With awards season well and truly upon us, our cinemas are flooded with smart movies the films that are made to be provoke discussion beyond what your favourite explosion was. Its incredibly easy to be cynical about the films that get trotted out for the Academy's viewing pleasure every year and bemoan Harvey Weinstein for keeping what should be a celebration of all things cinema another business event, but Id be lying if this wasnt a great time to be a film fan. There are as many duds amongst the serious movies with proper actors as you'd expect at any time year, but when one hits its normally a home run. These are often the ones that dont come with a point to prove, presenting an emotional or thrilling cinema ride; look at the unbridled simplicity of concept is the movie All Is Lost, which follows Robert Redford surviving in a boat and literally nothing else. Fans of blockbuster fare, however, tend to tire of the winter months where its Hobbit or naught, overwhelmed of the films that think theyre smarter than they actually are. Far from being a problem with awards baiters (often criticised under the sometimes right, often misattributed pretentious banner), you can go to the cinema all year round and end up with a film where its brains are all a figment of the directors imagination. These nine films are notable examples of this misattributed intelligence. Not all are bad, but they all overestimate just how much is going on behind their (sometimes otherwise accomplished) exteriors.
