Academy Awards

Best Motion Picture
While I've not seen all of the movies nominated for this year's Academy Awards Best Picture, here is a rundown of three nominees and which deserves Best Picture.


Moneyball
The Oakland Athletics General Manage Billy Bean (Brad Pitt) is faced with the challenge of losing three young stars to free agency.  Although the team played well enough to get into the playoffs the season before, due to the small market and the limited money of the Oakland Athletics, the outlook for next season does not look good.  After meeting a young Yale graduate named Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), Bean decides to take him under his wing and together they come up with a system to build a winning team around undervalued players.  There are many bumps and turns along the road, but in the end Bean and Brand's system succeeds and revolutionizes baseball.  I loved watching this movie.  Brad Pitt does an Amazing job of Portraying a General Manager who has made up his mind on how to run his baseball team.  Bean succeeds because he sticks to his guns despite the doubters which include the team's manager, scouts, and even players.  This is great movie even if you don't like baseball.  But for the baseball fans out there, this movie will provide you with practical knowledge about the game as well as great entertainment.

The Descendants 
Matt King's (George Clooney) wife is in critical condition after a boating accident.  After learning that his wife has had an affair, he sets off with his daughter's to find the man.  Clooney does a great job of portraying a man who's life has changed as result of his wife's condition.  While he is struggling with life, he is also managing a land trust for his extended family.   King's extended family wants him to sell the land to split up the profit between the family.  King must do the right thing for his his immediate family while struggling with the trust, meanwhile the native Hawaiians do not want him to sell.  This movie shows the turmoil in a family faced with a crisis.  Clooney does a great job of portraying a man who is navigating his life under unfortunate circumstances.

Midnight in Paris
Gil (Owen Wilson) and his fiance' Inez (Rachel McAdams) go on a vacation with Inez's rich and conservative parents.  Gil is a successful Hollywood screenwriter but is an aspiring novelist. The couple meets up with Inez's friend Paul who is a pseudo-intellectual who thinks he knows a lot about Paris.  Inez is captivated with Paul.  Meanwhile, Gil and Inez keep moving farther apart as Gil considers moving to Paris and giving up his career in Hollywood. Then one night Gil decides to walk back to his hotel while Inez goes out dancing.  A car pulls up and Gil gets in and is suddenly transported to the 1920's.  He meets up with Cole Porter, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway.  Gil goes on a magical journey to the past that is captivating; I wanted to take a trip to Paris after seeing this movie.  I recommend this as a date movie or anyone who wants to see an interesting love story. Owen Wilson is very funny and does a good job of portraying a man who wants to be something he is not.

And the winner is Moneyball!