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In case the formatting looks familiar, yes, this list was stolen from Doug’s post. Thanks, Doug! It’s my birthday, so I don’t have a lot of time to go into detail, so here’s my simple chart:

Italics means I think it should win. Bold means I think it will win.

Underline means it wasn’t actually nominated but I think it should have been.

Strike through means it shouldn’t have even been nominated.

General disclaimer: I did NOT cream my pants over The Hurt Locker the way everyone else seems to be. It had good cinematography and sound, but that’s all that stood out for me.

Ready? Go.

Best Picture

The nominees are:

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

(500) Days of Summer

Away We Go

Best Director

The nominees are:

James Cameron, “Avatar”
Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”
Lee Daniels, “Precious”
Jason Reitman, “Up in the Air”

Marc Webb, (500) Days of Summer

Best Actor in a Leading Role

The nominees are:

Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney, “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth, “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman, “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “(500) Days of Summer”

Best Actress in a Leading Role

The nominees are:

Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren, “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan, “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious”
Meryl Streep, “Julie & Julia”

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

The nominees are:

Matt Damon, “Invictus”
Woody Harrelon, “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer, “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci, “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

The nominees are:

Penelope Cruz, “Nine”
Vera Farmiga, “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick, “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique, “Precious”

Best Adapted Screenplay

The nominees are:

“District 9”
“An Education”
“In the Loop”
“Precious”
“Up in the Air”

Best Original Screenplay

The nominees are:

“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“The Messenger”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”

Best Animated Feature Film

The nominees are:

“Coraline”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“The Princess and the Frog”
“The Secret of Kells”
“Up”

Ponyo

Best Film Editing

The nominees are:

“Avatar”
“District 9”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious”

Best Cinematography

The nominees are:

“Avatar”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
“The Hurt Locker”
“The White Ribbon”

Best Art Direction

The nominees are:

“Avatar”
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
“Nine”
“Sherlock Holmes”
“The Young Victoria”

Best Costume Design

The nominees are:

“Bright Star”
“Coco Before Chanel”
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
“Nine”
“The Young Victoria”

I haven’t seen any of these, and don’t really care.

Best Makeup

The nominees are:

“Il Divo”
“Star Trek”
“The Young Victoria”

Best Music: Original Score

The nominees are:

James Horner, “Avatar”
Alexandre Desplat, “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders, “The Hurt Locker”
Hans Zimmer, “Sherlock Holmes”
Michael Giacchino, “Up”

Best Music: Original Song

The nominees are:

“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36?
“Take it All” from “Nine”
“The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart”

Best Sound Editing

The nominees are:

“Avatar”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”
“Up”

Best Sound Mixing

The nominees are:

“Avatar”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

Best Visual Effects

The nominees are:

“Avatar”
“District 9”
“Star Trek”

Best Foreign Language Film

The nominees are:

“Ajami” (Israel)
“The Milk of Sorrow” (Peru)
“A Prophet” (France)
“The Secret in Their Eyes” (Argentina)
“The White Ribbon” (Germany)

Again, what? Let’s go with the country I would most like to visit.

Best Documentary Feature

The nominees are:

“Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country”
“The Cove”
“Food, Inc.”
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”
“Which Way Home”

This is solely based on what I’ve heard. I haven’t seen any of these.

Best Documentary Short

The nominees are:

“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province”
“The Last Campaign of Booth Gardener”
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant”
“Music by Prudence”
“Rabbit a la Berlin”

Huh? Uhh… longest title! Go!

Best Short Film: Live Action

The nominees are:

“The Door”
“Instead of Abracadabra”
“Kavi”
“Miracle Fish”
“The New Tenants”

And… shortest title! GO!!

Best Short Film: Animated

The nominees are:

“French Roast”
“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty”
“The Lady and the Reaper”
“Logorama”
“A Matter of Loaf and Death”

Which one sounds the most delicious?

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

Basic plot: Steve Martin and John Candy are trying to get back to Chicago in time for Thanksgiving.

Was it a little embarrassing that I had never seen this entire movie before yesterday? Yes. Now, after finally seeing it, I get to be appallingly embarrassed that it took me nearly 23 years to get around to this comedy gem. It’s one of Laura’s favorite movies of all time and now I know why.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles is one of those comedies that makes it a crying shame the genre doesn’t have it’s own awards ceremony because everything about the movie is an award winning recipe for laughs. John Candy won me over as Uncle Buck when I was ten in the same way Steve Martin did as the Father of the Bride. John Hughes was already the mastermind behind half of the greatest 80s films I had seen including The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and the 1990’s first two Home Alone movies will eternally stand among my favorite Christmas features.

