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Has anyone seen (or plan to see) all of the Oscar Best Film Noms...
I try every year to see them all but always seem to miss one or two. I will not meet my goal again this year because I could not get through The Tree of Life! What am I missing? I'm a smart girl, really. LOL And I can handle a slow building story.... but is there a story? I may have given up too quickly and admittedly, I started it with the thought in the back of my head of someone here posting that it was the worst movie they'd ever seen. 
I was so worried about watching all 2 hours of it and then feeling the same way....
As for the others, I've seen: The Artist (loved), The Descendents (really liked), The Help (appreciated the acting but didn't really like much and only watched it because I felt I "should") 
, Midnight in Paris (liked).
Moneyball and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close are up this week.
The two left are Hugo and War Horse.
Which ones have you seen and how did you like them?
Re: Has anyone seen (or plan to see) all of the Oscar Best Film Noms...
I try to see the nominated films, but there are always a few where I have NO interest (ex: Invictus). I am not that excited about this year's films compared to various years. I will see Iron Lady, Descendants, My Week with Marilyn, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and The Artist on video. Of those, I am only legitimately excited about seeing The Artist. For me, the process of choosing winners is more exciting than the ceremony itself.
These are the movies I've seen.
Midnight in Paris: good, not great.
Hugo: good, I really liked the visuals, but it did not leave a lasting impression.
Moneyball: good story.
The Help probably my favorite of the nominated films. really good acting and story
I notice that I am not saying much, which is because they were all fine, but not outstanding masterpieces that I feel the need to watch again. Last year was probably stronger with Social Network and King's Speech.
The more I think about my Oscar choices, the more I am totally confused and think I will lose. I wonder how strong the Artist juggernaut will be and if it will get some extra awards that I am not thinking of, like Screenplay.
ETA; Oh yeah, I have no desire to see EL&IC, and I hated Tree of Life and couldn't finish it. I tried so hard. I kept the video for a week but just couldn't do it. So you're not alone there. I did like the "history of the cosmos" section, but the main storyline left me cold. I really hated it. Then again, there have been several Oscar-worthy films that I hated: Traffic, No Country for Old Men...
I only mentioned best film but I REALLY want to see My Week with Marilyn and that was before the nominations. Iron Lady and Girl with The Dragon Tattoo appeal to me also but there's no real sense of urgency for me to see them.
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I remember the time when there were only 5 movies in this category. When I saw there are now 9... I don't know. It seems a bit much. I feel like it's going to water the category down.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
I agree!
Also, it makes it harder to see them all! I said to my husband yesterday "What happened to being able to watch all the best film noms in one day/sitting?" Impossible task these days.
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Awesome! So they do still do this!
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Last yeat I saw all 10. I disliked 2 and the rest fell between like and absolutely loved.
This year I just don't think I can do it--Hugo, Extremely Close and War Horse really don't look good. Tree of Life I made it through the whole thing and it was the worst best picture nominee I have ever seen. By far. One of the worst movies I have ever seen. It was a pretty pathetic year for movies.
I loved The Artist, the rest were good but not great. Midnight in Paris was probably my next favorite, but it was mostly because I'm a lit geek.
DH and I thought Win Win deserved a nomination--especially in light of this crap. It was one of the best movies we saw.
Made it all the way through, & my answer to your question of 'is there a story?': NO.
Brad was on The Daily Show a couple nights ago, and it was pretty good to watch Stewart not 'bag' on this flick, but as close to bag as he could on an Oscar-nominated film. Like very self-depricating for "not getting it." It was pretty nice to relate to him!
Just tried to watch Tree of Life on Friday and HATED IT. Turned it off. We'll see five of them at the second weekend of the showcase (no full marathon in Minneapolis this year, boo!!!
), saw Moneyball earlier in the year, will go see Descendants in the next two weeks, and honestly couldn't care less about War Horse.
I saw all of Tree of Life I needed to see so I count it as checked off the list.
I'm working on watching most of them. (I know I won't see War Horse because I can't do animal stories...)
Saw Midnight in Paris this week and loved it. Hemingway cracked me up. Currently working on Tree of Life, and only about 30 minuetes in, so far. I sent my sister the text that "this movie takes itself very seriously." So far, I love the cinematography but I'm rolling my eyes at the rest of it. We'll see. I'm trying to get The Help on netflix but it's a "very long wait" so who knows when I'll get it.
I also saw Beginners lately. Loved that one. It's up for a best supporting actor award, I think. But I watched it because I'm a little bit in love with Ewan McGregor. And he doesn't disappoint. Adorable.
A lot of the Best Picture noms aren't on DVD yet, but I hope to see the rest sometime. Descendants and Hugo are probable the ones I think I'll like most.
We've seen some of them. There are others we want to see, and a few we don't really care about.
Tree Of Life - have not seen but want to. In retrospect, we should have seen it in the theater because it sounds like it's worth seeing on a big screen. Oh well. Maybe it will screen again somewhere.
The Artist - we plan to see it this weekend.
The Descendents - we saw it a few weeks ago. Very good.
The Help - I don't have much interest in this (or in the book) but I imagine we'll rent it when it hits Netflix.
Midnight In Paris - saw, loved. I'm a huge Woody Allen fan so it was nice to see a new good movie from him, as opposed to the mediocre stuff from the past 10 years or so.
Moneyball - saw, surprisingly good.
Extremely Loud - not interested in the least. May rent but probably not.
Hugo - saw it last night. Wonderful. Masterful use of 3-D.
War Horse - another one I'm really not interested in, but will probably rent.
We also try to see some of the nominations in other categories:
We rented Beginners a few weeks ago; it was good, and Christopher Plummer, who is up for Supporting Actor, was terrific.
