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:

Become Michael Cera! And Another Movie Thing...

I don't know when this was made but I'm sad it didn't mention Scott Pilgrim...



Speaking of which, I was thinking about my movie grades. I gave "Toy Story 3" an A, while "Despicable Me" and "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" both got A-minus grades. Yet the latter two movies were the only ones I wanted to, and did, go back and see a second time. So should I reverse these grades, or at least downgrade "Toy Story 3" a little? I still sort of think it was the superior movie, but I didn't have the same pull to see it again as I did the other two. Thoughts?

Quick Reviews: Toy Story 3, Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work

I don't think there's too much to say, really, about "Toy Story 3." Anything Pixar touches turns to gold, and this film is no different. I will say that I think the long delay between sequels (due to squabbling between Disney and Pixar) did help make the plot more affecting. It might have seemed wrong if this movie came out in, say, 2003 with the same plot: young Andy is headed off to college and has to decide what to do with all of his childhood toys, a mix-up nearly gets the toys sent to the trash, they end up at a day-care center where things don't go as they expected, etc. But in 2010 it's almost perfect, ten years after the second movie. There are plenty of laughs and at the end I defy you not to tear up just a little. My grade: A.

Which do you think looks more realistic: the animation in "Toy Story 3" or Joan Rivers' face? (Yes, the only reason to merge these reviews into one post was to go for that cheap laugh.) The documentary "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" begins with a much-hyped close-up of her plastic surgery-enhanced face without makeup. To be honest, I thought it would look worse. The movie follows a year in the life of the comedienne, with a major emphasis on the fact that she will go anywhere for a paying gig, while summing up some of the high and low points of her life (her first appearance on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," Carson's reaction when Rivers decides to compete against him with a late-night talk show on the then-fledgling Fox network, her husband's 1987 suicide -- in Philadelphia). It's an interesting, almost unflinching film, and with a plenty of her one-liners and jokes throughout. Plus, at one point while on stage she gets heckled and she just eviscerates the man. If you're a fan, as I have been, this is a must-see. If you hate her perhaps you'd enjoy seeing her during some of her struggles -- this isn't a puff piece; there are some very melancholy, sad and almost pathetic moments. My grade: A-minus.