Crashing Waves

Must-see Movies this Awards Season

For the past few weeks, I’ve been hitting the local cinemas watching the films that either have won a Golden Globe or a contender for the upcoming Oscar awards. My goal this awards season is to watch as many of the nominated films before the Academy Awards actually happens.

I’m a huge Hollywood movie and television fan and always make it a point to watch the major awards – from the Golden Globes, to the Emmys and the Screen Actors Guild awards (yes I’ll be watching the SAG awards tomorrow). So far, I’ve only seen three nominated films these past weeks but I’ll be watching more as soon as the other movies hit the local cinemas.

Here are my must-see films this awards season:

1. Life of Pi – I’ve seen this film already and I must say, Ang Lee truly deserved to be nominated for directing it. The cinematography is spectacular and the story captivating.
I haven’t read the book, but critics have said that Lee succeeded in making the book “filmable.”

2. Zero Dark Thirty – I was as captivated as any other person during that time when news broke out that Bin Laden was captured and killed by American forces. Who could forget that now famous photo in the Situation Room with Obama and Hillary Clinton watching the raid in that house in Abbottabad? Naturally, I watched this movie based on the raid. I liked the movie except for one thing: why were the soldiers whispering when they were calling out the names of the people inside the Abbottabad house? With all the noise they were making blasting the doors open, occupants of that house obviously knew something was up.

3. Les Miserables – I haven’t seen the play nor read the entire book (it was too long!) but I’ve always liked the story of Les Mis. I had serious doubts of Anne Hathaway playing Fantine but when I saw the film, I was impressed by her performance. Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean was amazing, of course. But what also got my attention was the actress who played Eponine. She was incredible! Her rendition of “On My Own” was gut-wrenching and moving. I’ve read somewhere that Taylor Swift auditioned for the part, but I doubt she could ever play Eponine with all that raw emotions the way Samantha Barks did. Russell Crowe’s performance was ho-hum. Geoffrey Rush played the part of Inspector Javert better than him.

4. The Impossible – This is the next in my lineup of movies to watch. The movie is based on the real life story of a family that was one of the thousands of victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami.

5. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – I wasn’t familiar with this film’s plot until it got recognition during the Golden Globes. Now I’d like to see this movie not only because of the interesting story but also because of the stellar cast that included Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

6. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen – Unfortunately, I missed seeing this film when it hit the local cinemas. It was shown here last year in limited release, but my sister was able to catch it. It was a good movie according to her.

7. Django Unchained – I never liked spaghetti western movies, so I wasn’t sure if I want to watch this movie. But hey, since it’s from Quentin Tarantino, I might just check it out.

8. Lincoln – Honestly speaking, I don’t know much about Abraham Lincoln but I’m very much interested in knowing his story. And Daniel Day-Lewis is a good actor so it’d be fun to watch him play the title role.

9. Silver Linings Playbook – I like the premise of this movie’s story and I think I can relate to it so want to check this out also.