Oscar talk!

December is one of my favorite months of the year for a variety of reasons:

I like the cold
Christmas!
Lights and songs associated with Christmas!

But I also love that this is when Oscar season is in full force. All of the year end awards are being handed out to numerous movies from the year; some are huge pitctures everyone has seen, and others are small art house indies no one has heard of or even understand.

This season, there are several films up for consideration as the best of the year:

Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, chronicling a family from 1950's Waco, Texas in a series of vignettes that symbolizes creation and death of not only a member of the family, but of the universe as a whole.

Michael Hazanaviscius' The Artist, which has been the critical darling of the season so far. This film attempts to be a throwback to Hollywood's simpler golden era, and as such is a modern day black and white silent film.

Alexander Payne's The Descendants, starring everyone's favorite leading man, George Clooney. Payne has been a favorite of the Academy for sometime and won over many (including me) for his film Sideways. This film seems to be in the same mold of dramedy that Academy voters are sure to go gaga over.

Steven Spielberg's War Horse. This film seems like the epic that used to be a shoe-in for the Best Picture Oscar in years past. Spielberg also looks to be the best possible director for such a film: his technical prowess alone ensures it will be a visual tour-de-force, and he's already shown he can make beautiful WWII films -- let's see how he does with WWI.

Tate Taylor's The Help was the critical darling of the summer, and also a hit at the box office. This film depicts "the help" of an affluent white family in the south during the 1960s. Oscar voters usually have a hard time nominating anything from before October, so it seems like a stretch that The Help will be able to win the elusive Oscar. Still, box office matters and The Help has it.

These are just several of the films that have a chance to shine once the ceremony rolls around. Here's to happy viewings!