Quick Review (Oscar Edition): Winter's Bone

At the end of this post I'll rank the Oscar Best Picture nominees, now that I've seen them all. The one I had missed, "Winter's Bone," wasn't rereleased to theaters after its nomination, so I had to rent the DVD. (Not only is it the first time I've ever rented a DVD, although way back in the day I did rent VHS tapes, I got it for $1 from a Redbox machine. It would've cost $4.99 for On Demand rental from Comcast.)

The tension-filled "Winter's Bone" mostly held my interest well. I got up just once, to get a drink. (Being able to pause the movie just isn't possible in theaters, dammit!) 17-year-old Ree (Jennifer Lawrence, nominated for Best Actress) is taking care of her mother, younger brother and sister in severe poverty in a rural area. She has to set off on a desperate quest to find her missing father, out on bond after an arrest on meth-making charges; he signed over their house as part of his bail, and if he doesn't show up for court they'll lose the house. The search won't be easy; meth labs are a big business in these areas and those who may know her father's whereabouts, including his own brother (John Hawkes, also a nominee as Best Supporting Actor), keep warning her to keep her mouth shut. I kept waiting for some typical dialogue and action and overacting that we usually get from big-budget Hollywood films. It never came. This is a quiet but rather powerful story. My grade: B-plus.

So, now that I've seen all ten Best Picture nominees, here is how I'd rank them, although my hunch is that "The King's Speech" will actually win the Oscar:

1. Toy Story 3
2. The Social Network
3. Black Swan
4. Inception
5. Winter's Bone
6. The Kids Are All Right
7. 127 Hours
8. True Grit
9. The King's Speech
10. The Fighter

My Best And Worst 2010 Movies

This is probably a little late, since we're two weeks into 2011, but it doesn't really matter since there are probably still a few 2010 movies for me to see, especially if they're Oscar Best Picture nominees. So this may be updated a few times, depending on what I see and how much I love (or loathe) them. And remember, there may be some awesome (or dreadful) movies that I won't see at all unless I happen to catch them on cable or something. For now, though, let's talk about my 10 favorite movies of 2010.

A note: as of now I have one "A" movie and six "A-minus" movies, but I've bumped two of the "A-minuses" ahead of the "A." I discussed this issue here, and though I'm not changing the grades, I've decided to rank them differently. (Also, I have 10 "B-plus" movies and only 3 can make the top 10. Sorry, also-rans! Here's the entire grade list, by the way.)

The top 10 are as follows:

Quick Review: The Kids Are All Right

Well, I now have four movies to write about. I really should start using the camcorder on my phone to record instant video reviews and put them up on YouTube...oh, wait...

So, "The Kids Are All Right." Annette Bening and Julianne Moore are Nic and Jules, partnered lesbians. They each gave birth to a child, using the same anonymous donor's sperm. Nic is a doctor but kind of uptight, Jules sort of goes between "careers" and is more the crunchy-granola earth-mother type. Their daughter Joni (Mia Wasikowska) has just turned 18 and is headed to college, and her 15-year-old brother Laser (Josh Hutcherson) has a request for her: he wants to meet their dad, the anonymous sperm donor. Joni can get the records because she's now 18. She isn't really interested but decides to do so for her brother, and thus the kids' father, Paul (Mark Ruffalo) comes into the lives of this family. It's a sweet, funny little film, it's well-acted (particularly by the kids) and Mark Ruffalo is dreamy. (And briefly naked! Yay!) There's some relationship drama but it doesn't get too overwhelming except near the end. I especially liked the fact that a lesbian couple with two kids isn't made into a big deal. They're just a family dealing with family stuff. My grade: B-plus.