Oscar Night

Tonight is Oscar night! Yet another evening where movie people can honor themselves. This year The Academy has gone back to nominating 10 films for Best Picture. Something the haven't done in over 60 years. I am in agreement with Chris "Mad Dog" Russo with the theory of, "are there really 10 great films?"

The answer is no.

Of the Best Picture nominees all are very good but only a few can be called great or even near great. The theory behind adding 5 more films to the Best Picture category is to generate more buzz about some of the lesser known films & get more people to view them. It's all about money, more or less. It's pretty much just a theory of mine that may or may not a based on reality.

Of the 10 nominees I saw 6. Of the those 6 I saw I would say that True Grit & Toy Story 3 don't belong. Toy Story 3 is a very entertaining film that tugs on your heart strings but quite frankly, the story is the same as the 2 prior installments. Rest assured my eyes got all watery at the same moments as everyone else, just like it happened in 1 & 2. As for True Grit, I love the Coen Brothers & will pretty much see anything that they release. This was a very good movie but not great. I don't think it was as good as  No Country For Old Men & it wouldn't make my Top 3 Coen Bros. films (in no particular order: O Brother Where Art Thou?, Miller's Crossing & Fargo in case you were wondering.)

I never saw the other 4 films nominated but I'm aware that all received great reviews.

Here are my predictions, based on the films I've seen:

* Best Picture: Black Swan (holding out hope)
* Best Actor: Colin Firth (won't be surprised if Bridges wins though)
* Best Actress: Natalie Portman (unreal performance!)
* Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale
* Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo
* Best Director: Darren Aronofsky
* Best Documentary Feature: Both Inside Job & Restreppo should win in a tie, if this were a perfect world.

As you can see I'm holding out hope for Black Swan. I never saw some of the other nominees in their films, but I'll take it for granted that The Academy nominated them for a reason.

Must see films of 2010

The 5 must see films of 2010 are as follows, in nor particular order:

* Inception: Rent it, buy, stream it. Easily the best film of the year. Leo is an exceptional actor & thank the gods on Olympus he shies away from rom-coms & other junk (talking about you Vince Vaughn & Owen Wilson.) Chris Nolan is a very good director with a great resume, the last 2 Batman films & Memento. Nolan is a director whose films I'm going to see based on his reputation. Just like David Fincher; Fight Club, The Game, Panic Room, Zodiac & Social Network (which I didnt bother to see.)

* Black Swan:  Excellent film. Natalie Portman's performance was magnificent & she got an Oscar nomination & a Golden Globe for a reason. I enjoy films where the main character descends into madness! Darren Aronofsky, like Fincer, is another directer whose films I will see regardless of the material. Pi & Requiem for a Dream were great films & The Fountain was interesting as well but I may not have been smart enough to figure out how all the stories wove together.

* The Town: This wasn't as good as Inception or Black Swan but it was better, in my opinion, than The Joneses, Shutter Island & Due Date. Men by nature enjoy heist films. This was a very good heist film, gritty & dark. It bit too much like Heat but quite frankly Heat was a great heist film so why not use it as a template. Jeremy Renner, he of Hurt Locker, was the standout performance.

* Restreppo: Sebastian Junger's documentary about life of an Army unit in the Kornegal Valley in Afghanistan. Look, the U.S. is currently at war & I just think people should see this film because we owe to the men & women serving in the military. The filmmakers aren't preaching nor do they have an agenda.

* Inside Job: Directed by Charles Fergurson, who was recently on Real Time, it shows the collapse of the U.S.'s financial institutions. It's explained in layman's terms so the average person can understand it. This was nothing short of a criminal conspiracy! The guys who who a had in this have been working with the gov't since the Reagan administration. I saw this film in NYC & was enraged after seeing it. I had to go to a bar & have several beers to even me out so I could see my next film. Basically, you'll never trust a financial institution or want to see heinous misfortune fall upon a CEO. Some the people interviewed, the culprits, arte so arrogant you want to see them punched in the face but for some reason they are beyond reproach. These guys make Madoff's Ponzi scheme look like it originated in Romper Room.

Thanks for your time. I would like to end with a quote from Steve Martin's character in the Grand Canyon, "That's part of your problem: you haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in the movies." What I'm trying to say is, see more movies. Don't be indiscriminate, look for interesting subjects or directors.