Day 929: Top 25 Movies of 2001

In alphabetical order (also, if you are reading via RSS feeds, I have the trailers embedded in the original post):

A Beautiful Mind is a 2001 American film based on the life of John Forbes Nash, Jr., a Nobel Laureate in Economics. The film was directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman. It was inspired by a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-nominated 1998 book of the same name by Sylvia Nasar. The film stars Russell Crowe, along with Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany.

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A Knight's Tale is a 2001 American action-adventure film directed, produced, and written by Brian Helgeland. The film stars Heath Ledger, Shannyn Sossamon, Mark Addy, Alan Tudyk, Rufus Sewell, Paul Bettany as Geoffrey Chaucer, and James Purefoy as Sir Thomas Colville/Edward, the Black Prince. The film follows the story of William Thatcher, a peasant masquerading as a knight, along with his companions in the world of medieval jousting.

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AI: Artificial Intelligence is a 2001 science fiction film directed, produced and co-written by Steven Spielberg. Based on Brian Aldiss' short story "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long", the film stars Haley Joel Osment, Frances O'Connor, Jude Law, Sam Robards, Jake Thomas and William Hurt. Set sometime in the future, A.I. tells the story of David, a child-like android uniquely programmed with the ability to love.

Performance Spotlight: Jude Law as Gigolo Joe

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Amelie is a 2001 romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Its original French title is Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain meaning "The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain". Written by Jeunet with Guillaume Laurant, the film is a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre. It tells the story of a shy waitress, played by Audrey Tautou, who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better, while struggling with her own isolation.

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Bandits is a 2001 American crime-comedy drama film directed by Barry Levinson. It stars Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett. Filming began in October 2000 and ended in February 2001. It helped Thornton earn a National Board of Review Best Actor Award for 2001. Thornton and Blanchett were nominated for Supporting Actor and Actress Golden Globes for their performances in this film.

Performance Spotlight: Cate Blanchett as Kate Wheeler

Trailer Link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6L8EiVf39w

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Black Hawk Down is a 2001 American war film co-produced and directed by Ridley Scott and based on the book of the same title by Mark Bowden that depicts the Battle of Mogadishu, a raid integral to the United States' effort to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.

Film Note: This film co-stars Sam Sheppard, who is also a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and one of my favorite!

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Dogtown and Z-Boys is a 2001 documentary film directed by Stacy Peralta. Using a mix of film the Zephyr skateboard team shot in the 1970s by Craig Stecyk and more recent interviews, the documentary tells the story of a group of teenage surfer/skateboarders and their influence on the history of skateboarding (and to a lesser extent surfing) culture. The film is narrated by Sean Penn.

Film Note: This is hands downs one of the most interesting documentaries I’ve ever seen… and I was never a ‘skater’… and I’ve never owned a skateboard. 

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Donnie Darko is a 2001 American Surrealist thriller film directed and written by Richard Kelly and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Noah Wyle, Jena Malone, and Mary McDonnell. The film depicts the reality-bending adventures of the title character as he seeks the meaning and significance behind his troubling Doomsday-related visions.

Film Note: This is the movie that put both Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal on the map.

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Gosford Park is a 2001 mystery comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates and Michael Gambon. The story follows a party of wealthy Britons and an American and their servants, who gather for a shooting weekend at the English country house, Gosford Park. A murder occurs after a dinner party and the film goes on to present the subsequent investigation into it from both the servants' and the guests' perspectives.

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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is a 2001 fantasy-adventure film directed by Chris Columbus and based on the novel by J. K. Rowling. The film was the first of the Harry Potter film series. It was written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman. The story follows Harry Potter, a boy who discovers on his eleventh birthday that he is a wizard, and is sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to begin his magical education. 

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In the Bedroom is a 2001 American film directed by Todd Field, and dedicated to Andre Dubus, whose short story Killings is the source material on which the screenplay, by Field and Robert Festinger, is based. The film stars Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei and William Mapother.

