Friday, February 23, 2007

Oscar fever

I haven't posted in quite awhile, but hopefully starting tomorrow I will be able to post everyday, more or less. I have been on a movie watching binge lately, and I have seen 19 of the movies nominated for Oscar's this year: (Babel, Letters From Iowa Jima, The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen, Borat, Children of Men, Little Children, Notes on a Scandal, Pan's Labyrinth, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Superman Returns, United 93, Cars, Dreamgirls, The Prestige, Volver, Flags of Our Fathers and The Last King of Scotland). This is about four times as many as I usually have seen at this point (I only watched 4-5 nominees in time for last year's show, though I have seen at least that many since then). My favorite movie of the year is definitely Children of Men, and though I didn't hate any of the nominated movies, Pirates is definitely the worst movie and Babel (which I saw last night) and Flags of Our Fathers, were the least likable.

My personal top ten includes Superman Returns, The Departed, Borat, The Queen, Pan's Labryrinth, Children of Men, Letters From Iowa Jima and The Prestige, so on the whole I think the Academy did an decent job. It remains to be seen if they will follow through though. Babel didn't do it for me, but it had its moments. I would be far more disappointed if it won "Best Original Screenplay" than "Best Picture" as the direction and acting were solid, while the screenplay was ugly, tired and exploitive. I can not fathom how it is a "Best Picture" favorite, since it isn't favored to win any other award (I bet it will pick up a consolation "Best Editing" prize over the suburb Children of Men). With all the acting awards sewn up, "Best Picture" is poised for an upset, even if two of the three best movies in the category (The Queen and Letters From Iowa Jima) are deemed to have no chance to win.

I am just going to sit back and root for Marty, The Departed and Children of Men and try not to get upset if the unthinkable happens... well, that channell surf the channel rather than sit through the "Best Orginal Songs".

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The movies you mentioned as the top movies of this year are completely misinformed. Superman returns was the worst movie in the last 10 years. Some people should not be allowed to blog. You are just out and out wrong in all your opinions.