Academy Award Nominations are in!

On to what I'd prefer to be blogging about.. Academy Awards nominees!  I love this time of year.  The Golden Globes air this Sunday, and I look forward to seeing which movies take home a Globe -- since it's usually an indication for good Oscar picks for my family competition!  Last year I won, and I beat Mr. Lock by a mile, so this year I feel intense pressure to prepare myself for another successful bet!

I have to admit, I'm not *in love* with the Best Picture choices this year, only because many of them are not movies of a genre I enjoy.  Not that I don't agree that these deserve to be nominated, but they do make it a little more of a challenge to try to see every nominated film, because I'd be forcing myself to make it through movies I just don't personally care about.  However, as is tradition, I'll try to see whatever I can.  The nominated films for Best Picture for the Academy Awards this year are (with IMDB.com links):

Les Miserables
Lincoln
Argo
Life of Pi
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Django Unchained
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Amour

I have never heard of "Beasts of the Southern Wild" or "Amour", so I need to look them up.  I've only seen "Les Miserables" and "Lincoln" so far off this nominated list (darn!).  This weekend Mr. Lock and I are going to go to "Silver Linings Playbook".  I wasn't interested in "Django Unchained" because I typically find Quentin Tarantino to be too dark for me, too gruesome in some scenes... but I will look more into the film, read some synopsis online, to try to make a decision about seeing it in theatres.

I now wish I had seen "Argo" before, but I didn't... I will have to track it down, a few select theatres may still be playing it I think, or it may be back in theatres for a bit as a Best Picture Nominee.  I am wavering on "Life of Pi", because I had no interest in it and have never read the book either... I didn't realize it would be so nominated (also has a Golden Globe nomination).  I'll probably try to see it before the awards.

"Zero Dark Thirty" didn't interest me, because a lot of military films make me feel very anxious, I've never really been a fan of films with guns.  I will, again, have to research it online to see what I think about the potential plot to see if I can handle it in theatres.

So, all in all, I think the theme this year of these picks is "depressing"... most of these films have quite intense, sad, dark, storylines if I remember correctly what I know about them.  Some may have great endings, but I find it hard to watch too many intensely depressing scenes -- I need to mix in some comedy and light-heartedness to keep my personal anxieties at bay.  I will try to see what I can though!  As usual, I'll share my thoughts here.  More for myself than anyone else (because everyone's thoughts and opinions about movies can be so personal, it's all a matter of personal taste), but that's why I blog... I love journaling and this is one more journal outlet for myself.

The Academy Awards air on Sunday, February 24th!  I'm excited!  Love this time of year!