Performance Spotlight: Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek

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K-Pax is a 2001 American science fiction film directed by Iain Softley and starring Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Mary McCormack and Alfre Woodard. The screenplay, written by Gene Brewer and Charles Leavitt, is based on a novel of the same name by Brewer about a psychiatric patient who claims to be an alien from the planet K-PAX. During his treatment, the patient demonstrates an outlook on life that ultimately proves inspirational for his fellow patients and especially for his psychiatrist.

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Made is a 2001 film written and directed by Jon Favreau. It stars Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Peter Falk, and Sean Combs.

Trailer Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5gcx1Zf0-M

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Monster's Ball is a 2001 romantic drama film directed by Marc Forster, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, and Heath Ledger, and written by Milo Addica and Will Rokos. It was produced by Lionsgate and Lee Daniels Entertainment. The title comes from the custom in medieval England of calling prisoners awaiting execution "monsters". The night before their execution, their jailers would hold a feast known as a monster's ball as their farewell. Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Leticia Musgrove.

Performance Spotlight: The Entire Cast, for an emotional drama, this is one of the best all around cast performances I have ever seen.

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Monsters, Inc. is a 2001 American computer-animated film and the fourth feature-length film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It was directed by Pete Docter, co-directed by Lee Unkrich and David Silverman, and written by Jill Culton, Peter Docter, Ralph Eggleston, Dan Gerson, Jeff Pidgeon, Rhett Reese, Jonathan Roberts, and Andrew Stanton.^[2] The starring voices are John Goodman and Billy Crystal as monsters who scare children for a living, Mary Gibbs as a little girl who enters the monster world, Steve Buscemi as a rival monster, and James Coburn as a monster businessman.

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Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 romantic musical film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. Following the Red Curtain Cinema principles, the film is based on the Orphean myth and on Giuseppe Verdi's opera, La Traviata. It tells the story of a young, English poet/writer, Christian, who falls in love with the terminally-ill star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and courtesan Satine. It uses the musical setting of the Montmartre Quarter of Paris, France. The film was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Nicole Kidman, and won two: for art direction and costume design. It was the first musical nominated for best picture in 22 years. It was filmed at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia.

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Ocean's Eleven is a 2001 comedy-crime caper and remake of the 1960 Rat Pack caper film of the same name. The 2001 film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and features an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Andy García, and Julia Roberts. The film was a success at the box office and with critics. Soderbergh directed two sequels, Ocean's Twelve in 2004 and Ocean's Thirteen in 2007. George Clooney stated in November 2007 that there will not be any additional sequels.

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Rat Race is a 2001 ensemble cast comedy film directed by Jerry Zucker. The film stars many comedians, including and starring Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Jon Lovitz, Lanei Chapman, Seth Green, Kathy Najimy, Dave Thomas, Vince Vieluf, John Cleese, Breckin Meyer, Kathy Bates, Wayne Knight, Dean Cain and Amy Smart. The story is about six teams of people given a task of racing 563 miles (918 km) from a Las Vegas casino to a train station in Silver City, New Mexico, where a storage locker contains two million dollars. The first team to reach the locker wins and gets to keep the money.

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Saving Silverman is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan. It stars Jason Biggs, Steve Zahn, Jack Black and Amanda Peet. Neil Diamond has a cameo role playing himself. In the film, Darren Silverman's longtime friends try to save him from marrying his lovely but controlling new girlfriend, whose behavior threatens the friends, their band, and Darren's chance at happiness with his lifelong true love.

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Scotland, PA is a 2001 film directed and written by Billy Morrissette based on William Shakespeare's Macbeth. The film stars James LeGros, Maura Tierney and Christopher Walken. Shakespeare's tragedy, originally set in Dunsinane Castle in 11th Century Scotland, is reworked as a dark comedy set in 1975, based around "Duncan's Cafe", a fast-food restaurant in the small town of Scotland, Pennsylvania in Greene Township, Pennsylvania. The choice of Pennsylvania was arbitrary, though coincides with a real town, southwest of Harrisburg, on the outskirts of Chambersburg.

Performance Spotlight: Maura Tierney (ER, Ed, Boston Legal, and Modern Family) as Lady MacBeth.

