Best Picture

So, I finally got to watch The Artist and that means, several months after the Oscars, I have finally seen every single Best Picture film.

First, let's review...

The Artist (Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo) - It's an interesting film that's well acted. It's especially good since there are no words in it so the music, body language, and facial expressions are really important to convey what is going on. I also enjoyed the story progression through movie history (silent films, "talkies," and then the progression to dancing in movies like Gene Kelly). The story was interesting seeing the two main characters and how one goes up, one goes down, and how they connect at the end. It's a little slow for me and you have to pay close attention to it or you won't know what's going on, but it was good. It's an interesting throwback to movies and is definitely a love letter to cinema. Grade: B

A Thousand Words (Eddie Murphy) - If there is one thing that Murphy does well, it's conveying the frustration of not being able to talk. It's like your vocal cords or something tense up from seeing the movie and how he just can't talk even though he REALLY wants to. It's pretty silly for about half the movie and then turns "soft" towards the end when he turns his life around. Murphy's character is a big editor, goes out to get a book deal, his home life has issues, the tree suddenly appears, and his assistant is stupid/annoying as all get out. The tree not only loses leaves for every word he utters, but whatever happens to the tree also affects him. So when he tries to cut it down, he ends up cutting himself. Gardeners water the tree, and he starts dripping in water. The main point of the movie is that words aren't always enough and that actions can mean far more than words. In other words, watch what you say (mean what you say, speak from your heart, and be careful what you say) and words (written or spoken - writing words counts towards leaves lost) are not always needed to convey what you feel (especially in showing love and gratitude). So I guess it's an overall good message, but it's not fantastic. Grade: C+

So best pictures...Do I think The Artist should have won Best Picture? Not really. I find many of the other films much more compelling, but I feel like The Artist is sort of a love letter to movies and is more along the lines of what The Academy tends to like to pick.

Here's what I ranked each movie:

The Artist - B
The Descendants - B+
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - B
Hugo - B
Midnight in Paris - B+
The Help - B+/A-
Moneyball - B/B+
War Horse - B+
The Tree of Life - B

They're all fairly close, but, by my rankings, I'd say The Help should have won Best Picture. To be honest, I'd have been happy with either The Help or War Horse; however, I honestly can't say I'm really bummed that The Artist won either. It really is a good movie and there were several clever things in it I liked (one would be how he suddenly was hearing "sounds" during a dream sequence and how the movie plays sometimes like a movie within a movie), but sometimes I wish The Academy was a little more mainstream. The Help and War Horse were genuinely excellent films in their own right too. Okay, all the Best Pictures were, but those 2 stood out to me over The Artist.

Recently saw the Taken 2 international trailer. Looks good! Haven't seen the newest Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 trailer (saw the old one), but I've read up on it. I'll have read just about the first 10, maybe 20 minutes of the movie and after that...I never read that part of the book! I know what happens, but I never finished Breaking Dawn. The Hobbit trailer still gives me goosebumps every time I see it! I do have to stop myself from saying, "Watson!" every time I see Martin Freeman, though. Spider-Man and the new Ice Age look interesting, but it's doubtful I'll see them in theater. The Les Miserable trailer is interesting too. I'm curious to see what the reviews are and a full length trailer too. The current one is of Anne Hathaway singing "I Dreamed a Dream" with some montage. It's an excellent cast (Hathaway as Fantine, Amanda Seyfried as Cosette, Hugh Jackman as Valjean, Sacha Baron Cohen as Thenardier, Helena Bonham Carter as Madame Thenardier, Russell Crowe as Javert, etc), but we'll see. (I can totally imagine Carter singing "Master of the House"!)