Then and Now: Best Picture 2010

Movies are an art form of the times. Some produced in the 80s regarded as would-be-classics would be unfathomably panned, boycotted or even shelved nowadays (i.e. Driving Miss Daisy, What Women Want); other similarly-pitched films nowadays would have also been scoffed at back then, either because of political complications or gender inequality (i.e. Green Book, What Men Want). Movies surpass its pic-and-sound boundaries to deliver a statement, to signal a change in the world, whether we would like to admit it or not.

The "Then and Now" series is a recollection of the Best Picture lists, years following their respective ceremonies. At the time of said ceremonies, some Best Picture nominees were considered superior, while others felt arbitrary in filling out the remaining slots in the category. However, with Hollywood culture, the world's political views, gender biases and contemporary interests changing by the day, it is important for us to be reminded how it has changed, as well as to avoid the pitfalls that past Best Pictures have escaped with.

4 categories will be considered: - The Snubs: fantastic films that are either still culturally relevant or just a worthy watch, despite its omission from the nominees.

- The Whatevers: the nominees that have faded from memory, leaving little to no impact whatsoever.

- The Misjudged: the nominees that are considered bad, offensive, or unworthy nowadays.

- The Classics: the ones that prevailed and have enshrined itself into the ranks of the greats.

Let's look back at the first crop of films following the Academy's expansion. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the 2010 Best Picture Nominees

- The Snubs

2009 was a not a great year for films, when the likes of Transformers 2: Revenge of The Fallen, Paul Blart: Mall Cop and 2012 (what?) gracing the silver screen. There was a film called Nine and another one called 9, equally bad films. The inane rise of 3D and CGI uprooted well-written, impactful films, and the world went to absolute meltdown over blue aliens and a hangover.

However, some films were still snubbed, either due to lack of campaigning, awareness, or just downright unjust. There are some cult gems and entertaining shlock worth mentioning, too, for the general audience:

Zombieland

Every drunk man, young-adult, punk-rocker, outcast's favorite film, Zombieland is an undisputed classic. Produced in a time when Deadpool had his mouth sewn shut, Zombieland's constant 4th-wall breaking, apocalyptic rules and breakout performances took the world by storm, and catapulted Emma Stone and Jesse Eisenberg's careers to Hollywood stardom. While far from a serious Oscar contender, it has stood the test of time, and upon further rewatches, is still worth a visit for Bill Murray's cameo alone.

A sequel is in the works.

Coraline

Arguably the best animated film of 2009 (a man and a house would give it a run for its money), Coraline is a flawless Laika production, expertly intertwining black humor and horror in a subversive animated film for the ages. Inducing nightmares aside, a shame it was when it couldn't join Up, Toy Story 3 and Beauty and The Beast as the only animated films to be nominated for Best Picture.

The Hangover

The comedy for the drunks, The Hangover was everything good and bad about 2009: a simpler time when Bradley Cooper was your typical dude-bro actor destined for Hollywood mediocrity instead of an Oscar-nominated auteur, it took the simplest of premises and had a blast: What would you do if you have a hungover and a tiger is in your bathroom? Granted, that was not the best way to sum up the film, but it doesn't dilute any of the film's classic status.

Can't say the same about the sequels though.

(500) Days of Summer

A pantheon of a film, this quirky romantic-comedy took the world by storm following its release. A non-linear narrative and an ending that breaks the typical chick-flick mould where *spoilers* the characters don't end up together because of real life, quickly helped (500) Days of Summer fill the hearts of moviegoers worldwide, as well as signifying Hollywood to the emerging throb that was Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It is now regarded as one of the best rom-coms of all time.

A reunion was held. It was, unsurprisingly, very nostalgic.

- The Whatevers:

Precious

The most devastatingly forgotten film of the crop, Precious: Based on Nol by Saf, is an unflinching look at abuse, racism and gender inequality in Harlem. Painstakingly relevant and superbly acted, Precious is regarded by many as a classic in its own right.

However, when stacked up with its peers, the movie was cruelly overlooked, despite Oprah's endorsement. Director Lee Daniels was even embarrassed to show the film at Cannes, due to its negative look at African-Americans. Had it been produced today, it would be widely regarded as the front-runner: a change in prejudice and the #BlackLivesMatter movement would undoubtedly give this film its place among the greats.

Maybe it doesn't have too. Maybe Precious would have buckled and been scrutinized under controversy. Maybe it should be forgotten, for it to be a great film.

An Education

The 'That movie got nominated for Best Picture???' film of 2010's nominees, An Education still stands head and shoulders above its peers in sheer quality: sensitively directed, intimately lensed and captivatingly acted. It graced the world to the talents of Carey Mulligan, and is an interesting look at toxic male dominance and female empowerment at a time when there were none.

Unfortunately, outside the critic circles, An Education failed to capitalise on its buzz from Sundance, grossing only 23 million against a 7 million a budget. A profitable film for sure, but not nearly enough for it to stick.

Its nomination was a welcomed surprise nonetheless, and it is definitely worth a watch.

A Serious Man

One of the Coen Brothers' lesser seen films, A Serious Man is a scathingly funny look at a Jewish man's crumbling life following his divorce. For most of the movie's runtime, the Coen Brothers' signature blend of dark humor and drama shined through Michael Stuhlbarg's Larry Gopnik, and the audience wouldn't know whether to laugh at or cry with the main character.

The script is splendidly Coen-ish, Michael Stuhlbarg was snubbed for his amazingly human portrayal of the downtrodden Larry, and the cinematography is peak Coen-intimacy: the awkwardness is encapsulated in every frame. Despite this, it was a dark horse even before the nominees were announced, and the conversation around it didn't amount to much interest afterwards.

