Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Apples to Oranges

I recently saw two of the movies that are up for Best Picture.

After seeing The Fighter and The King's Speech, my son asked me which I would choose for Best Picture. It is like comparing apples to oranges.


King's English (dang! I KEEP calling it that!) is a refined, leisurely walk through drizzly London with handsome, troubled royalty, namely, soulfully brown-eyed Colin Firth. I felt I was really visiting pre-World War II London with the terrific set design and costumes.



The Fighter is a bumpy ride through the bad side of Boston with the best body in Hollywood, darling Mark Wahlberg and his, spot on, early 90's costumed sisters. Oh! the hair and acid washed jeans! Christian Bale is fabulous as the crack-head brother. His personal transformation as Dicky, the ne'r do well boxer, is astounding! The family dynamics make for a good discussion on whether it's possible to escape one's family.

In both you are cheering for the underdog while being wildly entertained by the supporting cast. Kudos to the costume designer in both. The soundtracks are so well chosen, placing you right in the scene musically.

My personal favorite is The Fighter, but they are both deserving of best picture.

I've also seen:
True Grit- really liked it but, in my opinion, this remake of a movie I liked in the seventies just wasn't powerful enough to be Best Pic Oscar worthy.
The Kids are Allright- Again, imo, shouldn't have been nominated. Although Mark Rufello was pretty hot in it.
Toy Story 3- cute, touching, sweet, fun...but it has to make me think to be in the running.
Inception- Huh? Guess I'm too dumb or too old to get it.Great visuals!
.Social Network- Runner up to Fighter and King's... Maybe it just came out too early to be strongly in in my memory.
Haven't seen Black Swan.
Want to see Winter's Bone!
Let me know what you think!

5 comments:

life in red shoes said...

Must to our surprise the only contender I've seen is Toy Story 3.
Note to self...see more grown-up movies :)

just call me jo said...

I'm impressed--you've seen more movies in a few days than I see in a year...I've heard "The Fighter" is a popular fav for the Oscar. I've only seen "True Grit." Agree with you on it. We'll see Sunday, I guess. Thanks for the critique.

Breezy said...

I loved The Kings English.. and haven't as yet seen The Fighter. Maybe this weekend :)
And I agree.. The Kids are All Right was an average movie.. not really worthy of a nomination.

Unknown said...

Haven't seen the Fighter, but loved The Kings SPEECH. If you are at all interested in english history and anything to do with pre-war England you will definitely enjoy this movie.

Have heard that the Black Swan is not all that good.

By the way Cathy, would love to get together in September with you and Bridget, and any other blogging friends from Utah.

Unknown said...

So I thought that the Kids Are Alright was seriously kind of weird!!! Mark Ruff is super hot....love his face but everything else was nuts. I wasn't sure if was going to sleep with the wife or the daughter. It was just so weird. But I LOVED King's Speech. INCREDIBLE!

PS - I hope you kick cancer's ass. I am sure you will.