Last year Loveliest Lori made an almost 100 percent successful attempt to see all the Oscar-nominated films before the Oscar awards show. I was impressed with her efforts, and a little jealous that she didn’t alert me to her goal until it was nearly complete. We went to Milk together, but otherwise most of last year’s nominees were left unseen by my critical eyes. My embarrassingly brief list of nominees I saw pre-awards show:
Lori suggested we see the (possible) nominees together this year, but so far we haven’t managed to connect for a single movie—granted, we haven’t exactly tried. With the nominations being announced on February 2, and the next Academy Awards ceremony coming up on March 7, we better get busy movie-going, Lori!
According to a recent Entertainment Weekly list, here are the 25 movies we should see before Oscar night:
- Up in the Air
- Avatar
- The Hurt Locker
- Precious
- Inglourious Basterds
- Invictus
- An Education
- Up
- A Serious Man
- The Messenger
- Julie & Julia
- A Single Man
- Crazy Heart
- The Blind Side
- The Last Station
- Nine
- Star Trek
- District 9
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- The Lovely Bones
- (500) Days of Summer
- It’s Complicated
- The Young Victoria
- Bright Star (on DVD Jan. 26)
- The Informant! (on DVD Feb. 23)
How much “Jen, you’re not lame or loser-y AT ALL!!” credit do I get for seeing only one of these movies so far, but seeing it at least 25 times??? OK, fine…
- I want to see Up in the Air. I’ve heard good and bad, but I’m willing to suffer through a couple hours o’ my boy George.
- Avatar is sooo not my kind of thing, but with the rave reviews I’ve read, I might have to make myself go.
- It would take a much bigger effort for me to watch Inglourious Basterds. Not just because of the spelling of the title; I hate me some Brad Pitt acting, and I’m not a Tarantino fan either.
- Why haven’t I watched Julie & Julia yet? Blogging, cooking, Amy Adams, Meryl Streep? This movie has it all.
- A Single Man? Definitely.
- Nine, maybe.
- I got Star Trek on DVD for Victor for Christmas because I’m the best wife in the whole, wide world. I suppose I could watch it. It wouldn’t get awards for Best Picture or anything, would it? I mean, it’s a shitty Star Trek movie, right? Heh heh heh…
- While I loved the book The Lovely Bones, there’s no way I’ll watch the movie with Stanley Tucci as the very-creepy bad guy. I’m afraid I’d never see him the same again. Couldn’t stand that.
- I want to see It’s Complicated. Good cast.
- I thought the trailer and commercials of The Informant! looked pretty watch-worthy.
I’d love to hear personal reviews of anything you’ve seen that you recommend or don’t. Please share!
I’m not sure I’ve ever watched an Oscars ceremony with a strong opinion on who should win based on the actual movies; typically I root for the actors I like best or the ones who look the least weird that night. I would love to be a little bit more objective on who actually deserves the awards… or would it just irritate me, then, when my favorites didn’t win? Whatevs. I hope to see at least one more of these films in the next six weeks.
We have definitely dropped the ball! I did see all 5 Best Pic nominees before the Oscars last year so I'd like to do the same this year.
ReplyDeleteI have only seen:
Up
Up in the Air
Avatar
The Blind Side
Julie/Julia
You do need to see Avatar in 3-D. It's not my genre either but I took the boys last weekend and LOVED it!
Weren't we going to try and have an Oscar party? Feeling up to it? At the very least - we need a bunch of people on FB IM'ing during the dress critiques! ;)
Let's get at it girl!
xoxo
I've seen "Up" and "Julie and Julia," both of which I really enjoyed. Warning: I couldn't stop talking like Julia Childs anytime I was with the friend I watched the movie with for approximately six months.
ReplyDeleteDon't bother with "Inglorious." I like Pitt and Tarantino and thought the movie was a waste of time. I liked "Julie and Julia" the movie more than the book. Now that rarely happens.
ReplyDeleteI am totally with you about "Inglorious Basterds." Not a Tarantino fan, have no desire to see it.
ReplyDeleteI think you would enjoy the "Star Trek" movie. I saw it with my hubby and really liked it. As one dude on amazon.com wrote about it, "It had lots of action, excitement, plus romance and character development for the chicks."
Saw "Julie & Julia" on a plane, it was quite good!
Lori K
I loved Julie and Julia, even though I would have loved more Julia and a little less Julie, I love Meryl Streep....and she was a hilarious Julia...she WAS Julia. Last night my hubby and I saw It's Complicated...I enjoyed it (even though I'm not so Alec Baldwin) and although there were a few laughs coming from the my date, there was enough terse sighing to make me wish I was either alone or with a girlfriend. He explained it by saying he just isn't a good movie person. What the hell does that mean? Anyway, it was good to see adult bodies and age appropriate skin....meaning with the lumps and crinkles. And I loved the setting...Santa Barbara is lovely. I have to confess, the movie that made me laugh til I cried this year is The Hangover...that I recommend for a serious endorphin hit.
ReplyDeleteUp is the only one I've seen but I'd gladly see many of them - but with only seeing movies on Netflix, it's gonna be awhile...
ReplyDeleteYou're thinking too hard about it Jen. Relax. You've got nothing but time. Go see them all!
ReplyDeleteSince I don't have much free time these days, top on my to see list are:
ReplyDeleteUp in the Air
Avatar
Crazy Heart
Young Victoria
Let us know if you do the FB IM'ing thing :).
I thought I'd been doing well at seeing movies this year, but obviously I see movies that don't make it to the Oscar lists! Ha.
ReplyDeleteBut, I have seen Up in the Air, Julie & Julia, The Blind Side, The Lovely Bones, (500) Days of Summer (probably my favorite movie of 2009, dork that I am), Bright Star and It's Complicated... I'm actually in better shape than most years, I guess.
I still want to see An Education, A Single Man, Crazy Heart, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Nine, Star Trek, The Young Victoria, The Informant... the rest I'm a little "meh" on. Especially Avatar. Just can't get up the energy for that one.
Happy viewing! It's good to have a goal! And, really, the Oscars are about what everyone's wearing, right?! Not the movies themselves... oh and James Cameron last night at the Golden Globes? A freaking trazillionaire and he needs a haircut SO bad. Someone help the man.