All ten of the 2010 Oscar Best Picture nominees are worth seeing, but for some, I recommend watching them only for specific reasons or under certain conditions. Three rise above the lot as particularly excellent films — …more »»
Film Talks Tagged ‘Oscar nomination’
Oscar 2011: Best Picture Roundup
by Randy Heffner — February 5, 2011Oscar 2011 has a superb set of ten Best Picture nominees. Aside from certain content awareness advisories for most of the films, I can, without reservation, say that all ten are are worth seeing. This means that there are really none of them that are …more »»
Oscar 2012: Best Picture Roundup
by Randy Heffner — February 9, 2012All nine Oscar 2012 Best Picture nominations are strong thematically, exploring important questions of the heart. Most are also very well made, and I had to struggle to keep my top tier list small. To the concerns of some conservative viewers, who complain …more »»
127 Hours (2010)
by Randy Heffner — December 1, 2010127 Hours is an intense but important film. As basically a one-man show (with flashbacks involving additional characters), it provides an in-depth exploration of a person left alone with …more »»
The Artist (2011)
by Randy Heffner — January 1, 2012The Artist is a silent film like few others — perhaps unlike any other. Simultaneously staying true to the genre and playing with it, director Michel Hazanavicius creatively employs silent film as one element of great storytelling and filmcraft — and manages to do so without falling into …more »»
Avatar (2009)
by Randy Heffner — January 15, 2010To a large degree, the environmental morality play contained in Avatar is painted in broad and simple strokes. Still, there is something compelling in the film’s embodiment of connection to and respect for the land. …more »»
Black Swan (2010)
by Randy Heffner — December 19, 2010Black Swan is dark, difficult, nuanced, intense, and strong. Searching the performer’s heart, the film finds joy and confusion, confidence and fear, passion and reserve, freedom and bondage, competitiveness and timidness. At the same time, Black Swan …more »»
The Blind Side (2009)
by Randy Heffner — February 20, 2010As a true story, the strength of The Blind Side is that it could have been embellished oh so much, but it was not. I suspect that no film adaptation of a true story is ever 100% factual, and I expect that’s the case …more »»
The Descendants (2011)
by Randy Heffner — December 16, 2011Witty and gentle, unfolding at a closely measured pace, The Descendants moves through a chaotic but in the end lovely cohort of relationships wrestling with misdeeds, transgressions, wounds, and flaws, mixing tenderness and aggravation to explore how we might find heart in the middle …more »»
District 9 (2009)
by Randy Heffner — February 19, 2010District 9 finds a compassionate — and violent — angle from which to explore shallow and ugly prejudice. As it pits the supposed goodness and wisdom of “the authorities” against the supposed brainlessness and vulgarity of …more »»
An Education (2009)
by Randy Heffner — February 8, 2010Funny, clever, poignant, painful, and redemptive, An Education puts us in the position of a teenage British school girl finding direction in life. If being serious about life is important, where is the place …more »»
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
by Randy Heffner — January 29, 2012A father’s unique and creative care for his son, which is at the center of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, carries profound power of hope and healing — even when the father can’t be there. The film embodies this power strongly in its …more »»
The Fighter (2010)
by Randy Heffner — December 28, 2010While it’s true that The Fighter tells a familiar sounding story — boxer overcomes odds — still it finds important underexplored territory. Mixing scenes of trust, betrayal, family pressure, family pride, manipulation, forgiveness, fear, failure, …more »»
The Help (2011)
by Randy Heffner — February 7, 2012Curiously, The Help works as a film — it can reach inside and grab us, sending us away as better people with deeper hearts to resist thinking ourselves superior. I say “curiously” because it has a major filmcraft weakness that doesn’t seem to …more »»
Hugo (2011)
by Randy Heffner — February 2, 2012Have you thought of the world as a machine? For me, the question carries connotations of a cold, heartless world of isolation and exploitation. Embedded within Hugo’s exploration of other matters of the heart, the film uniquely explores “machine nature” from …more »»
