So far, I’ve seen almost all the films of 2010’s Academy nominations for best picture, with Avatar waiting at my house… So here are the rankings I have so far.

#1 The Hurt Locker

#2 Inglorious Basterds

#3 Precious

#4 Up

#5 Up In The Air

#6 A Serious Man

#7 An Education

#8 District 9

#9 The Blind Side

* Will soon change when I see Avatar – if I had to guess – Avatar probably won’t do better than #3 because the first two are great films. In fact I’d probably say #3-7/8 are almost interchangeable.

Now the real movies are coming into my Netflix box…

So I got The Hurt Locker and wow, what a film. Obviously deserving of the best picture of the year. This is a really compelling film and probably one of the best war films of our generation. There have been many many recent war films over the past decade and this film accomplishes something every other one failed to do, make it feel real.

It accomplishes everything it wants to really well, building tension and suspense, and even when it surprises you it works every time. I think the best quality of the film is its reality: sometimes you talk about films as an escape from reality but this film puts you into what feels like an accurate reality of the war in Iraq. I think that, among many other reasons, is probably why everyone raved about this film and why it is just amazing. Speaking of which, Jeremy Renner’s performance in the lead is a great performance and probably a career changing one.

I have now seen 6 of the 10 nominees for best picture and I’d probably rank them now as…

1. The Hurt Locker
2. Precious
3. Up
4. Up in the Air
5. A Serious Man
6. District 9

There’s a lot of great stuff here.

The main story centers around a man, Larry Gopnik, whose life is unwraveling before his eyes. His wife wants a divorce so he can marry a widowed family friend and his entire family is falling apart. So he goes to seek help, counseling and rabbis. This is a great film and very funny, darker comedy, but funny. Especially when the second rabbi tells a story, I loved the different angles of camera work and the re-recorded voice so that it looks like the storyteller is talking for the character. The story goes on and on and where does it lead? Is nowhere an answer?

I love all of the works that I have seen from the Coen brothers far. I haven’t seen all of them but the ones I have seen I have enjoyed. One formulaic part of their films, that I’ve seen, has been to kill of at least one character in the story. I could be wrong but it tends to work at the right time.

There is a part in this movie, towards the end with about 20 minutes left, turns out to be a dream sequence but I could not stop laughing at the moment Larry wakes up. However I did enjoy this film and, if I were to rank what I’ve seen now, I’d put it between District 9 (low) and Up in the Air (highest) of the best pictures I’ve seen.However, I have still yet to see The Hurt Locker or Inglorious Basterds.

I found this to be very entertaining, the ending is mysterious but I like it. You get a type of conclusion as the film’s third act is ending, the family appears to have resolved some issues but others arise. Kind of like No Country for Old Men was an adapted ending, this was an original ending left slightly unresolved but end satisfactorily.

Coraline is a definite technical achievement and deserving of Best Animated Feature Film. This is an interesting fantasy and horror film and I would say a better achievement, in stop-motion, than the Nightmare Before Christmas because of the many different set pieces and fantasies created in this horror.

It is a very imaginative story and very good but I don’t think it will be able to beat Up!

The surprise of the animated features, The Secret of Kells, is getting a brief theatrical run but it’s not expected to beat Up! either. However, you never know with awards shows and since I’ve now seen two of the five, I’m going to try to watch them all.

9 (2009)

(photo: IMDB)

9 is a story about a group of rag dolls in a post-apocalyptic world. The leader, 1, wants them to stay hidden from danger but 9, voiced by Elijah Wood, wants them to go face the beasts in the wilderness ahead. I thought the story was alright, but it was not complex. It lacked a real depth that I think people were looking for. People have seen post-apocalyptic type dramas before, even though not in the animated medium, but I think the audience’s expectation for this film coming from a highly acclaimed 2005 animated short.

but the problems I found with this film were it was tough to establish the characters and how they were feeling. I felt like, even though there was much at stake for all the characters, they weren’t able to capture that real desperation feeling. That and there were an abundance of action sequences, which while impressive, took away from some of the true character of the film.

I would have like to experience more of the character’s universe. When visualized it is a great piece of art, their universe, but I feel like the audience doesn’t get to experience it as much as it would like to. The visuals are the best part of this film, by far. In my opinion, it’s because the story moves at such a pace that the universe can’t be explored fully.

Unfortunately, because of all these faults, it’s not even being considered for a Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature. However, that might have more to do with a very strong class of animated films this past year (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog, Up) than with this film’s quality.

O Brother Where Art Thou (2000)

I liked this film and it is a period piece adventure story with some good performances. George Clooney does a great job and this was probably the start (include then The Perfect Storm) as a great decade for him that ended with Up in The Air this year.

A film loosely based on Homer’s Odyssey, it is a fun adventure that leads to a bunch of funny and similar moments.

Star Trek (2009)

I’m not a big Star Trek guy, never saw any of the older ones, so this is truly a reboot for me.

