Friday, February 25, 2011

The Oscars: A british invasion


Every year the Oscars seem to follow the trends of all the award show nominees. Have you ever noticed that pretty much anyone that's nominated for a Golden globe will undoubtedly be up for an Oscar? Unfortunately, that means that The King's Speech dominates the Oscars this year. If you haven't heard much about it, it's pretty much a stuffy British film starring a cast of characters that you see in pretty much EVERY British movie.

I swear, there must only be 7 working actors in all of Britain because they are the only ones that seem to ever appear in movies. You know who I'm talking about. There's Allan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Judy Dench, Helen Mirren, Colin Firth, Kiera Knightly and Helena Bonham Carter. And pretty much every British film has one or all of these people in it. I'm wondering how many love triangle combinations you can come up with to put Colin Firth in exactly? And it seems that anything coming out of the UK either is a Jane Austin movie, or a movie about the British Monarch. Really England, attempt to be original....please!

So with the drudgery of the King's Speech hoarding all the little Golden men, the Best Picture category can tend to go overlooked. Upon further inspection of the nominees, I was pleasantly surprised at the list of dynamic and versatile films picked for the prestigious award.

"Black Swan”
"The Fighter"
"Inception"
"The Kids Are All Right"
"The King's Speech"
"127 Hours"
"The Social Network"
"Toy Story 3”
"True Grit"
"Winter's Bone"


Truly a difficult category. I love how the Academy has opened up the nominations of films that aren't always in limited release and artsy. Blockbuster favorites SHOULD be included in the list, especially when they show exceptional talent and creativity. Though there are a lot of really good movies in this category, I think it really comes down to two.


"Black Swan" was truly riveting. You wouldn't think a ballet story could be that way, but it was absolutely stunning. And "Inception" it's incredible story telling using complex ideals and philosophies is epic. I really couldn't tell you which one will win but I am interested to see the outcome. And I think that is pretty much the ONLY thing that will keep me watching this year.

1 comment:

Sarah said...

haha..I just watching the King's Speech a couple nights ago...I thought it was really good-but I love Helen Bonham Carter--that's just me though...
Inception blew my mind-seriously..the movie needs credit somewhere-it was amazing.
The fighter wasn't that amazing..not best picture
Black Swan-riveting...freaked me out a bit actually..but what a concept..loved the imagery and symbolism.
True Grit-I fell asleep-couldnt make it through to the end.
that's all I've seen-not sure who's gonna win this year...wish I could watch it!