The result of combining these three entities together is so funny that I almost felt awkward about how loudly I was laughing during certain scenes. Steve Martin is perfect as the family man that just wants to get home, and John Candy might be the best “oblivious, annoying guy” ever put to screen. Doing a full-out review for a movie I was one of the last people on earth to see seems unnecessary to say the least, so let’s do a Top 5 Scenes instead.

5. “You’re not a very tolerant person.”

Okay, so John Candy’s monologue at the end takes things to a more serious level, but the build-up to it is hysterical. Steve Martin has every right be angry and John Candy’s complete lack of logic makes things even better. “I even let you pay for the room so you wouldn’t feel like an intruder” is the line that sums up this entire relationship perfectly.

4. Owen

The absolute absurdity of this fourth string character kills me – from the faces and sounds he makes to the way he talks about his wife.

3. “You’re going the wrong way!”

This one is pretty self-explanatory. And brilliant.

2. “Those aren’t pillows.”

Thanks to Scene It, this is the only scene I had really watched prior to yesterday. It’s made me laugh out loud every time it’s popped up during that boardgame, and it made me laugh even more within the context of how much Steve’s character hates John’s.

1. The Car Rental scene

Now, in case you haven’t seen the movie in a while, this takes place after Steve’s character has been driven three miles to the rental car lot, dropped off, and left just before he discovers that the car he had been assigned is missing from its assigned parking space. After trudging back in the freezing cold, his reaction is exactly what anyone would at LEAST be thinking in his situation. It’s pretty much the only reason the movie is rated R, and it’s worth it.

Shutter Island (2010)

Basic plot: Two detectives investigate the disappearance of a patient at a major mental ward/prison for the dangerously psychotic.

I’ve been excited about Shutter Island ever since I first saw the trailer. Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the best actors working today, and Martin Scorsese is a highly acclaimed director for very good reason. Originally, the film was scheduled to be released last October, and I was blindly positive it was going to be a major runner for the Academy Awards based solely on its pedigree. Once it was pushed back to February 2010, completely taking it out of the Oscar race, I feared the worst and – still dying to see it – went to the theater with stifled expectations.

Because the film is advertised heavily as a horror movie, full of jumps scenes and shock value, it wasn’t until the hour and twenty minute mark that I finally realized it absolutely was not going to be. The movie has some intense elements and equally disturbing imagery, but at its core it’s still a dramatic thriller. There are no cheap stings; there are no “Isn’t this GROSS?” moments. Everything fits the story and never forgets the plot is what should be front and center. Still don’t go see the movie if you don’t do well with violence, as the film is far from devoid of it, but what violence does exist ONLY serves the story – which is fairly grim in itself.

DiCaprio is as awesome as ever in his role as the lead detective, and Mark Ruffalo plays second fiddle just as well. Ben Kingsley makes for the perfect villain as the unorthodox  psychiatrist and his back-up doctors provide just as much support as Ruffalo; as do the unknown actors playing the prison’s other patients. The closest thing to a weakness the acting has is Michelle Williams performance as the murdered wife in flashbacks and even her performance is perfectly satisfactory. The cinematography and set design might as well be considered supporting actors as well given how nicely they sell the events on screen.

Much of the film is honestly quite confusing as the line between who can and can’t be trusted is constantly blurred, and some of it might not make any sense at all until the last fifteen minutes, but when the movie pulls to a close it does so rather brilliantly. It’s the first movie I’ve seen in some time where I felt like I absolutely felt like I needed to see it a second time just because it seems like it would be a completely different experience knowing how everything turns out.

I wish it were about twenty minutes shorter so I could say I know I’ll have time to watch it more once I pick it up on DVD, but the two hour fifteen minute runtime puts it in the same categories as a dozen other movies I know I’ll end up grabbing off the shelf long before Shutter Island has a chance in the rare event I feel like I have time to rewatch a 140 minute movie (Pulp Fiction, Shawshank Redemption, and Scorsese’s own The Departed all come to mind as higher choices for that runtime).

It’s still an excellent movie, and the best so far of this year’s new releases but I doubt it will get any mention at all once 2010’s Oscar season roles back around. Highly recommended either way.

Up In the Air (2009)

Basic plot: A guy fires people for a living.

When I first heard the concept of Up in the Air, I was a little bit hesitant – bordering on disinterested. I love a good drama, but the thought of watching a movie about a guy that cuts people loose sounded a little too dark for my tastes – particularly given the current economy. Regardless, I knew I’d have to see it.

Director Jason Reitman has a great track record. First he gave us the dark comedy Thank You For Smoking and later had an even bigger taste of indie fame with the teen pregnancy flick Juno, which brought him his first Oscar nomination. Likewise, George Clooney has been in some pretty awesome movies, both serious and funny. It was easy to imagine their two styles meshing quite well, but it turns out that was an understatement.