I also want to see Iron Lady for Meryl Streep's performance.
Albert Nobbs also has a few nominations and I feel like I *should* see it, but I'm kind of "eh" about it.
We want to see Tinker Tailor Solider Spy, but it's reportedly very confusing unless you've read the book first, which I haven't, so we'll wait on that too.
And of course we've seen Bridesmaids, not knowing at the time that there would be nominations, but it's awesome that there are.
We also usually see at least a few of the documentary and foreign nominations, but this year we haven't seen any in either category. A Separation is supposed to be excellent, but we'll probably wait for Netflix on that.
Quincy and Dexter, new BFFs
I used to be kris216.
Wasn't he awesome?
Quincy and Dexter, new BFFs
I used to be kris216.
Hugo was really charming. It isn't getting very good publicity - I thought it was animated until Oscar nominations came out, and when we sat down in the theater I still had no idea what it was about. But it's about movies and magic and it was very sweet.
We both really liked this too.
Quincy and Dexter, new BFFs
I used to be kris216.
Good to know! I plan to check it out.
War Horse is the one I have my doubts about it. No interest at all for me.
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Shows how much I paid attention. I thought Hugo was animated. I have seen the Help and Moneyball. I liked both of them, but the book was better for the Help. I hardly ever see most of the nominated movies though.
I've seen all of the films except War Horse, which I have no interest in seeing.
Hugo- My favorite. I absolutely adore this movie.
The Artist- Loved
Extremely Loud Incredibly Close- Loved the book, thought the movie was good but not great.
Midnight in Paris- blah
Moneyball- Not a fan. Didn't like the leeways they took with what actually happened that season.
The Help- Hated it.
Tree of Life- Super pretentious
The Descendants- Loved. I think this will probably win best picture, even though I think Hugo should.
Here's my list for this year. I've seen all but 2 at this point:
The Artist - Loved it
The Descendants - Really liked it, better than I thought it would be
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - eh, good acting, but I felt it was a bit manipulative
The Help - Loved it, but not in a Best Picture kind of way
Hugo - not seen yet, hoping to soon
Midnight in Paris - Liked it a lot more than I thought, but also not in a Best Picture kind of way
Moneyball - Good
The Tree of Life - not seen yet, hoping to soon
War Horse - Good, interesting story, not the best movie ever
I've also seen Bridesmaids, The Iron Lady, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, My Week with Marilyn, and The Ides of March.
I also need to see Beginners, Albert Nobbs, A Separation, Warrior, A Better Life, and Margin Call, as I try to see all the major categories if possible. Plus my local indie theater is having a screening of all short films. I don't know if I'll see all of these though. I'm betting on no.
my read shelf:
I've seen:
War Horse - HATED it... We actually refer to it as Bore Horse in our house right now..
The Help - Liked it but I don't know if I'd put it up against some of the previous years winners (I know it's not but I feel like this year is weak so far...)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - I feel like I only liked this because I LOVED the book...
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - WHY ISN'T THIS NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE?!?!?!!?!? Sorry but it angers me as I think it was one of the best movies I saw in 2011..
The Iron Lady - I really liked this one but mainly for Meryl Streep..
We still have the Descendants (not excited about..), Tree of Life (glad to see so many people hated it because I was worried it'd be a cryfest), Moneyball (ehh.. I like Jonah Hill so I might like this), Midnight in Paris (VERY excited to see!), The Artist (It has John Goodman in it so how can it be bad?)
Now that we have a kid my husband usually sees them all, and I rely on his report. :-D I don't think he's seen "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" yet but he's seen all the others.
In his opinion, "Tree of Life" was more of a "mood piece" than a narrative story. I can't remember if it was him or Insom who described it as "Fantasia for adults." I think you're just supposed to surrender yourself to the visual, and enjoy it on that basis.
I've seen very few, but I saw "Midnight in Paris" and was very unimpressed. It was watchable, but I would never consider it Oscar-worthy.
I think Dragon Tattoo may have fallen short because it was a really good remake of something that has already been done really well. So, if you are familiar with the prior movie, maybe this one is not felt to be anything particularly new or creative, like a good solid cover of an already good song. Just a guess.
I think it was in 2008 or 2009 that they went from 5 to up-to-10 Best Picture nominees. It was designed to spark interest in a wider set of movies, but I'm bitter because I have to come up with 10 movie-themed foods at our Oscar party instead of 5!
Boo. That doesn't seem very fair.
I really liked it, but I was surprised it was nominated too. I think it's more of a "yay, a good Woody Allen movie!" nomination than anything else, since his have been so crappy lately.
Quincy and Dexter, new BFFs
I used to be kris216.
I've seen:
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - liked it but it was a slow moving movie.
Moneyball - story was good but I just don't get too excited about baseball movies.
The Help - loved it. Loved the book, loved the movie. Great story and acting.
Midnight in Paris - fell asleep. I wanted to like it but I guess I didn't like it enough to stay awake.
I'd still like to see Descendants, My Week with Marilyn, and maybe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
I try to seem them all. I don't think I'm going to see War House, though. I still need to see Hugo, Tree of Like and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. My thoughts on the ones I've seen:
The Artist (very much liked), The Descendents (LOVED), The Help (liked) Midnight in Paris (liked) and Moneyball (liked).
I agree with this. I like Woody Allen and enjoyed this movie. But had I seen it before the noms it would not have occurred to me that it should or would be up for best picture.
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Sounds like a lot of work but so cool!
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My blu-ray copy of Tree of Life arrived today.
I can't wait to watch it one Friday night while drinking wine and luxuriate in the sound and images. It's going to sound great through my speakers.
I've seen all but one of the movies.