Oscar Preview '10

In terms of unimpressive non-achievements, the fact that I have never lost an Oscar pool that I have entered is perhaps the one that I am perhaps most proud of. And now I'm here to share with you, for the first time, a complete Oscar ballot of mine. Get your snacks close at hand, use the bathroom now, tell your family you love them; it's gonna be a long 6,000 words.

The Short Categories (Documentary, Live Action, and Animated Shorts)
Okay I know this is where competitive pools are won and lost. But unlike years past I haven’t seen any of these nominees nor do I plan it. I just don't have the time. And the truth is, seeing the nominees in no way helps predict a winner. Because these are an absolute crapshoot. Often times the nominee that seems least likely to win prevails. And there is never a rhyme or reason or predictable voting pattern to these awards. So fuck it. Just draw a name out of a hat or something. I’m going with The Last Truck because it seems the most timely, A Matter of Loaf and Death because it’s by Nick Park, and The Door because I always like to root for movies about doors.

Best Visual Effects
Hmm wow, tough one. Hard to say really. The visual effects in Avatar were pretty decent I suppose. I guess I’ll go with that then.

Will Win/Should Win: Avatar

Best Art Direction
Here’s the thing. Everyone assumes that even if Avatar doesn’t win Best Picture it’s gonna clean up in all the secondary awards. But other than visual effects it’s hardly a lock in any other category. And other than that category and this one I don’t know where else it’s even the clear runaway favorite.

Will Win: Avatar
Should Win: Avatar


Best Sound Mixing & Best Sound Editing
So now just completely ignore that previous entry because here’s where Avatar picks up another two easy Oscars. Not because they are necessarily warranted or unwarranted, but because nobody really knows exactly what these categories are or how to judge them. So considering there’s no musical or music related movie in the race this year, and considering that The Hurt Locker is a pretty quiet movie, I think Avatar is the best bet since voters have history of just choosing the nominee that is the best movie and has the most sound. Because if it’s got the most sound then it probably had the most editing and mixing involved in that sound. So in this case that means Avatar. Because why not?

(That should really be Avatar’s Oscar campaign slogan - “Avatar. Because why not?”)

Will Win: Avatar (but don’t sleep on The Hurt Locker)
Should Win: Who knows

Best Cinematography
Okay after saying that Avatar wasn’t going to win anything I've now picked it in three straight categories. The lesson, as always, is not to listen to anything I say. But as much as I would like to pick against it here, even Avatar haters have to admit that it LOOKED amazing. And maybe that wasn’t the cinematography’s doing per se, but when looking at this category on a ballot a voter is going to ask themself “which of these movies looked the best”, and the answer to that question is for most people going to be Avatar. I‘ve seen many other pundits picking The Hurt Locker, and it could easily win, but I think its herky-jerky “you are there” camera work feels pretty standard issue and played out for that type of movie at this point. And the Academy is not going to give a semi-major Oscar to a Harry Potter movie. And Inglorious Basterds doesn’t really stand out from a cinematography perspective. Which leaves The White Ribbon. Which is the most deserving choice. Its camera work was distinct and beautiful and (film nerd alert!) its visual compositions really helped to tell the story and give the movie its tone and feel. But if the Academy didn’t give the legendary Roger Deakins an award for his black and white work on The Man Who Wasn’t There then they’re not giving some no name an award for his black and white work on a foreign film that no one saw.

Will Win: Avatar
Should Win: The White Ribbon

Best Editing
Alright, here's where we (I) actually do start picking against the Avatar consensus. I bet everyone’s going to pick it here, but I’m not so sure. See, The Hurt Locker is seemingly the Best Picture favorite at this point. And there’s a well-known link between Best Editing and Best Picture. In fact there’s only been six times in the past seventeen years that the two awards havent corresponded. And of those six times, most have either been for movies with iconic editing (Saving Private Ryan, The Matrix, The Bourne Ultimatum) movies with iconic editors (The Aviator – Thelma Shoonmaker) or movies that edited together several disparate stories into a unified whole (Traffic). And since three of those awards also corresponded with Best Director or the favorite to win Best Director (Saving Private Ryan, Traffic, The Aviator) there seems to be a correlation in voters’ minds between the best directed movie and the best edited one. And since no matter what happens with Best Picture Kathyrn Bigelow is the HEAVY favorite to win Best Director (we’ll get to that), it would seem that The Hurt Locker is a better bet to win Best Editing than Avatar. And that’s as it should be. Because for all of Avatar’s considerable achievements would you say its editing was really one of them? Yeah, neither would voters. I think.

(Oh yeah, and that sixth time that Best Editing and Best Picture haven’t matched up recently? (Wait for it)…Black Hawk Down. A war movie that creates its sense of chaos and tension largely through its editing. Sound familiar?)

Will Win/Should Win: The Hurt Locker

Best Costume Design
Colleen Atwood and Sandy Powell are the names here. (You know you’re an Oscar nerd when you think of costume designers as having name recognition.) Colleen Atwood won for Chicago, which on the surface seems very similar to Nine. But everyone hated Nine, and there’s sort of a been-there done-that quality to its costumes. And we’ll get back to Sandy Powell in a minute. Which leaves The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Bright Star, and Coco Before Chanel. No one saw The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Although I’d love the underrated Bright Star to get some love, its costumes are a little dowdy to win here. Plus no one saw it. Which leaves Coco Before Chanel. A movie about a fashion designer! Its gotta be the favorite right? Well that brings us back to Sandy Powell. Eight-time nominee. Associated with a more well know movie. And most crucial of all, her movie deals with royalty. Jackpot! In Costume Design, royalty trumps all. So as they always say - when in doubt go with the movie about royalty. It’s an Oscar pool rule. Look it up.
(editors note: Actually, you can’t. Because Andy just made it up)

Will Win: Young Victoria
Should Win: Hell if I know

Best Makeup
I’m pretty sure Il Divo is a made up movie so it can’t win. And Young Victoria doesn’t have anything as flashy as the work that was done on Eric Bana. He was so unrecognizable in Star Trek that it almost seemed like he could act. Maybe those makeup people could work with Orlando Bloom.

