Oscars

For once, I've seen all five of the movies nominated for Best Picture. I liked them all, but I liked one heads and shoulders above the rest. My rankings:

5.Babel

Babel is one of those movies that ties multiple story lines together. Think Crash or Magnolia. In Babel, I liked each individual story. I thought the acting was great, especially Adriana Barraza, who plays a Hispanic nanny, and Rinko Kinkuchi, who plays an emotionally challenged deaf schoolgirl. I thought the cinematography was spectacular. But I'm not quite sure what it was all supposed to mean. I didn't need a heavy handed message like in Crash, but something more than someone being someone's housekeeper or someone selling someone a gun. I'm sure there is an obvious message I'm missing, but to me it seems like they reached to tie the plots together, and weakened the film in doing so. I would have preferred four short movies, with no attempt to tie them together.

4.The Queen

Movies about royalty are not my bag, so I wasn't expecting much. But The Queen was actually pretty good. I would say that Helen Mirren is a lock for best actress for her portrayal of a Queen who was brought kicking and screaming by Prime Minister Tony Blair (played by ) to publicly emote over the death of Princess Diana. For reasons both traditional (dignity and a stiff upper lip vs. emotional displays) and personal (she didn't like Diana all that much), getting such a response was quite difficult, and makes for a surprisingly good story. But at the end of the day, it's still a movie about royalty.

3.Letters From Iwo Jima

Great war movie. Makes you think about "the other side". Beautifully shot, beautifully acted. Since everyone, including the soldiers, knows how this battle will end before it begins, there's an undercurrent of sadness throughout the film. It drags on a bit long and is a bit clunky at times, but still an excellent movie.

2.Little Miss Sunshine

Lost in all the hype and the eventual negative backlash surrounding LMS is the fact that the movie is just plain funny. And as hokey as some people claim the ending is, it simply made me feel good. And that's kinda hard to do. Alan Arkin does a great job as the heroin-snorting, perverted grandpa. Everyone else was good, but not deserving of any best actor/actress nominations.

1.The Departed

Being a huge Scorsese fan, I'm probably biased, but this was the best time I had at the movies since Kill Bill 2. I've seen it three times now, and every time it gets better. If you think to deeply about things, you'll find holes in the plot, so my advice is don't think too deeply about the plot. Just enjoy it. I've also seen Infernal Affairs, the Japanese movie the Departed is based on. It doesn't happen a lot, but the remake is better. Great acting (Alec Baldwin is quickly becoming my favorite actor). Great cinematography. Great story. Best picture, easily.

So, since we're talking Scorcese, of course it won't win best picture.