Have not seen all of the nominated films but thought I might share a few thoughts on the ones that Ann and I have seen.
- American Hustle | ★★★★★★★★★ | This was tied for the best of the five on this list. It was edgy, intriguing and funny. Christian Bale and Amy Adams were outstanding in the lead role. Had me guessing until the end.
- Captain Phillips | ★★★★★★★ | This movie surprised me in that it was much better than I expected.
Tom Hanks played a great part in the titled role and Barkhad Abdi was simply brilliant as the pirates leader.
But I think that it suffered from a lack of editing and was about 20 minutes too long. - Gravity | ★★★ | I was amazed that this snoozer got an Oscar nomination. It was a movie about nothing. Apart from the theme of getting back to earth it had no story line and was a waste of great acting talent.
- Nebraska | ★★★★★★★★★ | This was tied for the best of the five on this list. I mean who doesn't love a story about a son who loved his dad so much that he would drive him so long for such a hopeless cause. I loved Bruce Dern in the lead role and Will Forte did a credible job playing his son.
- 12 Years a Slave | ★★★★★★★ | I so wanted to like this movie but found it to be very predictable. The movie was more about Edwin Epps, the evil plantation owner, than Solomon Northup. I wanted to know more about Solomon's story before and after his kidnapping but those parts of the book were omitted in the screenplay.
- The Wolf of Wall Street | ★★★ | How did this long and pointless movie get nominated for an Oscar? I found the movie to be: WAY too long (3 hours); have WAY too much sexual content; and WAY too repetitive.
I have only seen "American Hustle" and loved it! "Captain Phillips is next on the list".
ReplyDeletelove Captain Philips. but I love anything with Tom Hanks!
ReplyDeleteI didn't want to see The Wolf of Wall Street at the show because of its length but decided last minute to see it since I had seen all the other nominated movies before the Oscar's. I love Leo and I liked the story but OMG on the nudity!!!! It didn't need to be that long......
ReplyDeleteI just watched Gravity for the second time and I still liked it. I just read an interesting article about it that had me thinking about the ending.
Great reviews.
ReplyDeleteAs luck would have it 12 Years a Slave just came from Netflix. I will review when I get some time. :)
ReplyDeleteJust added 12 Years a Slave to my mini-reviews.
ReplyDeleteI have only watched one from your list and the first few scenes of another before stopping because it was way too much for me. The one I finished is Gravity and I TOTALLY agree with you. I did not understand why it was so highly acclaimed, I felt it was nothing too. And the other was Wolf of Wall Street, way too much sex content for me. I have not watched the rest yet.
ReplyDelete