Bucket List item - COMPLETE!

Here's my review of the Best Picture nominees because I saw ALL NINE OF THEM!!! Bucket list item complete! See additional post regarding our Oscar viewing party (and no, we did not get an invite to Elton John's viewing party, so we settled for a party at Lisa's):

Midnight in Paris - charming story set in Paris about a writer who's transported every night to the 1920s Paris and gets to mingle with the famous artists/writers of that time. I really enjoyed it, but the acting wasn't over the top amazing for me.

Moneyball - great story about the early 2000's Oakland A's team that's a true story. Brad Pitt played his part amazingly as the A's GM, Jonah Hill didn't knock me out of the park with regard to his supporting actor role for which he was nominated. Overall I liked the story and was entertained, but felt for the title of Best Picture, it didn't cut it.

War Horse - I sweated and sporadically closed my eyes through this movie. This was another great story and I liked that it was about the horse, Joey's, journey through various people's lives in the early 20th century during WWI instead of sticking with one character throughout. But I am a softy who doesn't like to see animals get hurt plus I'm not huge into the big action scenes that take place in war movies, so this one didn't make my list.

The Artist - I initially thought this might be my pick to win it all because the movie was very charming and the actors did a great job of telling a story with just their expressions and actions since it was a silent film. Also when I first heard about it, I wondered how I could possibly be entertained by a silent film and thought I might take a snooze halfway through. I like that it was a different format and unlike the other films. But it wound up not being my pick because of this little gem:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - This was my pick to win it all (my personal pick, I banked on the Academy picking The Artist, which they did). This had the three elements I wanted: great acting, a great story, and it was fictional (I shouldn't be biased, but I have to give a little credit to someone who thinks up a whole story on their own vs using one that already exists). Don't get me wrong, I love a good true story movie, but when it comes to criteria to win Best Picture for the freaking Oscars, you have to set the bar high. Anyway, I liked that they didn't overly focus on Sept. 11th. The child actor was robbed by not getting a nomination for Best Actor because he was AMAZING. He had long monologues with big words and was very animated. The story made me cry, but I didn't walk away feeling super bummed out like a few of the other ones left me plus I had some laughs in there. This gave it all the elements I wanted for best picture.

Tree of Life - My props if you get this movie because I'm not deep enough to even remotely understand what the hell was going on. There were a ton of nature shots, at one point dinosaurs were involved (Brad Pitt in a movie that has dinosaurs, you do the math). I thought some of the shots were well done, the way the camera shot the children playing or interacting, but overall Lisa and I were actively boo-ing the nominations this received. We almost turned it off multiple times.....

Hugo - Cute movie about a boy who lives in a train station. I thought the story was anti-climatic like when the boy finds out the truth behind the old guy's past life. Good camera work though and a few laughs.

The Help - Before I saw Extremely Loud and Incredibly close, this was my pick to win. I liked the story, I know there is some controversy around it, but I loved the story line and the acting. And I love that the snobby biatch ate that pie (you have to watch it to know what I'm talking about). I think I really love Emma Stone now.

The Descendants - Love George Clooney always and also his teenage daughter (great actress in this movie). The storyline overall didn't move me, and this one left me bummed out. I know you should walk away like, oh George and his kids are going to be closer and he's probably going to be a better Dad, but I just couldn't get over the super sad circumstances with his wife.

This may be the first and last time I am able to do this, but it was a fantastic journey and loved spending time with my buddy Lisa at the theaters (we went to 5 different ones to get this done).