At the end of this movie, the protagonist cuts off his own arm. Oh wait, I think I was supposed to start that paragraph with a Spoiler Alert.

127 Hours is the last of our Best Picture nominees (and yes, with the Academy Awards just hours away, I know I am cutting this a little close – rimshot!). I left this one for last because I was debating with myself whether or not I could even attempt to sit through it. I’m not the kind of person who avoids films because of subject matter; I’ll go and sit grimly through a highly acclaimed film on German Existentialism if I think the subject matter is interesting and because I love movies in general. I watched a film based on a font, for God’s sake.

I’m not particularly fond of slasher or ultra violent flicks, but it’s not like this was the eighth sequel in the Saw series. 127 Hours got great reviews and was directed by Danny Boyle, who also helmed Slumdog Millionaire. James Franco is as quirky as he is cute and I’ve always admired his work. And since most of the film involved a climber stuck literally between a rock and a hard place, I had to assume that there wasn’t going to be a ton of camera movement to cause any nausea.

There was, however, that little problem about how he gets himself untrapped. I remember when the actual event was in the news and hearing about how the real Aron Ralston had freed himself. Just thinking about it was enough to put a visual in my head that no tourniquet could turn off. Faced with the same decision, I have no doubt that I would have perished in the canyon before I would have attempted this at home (and no doubt whined the entire time about how dull the damn knife was).

Going to movies doesn’t really require much in the way of courage, and that is as it should be. So I will cheerfully tell you that I could never bring myself to see it, and feel free to mock away. I may try to watch it once it comes out on DVD, but who knows – I could chicken out at the Redbox and end up coming home with Tangled instead. So I cannot truthfully say YES, you can watch this film without worry or NO, stay away because in a few minutes it’s going to look like the beach scene in Saving Private Ryan. This is one call you’re going to have to make yourself, and if I may go out on a limb here, I say better you than me. (rimshot!)

Barf Bag ranking: For just what’s going on in my head, I’m going to have to say FOUR BAGS. But they are imaginary bags, so I won’t include the graphic.