Oscar nominations

Since the Oscars are tomorrow night, I have been trying to see all of the nominated films. I have seen all but one. Best picture nominations: Avatar--I really didn't like this movie at all. Sure, the special effects were great but the story line was so trite and shallow it was hard for me to find any redeeming value. It was a poor attempt to echo what we western Europeans did to the American Indians. The hero wasn't any better than those trying to exploit the blue people because he married a blue girl in his altered state knowing he would never really be able to be with her. Anyway, I hope this doesn't win. The Blind Side was a very good, feel good movie and although the media wanted to discredit the real woman played by Sandra Bullock by saying she was exploiting the young man she helped, I don't think she was. It isn't the best movie of the year but it made me cry and definitely worth seeing. If not for Meryl Streep's performance as Julia Childs I'd give Sandra Bullock the Oscar. District 9 I hated although it was an amazing movie that definitely deserves a nomination. Similar to Avatar, it mimicked how blacks were treated in South Africa during the Apartheid. It was just done so much better. It was very Sci-Fi, gruesome and at one point I felt like I was in a transformer movie. I am glad I saw it but would never want to see it again. An Education was an interesting movie. It is never going to be a box office hit, and I don't think I'd watch it again but the acting was great. The story line was about a bright, young English woman who discards her chance for an education to pursue a relationship with an older man who turns out to be a scoundrel which was pretty apparent from the beginning. The Hurt Locker which is suppose to win for best picture was again a well done movie that I would never ever want to see again. It is about soldiers who are in charge of disarming IEDs. Very graphic which was necessary in this film to get a real sense of the horror of war. Inglourisous Basterds Randy and I just saw last night on Pay for View. It is a fictitious story about American soldiers in France during the Nazi occupation. Brad Pitt is in charge of a group that kills and scalps Nazis. Well done film that again showed the horrors of war and was very graphic and gruesome. I think they way over did the graphic factor. I hid my eyes several times. Christopher Waltz who plays a Nazi with the nickname of Jew Killer, definitely deserves the best supporting actor award. Precious was much more to my liking. It wasn't a pleasant movie to watch but an important one because it speaks to the sexual abuse that so many young girls growing up in poverty experience. I liked it better when I thought it was based on a real life story but as fiction it was unrealistic. The abuse wasn't unrealistic but the idea that Precious might be able to lead a normal adult life was pretty far fetched. Mo'Nique who plays Precious' mother definitely gets my vote for best supporting actress. Up was a great animated film (I didn't see it in 3D) and I think it probably deserves best animated film but I wouldn't put it up against the other nominations. If they had not doubled the nominated films this year it would never have made it. I liked Up in the Air a lot, and I would definitely see it again. My favorite reason for liking this movie is that a woman instead of a man was the one who had a family back home and was having an affair on the road or shall we say up in the air. The acting was great but I wouldn't give George Clooney best actor. He is good but he was pretty much just being George Clooney. However, Anna Kendrick, who plays the twenty something executive did a superb job and if it wasn't for Mo'Nique's role, I'd give her the Oscar for best supporting actress. She is really the reason I liked the movie so much. The only movie I haven't see is A Serious Man. I can't really say which movie I would give the Oscar to this year. None of them makes me say oh yeah that is the one. I hope 2010 movies are better. Regarding best actors, I haven't see Jeff Bridges or Morgan Freeman. Of those I have seen, I loved Colin Firth in a Single Man. It was a very poignant movie about a man who loses his male partner in a car accident and struggles with moving on.