82nd Annual Academy Awards

The Oscars are in less than a week!!! Yay!!! I have often said that the Oscars are my Super Bowl. I could not care less about the actual Super Bowl - whether or not my home team is involved - it just has NO meaning to me. Films, however, are an entirely different ballgame (pun!). I remember Tim and Jean (my brother and his wife) getting really into the Oscars years ago, and I didn't really "get" it. I liked movies back then, but I would only see a few of the films that were nominated in time for the awards, due to their ratings and not yet being uber obsessed with movies. I think I started getting into the Oscars for the same reason most female viewers watch: fashion. I loved seeing the beautiful gowns and fashion faux pas.

A painfully long history: I fell in love with movies while I was at BYU in 2002. I went out to Utah as the owner of about 10 VHS tapes. I came home 2 semesters later with 1.5 large Rubbermaid containers full of videos. I attribute this obsession to the following factors: 1)having very cheap rentals at a location within walking distance, 2)having a TV/VCR combo in my dorm room, 3)being homesick and preferring to eat delicious salad wraps while watching a movie every afternoon in my room rather than spending that time studying, 4)having a $1 movie theater within walking distance and friends who would walk there with me, 5)Big Daddy's Buy/Sell/Trade video/DVD store - a charming little store with a bumper sticker on the door that read: "Who's your Daddy? I am. I spanked your Mother last night", and 6)the declining price of VHS at that time. DVDs were just starting to be really affordable and were taking the place of VHS rapidly. I saw this as my opportunity to buy a TON of movies for very little money. And boy did I seize that opportunity! My obsession/collection grew when I came home from BYU. I bought hundreds of videos. I bought them from local rental stores that couldn't get rid of them fast enough, from my Uncle Burt who was replacing his entire VHS collection with David's, and I bought a lot from Half.com. Of course VHS was a dead format and I eventually had to sell my collection for much less than what I had paid for them, but I eased the pain and disappointment by buying hundreds of DVDs. I now own about 700 DVDs. I haven't bought any in a very long time now that we have another method of watching movies, but I still watch movies from my DVD collection often.

About 3 years ago I started really getting into the Oscars for reasons beyond fashion. I started watching the nominees that were available before the awards show, but not obsessively. Last year is when I started obsessing over seeing every movie nominated for Best Picture, and whatever I could get my hands on for the other categories. I did pretty well last year, and it made watching the awards show SO much more fun! It kind of ruins it if you only see a few of them, because you can't fairly judge what is "best". Not that my opinion means anything to the people who actually get to vote for the winners, but it's still fun. So I did well last year, but I had a bunch that I had to watch in the months following the awards when they were more available.

February 2nd was the day they announced the nominees for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards - aka: my "NFL Draft Pick" day. I was super excited to read the list of nominees, and to see that I had already seen a handful of them. I was surprised to see that they nominated 10 films for Best Picture because they don't usually nominate that many. On February 2nd I had only seen 2 out of 10 of those films. Thanks to a buttload of snow and some leaked screener DVDs for films that have not yet been officially released to the public, I have now seen 9 out of 10, plus many films that were nominated for other awards (Best Actor/Actress/Soundtrack/Animation, etc.). The only Best Picture nominee I have not yet seen is "Avatar" and that's only because I was trying to hold out to see it in the theater. Now that I'm down to 1 week, I realize that I'm going to have to watch it at home instead. So I am positive that by next Sunday I will have seen all of the major films! This probably sounds very stupid to a lot of you, but in that case you're probably the type of person who cares about the Super Bowl, so you can shove it. Let me have my 1 day of the year to be a total movie nerd and be obsessive.

Now I'm going to give my reviews for the 2010 nominated films that I have watched. I assure you that I am not doing this to be self indulgent, but because a few people have actually requested my opinions (a big shout out to Mallory! woot woot!). The rest of you should stop reading and go check the stats for whatever "big game" is on right now. Go ahead.

