Oscars 2011

As you know, I usually blog the Academy Awards as they happen, but since I had to work during half the show this year, I figured I wouldn't bother, even though I did tape what I missed for watching later.  And, truth be told, I don't really have that much to say about what I did see, except that I'm so glad the song from 127 Hours didn't win.  Seriously, how did that even get nominated?  And I liked all the winners coming out at the end.  That was nice.
These past few years, though, I've noticed that I haven't enjoyed the show as much as I used to, mostly because I didn't know anything about a majority of the nominated movies.  So this year I made the effort to check out some of the movies nominated for Best Picture, even ones I wouldn't have normally.  So here, briefly, are those movies and my thoughts on them:
Winter's Bone - I didn't think I would like this one, since it looked kind of boring, and the synopsis didn't sound like it would be the kind of movie I would like.  But the title was just so evocative that I couldn't at least give it a try.  And I actually ended up liking it a bit.  I really got sucked into it, but I couldn't watch the whole thing at once, and had a little trouble getting back into it.  So if you watch it, I recommend making sure you have enough time to watch the whole thing at once.
Inception - I was planning on watching this one anyway, but I bumped it up when I came up with my "watch a lot of nominated movies" idea.  I actually enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would.  Usually I'm not that into mindscrewy movies, and it probably wouldn't have made it onto my queue if I hadn't watched so many parodies of the trailer on youtube.  The story wasn't nearly as hard to understand as I'd been lead to believe, and I found the ending to be pretty appropriate.
The Social Network - I didn't think I would like this one at all, though I do like the Bum Review of it.  And even after watching it, I don't think I particularly cared for it.  I mean, I enjoyed it while I was watching it, but in that "can't look away" kind of way.  And man, the first half of the film, everyone talks so fast, it gives the Gilmore Girls a run for their money.  So I guess what I'm saying is that I don't regret watching it, but I really, really have no desire to even check out the special features, which is saying something for me.
The Kids Are All Right - Like the title says, this one was just all right.  I found the introduction of what becomes the main conflict of the movie to be a little out of nowhere, but the overall movie was okay.