Okay, so as you all know I LOVE movies… and if you’ve been reading SchutzHappenes for the last year or so, you’ll know that I also follow the Oscars very closely. It’s a sport for me… or an addiction… which is maddening. But it’s my madness and I will own that.
Most years I wait until the Oscar Nominations are announced and then I watch as many movies on the list as possible before the big show… last year was only the second time I had successfully seen all the Best Picture nominations prior to the broadcast and since there were 10 last year, I didn’t have the chance to anything nominated in other categories… best foreign film, documentary, or even the best acting categories… which is always a bummer… for me.
Also, looking back over the last four years (since I put on the hat of father) my general movie consumption has become limited children’s movies (for Grayson), romantic comedies (for Serena), and my once a year Oscar Nomination marathon (which Serena merely tolerates as a loving wife)… what I’m trying to say is this: I no longer have a good base from which to judge the nominations. I can only compare the films actually nominated with other films that are nominated! I have no point of reference for the movies NOT nominated… left out… snubbed… and historically… some of my favorite movies and performances never made the Oscar Cut. Like one of my all time favorite movies, “You Can Count on Me” was snubbed for Best Picture! How did Jean Reno not get nominated for ‘Leon: The Professional’? And why are comedies like ‘Shan of the Dead’ and ‘The Hangover’ constantly left out of the mix? The fact that Damon Waynes was snubbed for one of the greatest comic performances of all time is a travesty.
What performance you ask? Well… I’m talking about ‘Major Payne’… of course!
Can you imagine? And let me tell you a secret about acting. It is a heck of a lot harder to be funny than it is to be dramatic. All actors are dramatic. But not all are funny.
Anyway… I’m going to step off my soap box now and focus on what’s important: Oscar eligible movies… which are really any movie released in the United States in 2010. Now… I’ve counted… and at the end of the year I’d seen 24 eligible movies. I know… that probably sounds like a lot. But I should tell you, I only saw 4 of those with my family around: ‘Toy Story 3’, ‘How to Train Your Dragon’, ‘Eat Pray Love’, and ‘Sex and the City 2’… the good news is that I enjoyed the movies I watched with Grayson.
Where did I see the rest? Would you believe I saw 12 of the 24 on airplanes last year? Seriously. 12 movies on airplanes: ‘Alice in Wonderland’, ‘Date Night’, ‘Percy Jackson & The Olympians’, ‘Dinner with Schmucks’, ‘Shutter Island’, ‘The Last Airbender’, ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’, ‘The Other Guys’, ‘Valentine’s Day’, ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’, ‘Get Him to the Greek’, and ‘Nowhere Boy’.
As for the other 8? Well, I watched them during my down time in Pakistan: ‘Hot Tube Time Machine’, ‘Iron Man 2’, ‘Kick-Ass’, ‘Prince of Persia’, ‘Robin Hood’, ‘Salt’, ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’, and ‘’A-Team’.
So… why am I telling you all this? Well… because this is the Oscar Race and I only have 46 days left. The Oscars air on February 27th and I aim to see as many 2010 Oscar Eligible Movies as possible. My goal? 60 Movies. That’s right! 60! And I’m just over halfway there.
Since arriving back in Pakistan I have seen 7 more eligible movies: ‘Inception’, ‘The Social Network’, ‘4.3.2.1’, ‘The Town’, ‘True Grit’, ‘Animal Kingdom’, and ‘The Fighter’.
60 movies. Only 29 left to see in 46 days. I can do it? God only knows!
And what happens on Oscar Sunday?
SchutzHappens.
I’m going to enjoy the Oscars live (Monday morning my time) sipping coffee while posting live on facebook & twitter… and on the blog, I’ll post my Top 25 Movies of 2010 List!
Why 25? That sound pretty excessive doesn’t it? Well… I’m going to do 25 because everyone in the world does a top 10 list… and they almost always contain the same movies… most of them deserving… but almost always the same. So, I thought about doing a top ten list of Oscar snubbed movies… but then I thought it would be unfair to neglect nominated movies that from my list even if they were deserving… and at the same time it would be unfair to ONLY honor movies that happened to be nominated. So, I settled on 25 and only 25. No secondary lists for best performances or any other sub-category nonsense… simply the best all around 25 movies of the year.
I predict that my list will be much more diverse than most… and you might need to update your Netflix queue when I’m done!
BTW: I have added an additional page to my blog to track my progress. The link is just below the title.
Peace!
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