Will Win/Should Win: Star Trek
(And if the winners don’t say “live longer and prosper” at some point in their acceptance speech I’m gonna be very disappointed)

Best Score
It looks like before the run of the show is even done Lost will be able to boast an Oscar winner in its ranks. Because the creator of those occasionally comically overbearing strings and assorted strange sounds that make up the soundtrack of Lost is gonna waltz to an easy and well-deserved Oscar for his work on Up. In terms of people involved with Lost most likely to someday win an Oscar, I would have put Michael Giacchino several spots below JJ Abrams and Terry O’Quinn and about 80,000 spots above Emilie de Ravin. Just goes to show you never know. But good for him because Up deserves as many Oscars as it can get. And anything that might lead to the world potentially getting to see more of Dug the dog is something I’m all for.

Will Win/Should Win: Up

Best Song
Fun Fact: “The Weary Kind” was co-written by Ryan Bingham, which is the same name as George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air. Pretty crazy right? What are the odds?

And that’s not all.

Another nominee, “Loin de Paname” from Paris 36, has lyrics by Frank Thomas. I’m assuming that’s the famous baseball player Frank Thomas, but I haven’t bothered to verify that. If only there was an entire mini-industry devoted just to covering the Academy Awards and could tell us these things. Alas…

Anyway, Ryan Bingham the character is probably going home empty handed, but Ryan Bingham the person getting himself a real life Oscar is perhaps the surest bet of the night. His song was the most integral to the plot of its film and it is also by far the best song of the nominees. Which is good because now not only will we be able to declare a clear winner in the Battle of the Ryan Binghams, but it will mean that T-Bone Burnett will assume the title of Coolest Named Person to Ever Win an Oscar, narrowly edging out Juicy J and Crunchy Black.

Will Win/Should Win: "The Weary Kind"

Animated Feature
Yeah another Oscar for Up! That being said, don’t sleep on Fantastic Mr. Fox. I know it’s not nominated for Best Picture like Up is, but it’s got a ton of support. And there have been upsets in this category before. And Fox has a more high-profile director and a bigger name cast who are all well-respected and even beloved in the industry. I’m not saying I think it WILL happen, I’m just saying I wouldn’t be shocked if it did. I would however be upset.

Will Win/Should Win: Up

Best Documentary
I’m not as educated on this one as I should be, having only seen Food Inc., but I feel pretty confident that it’s going to win. There’s a strong history of this award going to the most high-profile and most widely seen nominee. And that’s definitely Food Inc. this year. Other than The Cove I’ve never even heard of any of the other nominees. And everyone I know who has seen The Cove says that although it’s good, it’s very disturbing. Almost too disturbing. And although it’s about an important issue, it’s not about one that affects our lives as clearly as the food industry. Enough people have said things about Food Inc. like “It changed my life” that I don’t dare bet against it here. Sure Super Size Me didn’t win, but Food Inc. is infinitely more eye- opening, powerful, and better made. So I say it crushes The Cove just like some fecal matter filled beef made from steroid injected inhumanly slaughtered cows. Which incidentally you probably just ate.
(Nausea. It’s hilarious!)

Will Win/Should Win: Food Inc.

Best Foreign Language Film
Here's another category where I'm not as educated as I should be. (Not the best of years for me.) Of these nominees the only one I’ve seen is The White Ribbon. And it’s great. It’s critically acclaimed. It feels important and lasting and memorable. And so all I know for sure about this category is that the winner won’t be The White Ribbon.

See, the thing with this category is that in order to vote in it you have to have seen all of the nominees in theaters. And not just any theaters, but at special Academy screenings. And so anyone who is actually still active in the industry, or, you know, has a life, isn’t voting in this category. So when choosing a winner for Best Foreign Language Film ask yourself “which nominee would a group of retired 75-90 year old Hollywood-types with a lot of time on their hands like”? There’s a reason that in the past seven years three of the winners were about people dealing with death and two others were about the Holocaust. And true The White Ribbon is in black and white (just like they used to make em!) and deals with the rise of fascism, but it's also three hours long, slower than molasses, and doesn’t have much of a plot or things that “happen” per se. And its artsy as hell. This is not what old people are into. Plus the Palme d’Or winner NEVER wins this category. So The White Ribbon is out. But beyond that it’s anyone’s guess. I want to say Un Prophete, since it’s the only other nominee here with name recognition and mass critical acclaim. But its gonna have a hard time fending off an Israeli movie about Arab-Hebrew relations, a movie about the systematic abuse of women and the rise of socialism in Peru in the 80’s, and a sweeping epic about social and political upheaval in Argentina. I’m gonna go with Un Prophete, but Ajami wouldn’t shock me. Nor would any of the other nominees. Except The White Ribbon. (That was the sound of The White Ribbon producers preparing their acceptance speech).

Will Win: Un Prophete?
Should Win: The White Ribbon (as uneducated an opinion as that might be)

Best Adapted Screenplay
I have a few questions about Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire. First of all, if the novel is called Push then why is the movie called Precious? Also who the hell is Sapphire and where has she been this entire awards season? And what are the odds that someone would name themselves Sapphire and NOT be a stripper? .002%? Even knowing for a fact that Diablo Cody was at one point a stripper, if you had me guess which recent Oscar-affiliated writer was a stripper I would have put everything I own on Sapphire. And lastly, is the Adapted Screenplay nomination for Precious the most redundantly worded Oscar nomination of all time? I cant imagine anything ever has or will top - “Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire from Push by Sapphire”. Can we all just agree to cut off the last part of that statement on Oscar night?

Anyway, Up in the Air is winning here. And thank God. It was looking like my favorite movie of the year was going to get shut out, but luckily it ran up against a pretty weak field of nominees. I mean I love Nick Hornby and I love An Education, but outside of that, none of the rest of these are that noteworthy. District 9 is a fine film, but the screenplay is nothing to write home about. And as good as the screenplay for In the Loop is we can’t give it an award until David Mamet admits that Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche are simply pseudonyms he came up with. And lastly, I have strict rules against giving Oscars to people named after precious metals, no pun intended. (Editor's note: none achieved). Yes I realize Sapphire herself isn’t actually nominated, but just roll with me here.

So it makes me tremendously happy to be able to tell Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner to prepare for a well-deserved Oscar win. And for a pretty awkward and strange acceptance speech considering they just met for the first time a few weeks ago. I can’t wait.

