Academy Awards Best Picture Nominees

The Academy Awards are just days away so it's time to take a second look at the Best Picture nominees. I've seen eight out of nine (sorry, War Horse but I just couldn't make myself sit through some sappy sentimentalist crap AGAIN this year (I feel as though War Horse would make me feel like I felt after watching The King's Speech... and that wasn't a good feeling)). Anyway, here is a quick recap of the eight nominees I've seen, in order from best to worst...

Hugo - A fantastic film from the brilliant director Martin Scorsese. It might technically be a kid movie but it's so much more than that. It's a celebration of film, it's an adventure tale and it's a beautiful and artistic masterpiece, easily the best film of the year. Also, I've never been a fan of 3D but leave it to Scorsese to make it feel fresh and new and exciting. Grade: A

Moneyball - It's not just a baseball movie, thanks to a brilliant script from Aaron Sorkin, exciting direction from Bennett Miller and an Oscar worthy performance from Brad Pitt. Moneyball is a think piece, a wonderful celebration of the under dog. And, of course, I love baseball so there's that too. Grade: A

The Tree of Life - I didn't know quite how to grade the flawed epic. Was The Tree of Life the best movie I saw last year? No, it wasn't. Did I enjoy other movies more? Absolutely. But, was there a finer, more exquisite piece of art disguised as a movie? Absolutely not. The Tree of Life is BEAUTIFUL. And it is so much more than a movie. It's a celebration of life, a contemplation of death, and the damn prettiest movie I've ever seen. I'm prepared for The Artist to win everything on Sunday night... but I'm hoping director Terrence Malick can upset for Best Director. Grade: A

Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen's finest movie since... well, I don't know if he's had something this good since his heyday. Now that it's out on DVD and the commercials are kind of ruining the surprise, people aren't really as surprised by the plot twist as I was. But I went to see this movie knowing absolutely nothing about it and was extremely surprised and pleased and entertained. Woody's script is perfection (and should most certainly win the uber competitive Best Original Screenplay category) and, also, Corey Stoll = <3. It's a shame he was overlooked this year. Grade: B+

The Help - I feel as though I liked The Help a lot more directly after seeing it than I do now. However, I don't like changing grades so I'm sticking with my original grade. The Help is a good movie, with great performances, but I'm actually kind of shocked that critics and the Academy like it quite THIS MUCH. It is, however, a good movie so I guess it deserves its place here. Grade: B+

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - I know I'm in the minority here but I enjoyed Extremely Loud more than I thought I would. I thought it was going to be a cheesy, overly sentimental film - and it is those things - but for some reason it worked for me. Thomas Horn didn't annoy me nearly as much as I thought he would and Max Von Sydow made the whole thing somehow worth it. Grade: B

The Descendants - Not my favorite of the year, that's for sure. I've never been as big of a fan of Alexander Payne as everybody else. The Descendants is GOOD, but I wasn't that impressed, really. I could have done without the narration, but the performances from George Clooney and Shailene Woodley definitely make up for any problems. Grade: B

The Artist - Another in the long list of future Best Picture winners that I find disappointing. Following Slumdog Millionaire and The King's Speech. I liked it better when it was called A Star is Born. Grade: B

[I apologize if his is sloppy and not well written but I can't even get any peace and quiet on my breaks at work anymore..]