Lets all go to the Movies!

First of all, I love movies... and about a month back when the award season began I made my list of must see movies so I could be up to date on all things Hollywood.

Subsequently, in the past three weekends I have gone to the movie theater to see a few of the latest releases before the Academy Awards on Sunday, February 26th.  Having generated a great deal of Oscar buzz, I decided that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Iron Lady, and The Artist were my top must sees!  I was excited to get a chance to watch them for myself and see if they really stood up to all the hype.  

Starting with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, this film was my least favorite of the three listed above.  Staring Thomas Horn, playing Oskar Schell, the young boy who looses his father in the 9/11 attacks, was fairly good in his role, and being his first film I applaud him for his efforts.  For me personally it was an emotional roller coaster, and at times difficult to watch.  The real star of this film was Max Von Sydow playing The Renter.  Although he did not speak a word throughout the entire film, the fact that he is nominated for Actor in a Supporting Role proves that his work was incredible.  

Moving on, the next film I saw wasThe Iron Lady...  I love Meryl Streep, and admire all of the work that she does, and this film was another fantastic one to add to her repertoire.  The transformation that she makes to become Margaret Thatcher was unbelievable.  The plot was a bit all over the place and spent a great deal of time on Thatcher's mental problems, although this can be seen as a positive or a negative, I'll leave that up to you.  Overall I appreciated Streep's portrayal, and learned a great deal about an important political figure that I didn't know much about.  

Finally, The Artist.  After the movie ended all I could say was wow... honestly, this was a fantastic film and was my favorite of the three.  I enjoyed every unspoken minute of this silent film as it chronicled Jean Dujardin and his co-star Bérénice Bejo on their journey in the black and white silent film era of Hollywood.  I completely forgot that I was watching a silent film.  The acting was fantastic, the story was entertaining and the dog in the film, Uggie, captured the audience's heart.  The Artist was a wonderful film that I could watch ten times in a row and never get tired of.  One of the best films I have seen in a while The Artist is a must see for everyone! 

I have just a few more movies to see to complete the list of films nominated for best picture... we'll see if I can get them all in before time runs out...