But it's the only film in the history of the Academy to be nominated for Best Picture with a prologue about a Yiddish couple welcoming a ghost into their house. What a world we live in.

The Hurt Locker

The movie that toppled Avatar, and rightly so, The Hurt Locker is an excellent, unflinching look at EOD teams in the midst of Iraq's war-torn state, and the psychological toll on its three main characters. Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman ever to win Best Director, Mark Boal's script were compared to that of Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter, and Jeremy Renner's career skyrocketed to stardom.

However, it was not all bombs and blues afterwards. An early leak of the movie killed its box office outlook, making it the lowest grossing Best Picture ever (yes, even lower than 1981's Chariots Of Fire). And ask yourself: When was the last time anyone around you mentioned The Hurt Locker in the best ever conversation? You might think Dave did that one time, but Dave has only watched 5 films his entire life. Goddamit Dave!

It's a crying shame, because the movie is superbly entertaining for such a heavy subject matter. Give it a try sometimes.

The Misjudged:

Avatar

The highest grossing movie of all time by 600 million dollars, Avatar was released in 2009 to critical acclaim, best known for its groundbreaking use of 3D and its poignant environmental message. Avatar's narrative shortcomings were overshadowed by its eerily life-like visuals and James Cameron's masterful direction, and the movie was the talk of the town for a 6-month period, grossing 2.7 billion at the box office. Sam Worthington became the next Tom Cruise, and the rest was history.

Except it wasn't.

Fast forward 10 years, and Avatar is no longer the acclaimed behemoth that it once was. Its white-savior story was quickly criticized in the wake of further cultural appropriation, and the 3D craze has quickly died down since. It didn't help that its mantle as 'the highest grossing movie of all time' gave way to unreachable expectations and frequent derision from moviegoers.

Nowadays, Avatar is regarded as more of a gimmick than a great movie, but that won't stop four sequels from being made.

The Blind Side

The Oscar-bait movie of the season, The Blind Side was released during Thanksgiving 2009 and captured the hearts of audience everywhere on its way to 400 million dollars: A rightful Oscar winner in Sandra Bullock's Leigh Anne Tuohy and a heartbreaking true story about NFL player Michael Oher was an easy movie to root for.

So what killed its goodwill? Its Best Picture nomination.

After the Best Picture list was expanded to 10, The Blind Side's surprise nomination was generally derided by critics, who were convinced that the movie was only in contention due to the 10-slots rule, leading to rule changes from the Academy in following years. As a result, its story was heavily criticized for, yes, its white savior narrative, and Bullock's performance now is more thought of as basic Southern caricature than an Oscar-caliber role.

The Classics

Up In The Air

Jason Reitman's masterpiece is, by its nature, the most George Clooney film ever made. A fascinating story about professional 'downsizers', Up In The Air is certainly the simplest film of the bunch, yet done to absolute perfection through Clooney's pitch-perfect casting as Ryan Bingham and Jason Reitman's witty, sarcasm-bound script. Not to be outdone, Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga also turned in career-best works.

The problem with the film is that it's too sublime. Its casualness in utter perfection, from Clooney's effortlessly charming performance to its stunning color-neutral cinematography, rendered the film numbing and in the end, too perfect for its own good. A movie about firing people should not be this good.

It's up for debate whether people have forgotten or hailed it since its release, but it is undeniably the most effortlessly excellent film of the 2010 nominees.

Up

Let me get this straight: Up is not as good as its reputation suggests. It's not a world-breaker film, nor is it the best Pixar film. But once you acclimatized yourself past the overblown word-of-mouth and/or its cookie-cutter 3rd act, Up is an undeniable classic.

The story of a grumpy old man and a boy scout embarking on an adventure in a flying house to find Paradise Falls is heartwarming, heartbreaking and heart-wrenching. Its first 8 minutes need no introduction, and is widely regarded as its own beast in the Pixar Hall of Fame; the film's central relationships, Carl-Russell and Carl-Ellie are intimately fleshed out in a thriving adventure flick for all ages; the execution of the film's premise is more than worthy, etc...

Up does much more right than it does wrong, and I would happily revisit it again and again in the future.

District 9

A sci-fi film nominated for Best Picture? Bollocks.

Arguably the most intriguing success story in recent years, District 9 is widely regarded as the best sci-fi film of the 2000s, if not all time. Not only was it nominated for Best Picture, Neil Blomkamp's masterpiece also garnered Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects and Best Film Editing nods, all the more impressive when considering it was produced for a meager 30 million, 240 million less than Avatar's budget.

What could have been a schlocky, cheap sci-fi with the subtlety of a sledgehammer turned out to be a poignant alien-invasion movie with weighty themes of xenophobia, racial segregation and racism undertones in the guise of an entertaining body-horror pic. Neil Blomkamp's direction is unmatched by any, as his deft hand guided the passion project through rough commentary and surprisingly well-aged visuals.

A definite recommendation for all sci-fi lovers, and moviegoers in general.

Inglorious Basterds

The title's misspelling aside, Inglorious Basterds could have been 2010's Best Picture, based on its sheer iconic status and ludicrous entertainment factor.

This Quentin Tarantino-directed film is Quentin Tarantino in all his glory: stupendous dialogue, long, excruciating standoffs, multiple hyper-violent shootouts, a middle finger to history and a WTF ending for the ages, this is Tarantino at his creative height and unrestraint. While audience might struggle to remember some, if any, iconic moments from the other 2010's nominees (the Up opening scene, Wilkus' transformation in District 9, Bingham's monologues in Up In The Air), they surely remember a handful in Basterds: the opening milk scene, the bar standoff and Hitler's death are prime examples of Basterds' iconic catalogue.

Oh, and Christoph Waltz's villain streak started from here. Just saying.

That will do it for now. Next up, the 2011 Nominations.