And the nominees for the Best Picture are...

With the Oscars nearing its date with the Kodak Theater everyone that enjoys the Hollywood realm is turning their eyes to the news and media outlets to get their latest information about the nominees and the films. As for myself with the the weeks having wound down to only one more, I am left having to go through a flurry of film watching with friends and family to make sure I know all the titles that will be appearing in the ceremony this weekend.

The ones that you could say are the 'most important' of the nominations is that of the 'Best Picture'. While I might give a simple rating when it comes to the movies I watch, I thought it might be nice to give a little more meat to that rating for those that might not have had a chance to watch these films.

Argo:

I might not have actually known anything about Iran Hostage Crisis, but this movie was really able to engage me while working through the steps that led up to the breaking point of the crisis. It gave you a very surreal feel about the animosity of the country towards Americans. Once it came out though, many people argued that it is a very 'Americanized' version of the crisis. So take it as you will, I will take the facts of this film with a grain of salt and just consider it a very good work of film as it is, not some historical reenactment.

 Django Unchained: 

Tarantino films have always had a little bit of starkness to their often hard to swallow form. You would be hard pressed to find someone that is unable to name an additional Tarantino film if they already like one of his movies. Django Unchained follows suit with this. You are transplanted into an era where slavery is rampant among the nation and a recently 'freed' slave is working with a bounty hunter. You get to see a collective collage of excepts from their time together over the winter, but the real meat of the story comes out when Django and Dr. Schultz are trying to get Django's wife from another slave owner. The grit of some of this movie is hard to watch when Tarantino showcased his ability to make gore realistic enough to make even me turn my head away some.

 Les Misérables

With a penchant for musicals, I had my doubts about what this movie rendition could possibly do in comparison to the likes of the stage variation. Even more so was the fact that they were letting the 'actors' sing live. While watching it though, all of that dissolved. It was a beautiful rendition, and the actors were able to call forth a lot of the emotion that is found with their stage comparisons. It made me cry just like the stage version does, so if you are looking for an emotional film, by all means take the time to see Les Misérables.

Life of Pi:

Life of Pi transplants the viewer into the life of Pi Patel. Imagine you are on a ship with your entire family trying to find a new home in Canada from India, now quickly swipe that entire image away due to a shipwreck. Once you do that you are properly in Pi's shoes. You get to see the struggle of making it into a life boat along with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra, and a Bengal tiger over the passing hours. Without going too much into the immediate pieces after this I will tell you that it is a beautiful story along with some of the best shots I've seen in a movie for quite some time. If you liked movies like Castaway where most of the dialogue is the single actor on this journey, I'm sure you will enjoy this film.

 Lincoln:

I didn't expect this film to be so....interesting? I guess you could say. I love historical films when it is about history I find interesting, but something about the last couple months of Lincoln's life didn't sound appealing to me. I was quickly absorbed into the story and the family life that seemed tumultuous at times considering his wife wanting to keep their eldest son out of the war due to a previous son's death. It takes you through history that you may or may not know, but all of it is leading up to the changing of the law to abolish slavery once and for all. His final act before his untimely death at the Ford Theater.

 Silver Linings Playbook:

This is very surprising to me that this film is in the Best Picture category, that is not me saying that it is a bad movie though. I've never seen a film that is RomCom material almost as a nominee before so it caught me off guard. That being said it is a very good film since it explores some of the darker mental health side, most of this arising due to the fact that they had to deal with some heavy personal issues from the start so that lets the viewer get more of a feel for two main stars of this film. Jennifer Lawerence and Bradley Cooper played their parts very well and made for some quirky chemistry that I didn't believe would pan out very well at the beginning, in the end I was cheering for them.

 Zero Dark Thirty:

Zero Dark Thirty is another one of those films that got a lot of flack for being the 'Americanized' version of a piece of history since we are namely seeing it from out side of the camera. Beyond that though you get to watch the steps taken by agents to get intel from prisons after the 9/11 attacks. It was an interesting story for the most part since you got to see the lead actress take herself through a number of dangerous situations to find and eliminate Osama bin Laden. Working off a lead she had acquired over the years before she is able to give the correct location for where he has been hiding out. Ultimately it plays out in an outline of what most American's know as fact due to the news.






There are two films I have yet to see in the Best Picture category so I can't really go into detail about those...aside from maybe the reason why I haven't had a chance to watch them. The people that I like to typically watch films with apparently don't like crying and since both movies have mentioned a little bit of tear shed from audience members those are a no-go with them. Once I am able to catch them later this week I'll be sure to update about them.