User blog:Radical M/The Top Ten... er, Nine Oscar Best Picture Nominees

It's the return of my old blog series The Top Ten... er, Nine. I had to cut it down one place because in this case, there are only nine movies to rank. Because today, I'm going to rank all nine Academy Award Best Picture nominees in order from the worst to the best.

Before we start, I'd like to point out that I think that all of these movies are good (not necessarily great, but they are all good). Even #9 would probably be worth your time, so don't think I didn't like a movie because it's low on the list. With that in mind, let's begin the rankings.

9. Beasts of the Southern Wild



As I stated above, this movie is still good despite being last on the list. However, it's not for everyone and it does have a few glaring flaws. For those of you who don't know, the movie is about a little girl who lives with her father behind a levee when a terrible flood hits their backwater neighborhood. You might also hear some bullshit about "the girl using her imagination to free them all" but that's completely left out or terribly explained in the movie. The most obvious is the camera shots. They move around a lot and seem to have very little focus. Overall, they just seem lazy and can be very distracting. Also, the girl, who is the main lead, who was also nominated for Best Actress, was not all that impressive and doesn't deserve the win for Best Actress. She barely talks the entire movie, only with a couple voiceovers. These voiceovers a re a little strange and they sound too prolific to be coming from a 9-year-old girl raised on the bayou, but I guess they are supposed to show how "imaginative" she is, so I'll let that slide. The father, however, deserves a nomination for himself. I know a lot of great actors are nominated this year, but this guy holds up against all of them, in my opinion. I think he pretty much makes the movie. The bayou is a nice location to shoot and it's interesting to see life from the people living there. The greatest thing about this movie is the relationship between the girl and the father. The entire time I just wanted to see them talking. It's a really emotional relationship between a father who's trying to take care of his daughter, but can't because of a condition he has. He wants to do everything he can to make sure she's safe. The ending's pretty predictable, but it's still moving. I crie errytime.

Rating: 7.5/10

8. Zero Dark Thirty



Let me just start off by saying that whatever you heard about this movie is probably not true. The movie is about a woman's search for the hiding place of Osama bin Laden and (SPOILER ALERT) his eventual killing. The movie has been described as original and intense. I will tell you now that it is neither of these things. The main character is a generic female character. She's sensitive, but she wants to be a REAL CIA AGENT, so she acts tough on the outside, making her independent. Then throughout the movie, her character takes an odd turn and becomes (Kiddies don't read ahead) a huge bitch. She basically makes everyone's life a living hell and always asserts that she is right despite if she has proof or not. I guess this is supposed to show how searching for bin Laden has affected her, but it doesn't make her any bit likable. She also gets some generic cheesy lines too and smart quips to show that she's as tough as the guys. Don't make me barf. Her actress, Jessica Chastain, is another Best Actress nominee that didn't prove to me why she was nominated. She seemed really mediocre to me and dare I even say it, bad. And to people who think this movie is intense, give me a break. The entire movie is a borefest with some cool moments in between. That brings me to the good points. The action scenes, while albeit short and in-between, are great. The sound effects in this movie are so realistic that they'll give you a mini heart attack everytime. The raid on bin Laden's compound, as you've probably heard, is easily the best scene. There are other good points too, like some of the other actors are good (although their characters probably either die off or disappear, so don't enjoy them too much) and it is cool to see these historical events recreated, especially ones that all of us would be familiar with. It's also cool to see how years of searching for bin Laden affects Chastain's character (I don't remember her name :P). Anyway, this movie turns out to just be an overglorified action movie, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just not what you'd expect from an Oscar-nominated movie.

Rating: 7.5/10

7. Amour



The title sounds nice, but when you think about it, if this movie had been made in America, it would have just been named "Love." Who would see a movie named "Love?" But I digress, Amour is a great, but slow-starting movie. Let me tell you know, this movie gets pretty boring. The movie is about an old man who has to take care of his wife who has suffered from a stroke. The movie tries to show how hard it is for these two people, and by God, it wants to show it. The first hour of the movie is just switching between scenes of him having trouble taking care of her and scenes of dialogue. Which isn't bad... some of the scenes are very effective. But by the end of the hour, you start to wonder if that's all this movie is. Luckily, it isn't. As her condition starts to worsen, so does the old man's life, and the ending is definitely worth the patience you've put into the movie. It's really moving and it definitely deserves its title. And the scenes preceding it really DO show how hard it is living with a person with a condition like this. It's actually frightening at times. But at others, it's just slowly-paced and you wish something else would happen. A few scenes drag out to a strange length and plenty of them could have been omitted. But if you think you are patient enough, I definitely recommend it. You see a lot of how troubling it is to live with someone with this condition and the ending is a HUGE pay-off.

