With Oscar season beginning and the awards talk starting to heat up, I decided that I would watch some of the films that were nominated for the Oscar in previous years. Over the next few weeks, I'll review several films that were nominated for best picture and I'll give my opinions and in the end I'll pick a winner for each year. Here are reviews of True Grit and Moneyball.
TRUE GRIT
Director: Joel and Ethan Coen
Stars: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Hailee Steinfeld, Barry Pepper
Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen
Oscar Nominations: 10
My Grade: B+
True Grit is an old-school western except more in the veins of the Coen brothers films and less in the John Wayne-Saturday afternoon serials of the 1950's. This a down and dirty western concerned with one thing: revenge. The performances are unbelievable. Jeff Bridges is great and all but is blown away but Hailee Steinfeld, who gives an absolutely fantastic performance as Mattie Ross who is on a quest for vengeance against her father's killer Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). She heads into the Choctaw nation with Rooster Cogburn (Bridges) and LaBoeuf (Damon) to pursue the Ned Pepper gang which Chaney is a part of. The film is slow in places, like all westerns but is helped by the performances, the score and the gritty action. I felt like it lagged a bit too much in the middle but I think that it still has parts that are very funny (unusual in westerns) and a good amount of action. I think that while definitely not the strongest film of 2010 (Toy Story 3, Inception and The Social Network are all better choices) it still is a good film.
MONEYBALL
Director: Bennett Miller
Stars: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright
Screenplay: Steve Zaillian, and Aaron Sorkin
Oscar Nominations: 6
My Grade: A
Moneyball is a movie that centers on talking. There is a lot of statistics talk and most of the movie consists of people in rooms talking about baseball prospects. Unlike most baseball films, Moneyball doesn't focus on the action on the field or really even attempt to recreate it. Instead it focuses on Billy Beane's (Pitt) quest to create a championship team out of nothing but $39 million dollars. A brilliant Yale graduate named Peter Brand (Hill) has a formula: if players get one base and score runs and you can get them cheap, then you have a winning team. The idea is faced with loads of scrutiny and according to some people, it threatens the game. Pitt gives a fantastic performance. He's charismatic and adds a ton to the movie. Hill gives a quirky performance, funny but not as show-stopping as Pitt's. The screenplay is well-written and the movie is just fun and exciting to watch in general. There is so much in Moneyball that is good: the writing, the score, the performances, and the final scene are just amazing. Moneyball definitely deserved its best picture nomination.
TRUE GRIT
Director: Joel and Ethan Coen
Stars: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Hailee Steinfeld, Barry Pepper
Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen
Oscar Nominations: 10
My Grade: B+
True Grit is an old-school western except more in the veins of the Coen brothers films and less in the John Wayne-Saturday afternoon serials of the 1950's. This a down and dirty western concerned with one thing: revenge. The performances are unbelievable. Jeff Bridges is great and all but is blown away but Hailee Steinfeld, who gives an absolutely fantastic performance as Mattie Ross who is on a quest for vengeance against her father's killer Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). She heads into the Choctaw nation with Rooster Cogburn (Bridges) and LaBoeuf (Damon) to pursue the Ned Pepper gang which Chaney is a part of. The film is slow in places, like all westerns but is helped by the performances, the score and the gritty action. I felt like it lagged a bit too much in the middle but I think that it still has parts that are very funny (unusual in westerns) and a good amount of action. I think that while definitely not the strongest film of 2010 (Toy Story 3, Inception and The Social Network are all better choices) it still is a good film.
MONEYBALL
Director: Bennett Miller
Stars: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright
Screenplay: Steve Zaillian, and Aaron Sorkin
Oscar Nominations: 6
My Grade: A
Moneyball is a movie that centers on talking. There is a lot of statistics talk and most of the movie consists of people in rooms talking about baseball prospects. Unlike most baseball films, Moneyball doesn't focus on the action on the field or really even attempt to recreate it. Instead it focuses on Billy Beane's (Pitt) quest to create a championship team out of nothing but $39 million dollars. A brilliant Yale graduate named Peter Brand (Hill) has a formula: if players get one base and score runs and you can get them cheap, then you have a winning team. The idea is faced with loads of scrutiny and according to some people, it threatens the game. Pitt gives a fantastic performance. He's charismatic and adds a ton to the movie. Hill gives a quirky performance, funny but not as show-stopping as Pitt's. The screenplay is well-written and the movie is just fun and exciting to watch in general. There is so much in Moneyball that is good: the writing, the score, the performances, and the final scene are just amazing. Moneyball definitely deserved its best picture nomination.
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