Tuesday 24 January 2012

2012 Oscars Rundown: Part One- Best Picture

With Awards season upon us our Culture Editor Nick Huffington-Paint takes a look at this year's nominees and gives us their chances of success

Best Picture

War Horse
The heavily favoured Spielberg film is adapted from the book ‘Blazing Saddles: Tales from the Horse Brigade’; a tale of the forgotten equine unit that was parachuted into Berlin at the end of World War Two that then proceeded to blow up seventeen Nazi munitions factories



Oscar O-meter: 8/10


The Artist
The black and white silent film is also in contention for the best picture award. The film centers around the Artist Formerly Known as Prince and his attempts to remain the funkiest musician in a world that was moving away from funk-jazz-synth fusion and his own brand of effete prancing sexuality. His Royal Badness delivers the performance of a lifetime as a man struggling to regain his passion for playing seven minute solos on a purple guitar shaped like a vagina



Oscar O-meter: 9/10


Moneyball
A re-interpretation of Jimmy Stewart’s classic 1956 movie The Moneyball That Ate Manhattan, this film stars Brad Pitt and some other people as a team of scientists tasked with slowing the progress of a mammoth sphere of currency that is flattening most of South Dakota in a movie that critics are calling “a satire of something probably”

Oscar O-meter: 3/10


The Descendants
George Clooney stars in the Alexander Payne directed story of a man getting back in touch with his family after the tragic death of his wife. Clooney’s character then robs them with the help of Brad Pitt and Matt Damon in a daring, jazz-scored heist. Critics have praised Clooney’s breakout performance as a handsome devil, with charisma to spare

Oscar O-meter: 8/10


Tree of Life
A follow up to the smash hit success of the Lord of the Rings franchise this movie follows Treebeard- the leader of the Ents- as he returns home after the War of the Rings and attempts to rebuild his life after seeing the evils of war. Christopher Lee gives a touching performance as a wizard who’s lost everything, who reconnects with the tree he used to hate and throw fireballs at.



Oscar O-meter: 5/10


Midnight in Paris
This fictionalised account of the making and distribution of the amateur pornographic film ‘One Night in Paris’, this tells the story of one man who catapults Paris Hilton to fame by filming her fellating him in a bath. Attempting to live with the guilt and all that chlamydia he attempts to atone and failing that, takes his own life.



Oscar O-meter: 2/10


The Help
The story of Emma Stone encouraging the black community to buck up their bloody acts and get themselves together to start the civil rights movement already. The film has drawn criticism from the black community for reminding them that a single sassy white girl was responsible for their liberation. The gangsta rap heavy score (performed entirely by Stone) was also questioned.



Oscar O-meter: 5/10

Hugo
This Martin Scorcese helmed film is the biopic of Australian actor Hugo Weaving. We follow the flexible thespian’s career from his ground breaking portrayal of a McAfee Internet security program gone terrifyingly rogue in the Matrix to his turn as some kind of Nazi robotic version of Hitler in Marvel’s Captain America: Hitlers Ahoy! in a film that critics are already calling “chock full of Weaving”


Oscar O-meter: 7/10


Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The story of Bucky- a young boy with severe Down’s syndrome given the gift of a megaphone- has been hailed by critics as a sensitive portrayal of the struggles undergone both by those with mental disabilities and by their families who have to deal with someone shouting about Power Rangers while having a medical inability to comprehend the concept of personal space

Oscar O-meter: 3/10


NH-P

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