Quick Reviews (Oscar edition): The Hurt Locker, A Serious Man

This week I finally completed my mission of seeing all ten Oscar Best Picture nominees. I had to settle for watching "A Serious Man" at home on pay-per-view because it wasn't in any theaters, but I got the full movie experience (so to speak) from "The Hurt Locker."

Breaking my usual format, let me say right up front that my grade for both films is a B-minus. What was interesting was that they got to that destination from different directions. "The Hurt Locker" follows a U.S. Army bomb squad as it defuses explosive devices in Iraq in 2004, but it doesn't really tell a focused story. We see a series of incidents in which the unit is working, and an on-screen caption of how many days remain in their current tour of duty, and some off-duty activity. The sergeant who physically works on the bombs (Jeremy Renner, Oscar Best Actor nominee) gets most of the attention because of his unorthodox ways of working that the other members of his unit feel are too risky. It was tense at times, but sort of meanders along, and it ends sort of as it begins.

There is a tale to be told in "A Serious Man," a dark comedy written, directed and produced by the Coen brothers. In 1967 in suburban Minneapolis, the life of college professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is unraveling. At work, a student complains about a failing grade and leaves behind a cash bribe, and the student's father follows it up with a threat to sue if Larry doesn't take the bribe and change his son's grade. Larry's up for tenure but someone's sent anonymous letters to the school that may be a problem. At home, his wife wants a divorce so she can be with a widowed family friend, his son's about to complete his bar mitzvah but he secretly smokes pot, his daughter seems to be stealing money from his wallet...the problems keep piling up. Larry seeks answers from three different rabbis, but for varying reasons none are able or willing to provide solace. This tale was much more engrossing than "The Hurt Locker," and the use of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody To Love" was creative, but the end was jarring, a real "WTF?" kind of ending.

So, now that I've seen all ten nominees, this would be my Best Picture ballot (the new rules ask that voters rank the nominees from 1 to 10, and a formula using those rankings is applied if one film doesn't win a majority of first-place votes) if I had one:

1. Up In The Air
2. Precious
3. Up
4. District 9
5. An Education
6. Inglourious Basterds
7. The Blind Side
8. A Serious Man
9. The Hurt Locker
10. Avatar

Quick Review: The Blind Side

One thing that I tend to wonder about when I watch a movie that's based on a true story is how much artistic license was taken when transforming the story into a film. "The Blind Side" is based on a book of the same name by Michael Lewis ("Moneyball") and tells the story of Michael Oher's journey from poverty to rich NFL player. Some of what is depicted in the movie (such as Oher's "younger brother" taking charge of Oher's football drills and dealing with the college coaches out to recruit Oher to their school) had me wondering a lot. It didn't really ring true. However, the essence of the story -- about Oher's being accepted into a private Christian school in Memphis despite a very poor track record in his previous schools, being taken in by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy and eventually becoming a star high school and college football player en route to the NFL -- holds together. Sandra Bullock dominates the movie as Leigh Anne. It's a change of pace from her many romantic-comedy roles, and she does an excellent job. Bullock and Tim McGraw, as Sean, make a good on-screen couple. If you're not a sports nut like I am, there's not a terrible amount of football action so don't let that keep you away. My grade: B.