Nine amazing films have been nominated for the prestigious honor of winning Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards. I have seen all of them and would like to share my personal thoughts and ratings on each. Let's get started:
American Hustle
Pros: This film featured an amazing cast with incredible talent. Amy Adams delivered one of the best performances in her career thus far. Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Christian Bale each did a fantastic job. The directing was superb and I cannot get over how well the shots were done in several key scenes. David O. Russell did a great job capturing the essence and beauty of these main characters. Whether it be Bradley Cooper and Amy Adams walking towards the camera, Jeremy Renner and Christian Bale walking outside the diner, or Jennifer Lawrence walking down the hallway, these angles enhanced the storyline and overall flow of the film. I enjoyed the authenticity of the costumes, make-up, and music in the film as well.
Cons: The storyline seemed choppy at points. You almost got this feeling that the writers didn't know how to connect the dots. As a result, the film felt a lot longer, and made you wonder what the overall point was. Jennifer Lawrence impressed me with her performance, but she did not belong in the role. I felt that was a poor casting call as she looked too young to play the wife of middle-aged Irving (Christian Bale).
Captain Phillips
Pros: Tom Hanks!!!! The man, as usual, delivers an incredible performance playing the title character Captain Phillips. The last five minutes is the reason why this film is nominated for best picture. Tom Hanks draws you in on such an emotional level when you watch him try to comprehend his rescue. Absolutely amazing.
Cons: A little too long. While I enjoy suspense, it got to a point where you kept wondering, "when is this going to end?"
Dallas Buyers Club
Pros: Matthew McConaughey delivers a stunning performance and truly shows his passion and commitment to acting in this film. He lost 45-50 pounds just to get ready for the role which I greatly respect. Jared Leto and Jennifer Garner were my personal favorites to be honest. You feel more emotion for the supporting roles than you do for the lead. I also enjoyed how factual the film was, and how it opened your mind to the way our health care system operates in comparison to other countries.
Cons: While I felt Matthew did great in the film, I couldn't connect with his character as much as I did with Jared and Jennifer's characters. I felt the character was only interested in making money for himself, and when it got to the point of him changing his viewpoints towards gay people, I wasn't convinced. I felt Matt could have done more in his character development to show the audience that he had this change of heart towards the gay community and living with disease. Also, the film was way too slow for the subject matter. There were parts of the film that dragged and there were parts that could have used more emphasis. I felt him taking the FDA to court was done so fast. They could have spent more time on that as I was actually a little confused on the logistics.
Gravity
Pros: The filming. I was very impressed with how the director filmed this movie. You felt like you were in space with Sandra Bullock. Well done in cinematography and editing.
Cons: The story. It was very unrealistic for me and ruined the film. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong for Sandra's character. It brought far-fetched to a whole new level, and I can't help but think the writers were just trying to make it a 90 minute movie. Sandra Bullock's performance didn't do much for me. I did not connect with her character at all and felt she was trying too hard to pull off the "I'm all alone for an hour scene", similar to Tom Hanks in Cast Away. It just ruined the movie for me. Not one of my favorites.
Her
Pros: Absolutely amazing!!!! This film connects with you on such an emotional level. It makes you think how close our society is to becoming 100% dependent on technology. I couldn't believe it when the film introduced us to a company that creates love letters for you, pretending to be you, to send to significant others. Where's the emotion? Where is the thoughtfulness and beauty in having a relationship? It was mind-boggling for me as I could definitely see us turning to something like this someday. Of course, the main storyline is watching a man fall in love with an operating system. Sounds weird huh? There was no point when I thought it was crazy. The screenplay and directing is so well done that you feel there's nothing wrong with a man falling in love with his computer. It's actually quite natural how it was done and makes you understand. And then when the operating system gets recalled and he has to say goodbye to "her", you can't help but shed a tear or two. How is that possible?? Fantastic storytelling.
