The Oscar Race

It's going to be a most interesting Oscar race this year. I can't quite remember a year in which there were so many high quality movies made, and that bodes well for Hollywood. Not every film I saw was nominated for anything, but still, I can say in all honesty that this was a banner year for top notch films, making the Academy Awards a really tough competition between some really outstanding movies. The nominations for Best Picture this year are: "The Artist". "Hugo", "The Descendants", "Tree of Life", "War Horse", "Midnight in Paris", "The Help", "Moneyball" and "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close". I've seen them all except "Tree of Life" and "Moneyball". My personal choice would be "Hugo", because it's such a groundbreaking movie. It can't be easily categorized. It's not precisely a children's movie, not a fantasy as such, not really a mystery, although it sort of is, but it is its own unique genre of film and absolutely brilliantly done. Martin Scorsese deserves Best Director for stepping so far outside of his normal milieu. He is renowned for making fairly violent movies and "Hugo" is anything but. It's a brilliant film about the magical power of film and why we love them so much. It's also about finding a family and the power of love to transform even the hardest of hearts. There's an almost Dickensian quality about it in a way and as a serious fan of that author's work, this film really resonated with me in a very big way. I do hope that "Hugo" does take home many awards at the Oscars.

Right behind it for nominations is "The Artist", a 21st century black and white silent movie about a silent movie star who fails to make the adjustment to the talkies. The fact that it IS a silent movie, and is shot in old fashioned black and white, makes it unique and special. The male lead, played by French actor Jean Dujardin, looks like a love child between Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Gene Kelly. He and the female co-star are quite the hoofers as well and to see beautiful dancing like what used to be in the movies. I hope this movie wins some awards, too, for its wistful look back at the silent era and early talkies. This past year seemed to be one in which Hollywood was being particularly nostalgic and I do hope that moviemakers continue looking backward for inspiration. Nothing wrong with that in my book! So the Oscars this year should be quite remarkable for the number of outstanding movies made this past year. Competition is going to be very stiff, to say the least! Stay tuned!