Posts Tagged ‘Up’

Showest Serves Up Newsworthy-Lite Fare

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

LAS VEGAS — Exhibitor or journalist, one no longer attends ShoWest for its newsworthiness. Celebrity sightings are duly noted, as are the latest improvements in cookie-dough confections and sneak previews of tent-pole movies.

The absence of any real news went out with the administration of the late, ever-quotable Jack Valenti. When Valenti was ringleader of the MPAA circus, he would invite reporters to breakfast at on ungodly hour on the morning of the opening day, so they could fill their notebooks with data, statistics, dire warnings about over-spending and piracy, and praise for the ratings system he invented.

Those sessions no longer exist. All relative box-office data is released ahead of ShoWest, and the MPAA no longer reports costs related to the production and marketing of studio films. If there was one thing highly paid executives didn’t like about their former chief lobbyist in Washington, it was being admonished for their absurd budgets and lavish spending. It was especially unpleasant when Valenti borrowed from the Bible, Greek mythology and Shakespeare to make his points.

Even if all succeeding MPAA czars will be required to link world peace to the end of movie piracy, the days of rhetorical sturm und drang at ShoWest are long gone. In case anyone was keeping score at home, outgoing MPAA boss Dan Glickman announced that lots of people are making lots of money in Hollywood – thanks, in large part, to 3-D and foreigner revenues — even if 90 percent of its titles suck. And, copyright infringement continues to threaten our and every other democracy.

Amazingly, perhaps, after several years of pessimistic debate over the future of digital cinema and 3-D, there appears to be a shortage of screens capable of showing advanced 2-D and 3-D movies. The extraordinary success of Avatar and Alice in Wonderland provided merely the latest proof that 3-D is here to stay. It was only two years ago that the industry was stunned by the box-office success of Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert, and some observers feared it was a fluke occurrence. Now, 3-D movies are circling multiplexes like so many airplanes awaiting clearance to land in a storm.

With Avatar and Alice still selling Hefty bags full of popcorn for exhibitors – and 3-D hardware at a premium – the arrival of several major titles is reason for some concern. The imminent release of DreamWorks/Paramount’s How to Train Your Dragon and Warner Bros.’ re-formatted Clash of the Titans has prompted several studios to pressure exhibitors to clear – or retain – 3-D space for their titles. The penalty would be the withholding of 2-D versions of the same movies.With the release of such sure-fire titles as Toy Story 3, Shrek Forever After and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Parts I and II right around the corner, distributors are busy marking their territory.

While screen manufacturers, such as Harkness, pledged to ramp up production of 3-D-friendly screens, studios promised to continue making blockbuster movies. Nineteen 3-D movies are scheduled for release in 2010, alone. No one at ShoWest wanted to consider the downside, however. If, for example, the quality of such entertainment declined to the point where it ceased to be a lucrative diversion, the boom might quickly go bust.

Patrick Corcoran, spokesman for the National Association of Theatre Owners, voiced his concern that overexposure to 3-D format “might wear your audience out,” while the potential oversaturation of specialized screens in a market could cut into profits for competing exhibitors. Their ability to charge consumers extra for the privilege of watching movies in 3-D and large format could also be impacted.

Indeed, the biggest bummer all week came after Disney/Pixar announced it wouldn’t be able to preview Toy Story in 3-D. Anticipation had caused block-long lines to form outside the Paris and Bally’s Hotel theaters. It turned out, however, that the dispersal of 3-D glasses ahead of the screening was to facilitate the animated short, Night and Day. Undeniably fun to watch, Toy Story 3 lacked a certain je ne sais quoi in 2-D.

Ironically, the ShoWest schedule — apart from a sneak of Harry Potter and Technicolor’s product demonstration — was mostly devoid of 3-D presentations. In previous years, attendees had enjoyed full screenings and snippets of Up, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Battle for Terra, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Kung Fu Panda and Monsters vs. Aliens. If nothing else, these films assured exhibitors of the seriousness with which the major studios were taking 3-D.

