*THE FIGHTER* - 2011 Oscar Nomination Recap

THE FIGHTER (2010)

5/5 Oscar for Best Director - 3/5 Best Picture - 2/5 Best Supporting Actor - 4/5 Best Supporting Actress - 3/5 Best Original Screenplay

At this movie gained buzz, I thought "Oh no... another boxing movie". Boxing films (and to some degree wrestling/fighting films) seem to really get a lot of critical buzz for something that's a relatively narrow subject. But The Fighter overcame this common subject matter by having incredibly engaging characters that were brilliantly performed. The conflict that came with these performers crashing into eachother set the stakes for the organized physical confrontation that occurs during the narrative-serving boxing matches.

And now, I've completed all 5 Oscar nominees for Best Director from the 2011 Academy Awards. I'm finding it more and more that the "Best Film" in my eyes is very intimately tied with Best Director. Nonetheless I'll find a way to separate the movie as a whole with what I perceive to be incredible direction.

TRUE GRIT - JOEL AND ETHAN COEN

I can't fault the Coen brothers for anything... their epic Western blended the right amount a grand landscapes with intimate and quirky character moments. Something in their recent body of films tends to distance themselves from some of the more sweeping unique cinematic set pieces.

THE KING'S SPEECH - TOM HOOPER

A somewhat controversial winner for a year where King's Speech won everything, I have trouble getting excited by a basically straightforward historical drama. I didn't see anything in how the camera moved or depicted things that were any bit distinctive. Every one of the other nominees seemed to have a auter vision behind how they were using film direction to add energy to a story. Not here.

THE FIGHTER - DAVID O. RUSSELL

In my recap above I didn't talk about how this director has been interesting to follow, even though he has made only 4 films in the past 15 years or so. I didn't know what to feel about a boxing movie from the guy who made I Heart Huckabees and you really can't compare those two movies. More likely you can see elements of Three Kings in the direction, which is set on giving free-flowing character moments to ground the film in a realistic rhythm while filming the grand scenes (whether it's a war zone or boxing ring) with the respect they deserve.

BLACK SWAN - DARREN ARONOFSKY

My favorite film of last year if very close to my favorite directed film of last year, just because Aronofsky is so devoted to making his film camera a warped, intimate window into the story he's telling, obscuring just enough when appropriately bending perception and reality in the Black Swan, and in the case of the understated direction of The Wrestler, letting the moments be all too real and powerful. This film is borderline uninteresting without great direction.

#1 THE SOCIAL NETWORK - DAVID FINCHER

Inching ahead of Aronofsky's Black Swan, David Fincher's amazing job gave an otherwise frustratingly shallow script and courtroom setting a real contemporary pace that suited the lightning speed in which Internet start ups take over the world, making tons of people rich quickly and leaving many others left out. By any means a film set at a deposition table would not be a film at all but part of an episode of some throwaway legal drama. But in Fincher's capable hands (with assistance by Oscar winner Trent Reznor with music), The Social Network becomes a slick portrayal of the modern technology-infused world and a depiction of how innocent and brilliant nerds can be tempted by debauchery and capitalist tricks as much as the rest of us.