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Series 7: The Contenders is a 2001 film directed by Daniel Minahan. The movie is presented as a marathon of the seventh series of an American reality television show called The Contenders, where six people, picked at random from a national lottery, are each given a gun and forced to hunt and kill each other for the cameras. The film is a dark satire of the reality television genre. It stars Brooke Smith (Grey’s Anatomy) as Dawn, the reigning champion from the sixth series. It shares similarities with cult Japanese film, Battle Royale, 1986 Schwarzenegger vehicle The Running Man, and several other films.

Film Note: I’ll go on a limb and say that most of you haven’t seen this movie.  Now, the thing you need to know that the trailer doesn’t explain is the movie is set in a world suffering from extreme population control issues and governments throughout the world are sanctioning modern day gladiatorial style entertainment as a way to thin the population and make money. It is extremely morbid, however… it is very well made and an interesting commentary on reality TV, also, there is a bit of a ‘Logan’s Run’ theme throughout the film.  

Trailer Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEI5ccR6JtA

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Super Troopers  is a 2001 crime-comedy film directed by Jay Chandrasekhar, written by and starring the Broken Lizard comedy group (Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske). Marisa Coughlan, Daniel von Bargen and Brian Cox co-star while Lynda Carter has a cameo appearance. In total, Fox Searchlight paid $3.25 million for distribution rights of the film and grossed $23.1 million at the box office.

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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a 2001 fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson based on the first volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955). Set in Middle-earth, the story tells of the Dark Lord Sauron, who is seeking the One Ring. The Ring has found its way to the young hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood). The fate of Middle-earth hangs in the balance as Frodo and eight companions form the Fellowship of the Ring, and begin their journey to Mount Doom in the land of Mordor, the only place where the Ring can be destroyed.

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The Royal Tenenbaums is a 2001 American comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson and co-written with screen writer and actor Owen Wilson. It follows the lives of three gifted siblings who experience great success in youth, and even greater disappointment and failure after their eccentric father leaves them in their adolescent years. An ironic and absurdist sense of humor pervades the film.

Film Note: The Royal Tenebaums is quirky, but contains some amazing performances and delivers a phenomenal ensemble.  This is one of my all time favorite movies.

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Wet Hot American Summer is a 2001 comedy cult film directed by David Wain. The film is about the last day of a Jewish summer camp in 1981. It stars Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Michael Showalter, Marguerite Moreau, Paul Rudd, Molly Shannon, Christopher Meloni, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Ian Black, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Zak Orth, A.D. Miles, and members of MTV's sketch comedy group The State. It was written by Wain and Showalter.

Day 928: Caffeine Addition Awareness Month

Well… if you are anything like me a little nip of caffeine is a must when starting your day.  But it’s certainly not an addition… I have it totally under control.  Trust me… there’s nothing to worry about.  I think this video perfectly articulates just how under control I have my caffeine habit:

Okay… I have a problem… I am ashamed.

Day 927: The Method to My Movie Madness

As I warned yesterday… if you’re not into my relentless addiction to movies you might want to come back in March… but if you’re a crazed movie buff like myself I suggest you get your Netflix queues ready, because we’re about to bust things up.

On the heels of my Decade in Review (or Reflection), coupled with the start of my Oscar Countdown I’ve become inspired.   I thought it would be really fun to continue my look back on the last decade in terms of Movies… my favorite movies. 

As I promised in an earlier post, on February 27^th, Oscar Sunday, I will be posting a list of my top 25 movies of 2010… And, as a countdown to Oscar Sunday and my 2010 list, I’m going to post my favorite 25 movies of each year, starting with 2001.  And when it’s all said and done, I might even post my top 25 for the whole decade!

Being the movie geek that I am, I’ve always wanted to collect a list of my favorite movies… but I never have.  So, why not now?  However, I want to be very careful in how I generate my lists.

I do not want to create a list based on critical acclaim… or based on other people’s top ten lists… or what movies actually won awards.  I call those ‘show off lists.’  “Look at me, look how deep and knowledgeable I am about movies.”  No, I want to generate lists that actually honor the movies I actually like to watch… that I would want to own… watch multiple times… and someday share with my kids.