Will Win/Should Win: Up in the Air

Best Original Screenplay
The "Hurt Locker for Best Screenplay" movement seems to be gaining steam, which is great because I’m sure it was very hard to write a script where people stand around not talking. All that pithy non-repartee must have been a real slog to come up with. But you know what I think would be even better? If we gave Quentin Tarantino an Oscar instead. Come on, you know his speech is gonna be outstandingly over-the-top. He’s gonna make Cuba Gooding Jr. look calm and contained by comparison. You gotta be rooting for that. And then there’s his script itself. It's brilliant in terms of plot and structure, but mostly in terms of dialogue. Holy shit that dialogue is good. It’s funny, memorable, smart, and true. Plus it’s in like 18 languages (I might have made that up). What more could you want? Well other than boring people standing around silently diffusing bombs.

Will Win: Inglorious Basterds (barely)
Should Win: Inglorious Basterds


Best Supporting Actor
I’ve talked about my love for Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds previously so no need to rehash it all here. But just know that in any other year Woody Harrleson would win in a walk. In The Messenger he’s magnificent. He’s wonderful. He’s revelatory. And he doesn’t have even the slightest prayer of winning. Nor should he. Because this isn’t any other year. It’s Christoph Waltz’s. We’re just living in it.

(As a side note: would it have killed them to give Zack Galifinakis a nomination? I mean I know comedy isn’t valid and all, but he essentially was the highest grossing comedy of the year. And Hollywood types do love grosses don’t they? No one other than Christoph Waltz was winning this year anyway, what would the harm have been in throwing a harmless nomination Zack’s way? Matt Damon with a silly accent really needed an Oscar nod over arguably the breakout and most talked about performance of the year? Really?)

Will Win/Should Win: Christoph Waltz

Best Supporting Actress
I can guarantee you three things about the Oscars this year:

1.) Mo'Nique will win Best Supporting Actress

2.) She will take at least 10 minutes walking up to the stage

3.) Her speech will be praised by every media outlet and person you know, yet it will in actuality be pretty standard issue, unmemorable and lacking in any real substance

Look, I have no problem with Mo'Nique winning. She gave the best supporting actress performance this year and it’s hard to even make a case for any of the other nominees. Sure the fact that Mo'Nique has an Oscar will seem ridiculous in a few years but no moreso than a slew of other people who hold that distinction. And she’ll be carrying on a proud tradition of people who won an Oscar for basically one powerhouse scene (Beatrice Straight, Jennifer Connelly, George Clooney, Jennifer Hudson). Hell, probably my all-time favorite supporting actress performance (Kathy Bates in Primary Colors) is a one-note caricature that is redeemed by one powerhouse knock-out stunner of a scene. So I get it. But I just think Mo'Nique is getting a little over-praised. Much like the film itself, her performance up until the very end is so over the top and melodramatic and completely un-nuanced that it not only doesn’t seem realistic but it almost seems laughable. It’s not surprising that the group who once gave Crash their highest prize would seem tone deaf on issues of race and class in America, but here’s a hint for them: If a movie has both Oprah and Tyler Perry attached to it it’s probably not going to be an accurate or deep and probing look into any sort of reality that real people actually deal with. Unless of course they live in an overblown Lifetime movie/misery porn. I’m pretty sure no one is as purely and unequivocally monstrous as Mo'Nique’s character, but heaven forbid you ask audiences to accept shades of grey. (I really need to stop watching so much of The Wire. It's making me ask too much of my entertainment.) Anyway, it would be interesting to see what the reaction to Mo'Nique’s performance, and Mo'Nique herself would be if she had any legitimate competition. But while all the other nominees are fine (well, Maggie Gyllenhaal is badly miscast but whatever) none of them turned in work that I would even remotely classify as “Oscar worthy”. So Mo'Nique it is.
Whatever.

Will Win/Should Win: Mo'Nique

Best Actor
As (almost) always it’s a pretty strong year for Best Actor nominees. No slouches in this bunch. But Jeff Bridges has had this thing locked up for months. And I’m cool with that. It’s an “Oscar” performance. It’s a great character that feels both personal and a bit of a stretch for Jeff Bridges. He’s got some killer scenes and killer moments and he even does his own signing. Plus he’s well-liked and overdue, for what that's worth. And it’s hard for me to say he doesn’t give the best performance of the lot. But. If I had seen A Single Man back when I wrote my Best of 2009 entry, Colin Firth would have made that list for sure. He’s completely unrecognizable, and I don’t mean just in a physical sense. It’s just a stunning transformative piece of work, and the scene when he finds out that his lover is dead is by far the most underrated scene of the year. It’s magnificent. Still, passing the Best Actor torch from DDL to Sean Penn to Colin Firth doesn’t seem quite right. He just doesn’t have that Best Actor heft yet. As soon as he makes more than one movie of substance maybe it’ll be different. Maybe that seems silly and unfair, but that’s how these things work. It’s Jeff Bridges' turn, and there’s nothing Colin or anyone else can do about that. And oh yeah. Mr. Bridges gives a pretty damn great performance himself.