With the proof of that commitment already in the pudding, this year’s selection of previews included Toy Story 3, in which the non-human characters must deal with Andy’s coming of age; Summit’s sumptuous romance, Letters to Juliet, with Amanda Seyfried and Vanessa Redgrave; the Sony crowd-pleaser, The Karate Kid, which contemporizes the 1984 hit by setting it completely in China and substituting Jackie Chan for Pat Morita; Lionsgate’s insanely frenetic, Kick Ass, a superhero epic that was as funny as it was hyper-violent; CBS Films’ second feature, the urban rom-com Back-Up Plan, in which Jennifer Lopez is unable to find the perfect mate and father to her children … until she becomes pregnant, natch; Warner Bros.’ star-studded showcase offered glimpses of Sex and the City 2, the 3-D Clash of the Titans, Todd Phillips’ Due Date,” with Robert Downey Jr. and Zack Galifianakis, and the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, an action-adventure that makes Pirates of the Caribbean look lethargic, by comparison. The Monday-night indie showcase, which last year, previewed The Hurt Locker, offered Focus’ The Kids Are Alright, an offbeat family dramedy, with Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo and Mia Wasikowska; Apparition’s Aussie thriller, The Square; Roadside Attractions darkly comic, The Joneses; Sony Classics’ Get Low, with Bill Murray, Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek; and Zipline’s go-karting doc, Racing Dreams.

(It’s worth remembering, perhaps, that Sandra Bullock’s commercial comeback can be traced to last year’s ShoWest preview of The Proposition, which exhibitors loved. Another future Oscar-winner, The Cove, was screened here in 2009.)

– Gary Dretzka
March 22, 2010

Up composer Michael Giacchino

Monday, March 1st, 2010

9 Days To Go, Going Dark

Friday, February 26th, 2010

It’s been quite a week. I started this week’s 20 Weeks column a few days ago. Back then, the story was about how the two frontrunners in the race are movies that I have been embedded with – for lack of a better term – from their first public screenings, so I will be happy whichever way it goes… and indeed, even in the case of many of the upset possibilities.

Yesterday, the column idea morphed into a bit of anger at the media for going buck wild, trying to start a fire here at the tail end of the voting period with very little real ammunition. And as has become the ugly standard in entertainment media, one weak story can start a firestorm of idiocy, as the “look at me” specialists feel a lack of attention requires further falsely-nuclear offerings to draw fear and page views.

Today, as Summit forced Nicolas Chartier into hiding, cancelling an interview I set up weeks ago which was delayed by Chartier’s trip to the Berlin Festival (where he first found money for The Hurt Locker), and sent out its various media manipulators to spin the minor story, the column became, for me, about a studio flexing its ability to control the allegedly truth-seeking media… at least for a weekend and a couple of days, as The Academy has graciously decided to stay out of the Chartier story and not make any ruling about his possible punishment until the day after polls close.

To recount… I went from writing about the most peaceful, civil, sane Oscar season in my decade-long career of closely covering these races to absolute and unrelenting rage about the ridiculous behavior of the media, Summit (standing alone in this particular misguided thinking because of the circumstance of whom they are in business with), and even The Academy, for reasons I will indicate forthwith.

Of course, time tends to lessen rage.

And so, after a breath, I will recount rather than throw bombs.

My first interest in Nic Chartier came from Mark Boal’s Oscar reaction press release in which he singled out Chartier for appreciation. And the truth is, in every conversation about the funding of the movie and in every interview, Boal has been clearly grateful to Chartier for being the one person/company that wanted to make this movie.

And once the movie was funded, this first-time producer, became a pain in the ass according to just about everyone involved. A volatile, demanding, sometime disruptive personality. After jumping into the project because he wanted to be in business with Kathryn Bigelow, her cut was too long, too slow, etc… which may have distracted, but was overruled by the fact that she had final cut. Thank God.

And Summit is no happier with the guy than Boal & Bigelow.

However… he did earn his place at the table by getting the money. And in a season that has been rather calm, setting Nic Chartier off by letting him get excluded from the Oscar nomination was seen as an extremely dangerous choice. Better to have him on the team, hopefully malleable, rather than to have him angry and ranting.

Still, when I made a request to shoot and interview with the guy after the nominations were announced three weeks ago, he was contacted, no one objected, and the date was set for his post-Berlin return to LA… the day of this writing… February 26.

And today… no dice.

Summit was not prepared to take a chance on Chartier making a bad situation worse.

However, at the same time, Pete Hammond, not exactly the hardest-edged journalist we know, was posting even more e-mail notes, this time ones sent to individuals, that allegedly infringed on Academy rules. So why no rush to plug up the leak… to mea cupla this to silence… to Hugh Grant it?

Well, this is where the clever publicists and the pliant media come in. One of the town’s early Nikki Whisperers, Paul Pflug, does corporate for Summit, and he pulled Nikki Finke out of his pocket, put her on his lap, and yanked her string. Yesterday, she claimed, “I’ll show how this is but the tip of the iceberg. I have a complete wrap-up on why this was the worst Oscar campaign season for media manipulation I can remember. And I’ll be naming names.”

