Oscar nominations

Even though I can really enjoy a good movie, I'm not much of a film buff, and I don't really care all that much about the Oscars. But I did see a couple of Oscar-nominated films in the last few days that are worth a mention.

The first one was Crazy Heart, a movie I was totally prepared to love. I like Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal, and I love down and dirty country music. In the final analysis I liked the movie, but didn't love it. Jeff Bridges did a great job as a down and out whiskey and nicotine soaked C&W singer-songwriter, even singing his own songs, but maybe it was too good a job. I could almost smell the booze and tobacco and BO on Bridge's character and found it unbelievable that a classy woman like Maggie Gyllenhaal's character could ever jump in the sack with him. Megan the Elder watched the movie with me and concurred totally. I also like Robert Duvall's work, and was surprised to hear that he can even sing a bit, but this movie was in many ways a remake of Duvall's 1983 movie Tender Mercies. Crazy Heart was pretty good, but I liked Tender Mercies more.

I am a big fan of Coen Brother's movies and was anxious to see A Serious Man. It certainly was a classic Coen Brothers movie with a somewhat odd plot, quirky characters, and plenty of dark humor. As with many of their other movies, I laughed out loud at times and was well entertained, but at the end of the movie wasn't quite sure I got it.

I haven't seen enough of the Oscar-nominated films to make any educated guesses as to who will win what.  Lack of knowledge doesn't usually stop me from making my opinions known, but I guess in this case I don't really care enough.