Will Win: Jeff Bridges
Should Win: (tie) Jeff Bridges & Colin Firth

Best Actress
It’s time to face facts. And one of those facts is that Sandra Bullock is about to win an Academy Award. And not just any Academy Award, but one for the The Blind Side. A movie so insipid and pandering and simplistic and insultingly reductive of complex social issues that of course everyone on my flight home from Houston absolutely loved it. (Oh how I love being a East Coast elitist asshole…) What separates The Blind Side from Remember the Titans, or Glory Road, or The Express, or Pride or any other Disney-fied "based on a true story" feel-good sports movie that makes complicated racial issues palpable and safe enough for white people who find Obama "too black" I don’t know. Well other than the fact that it's nominated for two major Academy Awards. And it's going to win one of them. Which means that future generations of Oscar completeists like myself are going to have to sit through it and think "Really? Really?!?" Which is a shame because I do like Sandra Bullock. She seems genuinely lovely and she's an underrated actress who is in and of herself not undeserving of awards recognition. And her work in The Blind Side is quite good. But sometimes the quality of your movie has to be taken into account. Right? It’s like in sports how the MVP of the league has to come from a winning team unless there are legitimately no other contenders and voters have no choice. Which is pretty much the case here. Helen Mirren is out because no one saw her movie and she just won a few years ago. And Gabourey Sidibe is out because the stuffy old white fogies of the Academy aren’t giving Best Actress to an overweight no-name African American woman. Maybe Best Supporting Actress but not Best Actress. They just aren't. (It's not right, but it’s true. So don’t blame me; like Ben Foster I'm just the messenger). Which leaves Meryl Streep and Carey Mulligan. Everyone is saying that Meryl is Sandra's biggest competition, and that may be, but I really don't see her winning. People didn’t really like her movie and it's barely more respectable than The Blind Side. Plus she's only in half of it. And I don’t know that her performance, as great as it is, ever truly transcends the level of impersonation. And other than one scene, it’s kind of a lightweight role, lacking in big "Oscar moments". For anyone else I could maybe see them wining with that part, but we grade Meryl on a different scale and expect more from her than she gave us in Julie & Julia. The movement to get her an Oscar this year feels a lot like the movement to get Martin Scorsese an Oscar for The Aviator. Sure she's overdue, but we've waited this long, why settle for giving her an award for something that’s merely good, when we know she’s capable of transcendence. I just don't sense that voter's hearts are really into Meryl this year no matter how much people might be saying otherwise. Which leaves us with Carey Mulligan. Her movie is nominated for Best Picture and its infinitely more respectable than The Blind Side. She carries pretty much the whole thing herself. She's young and attractive, which if you don’t think is a MAJOR factor then clearly you haven't ever looked at a list of the past winners of Best Actress. And she's British which is a major voting bloc within The Academy. And oh yeah, she also gives the best performance of the year. She has several emotional outbursts/"Oscar scenes". She has a complex role that has nuance and depth that other actresses could easily screw up, yet she handles it with aplomb. But sadly if Meryl is Julie Christie, then I think Carey is Ellen Page. She's too young and unproven, so great as she might be, voters feel like they can wait and will be able to vote for her again in the future. Which leaves Sandra Bullock as Marion Cotillard. But just know this. If someone upsets her its going to be Carey Mulligan not Meryl Streep. And Im rooting for it to happen. That's why my Oscar night chant is going to be "Remember Adrien Brody".

Will Win: Sandra Bullock
Should Win: Carey Mulligan

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow is winning here. She’s won nearly all the relevant precursor awards, she’s got momentum, she’s the director of the Best Picture favorite, people seem to like her, and the fact that a woman has never won before is certainly working in her favor. Plus James Cameron has already won before and he’s a massive douche bag that no one in Hollywood likes. But here’s the thing. He took 11 years out of his life to pursue a strange and singular personal passion project. He invented entirely new technology just to make his vision a reality. He waited until it was possible for him to do it entirely on his terms. He made the decision to make it 3D back when 3D was seen as some sort of dated novelty gimmick. And he made it political and relevant and topical when there was absolutely no commercial reason to do so. And he took what on paper must have seemed to anyone who heard about it like an absolutely terrible idea and turned it into a legit Best Picture nominee. There’s absolutely no one else who could have made Avatar as we’re going to find out in the years to come when every director in Hollywood tries. And not that I care about box office results, but it has to be mentioned that James Cameron followed up the highest grossing movie of all time with…the highest grossing movie of all time. It’s impossible to overstate what an incredible and unlikely achievement that is. It's so remarkable that I think in this case, it is worth taking into account. And as strange as it may seem considering his predilection for blockbuster crowd pleasers, James Cameron may be the closest thing Hollywood has to a true auteur. He may be a gaping asshole, but he had by far the most impressive and awards worthy directorial achievement of the year. His movie may not have been the best, but the vision, effort, and ability it took to make it was certainly was. So as much as I would like to see a woman win, I don’t think gender should be at all be a factor in voting. That’s how equality works. But I dont think in this case that that will be how it works.
Will Win: Kathryn Bigelow
Should Win: James Cameron
(Hey, did you know they were once married? Someone should really mention that at some point...)

Best Picture

"If you’ve read about Avatar, you know by now that it’s the future of movies. And if you’ve seen it, you know that the future of movies apparently looks a lot like the present of movies – big, expensive, effects driven action." – Mark Harris

I’m going to come off as very anti-Avatar in what's to follow so let me just say up top that I enjoyed Avatar. It’s a good film and it deserves its nomination and its box office success. But what it doesn’t deserve is Best Picture. Because for all its virtues, if you don’t think that in 30 years once its technology is commonplace that Avatar won’t seem like The Greatest Show on Earth or Ben-Hur or any of the countless overblown spectacles that have been nominated for Best picture but didn’t wind up winning then you are sadly delusional. Is Avatar an important film and one that will change the course of film history? Yes, and probably. And I’ve written before about how much I support and am impressed by its politics. But as impressive as those politics may be, the reason the movie has had the success it has and the reason it has its Best Picture nomination is because of its technical achievements. Take the same movie and make it with mid-90’s technology and no one pays attention or cares. And if there’s any type of movie we need to supporting it’s not the overblown blockbuster spectacle with a weak story. Lord knows Hollywood doesn’t need any additional encouragement to pump those out.

Look, The Avatar effect is going to be felt in Hollywood regardless. Ten years from now there’s probably only gonna be like five movies a year featuring real life humans sitting around doing realistic human things in 2D. But still, there’s no need to give filmmakers even more incentive to make Avatar type movies by showing them that they can get Academy Awards that way too. The Oscars are half the reason why any halfway decent movie even gets green-lit by major studios. If the studios can start winning Oscars with blockbusters then the Up in the Air’s of the world never even get out of development meetings. Now as a passionate backer of Lord of the Rings back in the day I realize on the surface I seem a bit hypocritical, but there are a few key differences here. First, The Lord of the Rings movies were based on some of the most beloved and respected books ever written. Their story was rich and complex served to create an entirely new world and with scores of interesting characters in it. Avatar gave us Ferngully in space and characters that for all the film's 3D achievements were strangely two demensional. For example, it would be hard to come up with a more cartoonishly over the top villain than General Shouty McEvil Pants or whatever his name was. Also, in Lord of the Rings the technology always seemed to be in service of the story. In Avatar the technology overwhelmed it. The story seemed to exist only to show off the technology. And if you don’t think that’s true then ask yourself how well the movie is going to play at home on DVD in 2D. A great movie should be great in any setting, not just on an IMAX screen wearing silly glasses. So I'm not opposed to blockbusters or big budget spectacles, Im just opposed to ones that make those elements secondary to story, character development, dialogue, and exploration of the human condition. Don't forget, Lord of the Rings won Best Screenplay. Avatar isnt even nominated.

So this year’s Best Picture race isn’t just a battle for the title of Best Picture, it is, in many ways, a battle between competing ideologies. A battle to declare what we as a people value in our art. A battle for what type of movies should be made and should be rewarded. And that’s why it's so encouraging to see that The Academy is leaning towards The Hurt Locker.