Of course, she knows nothing and has no actual contact with the Oscar season, other than to threaten executives to give her gossip – or to trade not running nasty slander in payment for future gossip – late in the game after others have mined the news.

I would tell you more about Tom Sherak’s Academy president brief career as a Nikki Whisperer, but the only relevant thing in that is that The Academy, which ends up being represented from many different and not-necessarily synced angles, does not have clean hands in the gossip-ication of the season either.

Like I said before, this was not a nasty season. Not by comparison to any of the decade of seasons I have closely covered. And the most obvious “media manipulation” remains hers.

To wit, yesterday, Finke pooh-poohed the Chartier story. And today, she told the story that Summit told her to tell. “I do think, however, that the Los Angeles Times should have explained in its posting that there was no other mass mailing to Oscar voters by Chartier. It makes a difference. Because can you imagine if Hollywood’s private correspondence about the Oscar pics were monitored by the Academy Awards rules police?”

Uh… how does she know this is true? Answer: she doesn’t.

But more importantly, the very same “Academy Awards rules police” she mocked the day before for not having any fangs still had no fangs… only Summit was still scared to death that they might. As is obvious to anyone who has been paying attention, The Academy, for all the grandeur, pretty much let’s people do what people do – gossip, personal glad handing, cocktails – and only gets involved when public explosions happen.

Back at the LA Times, Pete Hammond was, indeed, posting the story about more e-mails. Why? Because the first non-story got so much attention.

And of course, there was the downright idiotic story yesterday that couldn’t come close to making up its mind whether The Hurt Locker was a documentary or abusive to soldiers because it made them seem too heroic. Are you kidding me?!?!

Of course, the Oscar Monkeys – which ST VanArsdale, who is about as interested in Oscar as Kevin Spacey is in Penthouse, has somehow joined the ranks of – turned this into some Harvey Weinstein conspiracy… which is a load of excrement of an epic size. This media obsession with Harvey and Oscar is the only obsession that grossly outweighs Harvey’s own obsession with Oscar.

Why was this stupid story – which has already been done elsewhere… months ago – done now? Because there was a Truman National Security Project screening of the film on Wednesday. Why were there a group of stories about Inglourious Basterds and A Serious Man and the relationship of those films to Jews done? Because Weinstein started pushing the Jewish angle by doing screenings and discussions for rabbis and Jewish groups. This is not brain surgery. People are looking for stories and stunts in which nominated films participate create stories.

And let’s be crystal clear now… an aging story about Tarantino buying the last revival house in Los Angeles is not negative campaigning. It’s positive campaigning. That piece – while perhaps a bad editorial choice by the LA Times – should not be put in the same sentence as the few truly negative (though minor) things going on this season.

Meanwhile, in a happily pale reflection of Nikki, Anne Thompson at IndieWIRE was offering the tale of 42 West with no facts … except for the word of 42 West. “Despite the whisper campaign against 42 West (which had done much to push Hurt Locker toward the winner’s circle), Chartier did indeed act alone.”

I ’m not saying that she’s wrong. I am saying that she doesn’t have any way at all of knowing the truth of the situation.

And 42 West as a victim! Wow. That’s a great story. Yeah, they get accused of being more mighty manipulators than they are. If it was 1963, someone would accuse them of killing Kennedy to turn the tide against Dr. Strangelove and back to My Fair Lady. But victim? As much as Avatar is a victim. One day of the fourth weekend of Avatar at the domestic box office alone outgrossed the entire worldwide theatrical life of The Hurt Locker. Let’s be real. Nic Chartier’s e-mails may have been obnoxious, but if Avatar’s Oscar story hasn’t been told well enough to win, getting caught in the Goliath tale for the last month is at fault, not “Crazy Nic” or “Hard Chargin’ Harv.”

Wrapping up … Chartier a problem… Summit scared of him dropping another shoe… 42 West not interested in being accused of being behind the e-mails… Bigelow & Boal feeling helpless and exposed even though they did nothing wrong at all.

For the media, desperation to find any story that anyone cares about this late in a rather boring season … overhype of the Chartier story followed by excessive willingness to swallow what they are told when pressed hard by the flacks… and at the same time, dragging the usual suspects in front of the firing squad with absolutely no proof of any kind. In other words, failure to use judgment going either direction.

And if you have read me more than once, you know that nothing pisses me off more than hypocrisy. I am no fan of bad behavior and I won ’t be an apologist for it, but real people with real reputations are being spotlighted and smeared in all of this… people who did nothing wrong… people who are doing business as usual… spending millions to manipulate this race, this year just as every year before, as the Academy looks the other way.