Best Picture:

Avatar- (I will come back to this one after i watch it this week)

The Blind Side- Pretty much what I expected. Another "inspirational" sports story. The whole sports thing obviously didn't draw me in, but it had good parts. It was a nice family-friendly film. Definitely not the best film of the year, although I fear it has a chance of winning.
My rating: C+

District 9- I really liked this movie! It was unique, kept my interest the entire time, had funny accents, and was just very well made. While I liked it a lot, I don't see it winning best picture simply for the fact that it probably does not appeal to as many people as some of the other nominees.
My rating: A

An Education- I liked this one. It was different. It kept my interest for most of the time, although it started to lose me a little about 3/4 of the way through. Overall, I liked it, but I wouldn't say it was the best picture of 2010.
My rating: B

The Hurt Locker- I had no desire to watch this movie before the nominee list was released, but I realized that I would have to watch it to make my goal. I'm glad I watched it. It was different than what I had expected, in a good way. But I still didn't love it. And I don't think it should win.
My rating: B+

Inglourious Basterds- This is another one that I didn't really want to see. I gave up on Tarantino after I watched Kill Bill I & II. He uses so much graphic violence in his movies, and while he often does it in a comical way, it's just too much for me most of the time. It makes me cringe. But again, because it was nominated I "had to" watch it. I'm actually glad I watched it. I had to look away a lot. It was definitely Tarantino-style violence. But the story was fun to follow, and the acting was really good. I'm not referring to Brad Pitt: in my opinion, his role could have been played by pretty much any decent actor and the movie would have been equally good. I enjoyed the foreign actors way more than him. I'm not hating on Brad - I just think that his character wasn't as central to the plot as I had thought it would be. I don't think this movie is for everyone, especially with the violence, and that might be what keeps it from winning. I knew I liked this movie because I was interrupted from watching it 3 times, and every time I couldn't wait to get back to it and find out what happens.
My rating: A

Precious- Great movie! I remember seeing the preview in the theater months ago and thinking, "Wow, that looks really depressing." And it was. It was very uncomfortable to watch. But it was also an amazing look into this realistic life. I think the acting was amazing, especially Mo'Nique. And while it was heavy, I didn't walk away wanting to kill myself afterwards. (Wow, is that a good review or what? "I didn't walk away wanting to kill myself afterwards." Someone should hire me...) I think this deserves to be in the running for best picture.
My rating: A+

A Serious Man- A seriously boring movie!! (I'm so witty, right?) I'm sure I am not the only person who gave it that review. I cannot for the life of me understand why this movie was nominated. It was quirky, I will give it that. I usually like movies that are quirky. But this one just didn't do anything for me. I didn't like a single character. The plot didn't go anywhere. I hated the ending. I just did not "get" it. Maybe it's because I'm not Jewish. (Before you start accusing me of anti-semitism, you should know that this entire movie involves a very Jewish theme with predominantly Jewish characters. I'm not just "dropping the hard J".) In summation: I kind of hated it. This film has no chance of winning the award. The only reason it kept my interest is because I kept waiting for it to get good.
My rating: D

Disney/Pixar's Up- I love this movie. I have seen it a few times now, and I cry every time within the first 10 minutes. It's a touching story with a lot of beautiful animation and music, it's funny, and I can have it on with the kids around. While I think this movie is absolutely one of the best of the year, I kind of have a problem with it being nominated for Best Picture when it is also nominated for Best Animated Film. I think they should have nominated it for one category or the other; not both.
My rating: A+

Up in the Air- I enjoyed this movie a lot. It was well made. I liked the characters. I liked the cinematography. I liked the realness of it. I like when movies have a plot that could easily be twisted into a terrible chick-flick type movie, but instead is crafted into a tasteful realistic movie that can be enjoyed by both men and women. That is exactly how I would describe this film. I think it deserves to be nominated, and maybe has a slight chance, but I don't think it will win.
My rating: A

My pick to win Best Picture: (I will have to decide after I see "Avatar".)

Other films that were nominated in different categories:

Crazy Heart- I liked this one a lot. It had the realistic feel that I like, and it was very well acted. I'm generally not a fan of country music, but I enjoyed the music in the film. It's not the most clever or unique plot, but it was still a good story that kept my interest.
My rating: A-

Julie & Julia- This one was light and fun. It was enjoyable to watch, although I got a little bored 3/4 of the way through. Meryl Streep was wonderful, as usual. However, I don't think she deserved the Oscar for this performance over some of the other nominees.
My rating: B-

Invictus- (I am going to watch it this week)

The Messenger- This was pretty good. It was realistic - the dialogue and plot felt real, and there was no background music. It was pretty mellow, certainly not upbeat, but not really depressing either. Woody Harrelson was really good in his supporting role. It kept my interest the whole time.
My rating: B-

The Lovely Bones- I have to start by saying that I read this book last year and I loved the book - until I got to the end. I hated the last bit of the book. I think the movie did a better job with the ending. Of course the movie missed a lot of the details that were in the book, as all films based on books do. But I think they did a great job of covering all of the main points and most important details. They also did a great job conveying Suzy's alternate existence. The acting was really good - I love Saoirse Ronan (who played Suzy). I was nervous about the movie living up to the book, but I think this one did.
My rating: A

