As I wrote the reviews I did for the 9 Best Picture contenders for the Academy Awards show tomorrow, I was stuck by a kind of odd fact. As much of a movie fan as I am, I have never seen all the Best Picture nominees before. Whether there were five or 10, I had never watched them all yet I always had opinions on which movie deserved the award. I can remember quite vividly that I was incredibly upset when Forrest Gump won all the awards that should have rightfully gone to Pulp Fiction. Then, well after the awards, I sat down and watched Forrest Gump and I had to admit (God Damnit) that it was a great movie and deserved of all the celebration. Still I had never seen them all in any given year. I’ve come very close a few times through the years. This year I made a vow to see all 9 before the Oscar broadcast. I barely made it, but I did see all 9 of them. I came to a odd but certainly not unexpected result. The 9 motion pictures nominated were all great movies. Yet there can be only one winner so I have to break them down one more time and choose a winner. Hence Part 10: The Showdown of the Best Pictured...
I will count them down... as I see them... in order of most unlikely to the eventual Best Picture.
9. Nebraska - While a fine movie, which highlights the bothersome time in your life when you grow old and people stop trusting you can take care of yourself, Nebraska just doesn’t have the juice to win this race. In a tightly packed race, Nebraska is the least likely I see of having a shot.
8. Philomena - Again a movie that has tremendous heart and the ability to pull the heartstrings of the angriest most heartless man. It has a great hook to bring in Oscar voters. Judi Dench will sway most people to the greatness of the movie but while a movie about a mother searching for her stolen and sold to adoptive parents son is like putting cat nip in the crazy cat lady’s house, the race is too close to call which leaves a movie that is great but not world changing will most likely be overlooked.
7. Her - Again this falls into a great movie that is perhaps even better than the big nominees, it is simply too small a movie to be taken seriously. The oddness of the story also leads to people not considering it a worthwhile choice. This movie is the Best Picture I saw all year but this is not about my opinions. It is what the Academy will do and they have been particularly annoying in overlooking movies that don’t fit their mold. Her is a game changer of a movie but that in and of itself takes it out of contention.
6. Captain Phillips - This movie seems like an obvious choice. Smart and emotional. A tale that tells the plight of an American hero and a social issue like the plight of the Somali people which force them to take action as pirates. This movie was Oscar bait the moment they wrapped the movie. But Tom Hanks is not nominated. The director Paul Greengrass was not nominated. Barkhad Abdi was nominated but in a category he has no chance of winning (though he should). This tells me that the Academy wants to honor it as a great movie but really just the honor of a nomination more than the honor of a gold naked man.
5. American Hustle - I liked the movie but it has little of the fun and joy that radiated from Silver Linings Playbook had last year. I just think this movie is a little smug and feels it deserves the honor more than it actually earning it. It isn’t the only one...I just have to hope that the Academy knows it as well.
4. Dallas Buyers Club - This movie has two awards basically sewn up. Jared Leto will win for Best Supporting Actor (but as he was playing a transgendered man, shouldn’t we honor her character as Best Supporting Actress.) Matthew McConaghey also seems to have sewn up the Best Actor win according to all the posts and deservedly so. This movie has some Best Picture staples too... though kind of offensively so. It has a character dying of AIDS, it tells a great story and there is a touching story of a gay character as well. I would love to say that this is the Best Picture winner but it doesn’t seem like it will be. Dallas Buyers Club could have won in a less stacked year but this year there are too many Great Pictures let alone a Best Picture. It certainly is in the top 5 and that is pretty damned impressive.
3. The Wolf of Wall Street - We’ve entered the realm of possibility. Up until now we’ve been dealing with great movies that cannot win. As you get to The Wolf of Wall Street, you find that there is little people can find wrong with the movie. Let me point out a few. It is a non redemptive movie where the characters are the same at the end of the movie as they are at the beginning. It also involves a 1 percenter getting away with horrible crimes in the face of overwhelming evidence. Sadly it is directed by a legend (Martin Scorsese) and starring someone the Academy feels they owe. That is why I even ranked it this far up. I just hope that the Academy can look past the Scorsese effect and the Leonardo DiCaprio really deserves a win attitude and realizes that in a pack of great this was just good.
2. Gravity - This movie has changed movies in general. Not in the storytelling and smart way that Her did but in the way films are gonna be looked at. The visual effects and acting allows you to look past a blah story and a some hokey moments. I swear if George Clooney comes back at the perfect time one more time I will die of smugness. Yet this movie seems to have legs and the Academy likes it. The Best Picture race is too close to call but since I have to, I choose the only movie I felt was required viewing...
1. 12 Years a Slave - This movie is so good. It tells a story that you should see and want to see. I know the fear that a lot of people have but seriously this movie is not about casting blame but about telling an truly horrific period of our history. That could also work against it. Gravity is a heroes story while 12 Years a Slave tells a story that could bum people out. It shouldn’t be viewed that way but I think it might be. Of all 9 movies, I will say 12 Years a Slave is the Best of the bunch that have a chance. I’m still rooting for Her but 12 Years is the only other movie that accomplished the task of proving to me that it was one of the best pictures ever.