George Clooney delivers the dry humor flawlessly and the slightly more colorful characters that surround him provide an excellent contrast. Jason Bateman works great as Clooney’s boss and Anna Kendrick proved that being in Twilight doesn’t automatically make you a shitty actress as she stepped up to try her hardest to steal the spotlight. Vera Farmiga hit her second home run for me this year as Clooney’s leading lady. After The Departed, Orphan, and this she’s definitely becoming an actress to follow.

Despite all the great performances, the star of the movie is the script. The balance between comedy and drama found in Up In the Air is just about perfect. To my own surprise, they found some very humorous moments to wrap around various firings of random employees throughout the movie though it takes a somber turn nearly as often. The real beauty of the film is watching Clooney’s character grow throughout without ever getting too predictable.

From the beginning, he seems to be the only character with a grasp on how monumental of an effect his job has on other people. He’s perfected the art of firing people with a hint of heart albeit completely constructed out of lies and both the scripts fantastic dialogue and Clooney’s performance sell every aspect of this lifestyle I could only imagine without a second thought. Watching this contradictory, relationship hating, life-loving old man learn about what makes life truly worth loving is fantastic.

The style of the editing is slick and the cinematography is modern and to-the-point. Nothing ever gets too fancy or artsy as you’re constantly presented with all the information you need in a format just clean enough to keep you interested visually. The lead character’s life on the go has a fascinating monotony to it as it displays a man who holds himself about the rest of society for not being “tied down” to anything, when the reality is that his life is just as practiced and scheduled as those he considers himself better than.

Up In the Air is one of the best movies of 2009, and seeing how most of my favorite movies are getting completely shafted for Oscar buzz (Away We Go, 500 Days of Summer), I’m probably going to be rooting for Up in the Air once the Academy Awards role around as if it was the Baltimore Ravens at the Super Bowl. I loved it and I’ll definitely be picking up the DVD.

On the twelfth day of Christmas I fell asleep during…

Elf (2003)

Basic plot: Will Ferrell is an elf.

I didn’t start watching this until way late on Christmas day and ended up falling asleep. I hate leaving things unfinished, so I’m just going to post last year’s review and call it a wrap.

Christmasyness: 10

Buddy the elf probably loves Christmas more than all the Who’s in Whoville and Muppets combined. He knows all the rules of Christmas, what the North Pole is really like, and generally acts like a child in his regards to the holiday the entire time. He even wears his elf uniform for at least half the movie.

Comedy: 10

I’m a huge fan of Will Ferrell. I think Anchorman is one of the funniest movies of all time and the childishness of Step Brothers made me laugh til my sides hurt. Elf is considerably cleaner than the majority of his work, but it still has that goofy-beyond-believability, make-it-up-as-you-go feel to it that I love. I’ve only been watching it a time or two per year since it came out five years ago, but it still hasn’t worn out on me. I laugh out loud every single time. Will Ferrell’s performance makes this movie what it is. I don’t think anyone else could have pulled this off.

Cheese: 8

Most of the movie is cheese-free until the last fifteen minutes come along and beat you over the head with Christmas good-tidings. It’s almost too corny for my tastes and I feel like it’s really out of place in such a goofball comedy, but the rest of the movie is so hilarious that I’ll forgive it.

.

Overall: I love it.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my family watched with me…

Home Alone 2

Basic plot: The same as the first, only in New York.

Is it too late to wrap up this series? Maybe, but I don’t care. Christmas weekend (Thursday through Sunday) was busy as hell, so this is what you’re getting. Home Alone 2 is the exact same movie as Home Alone one only with different traps. Here’s my top four of scenes (four because I can’t find enough stuff on YouTube):

4. “You been smoochin’ with everybody!”

This is the only version I could find on YouTube, so it’ll have to do. It’s the exact same scene as the first movie, but add in a little Tim Curry to make it even more awesome.

3. “Get outta here you nosey little pervert of I’m gonna slap you silly!”

Why? Just because it’s fun to say.

2. “Harry, I’VE REACHED THE TOP!”

1. The Bricks

Here’s another “every time I watch it, I laugh out loud scene”. The whole scenario is unnecessary considering the bad guys want Kevin to throw down his camera so they can have the evidence even though the camera is a Polaroid and the fact that Marv never moves and should’ve died about 3 times cracks me up.

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love watched with me…

Home Alone (1990)

Basic plot: A kid is accidentally left at home when his family goes on holiday vacation.

Here’s last year’s full review: http://www.bullshish.com/blog/?p=436

It’s Christmas morning, and I’m just sitting around waiting for everyone else to wake up, so this is going to be brief. Home Alone is my top three Christmas movies ever. John Hughes is awesome. 20th Century Fox is a YouTube nazi. Here are my top five quotes, without video clips thanks to the yuletide murderer known as Fox.