That said, I will warn you.  I have a very eclectic taste… while I have a very special place in my heart for screwball comedies like ‘Major Payne,’ I also adore movies like ‘Ordinary People’ and I can watch both over and over again.  So, I’m not going to say that critically acclaimed, Oscar winning movies that appear on every top ten list are not going to appear on mine.  They are.  It is very likely to happen.  However, my lists are just as likely to contain movies that you haven’t heard of before… or movies that surprise you… that make you ask, “You thought that was good?”

It’s going to be an adventure.  At least I’m excited.

So… what now?  How does a person set out to ‘scientifically’ measure the 25 movies he/she would most like to watch from a given year?  Well… it took me a while, but I developed a method to my movie madness based on something I saw in the movie ‘The Social Network’, but instead of measuring the hotness of girls attending Harvard, I am measuring the movies I would prefer to watch.

First, I compiled a list of all the movies I had seen in 2001.  Believe it or not… there were around 165 title of the list.

Second, I created a system that randomly paired the movies against each other, similar to ‘The Social Network’, and I simply select the one I would most like to watch.  Also, to safe guard Top 25 worthy movies from being eliminated too early, I’ve instituted a few rules:

1.  Each round consists of three random pairing cycles.

2. When a movie is selected it will graduate to the next round and will no longer appear in the remaining pairing cycles of the current round.  Pairing cycles will always consist of unselected movies.

3. During cycles containing an odd number of movies, the unpaired movie will automatically graduate to the next round.

4. Movies not selected during any of the pairing cycles of a given round will be eliminated (roughly 12.5% will be eliminated each round).

5. At the start of each round, all movies will start on equal footing regardless of how many times they hadn’t been selected in previous rounds.

And eventually, after 10 or 15 rounds, depending on the number of movies I start with, I’ll end up with a list of the 25 movies I would most like to own/watch/share.

Yeah… I’m a total geek.  But I’m cool with that.

Hold onto your potatoes… the lists start in two days (February 4^th)!

Day 926: The Oscar Nominates… First Impressions

Woohoo!!!  The Oscar Nominations are out and my movie binge has paid off.  I’ve already seen 9 of the 10 Best Picture nominations; and half of the feature length movies receiving nominations in any category (including Foreign and Documentaries). 

This is one of the best starts I’ve ever had going into the Oscar Countdown (the days between the nominations and the actual awards).

Best Picture

So far my personal favorites in the best picture category are ‘127 Hours’, ‘The Social Network’, and ‘Inception’.  However, ‘Toy Story 3’ and ‘The King’s Speech’ have a lot going for them.  ‘Toy Story 3’ which was a fantastic end to the series, is going into the Oscars as the highest grossing movie of the year which could give it an edge; while ‘The King’s Speech’ has received 12 total nominations, more than any other movie.  I should also note that ‘The King’s Speech’ is the only one of the 10 I haven’t seen… and I am REALLY looking forward to it.

For the most part, the 10 nominations are pretty solid.  ‘The Fighter’ and ‘The Kids are All Right’ are both great movies with amazing ensemble performances.  And I was delighted to see ‘Winter’s Bone’ on the list.  ‘Winter’s Bone’ is told very simply and is extremely compelling… and the performances, especially those from its younger cast members, are pretty darn amazing.

The nomination for ‘Black Swan’ was expected, but I will say that I didn’t think the movie, from a story stand point, was very good… I think it was very predictable.  However, the cinematography was outstanding… and Natalie Portman was at her best.

The only movie that I have an issue with is ‘True Grit’.  I just don’t think it was all that great.  And listen… I LOVE the Coen Brothers, but I question the inclusion of ‘True Grit’.  Now, I’m not saying ‘True Grit’ is horrible, it wasn’t bad… but it’s not on the same level as previously nominated Coen Brothers films like ‘Fargo’, ‘Barton Fink’, O Brother Where Art Thou?’ or ‘No Country for Old Men’… and on heels of last year’s Best Picture nomination for ‘A Serious Man’, my least favorite movie of 2009, I can’t help but think the Coen Brothers have reached a place in their career where they can take a poo on film and get nominated.  Harsh?  Probably.

