Good question! I have not seen any of those. Frankly, of all of them, the only one I was really interested in seeing in the theaters was A Serious Man, An Education (I'm a Peter Saargard fan)...maybe Nine for the spectacle. I just don't know if I'm ready for the emotional beatdown I hear Precious is. But I'm sure I will catch all of these at some point. I just wanted to get my list out by the end of the year since I've been the past two years getting it out on time. Any of them particularly recommended?
Of the five I listed, I've only seen Precious, which is pretty good and if you'd told me 15 years ago that I'd be saying "give Mo'Nique the Oscar!" I would have told you you were nuts.
I'll probably see 2 or 3 of the others over the weekend.
I listed those five movies because they've pretty much been on ALL the top ten lists (Nine and A Serious Man a few less than the others) so I wondered if you didn't like them or simply hadn't seen them (yet).
I usually pick my favorites for the year closer to Oscar time because it's by then I've seen most of the film from that previous year that I'm going to see.
But, it's all relative, the reason why the critics' lists really interest me is because, unlike the rest of us, they see EVERYTHING. It's mind boggling that they can see 150 to 200, often close to 300 movies in a year and still pick favorites. Usually by Oscar time, I've seen 35 or 40 (+/-) of the previous year's movies, and I'm overwhelmed enough by that!
the other thing I was going to add, for general interest's sake, is that the top ten of the year that I'm seeing, in terms of critics lists, are the five I mentioned, plus Up, Up In The Air, Inglorious Basterds, Avatar and Hurt Locker.
Though if you were to use Metacritic, Rottentomatoes, IMDB, etc you'd see the best reviewed films of the year include "Star Trek" and "District 9" which are not-so-strangely not finding their way on too many top 10 lists.
It would not surprise me at all to see District 9 or Star Trek make the Top 10 Best Picture nominees this year. The bigger surprise would be to get to see more of the animated movies on that list this year (I would easily put Coraline or Up on that list despite their own Best Animated Feature category).
I would die (happily) if Star Trek, District 9, or an animated movie made the Best Picture list. I think Up has the greatest chance of that (when was the last animated movie you saw that had you crying in the first ten minutes? Bambi?) and since it's the first year for ten nominees, it's anyone's guess what will happen. I'd put my money on Up before I'd put money on the others...but I don't think it will happen so actually I'm keeping my money in my pocket.
I've actually not seen Nine on too many people's lists...it seems to be getting hammered right now. But since it's playing at the Castro theater, I'm curious. Maybe this weekend. Frankly, I'm much more interested in seeing Fantastic Mr. Fox than all five of those movies combined. Fred has had no interest and it takes a lot to get me to see a movie by myself these days. LOL
I think if I had to see 300+ movies a year, the ones I loved would absolutely stand out. I just happened to get lucky to not see a lot of movies I didn't like this year.
Nine is definitely getting some shitty reviews. On the lists I've seen, Nine and A Serious Man are in the 9th and 10th spot, and when they don't make the list it's The Last Station, The Messenger, or A Single Man that is getting #9 or 10 instead. It seems like many are agreeing on the top 8, but not the top 9 or 10.
I really don't know if I want to see it. The only buzz I'm really hearing is that Penelope Cruz is amazing. Not sure if I'm a fan of her or not. then again, I wasn't really a fan of Mo'Nique, either. LOL
I think we've had this discussion before (re: Penelope, who I friggin' love). She's great in Broken Embraces...heck, anytime someone says they aren't a big fan of hers, I ask if they've seen anything she's done with Pedro Almodovar. Nine times out of ten they say no. Seek out Volver, All About My Mother too!
I really think A Single Man deserves that spot. It's stayed with me since I saw it.
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I'll probably see 2 or 3 of the others over the weekend.
I listed those five movies because they've pretty much been on ALL the top ten lists (Nine and A Serious Man a few less than the others) so I wondered if you didn't like them or simply hadn't seen them (yet).
I usually pick my favorites for the year closer to Oscar time because it's by then I've seen most of the film from that previous year that I'm going to see.
But, it's all relative, the reason why the critics' lists really interest me is because, unlike the rest of us, they see EVERYTHING. It's mind boggling that they can see 150 to 200, often close to 300 movies in a year and still pick favorites. Usually by Oscar time, I've seen 35 or 40 (+/-) of the previous year's movies, and I'm overwhelmed enough by that!
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Though if you were to use Metacritic, Rottentomatoes, IMDB, etc you'd see the best reviewed films of the year include "Star Trek" and "District 9" which are not-so-strangely not finding their way on too many top 10 lists.
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I think if I had to see 300+ movies a year, the ones I loved would absolutely stand out. I just happened to get lucky to not see a lot of movies I didn't like this year.
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I really don't know if I want to see it. The only buzz I'm really hearing is that Penelope Cruz is amazing. Not sure if I'm a fan of her or not. then again, I wasn't really a fan of Mo'Nique, either. LOL
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I really think A Single Man deserves that spot. It's stayed with me since I saw it.
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