5. “You’re such a disease!”

This one has mostly to do with tone. Siblings can be so mean.

4. “Look what ya did, ya little jerk!”

This one is sweetened by the fact that it’s coming from Kevin’s uncle of all people. Plus, the film gives you two different versions of it to throw into conversation as you see fit.

3. “I am upstairs, dummy.”

Every time I watch Home Alone this line makes me laugh out loud. If you don’t know which line I’m talking about, Kevin just ruined dinner so his mom takes him to the second floor and tells him to go upstairs (referring to the attic). This is Kevin’s response.

2. “Keep the change, you filthy animal.”

1. “I’m gonna give you to the count of ten to get your ugly, yellow, no-good keister off my property before I pump your guts full o’ lead. One, two, TEN!”

Are #2 and #1 cheating? Yes. But they can be used very different in the art of quoting films so I’m counting it.

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love watched with me…

A Christmas Story

Basic plot: Ralphie wants a BB Gun for Christmas.

Rewatching this back-to-back nights with Christmas Vacation, I may have to rethink my number one spot. Christmas Vacation has the advantage of longevity since I didn’t really start watching A Christmas Story til I was 15 or so, but A Christmas Story is absolutely flawless. I still think CV might have the bigger, more constant laughs, but CS has the advantage of perfectly capturing childhood. Ralphie’s daydreams are brilliant, and the nostalgic voice-over couldn’t be better written.

I don’t know that I’m remotely prepared to fully hand over the Christmas crown (as my cousin Kaye has), but I have no problem putting the two classics on the same level. Here are my top five moments:

5. The Bunny Suit

The Bunny Suit is a beautiful representation of every crappy Christmas present any kid ever got, and his mother’s ignorance cracks me up.

4. “You used up all the glue ON PURPOSE!”

The story of the Leg Lamp in itself is one of the best side stories of the movie, and this scene was the ultimate ending.

3. Santa Claus

Santa Claus is just as easy to make horrifying as he is to make jolly and the ending where Santa tells Ralphie he’ll shoot his eye out and kicks Ralphie in the face is the icing on the cake.

2. Tounge + Frost = AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!

This scene is the perfect sample of what this movie is all about. There’s snow for Christmas, a bunch of kids being kids, and the fantastic voice-over explaining childhood politics.

1. Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra

Slightly racist? Maybe, but the L-less Chinese accent is still one of my all time accents. Every single time I watch this scene I laugh out loud, just because the happy trio of singers couldn’t have picked a worse Christmas jingle to try to sing.

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love watched with me…

Christian Vacation (1989)

Basic plot: The Griswolds celebrate Christmas.

Christmas Vacation is my #1 favorite Christmas movie of all time. You might be asking why I didn’t save the best for last if that’s the case, but to my surprise Laura had never seen it before and I’m leaving town on Christmas Eve, so we were only going to get a few chances.

The Griswolds might very well be the most dysfunctional family ever put to screen. Clark is the dad that needs everything to be epic, Ellen is the mother that puts up with her husband’s insanity out of love, and the two kids – one boy and one girl – round out the All-American family. Where the other Vacation films seem pretty fit to just leave everything to the family and their surroundings, Christmas Vacation stands out for bringing in extended family from the second cousins to the great grandparents.

I’ve seen this movie at least once every single Christmas for nearly my entire life, and every year it makes me laugh out loud. The movie is too funny for me to organize a list of favorite scenes, so here are a few clips I could find most easily on YouTube. If you haven’t seen the movie, see it as soon as possible. If you have seen the movie, here’s some nostalgia for you:

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love watched with me…

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (1970)

Basic plot: The origin story of Santa Claus.

When we finally got back from a day-long trip to Raleigh after waking up at 6AM, we didn’t quite have it in us to watch a feature film, so we defaulted to yet another television special from The Original Christmas Classics box set (highly recommended). This time around it was actually one I had never seen before.

Overall, I would honestly have to say this is the best Christmas TV special of the bunch when it comes to both creativity and keeping my interest. While I personally refuse to believe Santa Claus was a red-head, the overall story and the way that all the individual Santa Claus myths are covered is really amusing. Why does he have a beard? Why does he go down the chimney? Where does the name Kris Kringle come from? All of these and more are answered with mediocre stop-motion animation in a way that keeps things just interesting enough.

There are a few scenes where Santa comes off a LITTLE creepy (one of the songs is about how the only cost for a toy is a kiss?), but maybe that was way more acceptable back in 1970. Either way, this is still a great Christmas special to watch this time of year.