2012 Oscars Best Picture Rank

As in most things on this blog, I'm late again. I barely finished watching all nine Best Picture nominees right before the telecast began last night, so I didn't have any time to get this up before the show. No matter, I'm not making any predictions and my feelings about what movies I liked aren't changed by Argo taking the top prize.

1.) Django Unchained
2.) Argo
3.) Silver Linings Playbook
4.) Life of Pi
5.) Zero Dark Thirty
6.) Beasts of the Southern Wild
7.) Lincoln
8.) Amour
9.) Les Misérables

A much better line up than last year in that I can say I enjoyed watching every one of these films. There are some omissions that I would put above many of these, but Les Misérables is the only one I feel like it shouldn't have made the cut.

What can I say, I'm an unabashed Tarantino fan. Django Unchained is not his strongest work, but still my favorite of the nine.

Argo was entertaining and kept me on the edge of my seat even when I knew they were going to get out.

Silver Linings Playbook was a lot of people's favorite. The performances were amazing, but I didn't like how it became a super cliché romantic comedy at the end when it had been shirking that for most of the run.

Life of Pi surprised me with its interesting narrative and stunning visuals. I hadn't read the book so it helped that I had no expectations going in.

Zero Dark Thirty was a great look at the intelligence community and the long years of work it took to get Osama Bin Laden.

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a quirky look at a strange isolated community called The Bathtub bolstered by a wonderful performance by a 9 year old.

Lincoln is another technically proficient work from Spielberg that lacks heart, at least it wasn't trying as hard as War Horse was.

Amour is a devastating look at one man taking care of his wife after she has a stroke and slowly slips away. Great work about an old couple's love, but one I never want to see again.

And finally Les Misérables. I really liked this movie when I first saw it, but the more I reflected on it the more I came to realize I was just enamored by the music I love so much and some great performances by Anne Hatheway and Hugh Jackman.  The direction was just plain horrible, close-ups work for intimate moments, not for the entire run of a two and a half hour movie.