The Academy Awards are upon us

One week left. I'm totally not concerned with what stars will be donning on the red carpet. I like movies. Have you seen the Best Picture nominees? I have. (Well, except for three- The Blind Side, Up in the Air, and Precious.) Hopefully I'll get to see Up in the Air this week. I hear it's really good. Now I will give you my opinions on the nominees. Please leave comments about what you think about them. I love talking about them! Don't worry, there aren't any spoilers.

Up is a beautiful story. The soundtrack is very well done as well as the animation, of course. I'd be glad if it won, but as we were discussing the other evening- an animated film winning Best Picture would open up a whole new playing field. If you haven't seen it, you should.

A Serious Man is based on Jewish culture. I don't know if that's the correct way to describe it, but it was really artsy and we didn't "get it." It's like one of those indie movies we watch and then try to remember who is to blame for putting it on the queue. So- two thumbs down. Why is this nominated?

Inglourious Basterds was awesome. Cinematography: check. Acting: check. Story: Check. This one has what it takes. Quentin Tarantino directed this so... it's not a family movie and it's pretty violent.

I already told you that An Education was good. However, it's not a contender in my mind.

District 9 was totally not what I was expecting, but it was fantastic. A totally new spin on aliens coming to Earth. Not scary- which is good. And I don't even like sci-fi for the most part. I would recommend seeing this one. It is a good story and I think it could win.

The Hurt Locker was also not what I was expecting. It wasn't your typical shoot 'em up war movie. I liked that it seemed real. Now that I think about it, I haven't really seen any present day war movies. It's probably not something I would be interested in, but it was a good film. I'm wondering how it went over in Hollywood... I think it could be a winnner.

I had trouble deciding if I wanted to see Avatar in theaters because it's got a nice price tag on those fancy 3D glasses. The only way to experience it obviously is at the theater so we went last week. I was expecting the story to be terrible, and it exceeded my expectations. I happened to like the Na'vi and their connection to their planet. The acting by the humans was not oscar worthy as I expected. The visual effects were what made the movie. I'm sure it will get the special effects or animation oscar- whichever's the correct term.