Oscar Watch: Best Picture Thoughts

Now that I've seen all the best picture nominees, it's time to post my thoughts about them! This was an excellent year for best picture nominees. We have a wide range of film genres, from westerns ("True Grit") to animation ("Toy Story 3") to sports ("The Fighter) to psychological thrillers ("Black Swan") to historical drama ("The King's Speech") to sci-fi ("Inception") to dramatic comedy ("The Kids Are All Right") to soporific ("Winter's Bone"). That's a wide range. And while most of them likely have no chance of winning, I still think it's an honor to be nominated.

I want "Toy Story 3" to win. It's a likely long, long shot, but I hope the day will come when animation can win an oscar. Heck, fantasy won an oscar a few years ago, so maybe it's a matter of time. Now why "Toy Story 3"? I felt that it captured the feeling of being a child, and simultaneously infused in us the burning desire to return to the simplicity and joys of being a child. The joy of playtime with your toys, when your imagination was the only limit to your enjoyment. It forced us to deal with growing up, and in its final scenes, showed us the sadness in giving up the things you love as you become an adult. Maybe this movie came at a time when I feel like I'm dealing with these things, but to me, it's the best movie of the year.

Now, to be fair, I think only five films warrant serious consideration for best picture. Just a few years ago, there were only five nominees. If you want to know what this year's top five nominees were, I'd say look at the best director category. This leaves us with "The King's Speech," "Black Swan," "The Fighter," "The Social Network," and "True Grit." Each of which is deserving of a nomination. I don't think "The Kids Are All Right," "Inception," and "Winter's Bone" deserved a nomination. "Inception" was a fun and inventive movie, but there is better sci-fi out there that deserves nomination (like "District 9" was last year). "Winter's Bone" was just boring. And "The Kids Are All Right" was funny and enjoyable, but just not best pic worthy. "Toy Story 3" fully deserved its nomination, and "127 Hours" I feel deserved it just because it made a 1.5 hour movie about a man trapped by a rock interesting to watch.

So, as for the top five, I think it really comes down to two: "The King's Speech" and "The Social Network." The other movies are good, but just not good enough to win best picture to me. They excel within their genres, and deserve some other awards, but as an overall film, I'd really have to give it to "The King's Speech." The acting, editing, costumes, and script all came together to make a solid, multifaceted movie that we can look back on and rank as a quality oscar winner. But I think "The Social Network" has it's strengths as well. It's telling a very modern story, and fits well with the times. When we look back, we will see "The Social Network" as a movie that helped define the days we live in, when some people broadcast their whole life on the internet. People have said that the facts in the movie aren't accurate. I think that furthers its credibility as a picture of the modern day. We may judge people by their facebook posts and pictures, by their status updates; this creates an unfair and fractured image of a person. Should a movie about facebook's creation be any less fractured? "The King's Speech" is the better film, but "The Social Network" is the tale of our times. If I were to choose, I'd give it to "The Social Network" for its snapshot of our current society, but I'll be just as pleased if "The King's Speech" nabs the top prize.