18 Must See Movies Before Oscar Night

Two years ago, I decided to up my viewing of the Oscars from pure spectator sport to active predictor and vocal commentator. Not that I have anything worth saying, but I get a lot more out of the event by putting in my two cents. To do this meant I needed to see as many of the nominated movies as possible.

The process I used the last two years was to take Entertainment Weekly's 25 Must See Movies before the Oscars list and work my way through it before Oscar night. I briefly recapped each movie and kept a running ranking of which movies I liked best.

I like to share the list with friends, because I found I learn more about the movies by hearing how others like and rank them differently than me. In short, the process added value to my Oscar viewing experience.

This year, I waited until the nominations came out to focus my efforts a little more. The obvious place to start was with the movies nominated for best picture - this year there are nine. Then I added movies for Best Actress - The Help was the only duplicate in the Best Picture category so that added another 4 movies. Then Best Actor which added 2 movies to the list. Supporting actress added Bridesmaids to the list, and supporting actor added Beginners and Warrior. That brought the total to 18 movies.

Of those, I've only seen 4: Beginners, Bridesmaids, The Descendants, and Midnight in Paris. So I have four weeks to see 14 movies and rank them as I go. Wish me luck!

Now, here's where you come in. I'd love for you to join me on this journey. Share your list of movies to see, tell me how you would rank the movies, react to my rankings and tell me where you think I got it wrong. If you don't see all the movies, no worries, comment on what you have seen. And then on Oscar Night, let's tweet and Facebook to cheer and moan together. I look forward to learning what you think about the best movies of 2011 over the next four weeks.

OSCAR NIGHT 2011 | 127 Hours

A large part of any movie experience is determined by the expectations set before hand. I roughly knew the story of Aron Ralston who got his hand pinned between a fallen boulder and a canyon wall and had to make some pretty tough choices in order survive; but I hadn't read any reviews or recaps before going to see it, so my expectations were uninformed. I expected a large portion of the screen time to be in set up (getting to the point of being stuck) and a significant amount of scenes of what was happening in the real world when they finally learned he was missing. Nope. It was much more like Tom Hank's Cast Away where one man carries the entire film for most of the two hours. Only unlike Cast Away where Hanks could move about the island and explore new adventures, Jame's Franco's Ralston is stuck in a fixed position within a narrow canyon. The impressive part of 127 hours is that it works. The constantly changing camera angles and video diary make his journey of mental and physical determination through over 5 days of pain and starvation a captivating tale.

Two interesting bits of trivia regarding the video diary from IMDB:

Aron Ralston filmed a daily video diary while he was stuck in the canyon; the footage has only been shown to close friends and family and is kept in a bank vault for safety. Before shooting began both James Franco and director Danny Boyle were allowed to view the footage in order to accurately portray the events in the movie.

The camcorder used by James Franco in the film was the actual one Aron Ralston used when he was trapped in Blue John Canyon.

127 Hours is an intense, emotional real life story that is not for the squeamish and earns the number 11 spot on my list of 25 movies to see before Oscar night 2011 bumping down The Fighter. What did you think of the movie?

RANKING of OSCAR 2011 MUST-SEES (so far):

1. The King's Speech
2. True Grit
3. Winter's Bone
4. Black Swan
5. The Social Network
6. The Town
7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
8. Inception
9. Toy Story 3
10. How to Train Your Dragon
11. 127 Hours
12. The Fighter
13. The Kids Are All Right
14. Animal Kingdom
15. Alice in Wonderland

OSCAR NIGHT 2011 | The King's Speech

I could handle Bellatrix as Queen Elizabeth, and Dumbledore as King George V seemed quite natural, but I just couldn't get past Wormtail as Churchill.

I'm usually not much of a fan for stuffy stories about royal families. With my blue-collar roots, I prefer the struggles of the common man more than watching the privileged class "struggle" with the difficulties of being elite. However, this tale is told in a very non-grand fashion and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth are portrayed as an ordinary couple thrown unwillingly into the spotlight when his brother King Edward VIII renounces the crown to be with his true love.

Queen Elizabeth sums it up nicely when she reminds her husband how she had rejected his marriage proposals twice before finally accepting the third time. She didn't want the fame of royalty and living in the public eye, but she figured he had such a "lovely stammer" that they would leave them alone. The plot reminds me of the quote from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night:

Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.

This engaging story of being thrust into greatness is told well with exceptional visuals and superb acting. The chemistry between the three main characters is delightful as they share witty quips and keen perspectives. Their exchanges are charming and fun to watch as all three communicate so much emotion through their facial expressions and reactions.

The King's Speech is a classic Best Picture picture and earns the number one spot on my list of 25 movies to see before Oscar night 2011. Although, to be honest, I would rather watch True Grit, but that's just my bias for a good western showing through.

RANKING of OSCAR 2011 MUST-SEES (so far):

1. The King's Speech
2. True Grit
3. Winter's Bone
4. Black Swan
5. The Social Network
6. The Town
7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
8. Inception
9. Toy Story 3
10. How to Train Your Dragon
11. The Fighter
12. The Kids Are All Right
13. Animal Kingdom
14. Alice in Wonderland