Now The Hurt Locker is a movie I respect and appreciate more than love and enjoy. I much prefer Up in the Air. It’s better acted, better written, and better made, and speaks more clearly to our times and our lives. It’s the movie that will best serve as our representative to future generations of this year. Not just this year in film, but this year on Earth. But you’ll get no real complaints from me if The Hurt Locker wins. Anything but Avatar is my mantra. Which is why I'm revelling in the irony of the fact that The Academy’s wrongheaded decision to open the Best Picture race up to 10 nominees is going to ultimately be Avatar’s downfall. In their attempt to get more commercial nominees, The Academy ensured that its most commercial nominee ever is going to lose the top prize. Because with the switch in the number of nominees they also switched the voting system. Used to be that only 1st place votes really mattered. But now voters have to rank the movies from 1 to 10 and essentially the movie with the best cumulative score wins. It’s actually slightly more complicated than that, but for our purposes that explanation will do.

So with the new system the movie that has the broadest support will likely be the winner. Now this is the first time this voting system has ever been used so it’s hard to predict with certainty how it will play out, but it would seem that the movie that is not necessarily the most liked but rather the movie that is the least disliked will win. And that’s where the fact that the average age of an Academy voter is 57.7 years old comes into play. See there’s a reason that before this year only two (or three depending on how you view ET) sci-fi films have ever been nominated for Best Picture. There’s a reason it took Lord of the Rings three tries to win Best Picture, and why ET lost to Gandhi, and why The Dark Knight got snubbed last year. Oscar voters are OLD. And old people aren’t generally that into loud noisy action scenes or weird creatures doing sci-fi type things. Those types of movies don’t seem to carry the type of artistic heft that your typical older voter is looking for in their Best Picture. I can see a lot of people ranking Avatar very high, but I can also see a whole lot of 70 and 80 year olds ranking it dead last on their ballots. And I can see a whole lot of people doing the same thing just out of spite. The Hurt Locker is safe and inoffensive and hard to hate. Sure it had explosions and action, but not in an action movie sense. War movies have been around since the dawn of film and have won Best Picture on several occasions. Old people can deal with that sort of action. There is strong precident for that type of action winning. And even if The Hurt Locker wasn’t your FAVORITE film of the year you probably liked it. And you’re gonna rank at least a few of the other nominees below it. And in fact there’s a quite sizeable block of people that feel passionately that it’s the year’s best film. It’s nearly swept all the critics’ awards. And normally the movie that does that doesn’t win Best Picture. This year though we need it to. We need the critics’ darling to defeat the blockbuster special effects extravaganza. (Hyperbolic statement alert) The future of movies depends on it.

And since I opened this section with a quote from Entertainment Weekly I’ll let EW film critic and Hurt Locker backer Owen Glieberman have the last word here:

“It’s worth taking a moment to point out why, for Academy voters, the box office has always been such a crucial factor. The vulgar way to put it would be: Hollywood, in the end, is all about the bottom line, and so a movie that doesn’t “perform” isn’t eligible, according to the industry’s core values, for the most coveted of honors.

(But) if The Hurt Locker wins this year’s Academy Award for Best Picture, it will in many ways fracture that essential crowd-pleasing code. Sure, the movie swept the critics’ awards, but that’s never been such a dominant criteria for Hollywood. (If it were, the Oscar for Best Picture would likely have gone to GoodFellas, or Nashville, or Pulp Fiction.) To me, it would be fantastic if The Hurt Locker won, because it would effectively redefine the Oscars as an arena where a work of art, its (minor) success driven by critical praise, could compete on a level playing field. If The Hurt Locker wins, it will really be the culmination of a trend that began back in 1996, the year of Fargo and Shine and Secrets & Lies, when the Oscar nominations were, for the first time, dominated by “small” independent releases. Sure, a handful of indie films (like No Country for Old Men) have won Best Picture since, but before doing so they effectively crossed over and became modest mainstream hits.

I’d like to go back to the sole point I made in (an) earlier, myopic post that I think was accurate. I said that the battle between Up in the Air and Avatar would be the most symbolic Oscar race since Forrest Gump vs. Pulp Fiction back in 1994/1995. . . . Okay, Up in the Air, while a respectable hit, didn’t forge quite the emotional connection with a lot of the audience that I’d wanted it to. But even if I did have the wrong movie, I think I had the right point: With The Hurt Locker now having all but vacuumed up the year’s critical acclaim, and with Avatar having just this week become the top-grossing domestic movie of all time, Avatar vs. The Hurt Locker is an awesomely symbolic race. It’s a clash of size, values, popularity — of essential notions of What Movie Art Is in the 21st century. A Hurt Locker victory would open the door to a new definition of Oscar glory, a defiant celebration of artistry over commerce. A win for Avatar would be, in its way, a definitive assertion of the same old same old. That’s why, more than in quite a long time, I genuinely hope that Best Picture this year goes to the best picture.”

(I couldn’t have said it better myself. Although lord knows I tried.)

Will Win: The Hurt Locker
Should Win: Up in the Air

The Top 25 of 2009

I know, I know, you're so over 2009. But I never understand why people do their end of the year wrap ups before the year is even over. What, do things that happen in December not count? Even waiting until after the official end of the year I didn’t nearly have enough time to experience everything pop culture had to offer in 2009. There are plenty of things (Mad Men, Glee, Adventureland, etc.) I feel almost positive would be on this list if only I had had the time to see/hear/read/do them. And I'm sure there are countless other things I’m not even aware of that I will look back on years from now as among the 2009’s best. But that being said, there was more than enough that I did experience in 2009 to fill a best of list and then some. But rather than ranking them and separating them by category I thought I’d highlight my favorite things of 2009 in one long rambling master list. Strap in, it’s gonna be a long 5,000 words.

First off though:
The Worst of 2009
I don’t want to harp on the negative because there's already too much of that on the internet, but lord knows there were some pretty awful things in 2009:

-“TiK ToK” – seriously who the hell wants a guy who looks like Mick Jagger, he’s like 70.
-the flannel revival – no one looked good in flannel the first time around okay?
-everything about the Twilight Saga – what am I missing here?
-“According To You” – don’t even get me started…

But definitely the worst thing about 2009 was death. As is true every year, death really sucked. But it sucked even worse than usual in 2009. And from Michael Jackson to Chris Brown’s career to Tiger Woods’ dignity it didn’t discriminate. It went on a wild rampage destroying everything in its path. By the time Britney Murphy died we were all so burned out that we didn’t even bat an eyelash. Here's hoping that death soon becomes “like, so 2009”.