If some of us in the media want to get hard about the season, great. Do some serious reporting. There is plenty to expose. And someone may care. Of course, most will not, as in the end, The Academy is a Country Club with a theater instead of a gold course.

And oh, the irony that all this screaming is going on over some e-mails in pursuit of a little gold statue when the movie in the center of it is about real men who put their lives on the line to protect our nation daily.

And so … the pleasure of this week has turned to irritation… at publicists… and studios… at journalists… at myself for forgetting how petty all of these concerns really are.

I have, as I have all season, had the opportunity to spend time with some of the people who are nominated, but more important, have contributed mightily to the best work in commercial cinema this year. From Jon Landau, who very civilly discussed this Chartier mess from a hotel room in upstate New York, to composers Horner, Desplat, and Giacchino, to cinematographer Barry Ackroyd, to Robert Kenner, who made Food, Inc. And those are just the Oscar nominees from this week’s shoots. They are what’s important. Their work is what we are celebrating.

I am a lucky man.

Everyone associated with The Hurt Locker and Avatar and all the other nominees … lucky and talented people.

We in media have been partners with the savvy publicists and executives in the commoditizing of the awards season. And this doesn ’t often bring out the best in us… any of us.

In the end, wild card or not, I will not get the chance to hear Nic Chartier ’s perspective on putting together one of the great films of 2010. And that’s a shame too.

But in 10 days, all of this will be history. And most of us can go back to worrying about Robert Pattinson ’s sex life. Proud times.

February 26, 2010
– by David Poland

16 Days To Go, Backing Into The End Zone

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

It’s fourth down, 16 days to go, and even though one team is poised to score and put the game out of reach, they can’t just kick the field goal… they need to go for it. Because this year, the game seems to be about who has “the ball” last.

“The ball,” of course, is The Narrative of the Season.

What’s tricky is not so much figuring out what “your” film’s narrative is, but figuring out how to move it down the field. Too aggressive and you can make a mistake and give it up to the other team. Too passive and you can nickel & dime your way effectively only to find yourself stalled after making too many positive plays in a row.

There have been years, like when The Departed won, in which I really wasn’t sure what the answer was going to be. There were too many films with too many good answers and no clear choice to be made. I wasn’t stunned when The Departed won. It was my favorite in the group and I was amongst the first to note that the film was more than simply a Scorsese payback vehicle. I also looked at history and saw the rarity of a film as violent as this one winning. But it was, in a tight field, the favorite of the voters. But being favorite isn’t always the key to winning. In fact, it rarely is.

The narrative for The Hurt Locker is, “We’re the underdog… we will allow you to feel great about awarding the first female director ever… you like us, you really really like us… and there’s not a lick of CG in our masterful little film… the kind of film Hollywood should be making but forgets to… send a message that you want more quality films.”

Good story. And a great film with great work by director Bigelow and on down the line.

But the only reason this narrative works this year is because of the other great narrative…

“Over 2.5 BILLION dollars. We are the biggest f-ing film in history. We are leading the way to all the things that keep this town working. You want to raise ticket prices? People were willing to pay $3 premiums in a recession to watch our movie… at least 200 million people dug deeper into their pockets. You want to see how the future will work? Forget about the blue people and look at the ability to create a completely believable, living breathing photo real universe. We’re doing over $150m in China, folks… land of the illegal DVD… almost 4 times the previous record holder for an American film. International is where the money is… and we have the Godzilla of international grosses… $1.7 billion and counting…

And you heard about that budget? Not only wasn’t it the most expensive film ever, but by breaking through technologically, the film opens the door to films with smaller budgets and ambitions to use this technology at a price, much as CG has become standard in most studio movies, even if only to clean things up. (And yeah, Hurt Locker… that includes you!) When you look back at what film got Best Picture 20 years from now, what movie will be remembered most fondly… what film is a landmark? And you can thank us for the ratings that might save the Academy’s deal with ABC at something close to the current price, thanks.”

Of course, neither film can make their case for themselves or to paint their rival as a loser so plainly. And both films carry unspoken burdens. The Hurt Locker didn’t make as much as the disastrous Amelia in theaters. The Academy has a long history of not rewarding that kind of box office failure. And the story for Hurt Locker is no better overseas. On the other hand, there is a tendency to see Avatar as a kids movie, a cartoon, a mega-budget spectacle reaching out for the lowest common denominator.

Ironically, The Hurt Locker benefits from the mistake of including the then-unereleased film into the Independent Spirit Awards last year, eliminating the “win on Saturday (now Friday), lose on Sunday” thing as an issue. The only love Hurt Locker can still get is Oscar. And Avatar, ironically, benefits from some of the negative attention the media showered on it all fall, turning its quality into a surprise… a key narrative shifter.

