The Artist

The Artist: 4/5

Walking into this movie, I was not as excited as I should have been. I heard it was slow and furthermore, it was an almost two hour silent film. I figured all of the praise was just a bunch of snobby film people getting a chance to feel "nostalgic" and more so "snobbilicious." But oh how I was wrong, because this movie was cute, quaint, simplistic, and above all one of the most pleasant movies I saw this year. And to think, I had no idea what I was getting into :).

The movie was a lot more quirky than the trailer made it out to be. It looked so very serious, but in fact it was up beat and was more comedic at times than dark. Above all, it was a great throw back to the old silent films. It made me think of Singing in the Rain and more recently Hugo. I suppose this year would be the year of nostalgia then ;).

I also found the main two actors fabulous. They have never been in any major roles before, so it was odd to see so many big-time actors and actresses playing along side them. However, they were great. Jean Dujardin (who played the main George Valentin) not only played the role well, but above all looked the part to a tee. And [spoiler alert] it was interesting to hear him speak in the end.

However, if you asked me if I thought it would win the Oscar this year, I would most certainly be surprised. It definitely does not have wide-spread audience appeal. It is at times slow, and if people complained about Wall-e not having enough dialogue, then there's no way people will be flocking to the theaters to see this if it made it into wide-release. Though, if you are an artsy film person, then this one is most definitely for you, my fellow movie lover.