Things that just missed the "Best Of" cut
I wanted to make this list things that everyone could have experienced. I had some great pop culture experiences in 2009 but if they weren’t potentially universal experiences what’s the point of commenting on them? Who wants to read a bunch of things that happened only to me personally? Nevertheless some things that didn’t make the “universal experience” cut that are worth mentioning:
-Jay-Z at APW opening his set with “No Sleep Til Brooklyn”
-Touching Thomas Mars at the Rumsey Playfield Phoenix concert
-“Hey Jude” at Citi Field

So now without further ado:
The Top 25 of 2009 (in no particular order):
1.) Movie Trailers
A wise person (or possibly a Star Trek character) once said that having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting. Well, while the last year in film was quite the year for having, having couldn’t hold a candle to wanting.

Sometimes the having lived up to the wanting:
Up in the Air
(500) Days of Summer

Other times not so much:
Watchmen

And in some cases we still have to wait for a few more months before a judgment can be made:
Greenberg

But regardless, this felt like the year that movie trailers got so good that they started to transcend the movies themselves. And if you don’t believe me then may I present exhibit A:



Others of note:
A Serious Man
Star Trek
Moon

2.) Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
As a long time Phoenix fan I’m not quite sure how I feel about the past year. On the one hand, I’ve never understood why Phoenix wasn’t more popular. And it’s been shocking to see how many of the incredibly music-savy people I know weren’t even familiar with Phoenix until this year. I’m always at least a step behind on these things, so I had just kind of assumed Phoenix was already huge within the music snob community. But apparently not. So it’s good that they’re finally getting their due. Because they deserve all the love and accolades they can get. On the other hand, the Cadillac commercial, and the new douchebag fans coming out of the woodwork, and the having to share them with people who don’t even know all the words to “Consolation Prizes” (the horror!), is a new experience that I’m still working through. But believe me, I know it could be worse. I could be a long-time Kings of Leon fan.

Regardless, none of this would have happened if Thomas Mars and the boys hadn’t put together their finest and most hit laden album yet. It’s great from begin to end. And it’s also the year’s best. By a wide margin. Well done boys. Merci beaucoup.


3.) The “Bad Romance” video



In the past five years I have probably watched a music video ten times. And eight of those times were me watching this video on repeat. There’s much (MUCH) more to come on Lady Gaga on this very blog in the near future, but for now lemme just say that, like all right thinking people, I am decidedly pro-Gaga. Just in this one song there are so many thing to love – the random French words, the inexplicable lyrical Hitchcock homage, the chorus of nonsense sounds, and the fact that she was somehow able to beat out “Wilco (the song)” for best song of 2009 to incorporate the artist's name into the lyrics (coming in dead last, as always: Fergie). But the video really takes the whole thing to the next level. Apparently music videos can still feel fresh and vital and exciting. Who knew? It’s like its 1983 all over again. (In more ways than one. But more on that next time….)

4.) Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds
I’d be hard pressed to come up with someone who deserves their Oscar more than Christoph Waltz deserves the one he is going to win this year. As far as supporting actors go, Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Martin Landau in Ed Wood, Denzel Washington in Glory, and maybe Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men are the only ones from the relatively recent past that would be in the discussion. But regardless of where he ranks all time, Christoph Waltz was easily the best thing about easily one the year’s best movies. His performance left me giddy with excitement, inspired, and in awe. So while the movie as a whole is worthy of the highest of praise, Christoph earned a spot on this list all of his own. So well done sir. Now go out and buy yourself an “er”.

5.) Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in the Park)
I had to include at least one piece of theater and this one was not only one of the best, but also one of the most easily accessible in every way possible. It was a surprising production not just because Anne Hathaway seemed like she had been speaking verse her whole life, or because (theater nerd alert!) I felt certain I would never see a better production of Twelfth Night than Donmar Warehouse’s 2003 production at BAM, but mostly because in a cast with more Tonys than an Italian wedding, little known Hamish Linklater didn’t just steal the show, he committed grand larceny. I’ll never see a better Andrew Aguecheek. Or see a Twelfth Night with better music. If music be the food of love, then let Twelfth Night’s play on forever.

6.) NBC Thursday Nights
Even in the heyday of Must See TV NBC was never able to produce a solid two straight hours of comedy. So the fact that they have now been able to accomplish that feat is definitely worth recognizing. In fact let’s take a closer look:

Community – It may not be getting the most “best new comedy” buzz, but to me Community is way better than Modern Family.
(although to be fair, I’ve never seen even a second of Modern Family)

Parks and Rec – I’d just like to say that I’ve been on board since day one. I know everyone is clamoring to get on the bandwagon now, but lemme just say the show hasn’t changed that drastically since when everyone thought it was terrible and should be cancelled. I could say I told you so, but since I’m feeling magnanimous I’ll just say welcome to the party. It’s good to have you. And let’s all work to get Amy Poehler, Chris Pratt, and Louis C.K. their Emmys already.
(Also, if you haven’t seen Paul Schneider in Bright Star yet, you really should. The fact that he’s the same guy from Parks and Rec will blow your mind)

The Office – I know this started out as Michael Scott’s show, and then became Dwight’s show, and then became Jim and Pam’s show. And while all of them still have their integral place on the show, to me this is now clearly Andy Bernard’s show. You can pretty much gauge how good an episode is going to be by how much Andy Bernard it has in it. Also, he’s got to best one of the best/worst things to ever happen to Cornell.

30 Rock – Alec Baldwin = overrated, Jane Krakowski = underrated, Tracy Morgan = rated properly, the “30 Rock isn’t good anymore” contingent = needing to be punched in the face

7.) “15 Step” and “Swagga Like Us” at the Grammys
The Grammys are as terrible at recognizing great music as they are terrific at showcasing it. And it’s a shame that the former precludes most people from experiencing the latter. And since the Grammys are at least 20 years behind the times, they pull their videos from You Tube meaning I can’t rectify that problem for you. But you’ll just have to trust me that Radiohead performing “15 Step” with the USC marching band, and a seriously pregnant M.I.A. sharing a stage with Kanye, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and T.I. for “Swagga Like Us” were both electric performances.