And the other narratives?

Inglourious Basterds ramped up, seeing an opportunity, a few weeks ago. And pretty much overshot its wad. The problem being, there is no real narrative to sell. Tarantino doesn’t “have it coming.” The movie’s appeal to women is limited. It’s a well-liked movie, but it neither works as an underdog or as a game changer. It’s the latest example of the media being Harvey Weinstein’s pet.

No one is a better salesman than Mr Weinstein. And he’s been selling HARD. But he only wins when he has the right hand. And media needs to learn that when they play “Follow The Queen” with The King of Selling You What You Didnn’t Mean To Buy, the red card isn’t on the table, no matter what they want to believe they see.

The truth is, the effort went right past a surge into overhype and the clear scent of desperation. Count that one as over.

Up In The Air has a similar problem on the narrative, though not the desperation part. Paramount has handled the push about as well as could be expected. UITA wants to be “the film of the moment,” but it butts up against the two front runners on that count. Box office is solid, as it the passion for the film. But for all the attention, the discussion of the film has gone nearly silent, except for a highly possible screenplay win.

Another popular narrative of the moment is a false one, being perpetrated onto the race in a real way… the “how they count” spin. Yes, the methodology is odd and could have an effect on the outcome… but the odds are strongly against it. The ONLY scenario in which it is a game changer is if there is a film with massive 1-slot support and very little else above a 4-slot or 5-slot vote.

The answer is really simple, actually. If the film doesn’t have the support of 50% of The Academy in the top 3 slots, it was highly unlikely to win anyway. In fact, a straight “pick a winner” vote, with 10 nominees, is much more likely, in my opinion, to result in an upset than the system in place. 1000 votes or less probably wins the Oscar in that case. In a five-film vote, that border was probably around 1800 votes. And now, it demands a majority. That’s great. That said, it still favors the front-runners and makes an upset even less likely.

But don’t let me get in the way of the favorite upset narrative of the month, which is designed by those selling it less to grab votes than it is to loosen the hold on votes by those frontrunners. The only way it works is if it causes a couple of thousand voters to decide they should push Avatar and The Hurt Locker out of their Top 3 because they aren’t going to win anyway. Good luck with that. (“They” even have the adorably brain damaged Tom O’Neill writing about the race as though it is a 2 horse race… between Basterds and Locker. Oy.)

In my strongly held opinion, if a movie is going to push the frontrunners out, it’s not going to be Inglourious Basterds. It’s just not the kind of movie – as Shakespeare in Love was – that slides in by being easily likable. That would be The Blind Side, folks. And don’t look for that to happen either.

And then there are the unspoken narratives, like…

Lee Daniels, who is only the second black person ever nominated for Best Director and just one of three blacks ever nominated as the producer of a Best Film. Wouldn’t this be more historic than a first win by a female director? Statistically, yes. But you barely ever hear a word about it.

Meryl Streep continues her chase of Randy Newman for Oscar futility as a nominee. She could lose her 14th this year… still 4 behind Newman if he loses twice this year. However, she is closer to Newman’s record for missed opportunities, as he competed against himself in the same category twice, meaning he could only have won 16 more Oscars than he has on his shelf. With a loss this season, she is only one behind and could go for the tie next year! (Meanwhile, the two are amongst the true and deserved legends of the industry.)

None of the Score nominees has not been nominated at least twice before… and of 23 nominations for these five nominees (for the record, Buck Sanders is a first-timer, teamed with multiple nominee Marco Beltrami), there have only been 2 wins, each over a decade ago. So Beltrami, Desplat or Giacchino would be winning their first and Horner (Titanic) and Zimmer (The Lion King) are so far removed from their last win that they are virtual virgins. Not only that, but the two previous winners won when the score award was split into comedy/musical and drama, so this would be their first win against tighter competition.

One thing is for sure… everyone loves a great story. Right now, we’re just waiting on that third act twist. But it’s unlikely that we’ll see much of a twist. The die is cast. Cameron is working on appearing modest in public… as he is much more modest and gentle in private than people think. The Hurt Locker is gently flashing its ongoing parade of bling. And Harvey is working on the story that Hitler and the Bear Jew are as charming and fresh as a young, sexy Shakespeare and young Gwynnie Paltrow being unwrapped like a sexy tamale.

In the days to come, voters will pick their poison… big, little, kinky… this is when we start to remember that the Academy is, after all the shouting, about the quality middle. It’s a game that is almost always won on a safety.