Cons: A little slow-moving and quite controversial for my taste. Has this movie opened Pandora's Box for companies such as Apple and Google? Is it in our reach to create an operating system with artificial intelligence? It's scary when you think about the possibilities.
Nebraska
Pros: Another emotional film. It is so simple of a storyline, yet you feel so compelled and inspired by the end of the movie to appreciate your life and your family. The relationship and bond that is created by father and son is astounding and beautiful. The characters don't even realize what's happening, but they are spending time with one another. Sure it's the result of some crazy scam the father believes in, but would the events have happened would it not have been for that "winning" letter in the mail? The road trip to Nebraska meant so much more than for some old man to collect his winnings. It was so that his son can appreciate his father and make a memory with him that will last a lifetime. The ending ties it in wonderfully. All the father wants to do with the money he's "won" is buy a truck and an air compressor. The son eventually buys both those things for him so his father can feel complete. In the end, the son lets his father drive the new truck across town so all the townspeople that made fun of him can feel dumb and convinced that this man actually collected a million dollars. It was a beautiful story with some great comic relief given to us by June Squibb. An incredible actress that makes you think of that one family member we all have that just speaks her mind and airs out all the family's dirty laundry.
Cons: Bruce Dern getting nominated for his performance. While I enjoyed the film very much, I cannot understand why he was nominated. I can think of several other performances that trump his. Oh Oscar Academy..........
Philomena
Pros: A film that makes you think long and hard about religion and hypocrisy. A beautiful story about a woman trying to find her long-lost son no thanks to the convent she grew up in. This woman did nothing wrong but felt so little of herself for having the child out of wedlock. The convent sold her child to an American family and forced her to work day in and day out to "pay" for her sin. Are you kidding me?!?!?!? To say that this film made me angry is an understatement. It just showed me what I already knew - that people (key word there) hide behind their religious viewpoints to determine what is right and what is wrong, when in actuality, they are in no position to judge. Judi Dench and Steve Coogan deliver exceptional performances that make us ponder how we would have handled the situation should we be in Philomena's shoes. I personally reacted the same way Steve did when he addressed the nuns at the end. A great and powerful film that brings out such raw emotion, it truly is deserving of the nomination.
Cons: Each of the actors had strong accents which made it difficult to understand at times. But overall, no cons.
Wolf of Wall Street
Pros: The acting in this film was incredible. Leo and everyone involved delivered superb performances that made the scenes and overall film great. While it was 3 hours long, the film flowed very well and kept me intrigued the entire time. I personally enjoyed Leo's acting and still can't believe how he did that "Lemon" scene. Another powerful scene was when Belfort and his wife are fighting in the house. It was a very raw scene for many people in the theatre, and quite edgy (as was the rest of the film). Jonah Hill did great and delivered some great comic relief for us. The quotes in the movie go down as some of the most outrageous film quotes I've ever heard. It definitely was my guilty pleasure for this year's Oscar season.
Cons: There was so much use of profanity, sex, and drugs in this movie. It got to a point where you thought, "ok is this necessary?"
12 Years a Slave
Pros: A very powerful film from the point of view of one man. It was amazing to hear this story and watch a free man go through all that suffering and pain. The filming was fantastic as it brought out the authenticity of pre-Civil War era. I loved the numerous shots of trees and plantations to get the full effect of the setting. I kept thinking to myself how wonderful the costuming was. There were some extraordinary costumes in this film.
Cons: The music. I was so disappointed in the score when I heard it. It was "Time" from Inception and I recognized it right away. Sure enough, Hans Zimmer was the composer of this film and I just thought, "Have we given up on originality?" Also, the director spent way too much time on some scenes (10 minutes of the main character being hung from a tree is a little excessive). The ending was pathetic. He finally reunites with his family and we're going to pull a Sopranos finale and cut to black? This film definitely lacked some prioritization in screenplay.
MY RATINGS FROM BEST TO WORST!!
Her
Philomena
Wolf of Wall Street
Captain Phillips
American Hustle
Nebraska
Dallas Buyers Club
12 Years a Slave
Gravity
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