In honor of this blog post, which states that Motion Picture Acedemy members are struggling so hard to find 10 movies to name to the newly expanded Best Picture category some are considering Sam Raimi's "Drag Me To Hell," I have decided to release my top ten movies of the year.
The Academy does not send me free screeners. I am just your average movie-loving normal person. I actually go out and SEE movies, or rent them. And I managed to find 10 good enough to make a list! Imagine if I was invited to premieres and received them free in the mail! Get off your duffs, Academy members! Check these out, anyway...
These are in no particular order, after the first three... It's just too hard. And my criteria, which I learned from my friend Josh Larsen (check out his list here) is does this film make me feel something? Does it stay with me after I have left the theater?
1. The Hurt Locker: The first war movie to really engage me, about a bomb diffuser who can't quite tone it down at the end of the day. On the edge of my seat from start to finish.
2. (500) Days of Summer: Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschenal in a one-sided love story so real you'd swear they peeked in your windows. You may need a hug when it's over. Everybody's been through this.
3. Watchmen: Screw "The Dark Knight" (yeah, I said it). This film, based on a landmark graphic novel, gives us a peek at what the world might look like if there really were masked heroes. Who would want the job? Be careful what you wish for.
Inglorious Bastards: Quentin Tarantino's usual brand of insanity - this time contemplating a world where the Jews had defeated the Nazis. Audacious doesn't begin to cover it.
Up: Pixar never leaves home without the whole bag of tricks, but I would pay special attention to the way this film treats the lifetime love affair of Mr. and Mrs. Fredericksen. The short, silent montages of their relationship are more romantic and fulfilling than most of what passes for movie romances today.
Fantastic Mr. Fox: Simply the funniest, most surprising film to come from the mind of Wes Anderson (with some help from Roald Dahl). So light on its feet, and hysterically funny.
Up in the Air: You've heard it all, so I'll be brief. Watch the wedding scene and tell me that Jason Reitman is not on his way to becoming one of the great American film directors of the 2000s. Go ahead. I'll wait.
District 9: A sweet but bumbling civil servant (Sharlto Copley) walks into an alien slum known as District 9, and changes everything he and the world knows about these misunderstood "prawns." A dizzyingly original, thought-provoking picture, "District 9" will stay with long past its final heartbreaking image.
Where the Wild Things Are: Spike Jonze's underappreciated gem based on Maurice Sendak's classic book reflects the chaos of childhood and what it really means to be a wild thing at 9 years old. Does the fact that it connected with adults more than kids say more about them or about us?
Away We Go: As a vagabond young couple about to face parenthood, John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph give out-of-nowhere performances in Sam Mendes' funny, surprising journey about what a family is.
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