– by David Poland
February 18, 2010

23 Days To Go Sit Back, Relax, Enjoy Being The Show

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

And so, with 23 days to go, here we sit. Once again, frontrunners emerge with such force that everyone – except Paramount – is laying down and letting it happen to their movies.

Not the least of this are Fox and Summit, who really care… but are just not that interested in spending money on this Best Picture fight… at least, not much money.

And that’s okay.

Warner Bros is now supporting Sandra “Sandy” Bullock’s campaign in earnest… which mostly means paying for her travel, parties, and hair. They weren’t so interested in doing so before she became the co-frontrunner in the Best Actress category. How much of it Alcon is paying for is unknown by this chronicler of Oscar.

Sony has the Statue of Liberty in Meryl Streep… unassailable… unexcitable. The big loss for their awards efforts was Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, which actually is a shame. Their big win was getting in District 9… which somehow has not turned into something that anyone is talking much about.

The Weinstein Company is praying for a shocking upset with Inglourious Basterds swooping in to win Best Picture while the expected duo duke it out.

And Paramount is, indeed, fighting the big fight for Up In The Air, the quietest $80 million grosser with a really well liked star, a fast-rising writer/director, and all the heat you could have coming out of Toronto… which was almost 5 months ago now.

Lionsgate shot their Precious wad in November, their one big move – after Oprah – being the unveiling of a sweet, goofy, charming Gabby Sidibe.

Focus and Sony Classics are very happy to be at the table… again… and would be thrilled to score and animation upset or to win Foreign Language as expected.

And Disney still wants their Up Oscar for Animation… but would seem to have given up on Best Picture… though there is no one left over there to give up. It’s like the bad guys riding into Rock Ridge and finding an empty town that only looks like Rock Ridge.

Anyway…

The media equation for this year’s Oscar season has been interesting. It’s crowded. Way too crowded. But the 10 nominees allowed a much wider spread of “the wealth,” both in stories and advertising gelt.

It’s getting pretty clear that while the move to 10 BP nominees helped keep start-ups in business, things are not as pretty for the Trades and print media that solicit awards advertising aggressively, as just getting ads is not enough… they need high rates. And this year, studios went bargain hunting, even as they were doling out cash.

Meanwhile, on the editorial side, there was near desperation to find some breathing room for stories that could be in any way unique.

The Story has evolved from:

10 Nominees! It’s Gonna Be Star Trek & The Hangover!, to…

It’s Gonna Have To Be Star Trek & The Hangover, Because There Is Nothing Else To Vote For!, to…

Precious! Up In the Air!… Up In The Air! Precious!, to…

We’re Waiting On Eastwood and Harvey Now, to…

Are Nine & Invictus really that bad?, to…

Up In The Air! The Hurt Locker!, Precious!, Inglourious Basterds!, to…

Avatar, really?, to…

Avatar Vs The Hurt Locker… Artifice Vs Art… Big Vs Little, to…

Sandy’s Turn,…

And here we are.

The new spin that Oscarologists are trying to sell is that the races are not as clear as everyone seems to think they are because the counting methodzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….

Need I remind everything that there have been two real surprise wins for Best Picture in the last 30 years… Shakespeare In Love and The Last Emperor.

Shakespeare In Love upset Saving Private Ryan, which had been a summer movie against a lighter film about show business folk that was commercially hot as the Oscar season rolled out.

The Last Emperor, a period epic from a legendary director, was relatively low grossing… but not the lowest grosser amongst the nominees in the 1987 race. John Boorman’s brilliant Hope & Glory had that distinction. Fatal Attraction was the big grosser in the group, but wasn’t the kind of movie that ever wins. The rest of the field did some business… but the commercial spread was not massive, from Moonstruck’s $60m when nominated to Broadcast News’ $48m to The Last Emperor’s $25m to Hope & Glory’s $10m.

Did either movie win because it was objectively “better” or more lastingly popular, as we look back? Not so much.

How about Meryl vs Sandra?

The Great Streep has lost to Shirley MacLaine, Geraldine Page, Cher, Jodie Foster, Kathy Bates, Susan Sarandon, Hillary Swank, Gwyneth Paltrow, Nicole Kidman, Helen Mirren, Kate Winslet. Katherine Hepburn, Maggie Smith.

Freaks and career achievement awards.

I’m not diminishing any of these performances. Just saying… the way thinks work at the Academy is not as simple and pure as we’d like to think. As Mark Harris smartly pointed out in a NY Mag story this week, a lot of it is about The Story.

When Streep won her first Oscar, she was the stunning newcomer (freak!). When she won for Sophie’s Choice, she was, amazingly, already getting a lifetime achievement award. (She was also stunning in the role and the competition wasn’t her toughest.)