SCHUTZHAPPENS PICK:  ‘127 Hours’

LIKELY WINNER: ‘The Social Network’ or ‘The King’s Speech’

Actor in a Leading Role

I guess it goes without saying Jeff Bridges isn’t my top choice here.  I adore Jeff as an actor and a person… but… you know.  You can’t have everything.

In addition, I haven’t seen ‘Biutiful’ or ‘The King’s Speech… however, I’ve NEVER been disappointed by a Javier Bardem or Colin Firth performance.  Heck, Javier made ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ tolerable… a little tolerable.

The big surprises for me this year were Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) and James Franco (127 Hours).  Let me rephrase… it’s not a surprise that they received nominations for their performances… I’m just surprised at how dang great they were.

‘The Social Network’ was the fifth Jesse Eisenberg film I’ve seen… and you know?  He never made it onto my radar until last year’s ‘Zombieland’, (which is a great movie, by the way).  He’s always been a solid performer… but at six years my junior… he’s always seems so darn young to me.

James Franco, on the other hand, is the biggest surprise of them all.  Although I’ve know of James Franco since 1999, when he was on the short lived, Emmy winning, star making juggernaut, TV show ‘Freaks and Geeks’ [also staring Seth Rogen (Knocked Up), Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother), Linda Cardellini (ER), Samm Levine (Inglorious Bastards), Martin Starr (Party Down), Busy Phillips (Cougar Town)], I’ve never been a huge James Franco fan.  Plus, ‘127 Hours’ is based on a true story that I already knew, about a guy stuck in a cavern by himself.   So, going into ‘127 Hours’ I wasn’t very excited… it was a story I already knew starting an actor I didn’t particularly care for… and well… you can never judge a book by its cover.  Despite all my misgivings, ‘127 Hours’ was my personal pick for Best Picture and James Franco… well…

SCHUTZHAPPENS PICK: James Franco, ‘127 Hours’

LIKELY WINNER: Colin Firth, ‘The King’s Speech’

Actress in a Leading Role

I still need to see ‘Blue Valentine’ and ‘Rabbit Hole’ so, at this point, I can’t comment on Nicole Kidman or Michelle Williams.  Both are wonderful actresses so I am expecting solid performances… however, I don’t think either of them will win.

Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right) was as great as she was in ‘American Beauty’ and even though she won the Golden Globe I think an Oscar win on February 27^th is unlikely.  Plus, I actually liked Julian Moore’s performance in this film more… and she’s not nominated at all.

I love that Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) received a nomination.  She has no chance of winning but at 20 years old, she’s a new face that we’re going to see a lot of and her inclusion on the nomination list is 100% merited.

Okay… so let’s cut through the BS.  This is Natalie Portman’s year.  Although I didn’t particularly like ‘Black Swan’, I liken Natalie’s performance to Jamie Foxx in ‘Ray’.  As horrible as I thought ‘Ray’ was as a complete thought, nothing could take away from the sheer brilliance of Jamie Foxx’s performance.  Now, I’m not saying ‘Black Swan’ was horrible… it just wasn’t… you know… oh it doesn’t matter:

SCHUTZHAPPENS PICK: Natalie Portman, ‘Black Swan’

LIKELY WINNER: Natalie Portman, ‘Black Swan’

Actor in a Supporting Role

I’ve seen four out of five performances in this category.  I could change my mind after seeing Geoffrey Rush in ‘The King’s Speech’, however he didn’t win the Golden Globe… and as much as I like Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right), Jeremy Renner (The Town), and John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone)... I’m pulling for Christian Bale (The Fighter) all the way… and I’m pretty sure he’ll get it.  And if you are familiar with the diversity of Christian’s career you’ll understand what I’m talking about:

SCHUTZHAPPENS PICK: Christian Bale, ‘The Fighter’

LIKELY WINNER: Christian Bale, ‘The Fighter’

Actress in a Supporting Role

Melissa Leo, ‘The Fighter’, has this in the bag and I couldn’t be happier.  If you every used to watch NBC’s ‘Homicide: Life of the Street’ you might remember Melissa as the necktie wearing, slightly mannish, token female detective.  Well, when the show ended in 1999, it would have been easy to forget about Melissa… and I did… until 2008 she made a small independent movie with a whole lot of buzz called ‘Frozen River’ for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.  Then she moved over to HBO staring in the wonderful series about post-Katrina New Orleans called ‘Treme’, and now… she is almost unrecognizable as Christian Bale and Mark Walberg’s mother in ‘The Fighter’.  Tremendous. 