Nine- I was not familiar with this musical at all before watching the movie. From what I know of Broadway musicals, it seems like they did a good job of converting the stage show to a film. But I didn't love it. The music didn't grab me the way a lot of Broadway music does. I enjoyed the musical numbers, and I thought Daniel Day-Lewis was really good, but overall the film didn't pull me in. Penelope Cruz is nominated for best supporting actress, which I don't really understand. Her acting didn't stand out to me as being Oscar-worthy. If anyone deserved the nomination it was Marion Cotillard. Still, I don't think anyone deserves the Oscar more than Mo'Nique for her role in "Precious".
My rating: C

In the Loop- This one was kind of over my head. It's a combination of British and American actors and accents with a political plot, and I found it hard to follow. I did find a lot of the dialogue funny, but overall it was just OK. I was excited to see Anna Chlumsky because I was always curious about what happened to her after the "My Girl" movies. Apparently she is alive and well, and is still acting. I also like the tall, skinny awkward-looking guy who is a new character on this season of "The Office".
My rating: C+

Coraline- I liked this movie...until I completely lost interest towards the end. I liked the look of it. It felt a lot darker than I had imagined going into it. It certainly was not an animated movie for children. I felt kind of uncomfortable with its darkness and I don't know exactly why. Maybe because it is animated and it feels like it should be lighter and happier than it is. I think I will watch it again and give it another chance.
My rating: C+

Fantastic Mr. Fox- I didn't know anything about this movie going into it. When I heard that it was animated, again I assumed that it was a kids movie. About 5 minutes into it I knew that it had to be a Wes Anderson film and that it was not aimed at children. Luckily, all of the would-be profanity was replaced with the word "cuss" - which was both funny and made it possible for me to watch the movie with Killian around. I loved the look of the movie. The characters and the animation were unique and colorful and fun. I liked the story. A lot of the voices were done by Wes Anderson's usual bunch - Jason Schwartzman, Own Wilson, and Bill Murray. It didn't keep my attention from beginning to end, but I can partially blame Killian for that.
My rating: B-

The Princess and the Frog- I was really excited when I found out that Disney was going to make a movie like the old classics. Out of all of the Oscar-nominated animated films, this is the one that was most intended for children, but I still don't think it's really appropriate for young kids. It has a subplot about voodoo and whenever that stuff comes up it's pretty creepy for young kids. I didn't hate the movie, but it definitely was not on par with the Disney classics of my childhood. The music wasn't as good, either.
My rating: C-

Sherlock Holmes- I hated this movie. i found it incredibly boring, especially for an action film. The dialogue was dull. It was more violent than it needed to be. It did not keep my interest. In fact, I only finished watching it so that it would count towards my goal, otherwise I would have abandoned it after 45 minutes. I think it was a waste of Robert Downey Jr.'s talent.
My rating: F

Star Trek- I am not into the Star Trek shows or older movies, but I wanted to see this movie enough to see it in the theater. And I wasn't disappointed. It was what I expected - an OK plot with good action and some cheesy humor.
My rating: B

I can't fairly judge who I think deserves Best Actor/Actress/Director/etc. because I have not seen all of the films that were involved in those nominations.

3 movies of 2009 that I think should have been nominated:

Moon- for Best Actor: Sam Rockwell, or for the Best Screenplay, or something.

Taken- I don't know what it should have been nominated for exactly. Maybe Most Kick-Ass? I guess that's not a category. Liam Neeson certainly didn't deserve an award for Best Accent Hiding.

Brothers- Tobey Maguire for Best Actor or Supporting Actor. I thought he was amazing in that role.


Ok, that's all of my reviews for now.

PS- My acceptance speech:
I would like to thank the Academy for making my obsessive movie watching possible. I want to thank my in-laws for taking Killian for 2 nights during the snow storm - the 2 nights when I watched the majority of these films - I couldn't have made it this far without you. I would also like to thank the man upstairs for the snow. This award goes to my parents for raising me with a TV and VCR and many available movies to watch every day while I ate my lunch. To Tim and Jean for your inspiring love of the Oscars. To Jay for watching some of the films with me and for never complaining about me taking over the good TV to make my goals come true. To my kids for napping and sleeping. And last but not least, to Mallory for caring. God bless.