Who is the big competition, all of a sudden, this year? A lifetime achievement award for a terrific performance.

If you want real surprises, look to the categories that no one much is talking about. What would Mark Boal beating Tarantino for Original Screenplay mean? Could be a signal for Picture or it could be a well-deserved consolation prize.

Film Editing could be a signal category. Perhaps neither Avatar or The Hurt Locker will win. Don’t be too shocked if Sally Menke takes home the gold. It doesn’t mean that Inglourious Basterds is going to win Best Picture. But if Avatar or Locker does win… it could be a signal.

Inglourious could well win Cinematography also, over both front-runners. But if Avatar does win, it would seem to signal an acceptance that the film was not just made by some guy in a computer closet somewhere. If it’s The Hurt Locker, it could also be a signal, but a less well-defined one.

I don’t expect either film to win for Score or Song. If Avatar loses Art Direction, it will be a bad sign for them.

But the “locked in” categories… pretty much locked in. If there are surprises, they will come from the co-front-runners.

I am always surprised by how smart studio folks actually are. They know. They aren’t interested in throwing good money after bad. So we have a very quite Phase 2 upon us.

There was no Great Settling this year because there was nothing much left to settle.

So let’s enjoy the celebration of film. Leave the handicapping to Vegas.

– by David Poland
February 11, 2010

Up co-writer/co-director Pete Docter

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

7 Weeks To Go, Ten Is Good

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

At this quiet moment, between a rock rippling the voting pond and a hard count of nominees, a moment of reflection on the State of The Oscars.

I couldn’t be happier with the 10 nominee thing.

Sure, it has taken an annual narrow race and made it wider, but still narrow. The group of films we talk about as we get close to nominations has been 2 or 3 titles beyond the 5 nominees to come for years. So now, it’s 10 nominees and maybe 14 titles to pick from, most of which are now in fluid 7 – 10 slots, as opposed to fluid 3 – 5 slots.

None of us reallyreallyreally know what will happen next Tuesday morning. After we “experts” have counted out movies like The Blind Side and The Hangover and Julie & Julia and The Last Station, you know what? They could all be in.

Or they could all be out.

And by my accounting… great.

What the 10 has done, so far, is to open up the thinking of distributors about what is possible. The only $100 million movies that seem to still be in play are Avatar and Inglourious Basterds. Meanwhile, tiny films like The Messenger and A Serious Man remain in play. Unexpected films like District 9, Star Trek, and The Blind Side (Pete Hammond is still on the This Is It bandwagon) are still in play.

But it’s more than who is still in play. It’s the shut-down mentality that comes, especially in a year like this, when you only have the five nominees. Precious, Invictus, Up, and An Education would all be sweating nominations a lot more than they are this weekend in a field of five. Would that be a good thing?

Of course, you could argue, “Why not make it 20 nominees?!” And you would be right. No matter how large the group, someone is going to be disappointed to be left out. In the end, all but one of the nominees will be disappointed.

But it’s about celebrating movies. Regardless of why Precious, for example, slipped from front-runner to also-ran, in terms of the win, I love the idea that the film, with all the passion that has been behind it, will be celebrated in some way. And I am not the film’s biggest fan.

I think it really is an honor to be nominated. It really should be a pleasure.

To offer some perspective, I decided to parse our MCN Critics Top Ten Chart as though it was an Oscar nomination vote. Interesting.

First, 24 critics don’t get counted because they voted without numerical preference… which we can’t use for this experiment. That leaves 201 “voters” with a “magic number” for nomination of 19.

The next step is eliminating all ballots without #1 votes. That leaves 52 films from the full list of 239 films. Three film from our Top 30, by average vote, have been eliminated for a lack of #1 votes; Star Trek (#15), The Messenger (#22), and The Road (#28). 27 titles ranked lower than these films are still in play… though pretty obviously, none of them has a chance of being “nominated.” Still, interesting.

And we have our first two nominees; The Hurt Locker, with 35 #1 votes and Up In The Air with 34.

Dropping the lowest ranked films, Enter the Void, Made in the USA, and The Exiles are out, each only having one vote, albeit for #1. But what’s interesting is that the critics who voted for those films will now have their #2 votes included, Star Trek voters, for instance, whose ballots are otherwise out of the system.

That leaves “142 ballots” and a “magic number” of 16.

ROUND TWO – Inglourious Basterds, Up, A Serious Man are “nominated” with #2 votes … but not in that order. Because of the preferential system, Serious is first in, followed by Inglourious, and then Up. It doesn’t matter much, as they are now in with the Top 5. But if it was near the end, it could mean a lot.

