Oscars -- Best Picture Nominations

Here's my take on the nominations for "Best motion picture of the year", all of which I've actually seen...

“Babel”



Loved this film. Have already talked about it a few times... It's a fairly depressing, but I think realistic, look at the world today. How not listening and jumping to conclusions can lead to tragedy. This director, Alejandro González Iñárrituis, is amazingly talented, as is the writer, Guillermo Arriaga. This writing/directing pair also did 21 Grams, which if you haven't seen, you should. Rent it. Tonight.

I need to post a photo of Alejandro, too. Just 'cause he's so damn cute. That should count for something. (He'd get my vote for best director, based on his looks, alone.)

“The Departed”

Loved this film, too. Interestingly though... although Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg have been getting all the awards attention re: this movie... It was Matt Damon who blew me away in this film. Okay, they were all good, I just thought Matt was super interesting and unexpected. One of the most charming bad guys I've seen on film and (I'm quoting Molly) you could see his ulcer's growing through changes in his smile.

I need to see Infernal Affairs -- the movie this was based on... (Back on the Matt topic. He really had a good/interesting year. The Good Shepherd was not a perfect movie, but his performance was perfect and so different from other roles I've seen him play. Why are all these award granters ignoring him? His buddy Ben even got nominated for a Golden Globe.)

“Letters from Iwo Jima”

I actually saw this film. I'm not big on war movies, so the idea of sitting through a war movie in Japanese with subtitles was daunting... But I did enjoy it. Don't think I'd pick it for a best picture nomination, though. It was certainly an interesting history lesson -- I hope at least some of it accurate -- regarding that battle from the Japanese side, but the whole story structure etc. just seemed a little too pat to me, a little too easy. (and it got nominated for writing, too???? Maybe the Academy just authomatically nominates anything Paul Haggis worked on, now?)

“Little Miss Sunshine”

Loved this movie and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that it got this nomination. I'm actually hoping this one will win. Not because I necessarily think it's better than some of the others -- just that it would be so much fun to see it win over those other more serious, more likely to win, films. I do love an underdog. This is already out on DVD. Rent it. (It will be a nice emotional break after 21 Grams which is pretty heavy.)

“The Queen”

Again, really, really enjoyed this film, (more than some people I know... Molly?) but not sure it deserves a best picture nomination. Helen Mirren's performance was fantastic -- she'll surely win best actress -- but the film as a whole wasn't that exciting or interesting to me. Films like Volver, or Pan's Labyrinth or Notes on a Scandal or I'm sure there are others... (this is just off the top of my head) seem so much more deserving to me.