Best Picture Nominee Rankings

1. The Social Network
I picked The Social Network as the top film out of the nominees because it contained multiple aspects that enhanced the overall quality of the entire film. All of the acting was very well done, specifically that of Jesse Eisenberg portraying Mark Zuckerberg. The filmmakers were very successful in establishing characters, and all of the actions made by the characters had depth. For example, it can be inferred that Mark choosing to dilute Eduardo's ownership of Facebook had to do with jealousy over final clubs and Eduardo's more popular status. Cinematically, the film was also very well-made. The shots of the men rowing crew were very visually appealing and they successfully made the viewer feel as if they really were a part of what was happening. One thing that The Social Network was successsful in was going back and forth between two different times, and making it not seem jumpy or irrelevant. None of the other films on the list do this, and this was a key point for The Social Network.
2. Inception
I said that Inception was the second-best film because it had an intensely layered plot along with visually spectacular effects. However what made it second to The Social Network was some of the acting. Personally, I did not think that the actors in Inception performed as well as those of The Social Network. While Leonardo DiCaprio did give a captivating performance, I did not feel that he embodied his character as well as Zuckerberg did. The intense story did give for a captivating plot. The screenwriters were truly able to get the audience listening to the story, and get them on the edge of their seats. Ellen Page performed extremely well in her role. And obviously, the film was cinematically intelligent because of its advanced special effects.
3. Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3 is the third best film because while it was a children's film, it found ways to relate to an older audience. As far as its storytelling, Toy Story was nearly flawless as always. It follows the characters through an epic journey, the farthest from Andy's room that they've ever come. While there wasn't any legitimate screen acting because of this being an animated film, the voices of the characters were extremely persuasive and sounded like they had real emotion. The actor who portrayed Andy sounded legitimately sad to have to let his toys go. Cinematically, Pixar did its thing. They used their timeless style of animation to show the characters in the way that the directors wanted them to be portrayed. The one thing that makes this film show up lower on the list than Social Network and Inception was the fact that it was still a children's movie, and there wasn't a ton of plot depth to it.
4. Winter's Bone
As far as literary merit goes, I personally thought that Winter's Bone was the least successful out of all of the films. While it wouldn't have fit with the setting of the story to have an eloquent and dramatic script, the screenwriters could have improved a little bit. Theatrically, every one of the actors performed amazingly. Jennifer Lawrence had me convinced that we were watching a documentary of her life. She performed with such a passion and motivation that it was extremely hard to tell that you were watching a movie, not something of reality or documentary. While the film was a bit unorthodox cinematically, it definitely worked for this film. The handheld camera made the viewer feel like they were actually a part of what was going on on the screen. Using a lot of natural lighting was also beneficial for the film because it gave it such a real feel.
5. The King's Speech
Literarily speaking, The King's Speech had a very dynamic script. The screenwriters were excellent at tuning into Bertie's inner feelings and emotions, and they really allowed the viewer to see and think what Bertie was seeing and thinking. The actors also performed very well. Helena Bonham Carter perfectly embodied a royal person, without having too much of an air of superiority. She knew who her character was, but she wasn't flaunting it. The one thing that places the film low in the list are its cinematic elements. The film had many long and dynamic shots, but the colors were sort of bland and made the overall look of the film more boring than it had to be. Obviously, a film surrounding a royal family isn't going to be full of neon colors, but adding a little spice could have made the film more pleasurable to the eye.
6. True Grit
For me, it was hard to really get a feel of the literary elements of the film because half of the time I could not understand what Jeff Bridges was saying. Maybe this is just because I had never seen a Jeff Bridges film before this, so I wasn't exactly used to the dialect, but I think that it's a pretty important characteristic of a film that the audience can understand exactly what the actors are saying. However, from what I did pick up, it was extremely well written, particularly Mattie's lines. While she was only fourteen years old, she came off as someone who had lived a lot more than her fourteen years and knew exactly what she wanted. Theatrically, I did not personally appreciate Jeff Bridges' performance. Members of the Academy can shoot me for saying that, but as an audience member, I was dissatisfied. However, Hailee Steinfeld was nearly able to compensate for this. The film was very diverse cinematically, and it established its scene perfectly. It embodied a western flawlessly, while adding a few Coen-esque elements into the mix. Overall it wasn't a bad film, just not my favorite.