I will count them down... as I see them... in order of most unlikely to the eventual Best Picture.
9. Nebraska - While a fine movie, which highlights the bothersome time in your life when you grow old and people stop trusting you can take care of yourself, Nebraska just doesn’t have the juice to win this race. In a tightly packed race, Nebraska is the least likely I see of having a shot.
8. Philomena - Again a movie that has tremendous heart and the ability to pull the heartstrings of the angriest most heartless man. It has a great hook to bring in Oscar voters. Judi Dench will sway most people to the greatness of the movie but while a movie about a mother searching for her stolen and sold to adoptive parents son is like putting cat nip in the crazy cat lady’s house, the race is too close to call which leaves a movie that is great but not world changing will most likely be overlooked.
7. Her - Again this falls into a great movie that is perhaps even better than the big nominees, it is simply too small a movie to be taken seriously. The oddness of the story also leads to people not considering it a worthwhile choice. This movie is the Best Picture I saw all year but this is not about my opinions. It is what the Academy will do and they have been particularly annoying in overlooking movies that don’t fit their mold. Her is a game changer of a movie but that in and of itself takes it out of contention.
6. Captain Phillips - This movie seems like an obvious choice. Smart and emotional. A tale that tells the plight of an American hero and a social issue like the plight of the Somali people which force them to take action as pirates. This movie was Oscar bait the moment they wrapped the movie. But Tom Hanks is not nominated. The director Paul Greengrass was not nominated. Barkhad Abdi was nominated but in a category he has no chance of winning (though he should). This tells me that the Academy wants to honor it as a great movie but really just the honor of a nomination more than the honor of a gold naked man.
5. American Hustle - I liked the movie but it has little of the fun and joy that radiated from Silver Linings Playbook had last year. I just think this movie is a little smug and feels it deserves the honor more than it actually earning it. It isn’t the only one...I just have to hope that the Academy knows it as well.
4. Dallas Buyers Club - This movie has two awards basically sewn up. Jared Leto will win for Best Supporting Actor (but as he was playing a transgendered man, shouldn’t we honor her character as Best Supporting Actress.) Matthew McConaghey also seems to have sewn up the Best Actor win according to all the posts and deservedly so. This movie has some Best Picture staples too... though kind of offensively so. It has a character dying of AIDS, it tells a great story and there is a touching story of a gay character as well. I would love to say that this is the Best Picture winner but it doesn’t seem like it will be. Dallas Buyers Club could have won in a less stacked year but this year there are too many Great Pictures let alone a Best Picture. It certainly is in the top 5 and that is pretty damned impressive.
3. The Wolf of Wall Street - We’ve entered the realm of possibility. Up until now we’ve been dealing with great movies that cannot win. As you get to The Wolf of Wall Street, you find that there is little people can find wrong with the movie. Let me point out a few. It is a non redemptive movie where the characters are the same at the end of the movie as they are at the beginning. It also involves a 1 percenter getting away with horrible crimes in the face of overwhelming evidence. Sadly it is directed by a legend (Martin Scorsese) and starring someone the Academy feels they owe. That is why I even ranked it this far up. I just hope that the Academy can look past the Scorsese effect and the Leonardo DiCaprio really deserves a win attitude and realizes that in a pack of great this was just good.
2. Gravity - This movie has changed movies in general. Not in the storytelling and smart way that Her did but in the way films are gonna be looked at. The visual effects and acting allows you to look past a blah story and a some hokey moments. I swear if George Clooney comes back at the perfect time one more time I will die of smugness. Yet this movie seems to have legs and the Academy likes it. The Best Picture race is too close to call but since I have to, I choose the only movie I felt was required viewing...
1. 12 Years a Slave - This movie is so good. It tells a story that you should see and want to see. I know the fear that a lot of people have but seriously this movie is not about casting blame but about telling an truly horrific period of our history. That could also work against it. Gravity is a heroes story while 12 Years a Slave tells a story that could bum people out. It shouldn’t be viewed that way but I think it might be. Of all 9 movies, I will say 12 Years a Slave is the Best of the bunch that have a chance. I’m still rooting for Her but 12 Years is the only other movie that accomplished the task of proving to me that it was one of the best pictures ever.
***
This year really has some good movies. I feel there are some bad movies (The Wolf Of Wall Street is the one I’m looking at) and some movies that I don’t think have the juice to win (Nebraska, Philomena and sadly Her). I would have loved to see the powerful and emotional “Fruitvale Station” get nominated but it seems like it was just flat out ignored. American Hustle, Gravity and Dallas Buyers Club are great films in and of themselves for different reasons but it isn’t Best Picture by Scorsese or Best Picture that used innovative effects. It is the Best Picture of 2013.
Mr. Unhappy sez: That movie is 12 Years a Slave.
No comments:
Post a Comment