8.) The new presenter format at The Oscars
While the awards themselves were hit or miss (Sean Penn, Heath Ledger, Penelope Cruz – yea!, Kate Winslet, all things Slumdog Millionaire – meh) last year’s Oscars show was terrific. Of course I think that every year, but this time I don’t think I'm alone. The way past winners paid personal tribute to each of the nominees was touching and wonderful and heartwarming and so of course it will never happen again. There are new producers and they’ve already implied that they’re scrapping that idea. And since the James Cameron show ensures that ratings will be through the roof, whatever format the show has this year will be the one it will have for the foreseeable future. So thanks for coming nominees who aren’t Jeff Bridges, Monique, Christoph Waltz, and Carey Mulligan/Meryl Streep, but a short film clip is all the recognition you're gonna get this year. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted….

9.) Dug from Up
When I said in the summer “I guarantee you there won’t be a better movie this year than Up” I didn’t realize that I had forgotten to add “in the Air” to the end of that sentence. But no matter. Because plain old Up is still a solid second. And while the opening montage deserves all the props it has gotten, there’s nothing I enjoyed about the movie more than Dug. He's easily my favorite Pixar character since Dory in Finding Nemo, and his squirrel joke was the funniest thing I heard all year. But really almost anything he said could qualify for that distinction. I guess in the last year comedy really went to the dogs. (As that last joke should illustrate.)

10.) Eastbound & Down
If you put all performances by all actors from all mediums from the last year in one big contest, I'd rank Danny McBride’s behind only Christoph Waltz’s. I’m dead serious. And the fact that I’m not alone in finding Esatbound & Down overall to be a work of genius makes me feel good for the world. Now if only they wouldn’t fuck it up by coming back for a second season. But that’s a rant for another time. For now, bask in the truly fresh and invigoratingly new wonder that was season one. And then after that, write the producers a letter begging them not to mess with perfection.

(Oh human nature/money, why must you ruin art for all of us?)

11.) The first half of Funny People
There’s no bigger fan of interestingly flawed passion projects than me. But Funny People isn’t interestingly flawed; it’s just simply two completely separate movies stuck together for no reason. And it’s a shame because not only was Adam Sandler's best work ever completely forgotten about come year-end awards time, but each movie on its own could have been interesting. As it stands though, the first half is by far the best thing Judd Apatow has ever done and a huge leap forward for him, and the second half is almost painfully bad, not necessarily in and of itself, but just because it has absolutely nothing to do with anything that came before it. Look Judd, I love Leslie Mann, and I love the two of you together, but next time you write a movie that doesn’t have a part for her in it, just leave it be no matter how much she might beg. Oh, and also no more Eric Bana under any circumstances. I mean...he’s not even Jewish!

12.) The Highline
Every time you think you’re done with New York it does something to pull you back in. This year that something was The Highline. It may not be pop culture related, but it was too big a development this year for too many people for me not to mention it. And for me at least, it revitalized a city that already felt pretty damn vitalized. Some other cities in the world must have been starting to think they were pretty hot shit, because The Highline is clearly just New York’s way of putting them in their place. So suck it other cities; we got the motherfuckin Highline.

13.) “I'm on a Boat”


If you learned nothing else in 2009 I hope you learned that this boat is REAL! Look, “Lazy Sunday” will always be the best because it was first. And “Dick in a Box” and “Motherlover” are pretty damn great as well. But for my money I’ll never like a digital short (or Incredibad song) more than “I'm on a Boat”. Maybe it’s just my serious weakness for white boy rap parodies. Or that fact that it led to the creation of this Wikipedia page (the song reached #9 on the New Zealand singles chart, who knew?). Or the fact that it led to the strangest Grammy nomination of all time (and that really saying something). Or the fact that it’s just a legitimately great song. But probably most of all because from now until the end of time no one will ever be able to be on a boat without referencing this song. And when they do, it will always get a laugh. (I hope)

14.) Up in the Air
Whoever said “they don’t make ‘em like they used to” clearly hadn’t seen Up in the Air. And if someone wrote a review of it without including the phrase “timely, yet timeless” then they aren’t very good at their job. And they should be fired.

15.) “I Do Not Hook Up”
After “Since U Been Gone” I didn’t think it was possible for my level of love for Kelly Clarkson to go any higher. I was wrong. And despite the title of the song I don’t view it as a song about sex, but as a song about respect and empowerment. I love it so much. And I would totally hook up with it.

It’s a song that makes me feel good – for myself and for the world. It’s just what we need. And it is almost solely responsible for my newest blog/project (launching soon…)

I know everyone seems like they’re partial to another song in the “pop song of the year” sweepstakes, but if you ask me if I think "I Do Not Hook Up" deserves the title I’ll nod my head like yeah.

16.) The making of Charlie’s dating profile from Always Sunny


If Charlie Day doesn’t win an Emmy for his work in “The Waitress is Getting Married” (spoiler alert: he won’t) then there is no justice in the world. The whole episode is just stellar, but the answers Charlie gives while making his dating profile cracked me up harder than anything else on TV this year. Milksteak FTW.

17.) Eating the Dinosaur - Chuck Klosterman
Reading Klosterman is like getting to have the kind of conversations I wish I could have, if only having in-depth conversations about the deeper meaning of Chris Gaines was something that people other than me were interested in. Sure Eating the Dinosaur may not be Klosterman’s master work but any book that has an essay comparing In Utero to The Branch Davidians automatically gets a gold star from me. Especially when said essay contains a paragraph like:

“So in this way I suppose Cobain and Koresh are very different. The former failed at his attempt to separate his true followers from the rest of America, and he destroyed himself for that failure. The latter was destroyed by others for succeeding at the same goal”.

See, those are the kinds of thoughts I wish I had and also the kind of sentences I wish I could drop in casual conversation. Sadly that is not the world we live in. But it’s the world Klosterman’s writing allows me to escape to.
Oh, and also there’s this:

“(Sasha Fierce) did not make her personality more complex; mostly it reminded people that Beyonce doesn’t really have any personality at all. She loves Christ, she loves her husband, she sings reasonably well, and she’s beautiful. That’s the whole package. Becoming a different person only served to make that all the more obvious.”

Be still my heart….

