DVD Josh

Every year AMC does a Best Picture marathon (all five nominees in a row) in one of their theaters. It seems like alot, but for a movie junkie like me, it's great. Truth be told it's actually not that bad.

Anyway, it was an interesting perspective to be able to compare the films after viewing them in that close of time.

For the most part, people were well-behaved. There wasn't any fake seat savings or armrest hogs and only minimal seat stealing. Management had said outside food was permitted (which was nice, can't live on popcorn alone). I was a little pissed they didn't waive the only one refill on soda rule for us, but whatever.

So after watching all five, here are my rankings:

1) Atonement

2) Michael Clayton

3) Juno

4) There Will Be Blood (talk about your overacting jobs)

5) No Country for Old Men (didn't seem like any in the theater left satisfied after this one)

I was pleasantly surprised at Atonement. I didn't think I'd like it all, but to me, it was clearly the best of the five with Clayton being second.

TWBB just didn't do it for me. Too much overacting on pretty much everyone's part. Story seemed to lack any consistency either.

NCFOM I went in expecting to like the MOST but ended up hating it. Very slow in parts, the Tommy Lee character was almost unneeded, and I hated the ending. Disappointing way to end the day.

I don't know if I'd do this every year, but not a bad way to spend $30 on a Saturday.

Shannon Nutt

Atonement was my favorite of the 5, too....although chances are slim it's going to win Best Picture tonight. No Country was my second favorite, and Juno was my least favorite (although I still liked it quite a bit). Pretty good nominees this year - usually there's at least one or two that I dislike, but not this time around.

TomOpus

Yep, we know

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=524953

RichC2

I've now seen all 5 of these flicks, and a couple of them twice... in the end my list is almost reverse to DVD Josh's:

1. TWBB
2. NCFOM
3. Juno
4. Atonement
5. Michael Clayton

NCFOM plays better on a second viewing, especially if you feel the Jones character is out of place. Completely disagree with the TWBB complaints. Atonement didn't do much for me but it was by no means bad, Michael Clayton was pretty good... just utterly unspectacular. But I concur with Shannon, pretty strong year and I really wish the AMC here would do this.

Of course, of the films listed, they only showed Michael Clayton to begin with (the other 4 were given to the craptacular arthouse theater).

Jason Bovberg

It would appear that, as expected, you had viewer's fatigue. I'm convinced you'd have had a totally different assessment if you'd been watching the movie "fresh." NCFOM is a gripping film, and the ending requires some thought...not end-of-11-12-hour-marathon exhaustion.

Here are my rankings, having watched each one fresh and fair. Incidentally, this is the first time in a long time that I've actually liked every one of the films, despite minor flaws in each:

1) No Country for Old Men
2) Juno
3) There Will Be Blood
4) Atonement
5) Michael Clayton

PopcornTreeCt

The lack of There Will Be Blood praise in this thread disturbs me.

Kicker_of_Elves

In what order were the movies shown?

RichC2

I do agree with somebody from another thread that TWBB would have been the best closer, just for the final shot.

Brack

eh, it's a pretty divisive movie.

Mondo Kane

Here:

The Bus

I can almost guarantee that if you hadn't seen three other movies beforehand, you would've liked these movies.

NitroJMS

Didn't see them all in one sitting but have watched them all except Juno in the past week. I saw Juno twice back when it first came out.

My ranking:

1 - There Will Be Blood
2 - Juno
3 - Michael Clayton
4 - No Country for Old Men
5 - Atonement

SPiRAL

My ranking :

1. No Country For Old Men
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Juno
4. Michael Clayton
5. Atonement

Groucho

Surprised that anybody would rank Atonement #1. Must be hardcore Three's Company fans.

amplified

1. There Will Be Blood- My Clear Favorite

2. No Country For Old Men- I'm a big Coen Bros. fan but TWBB is a more complete film.

3. Michael Clayton- Very Good film but not best picture quality.

4. Juno- Very enjoyable, witty, solid film.

5. Atonement- Average at best. Only included because it's a period piece. Not in the same class as the others. Gone Baby Gone should be here instead.

PopcornTreeCt

Cosmic Bus

Of the five, the only one I haven't been able to see is There Will Be Blood, but I'm confident that I'll eventually be able to place it alongside No Country (which is my easy favorite) in terms of quality. As for the others, Michael Clayton would probably rank a bit higher than Atonement. They're both very solid efforts, although I'm not really convinced either deserve to be considered for best picture. Juno? Oh, what to say... It was the single worst film I saw last year and that it's nominated for anything other than the Razzies is laughable.

Doctor Gonzo

Missed most of these when they were in the multi-plex but I have watched three of them over the past couple of weeks on 66stage.com. really liked no country...hope it wins (it better, it's my pick to win in four different oscar pick em contests!)

Drop

There is no overacting in There Will Be Blood. The intent of the acting was to be exactly that. It's the same thing for Nicholson in The Shining. That's the acting the story and the director required. You might not like the style, but it was entirely successful.

I still haven't seen Michael Clayton or No Country, but of the three I'd rank them as such:

There Will Be Blood
Atonement
Juno

I enjoyed seeing them all. I look forward to seeing the other two.

Aegean2007

I've seen all 5 twice now, and I'd definitely rank them like this:

There Will Be Blood
No Country for Old Men
Michael Clayton
Juno
Atonement

It's the middle of Atonement that sends it to the bottom for me. I liked Juno and all, but Best Picture nominee is way too high of an honor. I wouldn't have minded it to win Best Comedy/Musical at the Golden Globes, but...

Here's what I think should have been in:

There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
The Assassination of Jesse James
No Country for Old Men
Gone Baby Gone / The Diving Bell and the Butterfly / Into the Wild

I would have been VERY happy with that, but as it stands, this is probably the first Oscars where I have actually genuinely liked all 5 in some sense, and it's also the first Oscars where I've seen all 5 before the ceremony (and twice, also).

NiCK Crush

Definitely agree with Zodiac and Into the Wild... they both deserved far more attention.

-NiCK

Brack

I'm happy Juno's on the list. I hate when all the nominees are straight up dramas.

Michael Corvin

I have to agree with the others. If you'd seen it in a fresh two hours instead of 6 or 8 hours into a marathon you would have a different perspective. The movie IS Tommy Lee Jones' story. You get caught up in the cat & mouse of Brolin and Bardem but it's all told from TLJ perspective. Sure you could cut him out but it would be nothing more than an average thriller.

Calculon

1. NCfOM (by a wide margin)
2. Michael Clayton
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Atonement
5. Juno

I would probably put The Assassination of Jesse James at 2 or 3.

RTisBetter

These are the two best. And you're absolutely wrong about Day-Lewis, he was fantastic.