Every year I set myself the goal of seeing all of the Best Picture nominations before the Oscar ceremony. Usually I fail and since the number of nominees was increased from five to ten last year, the task has become that much harder. Well this year I can announce… that I still failed. I did however see eight of the ten nominees which is pretty good going. The two I haven’t seen yet are The Fighter, which I plan to see this week and 127 Hours, which is in limbo between cinema and DVD release and therefore I’ll have to wait to see when it comes out on DVD. I have to say, 2011 is a good year for Best Picture noms, all of the movies have been “very good” to “excellent”. Thankfully no awful “down and out people overcoming adversity”  movies *cough* Precious *cough*… except perhaps The King’s speech but that’s uplifting rather than depressing.

9.The Kids Are Alright – An enjoyable movie with some good performances and a refreshing take on gay marriage/family that avoided the usual cliches, but not really BP material. This wouldn’t have made the cut two years ago with only five nominations.

8. Toy Story 3 – A really well crafted movie that’s a lot of fun and hard to fault. My own personal stigma against animated movies and the fact that they have their own category (which TS3 will undoubtedly win in) pushes this down the list for me.

7. Winter’s Bone – Another solid movie. A somewhat bleak and gritty story with some intense performances, specifically from Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes who are also up for Best Actress and Best Actor in a Supporting Role respectively. It’s a long shot, but it deserves the nominations and probably has the least Oscar buzz/commercialization surrounding it.

6. Inception – I really enjoyed this movie and it further showcased writer/director Chris Nolan’s cinematic style and great imagination that have made all of his movies so good (seriously, has he made a movie that wasn’t great?!) The movie unravels a little toward the end with the “assault on Hoth” mission, but it’s so refreshing to see an original take on action/thrillers and something not based on a comic book or child’s toy!

5. Black Swan – Great movie, fantastic performance by Natalie Portman and real edge of your seat directing and story. I wouldn’t say I particularly enjoyed the movie and I came out of the theater feeling pretty drained but I definitely appreciated it. Arguably it’s not the kind of movie that you’re supposed to “enjoy” anyway.

4. 127 Hours – This is classic Danny Boyle, true film making, not a minute wasted. What was an infamous event is turned into a gripping movie and manages to avoid over commercializing or “Hollywood-izing” the story. Boyle turns an hour of not much plot with a guy stuck in the bottom of a canyon into a truly inspiring and captivating viewing experience. The climax of the movie, although intense and gruesome avoids becoming gratuitous and is just the right amount of hard to watch. Having subsequently done some reading on the actual events and watched some of the real life video shot by the protagonist, Ralston, it’s amazing how close to reality the movie is, only dramatizing a couple of scenes early on. Very good.

2. The King’s Speech – This movie has everything you want in an Oscar nomination. Uplifting story based on a true events, historical setting, royalty, nazis, physical disability… the list goes on. It’s solid all around and a fantastic cast as well. Geoffrey Rush should win Best Supporting Actor and although Colin Firth is great, I would probably pick one of the other noms for Best Actor, but I think the safe money is on him. The only thing that pushes it to #2 for me, is it’s a little too Oscar friendly (although I’m sure unintentional).

So there you have it. I have to say, the obvious winner would seem to be The Kings’s Speech and it’s certainly well deserved. I can’t imagine being completely upset if any of these movies took home the statue frankly, but certainly the top three are very close for me.

I will aim to see the remaining two movies in the nest week or two and update the list accordingly.

UPDATE: I finally saw The Fighter and have updated the list accordingly. Only one (127 Hours) to go.

UPDATE: I just finished watching 127 Hours, marking the completion of the Best Pic. nominations. List updated again.