Quick Reviews: Best Picture Nominees, Part 3 of 3

Where did we leave off? We've looked at the films nominated for Best Picture about LOVE, and we've looked at the films nominated for Best Picture about AMERICAN HISTORY.  So, we guess it's time to look at the straggler films, the films that don't really fall into any category. We were thinking of calling them ‘Magical Realist’ films, because most of them employ magical elements within a realistic framework. One has pig-monsters as big as a house, the other has a house for two that's no bigger than a boat, and a third has truly terrible singing from Russell Crowe. The third is probably the most magical, because, as someone once said, nothing is more magical than singing! (Just because that person was Hitler doesn't mean that it isn't true)

Now that we think of it, though, the thing all these films might have in common is that they all feature water and boats in a big way. Boats that are massively important in these movies, whether people are living, pulling, or adventuring in them. So here we go, looking at Beasts of the Southern Wild, Life of Pi, and Les Miserables. Let's climb aboard the review boat! Raise the anchor, full speed ahead!

Film Review: Les Miserables

The best thing that can be said of Les Miserables, the movie directed by Tom Hooper based on the musical of the same name (which itself is based on a novel by Victor Hugo), is that it doesn't fail for lack of trying. Sure, some of the performances are a little lazy, but at least it feels like work was put into the staging and execution. The film tells the story of Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), a man who commits himself to God and goodly works after his release from jail and his fleeing from parole. He inadvertently wrongs the angelic and