Rating: 8/10

6. Lincoln



Okay, this is where it starts getting hard to choose. The next six movies are fantastic, and I highly recommend them. This goes for Lincoln especially. The movie focuses on the sixteenth President, Abraham Lincoln, in the final months of his life as he tries to get the Thirteenth Amendment passed by the House of Representatives. If you are not very interested in this topic, then you're like me, but I tried to look past that and enjoy this movie. And for the most part, I did. I find it interesting the stress in securing the votes to pass the Amendment. It is truly interesting, but if you don't have a love for history, it may get boring at times. That's just me, though. The movie shows this scuffle for votes in a perfectly executed manner. We even get to know some of the voters personally and see why they're voting the way that they are. The strong point of this movie for me, and I think for most people, is because of the characterization of Lincoln, portrayed perfectly by Daniel Day-Lewis. Day-Lewis gets everything perfect. The look, the voice, the humor, and the seriousness of Lincoln is all here in full force. It's such an interesting historical figure that it works as the leading character of a film. The scenes that focus on Lincoln just have you fixated on the man just like you assume the real Lincoln must have. The sets and costumes are amazing too. Other actors do fantastic like Tommy Lee Jones and Joseph Gordon Levitt (whose performance I feel was underrated, although he was not in the movie that long). Really, the only reason this movie ranks so low is because it's not my type of film. Even then, I enjoyed it immensely. It's a hard pick, but although Lincoln is a hugely interesting character portrayed perfectly, the moment of his life they chose to represent may not be a particularly interesting one, depending on your interest of Lincoln.

Rating: 9/10

5. Les Miserables



In retrospect, this movie probably has more flaws than Lincoln, but in my effeminate manner, it's just more my type of movie, and that's why it's higher on the list. The movie is based on the musical of the same name. The movie features Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who changes his ways and becomes a mayor. Police inspector Javert is searching for Valjean, and after Valjean agrees to take care of a little girl named Cosette, the two are on the run. I'm a musical theater kind of guy, so this is just my thing. Yes, it's true that they do sing the entire movie, but honestly, it was only during the last 15 minutes that it started becoming grating to me. The whole time... to be honest, I forgot they were singing. It just seemed normal to me after a while. Many people have criticized the singing, but I didn't see a problem with it. Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, and even Amanda Seyfried, along with the other supporting characters, are very good singers in my opinion. The only singer I don't think holds up is... well, you've probably heard by now... Russell Crowe. Yeah, it's pretty true. Even acting wise, he's not very good in this movie. His (SPOILER ALERT) suicide scene is probably the most boring scene in the movie, when it should be the most dramatic. Sacha Baron Cohen is not a very good singer either, but he really isn't supposed to be. He's comic relief and he fits the role perfectly. The romance is moving, although it's kind of one of those Disney romances, that just happens in seconds. I think this movie gets away with stuff like that pretty well, considering it's a musical. And I don't know whether that's a positive thing or a negative thing, but I guess that's a personal thing. I personally loved it, and I recommend a view, as long as you're cool with 2 and a half hours of singing.

