2010 Oscars

In 2010, in addition to my normal theater watching, I saw 9 of the 10 Best Picture nominees, some of them on video. This is the order I ranked them:

Black Swan
The King’s Speech
Inception
127 Hours
The Fighter
The Social Network
True Grit
The Kids Are All Right
Winter’s Bone

I also made an effort to see all the Best Actor and Best Actress performances. The only commentary I can find on this process follows:

I have now seen half the Best Picture nominees. The King’s Speech was an excellent movie with outstanding acting performances from Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. The Fighter was also an excellent movie, with outstanding acting from Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg. At least there are deserving contenders this year.

Update to last post… and then there was Netflix in the mailbox, with The Kids Are All Right. Good movie, but not great movie. I think it’s on the list as a Hollywood nod to alternative families. Bening’s performance was solid but doesn’t hold a candle to Portman’s. Same for Ruffalo in relation to Bale and Rush.

Just saw 127 Hours. Powerful, visceral, movie. Do not see it if you are at all squeamish. Do see it if you want to see a virtuoso acting performance from James Franco.
It’s a very different role from my previous Oscar front-runner, Colin Firth. Difficult to compare. I think Firth is more likely to win, and possibly deserves to.

Okay, I’ve seen 9 of 10 Best Picture nominees, and all that I’m going to. It’s a good class this year, I wouldn’t be terribly upset to see any of them win. That said, my order is:
Black Swan
The King’s Speech
Inception
127 Hours
The Fighter
The Social Network
True Grit
The Kids Are All Right
Winter’s Bone
…but even the movies at the end of the list are good and worth watching.

Actress: Portman
Actor: Firth
Supporting Actress: Steinfeld
Supporting Actor: Bale