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#72. Avatar
(2009)



I think a lot of people will probably say this was robbed, but to be honest, I don't know how it was even nominated. I guess it's just that all the technical stuff was so great, that it was enough to earn it a nomination for Best Picture. It received nine nominations, and nothing for the acting or the screenplay. The story is almost nothing we haven't seen in Pocahontas, only not done nearly as concisely, and without the catchy songs. The only part that was mildly interesting to me was when he first became the avatar, and the first thing he did was run around, and jump, and that sort of thing, after not being able to do so. Other than that, there was nothing interesting about this movie at all. Throughout the movie, as I was waiting for it to be over, I was going over in my head what they had left to do. I was thinking "okay, so he has to fly the thing, save the land," etc., and I was able to do that because I had seen it all 100 times. It's almost like they looked at every plotline of every Disney movie, and every Nickelodeon cartoon, and put it all into one movie without including anything that made those things enjoyable. Now Sigourney Weaver's dying too? Why, because there weren't enough cliches in this to begin with, and you want to make the movie even longer? I give it credit for the technical stuff, and it must've taken a whole lot of hard work on the director's part, and the part of everyone who worked in technical areas, such as visual effects, cinematography, etc., and those people did an incredible job, but I care much more about the script first, and the acting second. The technical stuff should only elevate the movie, not be the movie. I thought for a little bit about putting this higher, just because of how well made it is in every area but the script. Although, anyone who says it should've gotten an acting nomination hasn't seen enough 2009 movies.

Major awards it won or was nominated for:

Best Picture (lost)
Best Director (lost)

Major awards or nominations I would've given it:

Best Director (nomination)

Possible replacement nominee for Best Picture:

Crazy Heart, which had a script I could actually connect with, and featured great performances by Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal. 

The update will be soon.

#71. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
(2008)





This was a tough decision, and I went back and forth on it, but this is what I ultimately decided. Let me just start by saying that I enjoyed this movie. There's not a whole lot you can say that was so bad about it. However, I don't think there was anything that great about it either. I think this is another case of a movie getting nominated for the technical factors. It may not be as obvious as with Avatar, which to me, has an obvious discrepancy between how good the technical stuff is and how good the script is, while this isn't as in your face with it, but it was nominated for many technical awards. I know next to nothing about any of those areas, except for score, but even I can tell why it got nominated in each of the areas it did, such as makeup, costumes, and art direction, just to name a few. Not to mention, I thought Brad Pitt did a great job, and so did Taraji P. Henson and Cate Blanchett. All of that, in my opinion, does constitute a worthy nomination for Best Director. So why is it so low? I just think that the script is simply that of what can only be, at best, enjoyed. It doesn't really make you think, it doesn't have any sort of message, it's not particularly brilliant, and the only emotion that really comes out of it is through the delivery by some of the actors, and even that's not much, because the script doesn't allow for it. I know that typically emotional events happen in the movie, but in my opinion, they are not written in a way that really translates. I don't have anything negative to say about the movie though. I think it is an interesting concept, about a man aging backwards, but it's the kind that is suited for a short story, like it was, written by one of my favorite authors, and I don't even see anything wrong with making a three hour movie about it. Like I said, I enjoyed it. However, I don't think it's the kind of story to begin with, that constitutes a Best Picture or a Best Screenplay nomination, and I don't think the writer was able to make it such. They had the potential to, but I don't feel did. They could've focused more on the psychology of the situation. I'm sure this man must be affected in some way by this, other than physically, and they didn't really show that. There actually wasn't a lot about the issue at all. It was mostly about a man's full life, and the only effect that his case had on the movie was that it was mentioned a few times, and it made for an interesting twist near the end, but that's about it. 

Major awards it won or was nominated for:

Best Picture (lost)
Best Director (lost)
Brad Pitt for Best Actor (lost)
Taraji P. Henson for Best Supporting Actress (lost)
Best Adapted Screenplay (lost)

Major awards or nominations I would've given it:

Best Director (nomination)
Taraji P. Henson for Best Supporting Actress (nomination)

Possible replacement nominee for Best Picture:

The haunting Revolutionary Road was snubbed for just about every major award. This was definitely one of the worst Best Picture snubs of the century in my opinion. I think it easily should've won Best Adapted Screenplay, Kate Winslet should've at least been nominated for this, and I don't know why the academy hates Leonardo DiCaprio so much. I think it easily deserved at the very least, a nomination.