Well, they've announced the nominations for the
Best Picture of the Year at the Oscars (which take place March 25). Has anyone seen any of these movies? What's your take on them, and who do you think will win?
- CHOCOLAT - A small French village is transformed by the arrival of a mysterious young woman and her daughter. The chocolate shop they open will change the lives of several of the villagers and enrage the town's autocratic mayor.
- CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON - The disappearance of a legendary sword leads two martial arts experts to do battle with a dangerous assassin and her young protégée...and confront their long-hidden feelings for each other.
- ERIN BROCKOVICH - A feisty single mother takes on a powerful utilities company in this story of one woman's determination to win justice for a community decimated by water pollution. The title character, a flamboyant legal assistant, comes to terms with her own chaotic life as she gathers evidence for a ground-breaking lawsuit.
- GLADIATOR - When the dying Roman emperor names his powerful general Maximus as his heir, the emperor's jealous son Commodus betrays Maximus, murders his family and seizes the throne. The embittered general is made a gladiator and soon becomes the fiercest fighter in all of Rome.
- TRAFFIC - Three interwoven storylines trace the destructive trail of drugs and drug smuggling in America and Mexico. As a newly-appointed drug czar faces his daughter's addiction, two DEA agents pursue the wife of a jailed smuggler, and a Mexican policeman walks an uneasy path through a web of corruption.
(Note: Synopsis of films sourced from
Oscar.com)