Following Sunday's broadcast of the Academy Awards it was revealed that Hollywood really loved The Hurt Locker and considered Avatar simply a visually stunning piece of work with a story that didn't hold up enough to make it the best overall (which is the same opinion I had of the movie). Although I only saw eight of the ten nominees and since I love making lists, I am going to rank the nominees from my favorite to the least liked.
I would like it known however that I liked all eight of the nominated films I viewed. They are all worth seeing at least once. The two movies I didn't get to see were Precious and A Serious Man.
So here goes.
8. The Blind Side - A touching story about a family taking in a homeless high school student and helping him become a premiere football player. The Baltimore Ravens eventually drafted the guy, but this covers his story while in high school.
7. Up in the Air - If you liked Thank You for Smoking and Juno, then you'll like this. It is from the same director.
6. District 9 - Combining documentary-like storytelling with normal narrative style, director Neill Blomkamp explains the crime of apartheid going on in South Africa by replacing blacks and whites with humans and an extraterrestial race.
5. An Education - A great story about a girl in 1960s England who learns a lot more about life through her mistakes outside the classroom than she ever did in her books and essays.
4. Avatar - Visually: the most amazing thing seen in a movie theater. Storytelling: eh. What makes this movie even better is that the 3D enhances the film. It is not a gimmick used to make more money like every other movie is doing with 3D.
3. Inglourious Basterds - It is funny I ranked this third because I just thought it was good the first time I saw it. But after seeing it a second time last weekend, I really liked it a lot more and consider it better than Reservoir Dogs, but not as good as Pulp Fiction.
2. The Hurt Locker - A tense thriller about an army bomb disposal unit over in the Middle East. One of the things I liked most about the movie is it takes no stance for or against the war. It is simply telling a story that happens to be set in a current war.
1. Up - I'm already a sucker for a Pixar movie, but this is simply one of their best. The opening 10 minutes is a movie in itself and would have won for best short film animated had it ended there.
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