Oscar Predictions 2012: Best Picture

At one point in the early going with so few quality movies to pick from it really felt like this could be anyone's year. But then one of these movies, as it usually goes, kept winning all the awards and receiving all the praise. So below is a look at this year's best picture nominees

And the nominees are
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Hugo
The Help
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

This must have been an off year for me because I didn't see a couple of the movies on the list. So feel free to denounce me as an expert but I really have no desire to see some of these movies. Those movies are Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Tree of Life. I didn't want to see them for different reasons. I didn't want to see Extremely Loud because it got a forty fuckin six on rotten tomatoes. How is this movie nominated for the award? Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol came out the same weekend and got a 93. What the hell is that, I would much rather see Mission Impossible nominated because as far as I can tell it was a better movie. But because Extremely Loud's explosion was a sad one, it got the nod. I can't wait to never see this movie. I also did not see Tree of Life because I am so worried that I may actually like this movie and what that would say about me as a person and pretentious movie-goer. What if I actually liked it and became one of those people looking down on everyone else mocking them because they thought the flower was just a flower. I can't support that. There was just such a polarizing feel to the movie that I couldn't take it seriously and never wanted to spend the money to see it.

There are a couple movies on here that I didn't enjoy either but did see in theaters. Namely Horse War and The Help. Spielberg really went all Spielberg on this one, but he forgets that horses are not as universally beloved as other animals, while beautiful I don't know many people that would call them cute, they're too big to be cute. And then he asked his old pal John Williams to keep on Spielberging it with that overly dramatic soundtrack. Then there was The Help which is actually high on people's list for movies that could win. Partially attributed to the fact that people love movies about overcoming racism just look at The Blindside or Crash for recent proof. What else do those movies have in common, white people fixing racism. Probably because the academy is full of old white dudes who I'm sure thought Birth of a Nation was brilliant. This is the only kind of overcoming racism that the older voters can really support. But with nothing going for it besides the acting of Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer this movie is still a long shot.

Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese are beloved directors, but you know who does hate Woody Allen, The Academy. Midnight in Paris is too quirky to be considered for best picture but just quirky enough to grab an award for the screenplay so that will probably have to do. Meanwhile while The Academy does love movies about movies but they are too old to enjoy the 3D technology and plus they didn't win anything from the guilds and that may be too much to overcome for Hugo to win.

Moneyball really is a tremendous movie, it is sharply written, has fantastic actors, it’s a great story that anyone can enjoy. But being a sports movie is driving it down the ballots list, also not helping is the fact that their director Bennett Miller didn't get nominated for directing. And if there is one category most closely linked to the best picture field it is best director. Lacking this nomination hurts any realistic shot this movie has. Despite it actually being one of the best movies on this list.

The Descendants won the Golden Globe for best picture in the drama category. This is usually a great precursor for the Oscars. George Clooney is fantastic, Alexander Payne is beloved by The Academy and it is the perfect mix of comedy and tragedy. But the biggest selling point of the movie is Clooney and his performance, and the fact that The Artist's Jean Dujardin is so close in the voting hurts the chances to overtake the clear favorite...

The Artist is going to win the award for Best Picture no doubt about it. And for all the reasons mentioned above, Michel Hazanavicius is a favorite to win Best Director, it is a movie about movies, it’s quirky and lighthearted and as I previously mentioned it is impossible to walk out of the theater without a smile. Plus the dog is adorable. Academy voters are old enough to remember seeing the black and whites and that nostalgia will certainly lock in their votes. While it will win the award this year, any other year it probably wouldn’t, it really is a cute movie and that is the best way to describe it but cute is not synonymous for a great film. This cute movie is a fry cry away from the brilliance that was Social Network, Black Swan, or Blue Valentine.

Let me know what you think. What did you think were the best movies of the year? Let me know. And enjoy Sunday.