Skinned Lion

I am not sure how many of you all take the time to watch the Oscars, but typically you get roped in somehow. Whether it is your wife, girlfriend, sister or mom...you end up watching it. I personally don't mind it, but like most people I usually only care about the best picture category. Looking back in the past 5 years, I am not entirely sure the "academy" has gotten in right. Some people talk about them being paid off and a lot of behind the scenes wheeling and dealings going on to select the best picture, but whether it happens or not....they typically do not get it right (in my opinion anyways).

Let's start in 2006 shall we...
- Crash (winner)
- Brokeback Mountain
- Capote (should have won)
- Goodnight, Good Luck
- Munich

Now personally, I think Capote should have won. Crash was good, don't get we wrong, but it didn't have that best picture quality we all look for. I am pretty sure everyone thought that Brokeback Mountain should have won (and yes I saw it, just like every other movie that were selected) but I didn't think it should have won Best Picture just because it was so racy and put everyone up in arms. Capote was just a great movie all around and Phillip Seymour Hoffman did a fantastic job and sold the movie as a whole to me. The other two, didn't really stand a chance in my opinion. Munich was way to slow, and Goodnight, Good Luck was good, but I just don't think it did it for everyone.

2007
- The Departed (winner)
- Babel
- Letters From Iwo Jima
- Little Miss Sunshine
- The Queen

I actually have no problem with this selection. The Departed was a fantastic movie, had everything you looked for in a great movie. It seems like, typically, best picture usually ends up being some huge, blockbuster, epic movie like The Queen. Since Helen Mirren one Best Actress for her role in The Queen it seems like that movie really was destined to win Best Picture. But luckily, they got this one right. I don't really have anything else to say about Babel or Letters From Iwo Jima...they were both good movies I suppose, just not my style. I absolutely loved Little Miss Sunshine, if that had won, I would have been perfectly OK with it. I thought Steve Carrel as a gay uncle/brother that was on suicide watch from a crazy/typical family taking a girl across a few states in a busted out VW Van was hysterical...not to mention Alan Arkin is one of the funniest people ever in that movie. Best all in all...2006 got it right I think.

2008
- No Country For Old Men (winner)
- Atonement
- Juno
- Michael Clayton
- There Will Be Blood (should have won)

This really bothered me a lot for some reason. I really like No Country For Old Men, but There Will Be Blood was just a completely better movie in my opinion. Better acting, a better story, better ending...I just see zero flaws in it. I don't even want to talk about the other movies from '07 because they don't hold a candle to the other two that were nominated. It really only came down to those two to begin with in my opinion...but they swung and missed it I think. There Will Be Blood was hands down the better movie.

2009
- Slumdog Millionaire (winner)
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Frost/Nixon
- Milk
- The Reader
- (should have won) The Wrestler or The Dark Knight - neither were nominated for Best Picture

First off...2008 can suck it, because the two best movies from 2008 were not even put up for Best Picture in my opinion. How can you leave out The Dark Knight and The Wrestler?? 2008 was a huge disappointment and I don't care to dwell on this pathetic cast of movies...I fell asleep to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk is another movie about the uprising of gay rights, Frost/Nixon was alright, I never actually saw The Reader (but based on the name, it should have remained a book) and Slumdog Millionaire was good, but give me a damn break.

2010
- Hurt Locker (winner)
- Avatar
- The Blind Side
- District 9
- An Education
- Inglorious Basterds (should have won)
- Precious: Based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire
- A Serious Man
- Up
- Up in the Air

Hurt Locker was by all means a fantastic movie, and I can see why it won Best Picture. But let's be honest, it was just another take on a typical war movie. Avatar was the biggest blockbuster success in recent memory and was a fantastic movie also and could have easily won. The Blind Side was a cheese-puff movie about a white family taking in a black kid from the streets and him making it to college and eventually the NFL (let's be honest, if Rudy wasn't even nominated, Blind Side wasn't gonna win). District 9, absolutely loved the movie, not sure what else I can say. An Education (didn't see it, nor did I care too). Precious was also a very good movie, could have easily won and if it had...it wouldn't have bothered me to much. A Serious Man was alright, movie dragged out to long and the ending was one of the worsts ever. Up...what can I say about Up...possibly the most depressing first 15-20 minutes of an animated movie I have ever seen and all in all...I really wasn't a fan of this movie (sorry to my girlfriend, because this is her favorite movie). Up in the Air was good, not great or unbelievable.....but OK. But the movie Inglorious Basterds was unreal...the acting, the story, cinematography, setting, plot....I seriously could not get enough of this movie (maybe I am partial b/c Brad Pitt was from Maynardville, TN). Either way, I think it should have won Best Picture.

2011
- 127 Hours
- Black Swan
- The Fighter (should win)
- Inception
- The Kid's Are Alright
- The King's Speech (will probably win)
- The Social Network
- Toy Story 3
- True Grit
- Winter's Bone

Now I am going to be honest...I have not see all of these movies, so I can't say with 100% what movie I think should win....(haven't seen Black Swan, The Kid's Are Alright, The King's Speech or Winter's Bone yet). Good luck to whomever has to pick The Best Picture out of that group of movies, because out of the six I have seen, it is really hard to say which one I liked the best....but it was probably The Fighter. I am not going to go into to much detail about any of the other movies until the award is announced....but I am pulling for either The Fighter or True Grit. I loved 127 Hours, Inception, The Social Network and Toy Story 3 and it was hard for me to pick The Fighter out of just those, much less four more movies I haven't seen yet. Here is to hoping they get it right for a change...but I guess in the grand scheme of things...everyone have an opinion....and unfortunately mine does not matter when it comes to the Oscars.

Much Love,
Lion