This film is an obvious accomplishment in makeup and probably will get some awards for that and the visuals. I think one of the better accomplishments is the camerawork presenting a lot of different angles and, what is becoming a good favorite of mine, a moving shoulder camera during dialogue.

It was also a good adventure and not that tough to follow. A fun adventure story and I can see why a lot of people liked it and why it could do well at the box office. I could also see why some have called it the best film of 2009.

I’m guessing there will be a sequel and hopefully it will live up to this adventure.

Many of the summer hits are coming out on DVD soon, so hopefully those DVDs will get here to see, in the snow.

Bolt (2008)

(photo courtesy: IMDB)

This is a funny kids movie that I got a little time to watch. I thought it was entertaining throughout that a dog would think he’s an action hero.Some of the dialogue is mixed up and it has a predictable story arc but its an alright adventure animated film. You can tell in some sequences where there are 2D backgrounds as oppose to 3D backgrounds, if you don’t agree watch the scene when the truck pulls into the gas station. Also it felt like I was watching some of the same thematic elements from Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 2, weird.

It was nominated for many awards but lost many of those to the much better and complex WALL•E. However, it is good to see films being produced out of Walt Disney Animation Studios which was slashed for a time before Disney bought Pixar. 2D films can compete with computer animated films as long as they bring the same complexities and good stories that (at least) Pixar films have shown to have.

District 9 (2009)

This film is very interesting and very graphic, rated R for a reason. I thought it was an okay film and it burst onto the summer scene as a low-budget blockbuster and sleeper hit. I found the first two acts very interesting in that the human condition towards the alien refugees. It is obviously built as a parable on apartheid and segregation in Africa and it speaks to that comparison pretty well. I think the story makes a very sharp turn from bleak-pessimistic to optimistic and gauging you to take the alien’s perspective. This happens almost too quickly that the third act takes the predictable action adventure turn.

One thing I did like was a lot of different types of camera angles. Not only using mock documentary, security type and other cameras: there were also cameras planted on places like the character’s guns or camera’s in place of where the other character was standing in the dialogue and I thought that gave it an interesting feel to the acting and the dialogue going on. When someone is pleading with you and the camera takes that angle, it’s an interesting perspective.

I think the third act gets a little blow it up and poor at the end. I’ve heard bad things about how the ending is but how can everyone have almost a good ending is, tough to believe after going through all this unrest and chaos.

Well Nine’s hopes and dreams likely tanked for best picture which sets us up for an interesting storyline. The Best Picture fight appears to be: Avatar vs. Up in the Air.

Now I’ll tell you. I saw Up in the Air and probably will see Avatar on DVD.

However the argument between these two is interesting because it is a case of, as this post says, “Old School script-driven Classic Hollywood vs. New Age post-script 21st Century Entertainment.”

The sleeper? The likely sleeper is probably The Hurt Locker which will definately be on the list. A Serious Man will probably contend as well. It will be interesting to see with the list of 10 for Best Picture will make the competition a little more interesting.

Gawker says that NYC maintains their tradition of violence on New Years: 5 homicides in the 5 boroughs. Fun. Crime has been steadily dropping in New York City and there is nothing that doesn’t convince anyone it’s a holiday fluke. Yet another good reason not to go into NYC for New Years.

So Sandra Bullock is doing okay this year and supposedly did great in the upcoming film The Blind Side, but her acting was of a different side in The Proposal. This was an okay film though I did find it amusing that they faked Alaska in Massachusetts.

Now onto a really good film: Persepolis. A film cast in the shadow of the Iranian Revolution, it is a spectacular and different animated journey through an adventure based on the autobiography of Marjane Satrapi. This is a well deserved foreign animated film.

So we thought it would be a good idea to go see Couples Retreat.

Look, if you care about spoilers, you’re obviously at the wrong place.

My problem with this film is:

• Vince Vaughn can’t say lines that aren’t laced into a long diatribe or monologue. Sometimes this infects other characters, you almost think it would be the swine flu of dialogue.
• Every single plot line gets destroyed and then rehabilitated in a matter of minutes. So why did we have all this buildup? The payoff sucks.
• Oh but there are digital sharks! YES!

It was okay. But okay is DVD, not paying real money to see it.

Okay now some recent views.

Sideways (2004) I rented and if I were a wine person I might like this. But since I am most definitely not; it made it difficult to follow through on all the dialogue. However with that, there are many funny moments.

I liked Lost in Translation (2003). It is a comedy-drama of the same form but I got a few more laughs out of this. Plus it is more character driven as the relationship between the lead characters takes on different dimensions.

Also Hot Fuzz (2007) is pretty funny with enough violent twists. After seeing Shaun of the Dead (2004), this one is also very funny. Supposedly this is part of a trilogy featuring an ice cream and there will be another film coming out, hopefully, next year.