18.) The Onion - “Nations Girlfriends Unveil New Economic Plan : Let’s Move In Together”

Nation's Girlfriends Unveil New Economic Plan: 'Let's Move In Together'

To take nothing away from the great folks at College Humor, but this was my favorite made-for-the-internet video of the year by a country mile. Much like I consider Annie Hall the perfect romantic comedy, this might be the perfect internet comedy video. The writing, acting, production values, content, and attention to detail are all flawless. I’ve analyzed this video the way some people have analyzed the Zapruder film and I just can’t find a single thing that I don’t absolutely love about it. But if I had to choose a favorite part it would be the way the anchor delivers the line “fine then”. Kills me every time.

19.) The musical number from (500) Days of Summer
If at gunpoint I had to choose my #1 favorite thing from all of 2009 this would probably be it.

(Why someone would ask me that question at gunpoint I don’t know. Perhaps I have an unrealistic idea of how much other people care about my opinions. But the fact that I write 5,000 word blog entries describing things I like should have told you that already.)

Who knew that Hall and Oates had written the “Singin in the Rain” of our generation? And if you think I don’t dance along to “You Make My Dreams Come True” whenever it comes on my iPod then you are sadly mistaken. What can I say, sometimes (okay a lot of times) it just feels good to be alive.

Alright, enough talking by me, just watch the damn thing:



(See there, I just made your day)

20.) Paul Rudd in I Love You Man
Sometimes you love something because of the talent and likeability of the creator. Other times you like something because it resonates with you on such a personal level that it feels like someone reached into you soul and then put it out there for all to see. This was both of those. Paul Rudd was playing a real life person, he just didn’t know it. (And he nailed the part by the way.)

21.) "Empire State of Mind II" on The Colbert Report
I've been very clear over the years about my status as a Daily Show guy. And The Daily Show had a typically great year including maybe their best moment ever in Jon’s takedown of Jim Cramer which I wrote about elsewhere. But with the possible exception of Jon’s segment on the Toy Hall of Fame, nothing in the TDS universe made me laugh harder than this Colbert clip.

Much like with “New York State of Mind” itself, it’s strange to me that this holds much appeal to anyone who doesn’t or hasn’t lived in the New York area. To anyone who doesn’t fit that description I don’t know how it would even be funny outside of “hey it’s Stephen Colbert rapping”. But to those who are, or have been, New Yorkers, it’s just a wonderfully smart, specific, and hilarious piece of writing. So as we on the coasts always say, fuck everyone else.

(Oh being an elitist East Coast snob, will you ever get old?)

22.) The lyrics to “Sexy Chick” by David Guetta
Anytime the Black Eyed Peas release an album and you can beat them out for Best So-Bad-They’re-Good Lyrics of the Year you know you’ve really done something special. And as a connoisseur of bad lyrics lemme tell you, David Guetta is really remarkable. If you haven’t had the pleasure (?) of hearing “Sexy Chick” watch this video and pay special attention to the chorus. For those who don’t want to do that much work, the chorus goes like this :

“She's nothing like a girl you've ever seen before
Nothing you can compare to your neighborhood whore
I'm tryna find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful
The way that booty movin' I can't take no more
Have to stop what I'm doin so I can pull her close
I'm tryna find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful

Damn girl
Damn you'se a sexy chick
A sexy chick
Damn you'se a sexy chick”

I mean there’s just so much to work with here I don’t even know where to begin. He’s refers to all the women in his neighborhood as whores and then literally one line later is trying to find a way to describe a woman without being disrespectful. As if this were an incredibly difficult task. And then after searching for that way, he apparently decides on “damn girl, you’se a sexy chick”. Because that’s generally the absolute most classy and respectful thing you can say to a woman. So objective achieved David Guetta.

But I think the thing I “like” best about this is that his come-on to this girl he finds attractive appears, in essence, to be “you’re so attractive that you make me want to not be disrespectful to women”. How romantic! If for some reason this compliment didn’t lead straight to a marriage between David Guetta and said sexy chick, then one of you single ladies out there needs to snatch him up. Because he is quite the catch. And if you’re lucky he might even describe you in non-disrespectful terms. (Insert swoon)

23.) VH1 Storytellers – “Kanye West”
It couldn’t be a best of the year list without a mention of Kanye. My love and defense of all things Mr. West is well documented. In fact “Kanye” is the most frequently occurring tag word on this blog. So there is really nothing left to say that I haven’t already said better somewhere else. But if you want to see/hear Kanye at his inscrutable, controversial, fascinating, and brilliant best then get the DVD/CD of this show. It comes out this month.

24.) South Park - “Fishsticks”
As a counterpoint to my Kanye love, there’s this

I always feel like I should like South Park a lot more than I do. While I have the utmost respect and appreciation for what they do in theory, in practice most episodes of the show leave me wanting. But at least once a season they put it all together and make an episode that is just about as perfect a piece of television as there will ever be. This was season 13’s. When you can actually humble Kanye you know you’ve done something special. Long live the power of comedy!

25.) The politics of Avatar
Speaking of things I respect and appreciate but don’t exactly love…

I think Avatar is a tremendous achievement, and I’m glad to see a mega-blockbuster that’s also a singular vision and a true passion project for its director. It doesn’t feel overly test screened or focus grouped or dumbed down. And it’s a tremendous step forward for technology and viewing it made for a surprisingly refreshing return to old timey event movie going where you got tickets in advance, got to the theater early, waited in line to get in, bought snacks, the whole nine yards. But despite its legitimate and considerable merits, sci-fi/action just ain’t really my bag personally. But radical left-wing politics on the other hand are most definitely my bag. And having the “bad guys” in the movie say things like “shock and awe” and “fight them here so they don’t come fight us where we live” warmed the cockles of my heart. You can 3D your CGI all you want, but to me what feels truly revolutionary is the fact that kids when they are playing with their Avatar action figures will be trying to kill the US military. The fact that James Cameron is getting all of America to sit through a three hour takedown of Bush era policies and American imperialism is nothing short of remarkable. I don’t know how he is getting away with it, or really even why he wanted to, but I love it with all my gay-marriage-abortion-state-run-health-care loving heart. Hopefully Cameron’s politics will one day seem as commonplace as his technology will.

And lastly, because 2009 is also the last year of the decade I’ll say this - you want to talk about how far we’ve come this decade? Nine years after 9/11 the biggest movie of the year is one that sides with the terrorists. Who’d have thunk it?

Potential Best of 2010
-Lady Gaga at the Grammys
-Meryl Streep’s acceptance speech at the Golden Globes
-Toy Story 3
-US v. England in the World Cup (aka The Revolutionary War II)
-Greenberg