more on relationship issues (compare the similarities between the relationships of Cobb and Mal, Fischer and his father, and lastly Cobb and his children). I believe one of the true marks of good art is that multiple interpretations of the same work are considered valid, and obviously this applies to the ending here as well.

I’d like to say something about the soundtrack. I noticed the soundtracks of most of the films nominated this year were very well done. If I had given myself more time and space and I was a proper reviewer I would probably be remiss if I didn’t mention the music in every single one of the movies here. I’ve come to the conclusion that the soundtrack is truly the “secret sauce” that will often elevate a movie from good to great. The music in Inception is outstanding. It complements the futuristic yet nostalgic setting of both the real world and the dream worlds perfectly. I believed that before I watched this video, and now I believe it even more, if that’s possible.

Let’s be honest with each other. I looked for a reason not to rank this movie #1. For a while I considered putting #2 on top, and truthfully I wouldn’t be upset a bit if it won. My motivation for looking to knock this film down a peg was the perception among cinephiles that Inception represents a dumbed down version of cinema that the “common people” enjoy, and if the plebes like it, something must be wrong with it. Usually, I’m actually one of those people. That Two and a Half Men is the most popular comedy on TV really, really bothers me. I consider most of the music on popular radio to be absolutely unlistenable. That doesn’t mean that a popular piece of art can’t be great, though, and I believe that’s the case here. Inception is a masterpiece, plain and simple, and it’s my pick for Best Picture of 2010.