Rating: 9/10

4. Argo




 * Le gasp* You mean... this WASN'T the best movie you saw? No, but it was still FANTASTIC. I guess the reason I don't love this movie as much as everyone else is because it doesn't seem that original. I mean, the idea is, but the execution has been done before. The movie is about a CIA agent who tries to get six US Embassy members out of Iran, using the cover of a badly-written sci-fi epic. That seems original enough, and yeah, it is. But the last couple of scenes when they're in the airport just seem like a bunch of action scenes we've seen before. They call the guys out for being Americans, but then they talk they're way out of it right before the plane talks off. The security notices their mistake and drives after the plane just as it's taking off. Sadly enough, these scenes are really intense. They are better than any of the scenes in Zero Dark Thirty and... I don't know, I'm kind of split. The idea of them getting chased at the last second is unrealistic and cheesy, but I guess Affleck pulls it off with his direction. Speaking of Affleck, the fact he's nominated for Best Actor but not Best Director makes absolutely no sense. His acting is not anything great in this movie, as is usually true with Affleck's acting. Not that he ruins the movie or anything, it's just not Best Actor material. John Goodman and Alan Arkin are fantastic in this movie and completely steal the show. The movie also is original in many cases. Being undercover as part of a scouting crew for a movie is not something people write most of their movies about. It's interesting, seeing the secret CIA plot, used in a completely new and original way. It's intense, it's original, but a few action movie cliches may or may not throw you off.

Rating: 9.5/10

3. Life of Pi



This movie is definitely an original, visually stunning masterpiece that shows the power of faith and friendship. It sounds generic as hell, but trust me, it's great. The movie is about an Indian boy named Pi who gets stranded on a lifeboat with his tiger, Richard Parker, after the ship he was on with his family sinks. He has to learn to get along with Richard Parker, so that they both can live. First of all, no matter how many times you tell yourself that Richard Parker is not real, you'll forget it, trust me. This tiger looks REAL. Like, really, really good. The visual effects overall are amazing and the camera shots are extremely good too. The story is mainly about faith, but if you're not a religious person, there's still a good message. The story is charming, yet dramatic at times. I think the message really spoke to me in particular. The movie's almost like a good Bible story (Yes, those DO exist!). It really is a test of faith. The best scenes are the ones where Pi begins to doubt God, because it shows the hardships of the journey that he's taken with Richard Parker. I don't know, there's not much I can say about this one. I'm sure it didn't appeal to a lot of people, but it appealed to me. I guess you'll have to see it for yourself to decide.

Rating: 9.5/10

2. Django Unchained



I'd like to preface this review by saying that Pulp Fiction is my favorite movie of all-time, so yes, I love Tarantino's style and it's all over in Django Unchained. The movie is about a slave in the Old West who is set free by an eccentric dentist-turned-bounty hunter, so that he may catch his bounty and in return help free the slave's wife. This movie DEFINITELY won't appeal to everyone. Tarantino has a unique style. I found the movie hilarious however. It's completely over-the-top in action and more importantly, in characters. This movie is littered with some of the funniest characters in any movie. The performances are fantastic. Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Samuel L. Jackson all play their parts perfectly and it turns out hilariously. People always focus on the action in Tarantino movies, but I think Tarantino is an ace with dialogue. The back and forth between these characters is amazing and hilarious. The movie also covers subtly the effects of slavery and racism, in the sense that they really aren't the focus of the movie, but they are satirized. We even see Django become a bit of an asshole to other slaves, after the dentist sets him free. I think there's only one downside to this movie; it's about 15 minutes too long. There's a completely unnecessary scene at the end where... well, I won't spoil it, but it's a huge waste of time. It's just a funny movie all around, but trust me, it's not for everyone.

Rating: 9.5/10

1. Silver Linings Playbook



Surprise! I'm sure this movie won't win the Academy Award, but in my opinion, it should. Even Django didn't have as many likable characters with unique personalities as this one did. And that even surprised me a little bit. The story of Silver Linings Playbook is about a man with bipolar disorder who wants to get his life back on track by finding his wife. Unfortunately, she has a restraining order against him. So, he has to find a new way to get his life on track. Yes, it's a rom-com and yes, it actually is a good rom-com. There's no cliches in this one, it's just two people who relate to each others' insanities getting along with each other. And it's funny and charming. There are so many funny lines in this movie, and that's due to the hilarious characters involved. The two leads are played by Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, who both due extremely well in their incredibly hard roles. Robert de Niro is also in the movie, in one of his best roles in a long time, as the main character's bookmaking father. Chris Tucker even shows up in a few scenes and gets a good amount of laughs. The movie is just feel-good all around, getting a great amount of laughs and a good amount of sad moments. The conclusion is hilarious and heartfelt as well. There's a reason this movie is nominated in all four acting categories AND all Big Five categories. People may disagree, but this is my #1 Oscar pick.