movie reviews

I’ve watched all ten of this past year’s Academy Award Best Picture nominees, so I’m going to rate them all for prospective viewers. (And I’ll try not to write reviews that give away the entire story.) It was hard to rank these against each other because entertainment comes in all different forms. That being said, here are my personal rankings from worst to first:

Up – I enjoyed the first 10 minutes, but it got a little dull for me after that. It touched on some interesting themes (especially the old man letting go of his past) but moment to moment it didn’t keep me entertained as any of these others. Grade – C+

Up In the Air – I saw this movie 18 years ago when it starred Eddie Murphy and was called Boomerang. It still kept me somewhat interested throughout, but some of the characters were caricatures, and that always lessens a movie for me. Grade – B-

Blind Side – There’s nothing wrong with a good old fashioned feel good movie. I enjoyed watching this one, and out of the nine movies, this came the closest to getting tears out of me (maybe I was just in a feel-good mood that night.) Although, even more than the story itself, the issue with the NCAA investigation (which only took up about five minutes of the movie) is something that has stayed on my mind ever since. Grade – B

An Education – Maybe it was a sign of the times (England 1961) but on one hand this movie shows us a very intelligent girl with Oxford aspirations (heavily fueled by her father), and on the other hand she is willing to make some big decisions based on very little information. It makes her seem very fickle, but that’s probably the point the author is trying to make about people and their ambitions and emotions. (So as you can see, it was a thought provoking movie.) Grade – B+

Avatar – I saw this one 14 years ago when it starred Will Smith and was called Independence Day. Nonetheless, the visual effects were incredible and make it worth watching. The plot is a tale as old as time, but was full of some very surprisingly explicit political statements. (I liked the score too (I don’t know what James Horner did before Glory, but some of his stuff sounds pretty similar to me. (which is fine)) (And I have thoughts on what Avatar 2 should be like.) Grade – B+

A Serious Man – I didn’t want to like this one. The Coen brothers seem to walk the fine line that separates being entertaining and thought provoking, from being too cryptic and pretentious. Fortunately, A Serious Man fell on the entertaining and thought provoking side. A Serious Man was certainly designed to be somewhat ambiguous, but a moral dilemma for the main character seemed to be present throughout. I enjoyed the filmmaking too: lots of cool camera angles and colors and transitions and music. Grade – A-

Precious – This would be the story of the guy in Blind Side if he was a girl and wasn’t good at football (but was just as big.) I would say that this movie didn’t pull any punches, except that the author actually said she had to pull some punches in order to make it into a film (which makes me curious about the book.) Precious was almost difficult to watch at times, but worth watching, and something that you’ll think about long after you’ve seen it. Grade – A-

District 9 – Maybe I am saying this because I don’t watch very much sci-fi – but this was by far the most unique of the bunch. I loved the story, loved the partial-documentary style presentation, loved the main character, and loved that it took place in Johannesburg. I think they could have spent a little more time developing the story towards the very beginning, but nonetheless, a very cool movie. Grade – A

Inglorious Basterds – Great drawn out scenes full of thoughtful dialogue and unique characters that really captured my attention. There were parts that made me laugh, and parts that made me cringe. The first Hitler scene is one of my all time favorites. I ranked this movie #1 at first when I first wrote this post, but switched it on my proofread. Grade – A+

Hurt Locker – Great movie. I think what I liked most about it was that the filmmakers didn’t try to do too much. They came out and explained the theme for the main character right away, and then developed it with a handful of focused scenes. And in doing so they made you think about the dilemmas of modern urban warfare, the dilemmas of war in general, and even the dilemmas faced by the ordinary man. Inglorious Basterds was more fun to watch, but I’ve found myself reflecting on this one a lot more. Grade – A+


*** Footnote -- I don't know anything about the business of filmmaking, but it certainly seems like the Academy has quite a bit of influence.