Oscar Bait--2014 Best Movie Rundown!

When the Oscar nominations were announced on Thursday, nine pictures were included in the running for Best Picture. In an unusual twist, I had already seen five of them. Is this the year that I actually see all the Best Picture nominees before the awards?

Is this also the year that I start eating healthy, lose 20 pounds (and keep it off!) and stop smoking? Okay, I never started smoking, but this does feel like a New Year's Resolution that I just keep making every year and never actually achieve. On the other hand, staring out 5 for 9 feels like picking a resolution I'm already going to achieve with little effort. Sort of like resolving "In 2014, I will exhale after inhaling."

So here's the plan--I'm going to review all of the Oscar nominated movies I have seen, though possibly not a full on, classic review. I may not actually recap the plot, or try to provide anything like an aide de memoire where I primarily create something that will allow me to go back later to jog my recollection.

Instead, I am going to just dive into the deep end, and try to figure out what it is about these movies that makes them Best Picture worthy. These entries will assume that I (and whatever readers find them) have seen the movies recently enough, or remember them well enough, that we can move directly to the  higher level of picking apart the details and trying to figure out "what is this movie really about."

Join me as we launch into Oscar Bait 2014!