But, once again, we have a bunch of Oscar nominations that no-one except pretentious people care about - I mean, come on... The Artist? I guess if you're going to make a French movie, silent is the way to go... And "Midnight in Paris", don't even get me started. I've been trying to wash the stink of that movie off me for months, but the brain is a difficult thing to scrub. Are we supposed to all feel wonderfully smart because he gives us a one-dimensional caricature of some old American authors? Same goes for "Hugo"... well done Martin Scorsese, you're the first person to ever make Sacha Baron Cohen boring and inept. Yeah, the train station was beautiful and all, but I nearly fell asleep. "War Horse" - sub-par for Spielberg, but having worked with horses on set, I'd give his horse wranglers an Oscar in a heart-beat. Phenomenal stuff.
Anyway, enough of that discussion... here's the real Best Pictures:
And then I'll concede the Academy probably got it right by including "Money Ball" and "Tree of Life", because I like it when big studios back interesting projects. I haven't seen "The Descendents", but if it's more "About Schmidt" than "Sideways", I'm sure it's worthy.
And a final word on "The Help" - I liked this film... I understand why Spike Lee and friends can't get behind a white kids vision of black struggles, and it really felt like it needed to be a true story... but I think it makes the world a better place regardless, and for that, I salute it.
