Oscar Nominee Analysis: Best Picture

To help myself stay sane, instead of doing EVERYTHING right here and right now, I'm going to break down each category day-by-day, beginning with the biggest award of the Oscars, Best Picture.

Best Picture

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

For the most part, the Academy did pretty well here. For the first time in history, there are nine films nomination for Best Picture; and out of the nine, there is only one I didn’t fully expect: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Now, how could a film like this be nominated? Three reasons: 1) Scott Rudin is one of the most well known, and best liked movie producers in the business; 2) Stephen Daldry is loved by the Academy; 3) Screenwriter Eric Roth, who has brought to life films such as Forrest Gump and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. What would I do to fix this? Take out Extremely Loud, include either Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Tinker Tailor, or Drive, and that would be my remedy. I know War Horse is getting a lot of heat for being nominated, but it was a pretty good movie so I won’t argue against it, and I feel the same way with The Help. I will say, it was a pleasent surprise to see The Tree of Life here. Many others, including myself, could not have predicted it being there, but this may be due to the fact that the Academy loves Malick. It also would have been nice to see love for what's being hailed by critics as the best film of the year, A Separation, but that would be asking too much of the Academy to give a foreign language film a Best Picture nom. A nice surprise would have been Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 gathering a nomination, but the Academy wouldn't do that.

Films I Haven't Seen: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close; Moneyball

Rottentomatoes Ratings: 
The Artist: 97%
Moneyball: 95%
Hugo: 94%
Midnight in Paris:93%
The Descendants: 89%
The Tree of Life: 84%
War Horse: 77%
The Help: 76%
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close: 47%

Snubs:
A Separation: 99%
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2: 96%
Drive: 93%
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: 87%
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: 84%

Thankgiving Break

I apologize for the lack of postings over the past few days...been enjoying my Thanksgiving break. But I promise, I will have numerous tid-bits for you all!!!

• Reviews on The Muppets, The Descendants, and Hugo.
• Images from The Dark Knight Rises
• Start giving some thoughts on the Oscar race
• My list of the top films to see in December!

Anywho, I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

HUGO Star Asa Butterfield Offered Lead in ENDER'S GAME

I know I'm not the only one who grew up with Ender's Game, so the news of a movie adaptation is pretty exciting. Although, right about now I can guess you all are wondering, "Who the hell is this kid?" Well my friends, you shall see soon enough. Asa Butterfield is starring in the Martin Scorsese film Hugo, which is coming out next Friday. And you better remember this kid's name, since it seems like he may just end up being our Ender Wiggin. For those of you who aren't all that certain about what Ender's Game is, here's a brief description. Recruited as a child soldier, Ender learns battle tactics through the use of anti-gravity games equipped with nothing but his jumpsuit and his wits. To find out more information on the project, hit the jump.