Why am I so sure she will win?  Well… Melissa Leo is as talented as Meryl Streep… and it’s not a secret anymore.  We’re going to see a lot of her in the future.

Beyond Leo, Amy Adams was also VERY good in ‘The Fighter’ and I am sure Helena Bonham Carter is excellent in ‘The King’s Speech’… and well… I not really sure why Hailee Steinfeld is nominated for ‘True Grit’… it seems strange to have her in the mix when Julian Moore was left out. 

And before I close this section, I need to recognize the fifth nominee, Jacki Weaver, who is nominated for ‘Animal Kingdom’.  If ‘The Fighter’ didn’t exist, Jacki would be my pick.  Like Melissa, Jacki plays a mother who would do anything for her boys… except instead of raising boxers; Jacki raises drug dealers and murderers.  There is a bone chilling scene where you get to see the sociopath inside a loving mother when she orders a hit on a witness in an attempt to get one of her kids off… brilliant.  

SCHUTZHAPPENS PICK: Melissa Leo, ‘The Fighter’

LIKELY WINNER: Melissa Leo, ‘The Fighter’

Directing

With the field including Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), David O. Russell (The Fighter), Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech), David Fincher (The Social Network), and the Coen Brothers (True Grit)… someone needs to explain to me why Chris Nolan AND Danny Boyle weren’t nominated in this category.

Chris Nolan directed ‘Inception’ which was pretty brilliant.  He weaved 3 or 4 simultaneous stories together flawlessly.  And Danny Boyle directed ‘127 Hours’… a movie where James Franco appeared on screen alone for over an hour giving Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis a lesson on how to rock the one man show.

I mean… come on!  I thought the omission of Julian Moore was a bit strange… but Chris Nolan and Danny Boyle?  It’s just strange.

SCHUTZHAPPENS PICK: Chris Nolan AND Danny Boyle as write in candidates.

LIKELY WINNER: David Fincher, ‘The Social Network’… with Nolan and Boyle out of the mix why not give it to the guy who made a movie about Facebook interesting.

Documentary Feature:  ‘Exit through the Gift Shop’… it’s actually the only one in this category I’ve seen (so far)… but its great!  It’s a wonderful documentary.

Foreign Language Film:  I haven’t seen any of these yet… but due to Javier’s nomination for Best Actor, ‘Biutiful’ has a HUGE advantage.

Adapted Screenplay:  I secretly hope ‘Toy Story 3’ wins… but I’m pretty sure Aaron Sorkin will win for ‘The Social Network’

Original Screen Play:  Wow… this is a tough category this year.   It’s anyone’s ballgame… but if I was forced to gamble… I would go with ‘The Kids Are All Right’… the subject matter is pretty Hollywood friendly.

Animated Future Film: ‘Toy Story 3’… although ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ was REALLY good.

Art Direction: ‘Inception’

Cinematography: ‘Black Swan’

Costumes: ‘Alice in Wonderland’

Film Editing: ‘127 Hours’

Makeup:  I can’t weigh in on this one yet, I’m 0 for 3 in this category.

Original Score: ‘The Social Network’

Original Song: Tossup between ‘Toy Story 3’ and ‘Country Strong’

Sound Editing: ‘Inception’

Sound Mixing: ‘Inception’… indecently, ‘Salt’ is also nominated in this category and it was a pretty fun movie.

Visual Effect: ‘Inception’

Well folks, those are my first impressions of the Oscar nominations… I still have 27 days of movie watching ahead of me before the Oscar telecast… so I’ll offer a briefer synopsis of my picks on February 26^th (the day before).

Also… I should probably warn you.  Oscar Countdown is a ‘religious’ time for me… so if you’re one of my readers who doesn’t enjoy my insane movie talk… you might want to take February off.  I‘ll miss you… but I thought I’d let you know.