harvey s parkes

newyorker:

Here’s a list of the Best Picture nominees, with links to reviews and other coverage from The New Yorker.

“The Artist”

Read Anthony Lane’s review. Tad Friend talks with writer-director Michel Hazanavicius on the challenges of getting audiences to watch a black-and-white silent French film. Richard Brody on how the film reflects our economic moment.

“The Descendants”

“The latest exhibit in Payne’s careful dissection of the beached male,” Anthony Lane writes in his review. Richard Brody traces the diverse lineage of Alexander Payne’s films and George Clooney’s cool acting style.

“Moneyball”

David Denby calls “Moneyball” “one of the most soulful of baseball movies.” Richard Brody anticipates European reviewers’ interpretations of the American pastime.

“Midnight in Paris”

“People just blurt out their identifying traits; the dialogue is so blunt that it’s a little embarrassing. But Allen is moving fast with a purpose: he’s setting up a fable of longing and satisfaction.” Read David Denby’s review of “Midnight in Paris.” Paul Goldberger writes that the film’s interpretations Paris’s present and past are “products of Allen’s imagination.” Richard Brody reviews PBS’s “American Masters” special on Woody Allen, with an exclusive clip of Allen and his trusty typewriter.

“The Tree of Life”

Anthony Lane’s review of “Tree of Life.” David Denby calls the film “insufferable” and “a considerable enlargement of the rhetoric of cinema.” Richard Brody surveys Malick’s career.

“The Help”

“‘The Help’… is, in some ways, crude and obvious, but it opens up a broad new swath of experience on the screen.” Read David Denby’s review.

“Hugo”

“In a flashback, Scorsese re-creates Méliès’s glass-walled studio and his films, with their exuberance of creatures, ‘natives’ with spears, nymphs hanging from the stars—sheer exultant zaniness, part magic show, part burlesque, and all cinema.” More from David Denby’s review of “Hugo.” Richard Brody discusses the film’s clockwork mechanisms and Scorsese’s approach to filmmaking.

“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”

David Denby’s review of “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” which is based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel about a young boy whose father died on 9/11. On the tenth anniversary of the attacks, Safran Foer writes about discussing 9/11 with his children.

“War Horse”

David Denby reviews “War Horse.” Susan Orlean comments on the spectacle and experience of the theatrical version of “War Horse.” Richard Brody writes, “The movie is—by design—a pile of clichés.”

Here’s the complete list of Academy Award nominees from the official Oscars site.

Win Win is not on this list. That’s why this list isn’t worth a damn.