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I meant to publish this last night but was really tired when I got home from the theater. As has been my habit for the last four years, I once again went to the Best Picture Showcase at the AMC 24 at Quail Springs Mall in Edmond. Unlike previous years, when all 5 movies were shown in a single day, this year’s 10 movies are being shown over the course of two Saturday’s (Feb 27 and Mar 6). Here are my notes/ratings on the 5 movies I saw yesterday (listed in order of screening):

7) Avatar IMAX 3D –
I still think that this is probably the Oscar favorite but I’m not sure how I feel about that. The visuals are gorgeous but the story itself is somewhat bland. Still, fun to see at the theater and I am glad that I finally got to see the IMAX version (apparently it was something the local theater decided on at the last minute and was not a chainwide thing).

8 ) Up –
A charming cartoon. One of three movies that I had already seen that I watched again today (along with Avatar and District 9). I’m glad that the expanded Best Picture category allows the voters to take chances on cartoons and other films that would have had no chance to be up for the highest honor. Up is well done and even has moments of seriousness (which is becoming more common for children’s movies).

9) A Serious Man –
I had no idea what to expect with this film as I hadn’t read any reviews about it and had heard little word of mouth on it. Once again, the Coen brother’s come up with an excellent, Oscar worthy film. A very entertaining black comedy that watches the unraveling of a man’s life. Of the five films that I saw yesterday, this one was my favorite and I would love to see it win. There’s virtually no chance of that as Avatar seems to be an almost certain lock, at this time.

10) Precious –
The other film that was unknown quantity to me yesterday, Precious is an excellent film. It is also the most depressing film of all of the Best Picture Oscar contenders that I have watched over the last 4 years of attending this event. I’m not sure that I’d ever want to see it again but it is certainly worthy of being a nominee. The story is compelling and most of the characters are very 3-dimensional.

11) District 9 –
I’m still not sure why this movie was nominated for an Oscar. It was a mediocre Sci-Fi film. Even if you want to go along with the Antiaparthied theme, Invictus was a much better film that tackled the same issue. The movie is watchable but the one I was least looking forward to seeing yesterday.

Of the 5 movies I watched yesterday, I think that A Serious Man was my favorite but that Avatar is still the most likely to win the award. I will post again next week with the final five films that are shown.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 28th, 2010 at 2:28 pm and is filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.