With the Academy Awards are nearing, and it is my duty to review the movies that are most likely to be nominated. Some of the front-runners include: The Help, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Hugo, Super 8, The Artist, The Descendants, Moneyball, and The Tree of Life. It will take two columns to hit all of these.
The first movie I watched was obviously Harry Potter. I had already seen it three times when I was informed that I had to watch it for my column. This movie is the perfect end to a great series of movies. The graphics were awesome, and it stayed pretty close to the book. Of course there were differences, but if there weren’t any differences, we’d have to set aside an entire week just to watch it completely. We would probably also need intermission occasionally for bathroom breaks and maybe sustenance. The music was amazing as always. The soundtrack to the Harry Potters have always been that way. I honestly don’t think this will be awarded an Oscar for Best Motion Picture. It was a great movie, but I just don’t think it was the best. Also, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are probably not going to get any acting awards because there were better actors in better movies.
Next, I watched The Help. Wow. This was an amazing movie. I laughed so much while watching this. I’ve heard that the book wasn’t meant to be as humorous, but if it’s anything like the movie, I heard wrong. Not only was this movie funny, it was inspirational and quite the tear-jerker. The music went well with the movie, but it didn’t stand out much. I thought this movie’s authenticity for its setting was amazing. It felt real. I honestly don’t think anyone with blood running through his or her veins could not like this movie. Viola Davis was absolutely fantastic as Aibileen, the primary “help”. I think she will be awarded Best Actress.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes was my next movie. Let me just say that the idea of this happening in real life is scary. This movie is labeled an action movie and for good reason. I actually held my breath a couple of times because of its intensity. I don’t think any of the actors would be getting any awards because this movie was mainly about the computer-generated apes, which should earn it an award for its fantastic animation. I’m not sure if it would win anything else.
I also watched The Tree of Life. If I were speaking, you would be able to hear the disdain in my voice. This movie was point-blank weird. The camera angles were one thing, and the dinosaurs were another. As far as I could tell, this movie was not about dinosaurs, yet there they were. I actually thought I had fallen asleep and was dreaming that I had seen dinosaurs, but they really were put in the movie. I’ll admit that the acting was impressive. Brad Pitt played a slightly cold and rough father to three boys in the 50’s, a part that I had never expected him to play, and he played it well. This movie would have been interesting if it wasn’t put together so strangely, and its “point” was extremely vague if it even had one. To be honest, it will probably win something like Best Cinematography just because of how different the camera angles were. The acting was noteworthy.
My picks out of these four are The Help for Best Motion Picture, Viola Davis for Best Actress, Brad Pitt for Best Actor and The Help for Best Cinematography.
Check out the next issue for the other half of my picks.