Another 53 ballots are out, leaving 79, plus a percentage of the ballots for films that have already been counted, based on how much over the then “magic number” they got in with.

The new magic number is “14.” And we’re counting all the way to the #3s.

ROUND THREE – This round is interesting, as Fantastic Mr Fox, which is #9 on the other version of our list, has only 8 clear votes. But the percentage rule works in its favor as ballots that were eliminated for the first 5 “nominees” just barely cross the magic number of 14.

Precious, with only 3 clear votes does not… nor does any other film.

ROUND FOUR – 71 ballots still in play… magic number is still 14. Counting to the #4s.

This is where is gets a little wild. With 4 slots left, #15 Summer Hours leaps ahead with 9 clear votes. #12 on the weighted list, Where The Wild Things Are leaps ahead with 8 clear votes, followed by #9 Avatar with 7. #13 In The Loop has 5 clear votes. At 4 clear votes are #8 An Education, #10 District 9, and #11 (500) Days of Summer. And both #7 Precious and #16 White Ribbon have 3 clear votes each.

At this point, the competition for the last four slots comes down to the “leftover” votes from ballots that voted #1 – #3 for films that are already “nominated.”

Getting in are #12 Where The Wild Things Are, #7 Precious, and #15 Summer Hours, and #9 Avatar.

(Phew… that was exhausting to do!)

In this small sample, the 1-7 titles by way of weighted ballots got in. Kinda getting the shaft, #8 An Education, #10 District 9, #11 (500) Days of Summer, and #13 In The Loop.

In any case, it will be interesting. And personal taste aside, I can’t really think of a bad way for The Ten to go. See you Tuesday…

– by David Poland
January 28, 2010

Page 24

Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Link to the List

Karen Durbin

1 Hunger
2 Hurt Locker
3 White Ribbon
4 Treeless Mountain
5 Precious
6 Bright Star
7 Where the Wild Things Are
8 Private Lives of Pippa Lee
9 Inglourious Basterds
10 Jennifer’s Body
Link to the List

Quentin Tarantino

1 Star Trek
2 Drag Me To Hell
3 Funny People
4 Up in the Air
5 Chocolate
6 Observe and Report
7 Zombieland
8 Julie & Julia
9 Avatar | The Hurt Locker
10 District 9
Link to the List

David Edelstein

1 Summer Hours
2 Everlasting Moments
3 Brothers
4 Fantastic Mr. Fox
5 Tyson
6 A Serious Man
7 Coraline
8 In the Loop
9 Food Inc
10 The Hurt Locker
Link to the List

J. Hoberman

1 The Hurt Locker
2 Hunger
3 Police, Adjective
4 I’m Gonna Explode
5 Coraline
6 The Sun
7 Beaches of Agnes
8 The Headless Woman
9 Inglourious Basterds
10 Red Cliff
Link to the List

TC Kirkham

1 Astroboy
2 Avatar
3 Departures
4 (500) Days of SUmmer
5 Julie & Julia
6 New York, I Love You
7 9 | Sita Sings the BLues
8 Star Trek | Taking Woodstock
9 Up
10 Watchmen
Link to the List

Robert Levin

1 Up in the Air
2 A Serious Man
3 The Hurt Locker
4 Of Time and the City
5 Avatar
6 The Messenger
7 The COve
8 Up
9 Sin Nombre
10 Big Fan
Link to the List

Geoff Berkshire

1 Precious
2 Up in the Air
3 Summer Hours
4 Inglourious Basterds
5 Where the Wild Things Are
6 Ponyo
7 Moon
8 Sugar
9 A Single Man
10 Funny People
Link to the List

Irv Slifkin

1 A Serious Man
2 Taking Woodstock
3 Avatar
4 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
5 Fantastic Mr. Fox
6 Hurt Locker
7 (500) Days of Summer
8 The Hangover
9 In the Loop
10 Sugar

Geoff Berkshire | Karen Durbin | David Edelstein | J. Hoberman | TC Kirkham | Robert Levin | Irv Slifkin | Quentin Tarantino

Page 23

Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Link to the List

Betsy Pickle

1 That Evening Sun
2 Up in the Air
3 (500) Days of SUmmer
4 Avatar
5 The Messenger
6 Inglourious Basterds
7 In the Loop
8 Bright Star
9 An Education
10 Julie & Julia
Link to the List

Al Alexander

1 Inglourious Basterds
2 Up in the Air
3 Up
4 In the Loop
5 The Hurt Locker
6 The Messenger
7 (500) Days of SUmmer
8 Food Inc
9 Baader Meinhof Complex
10 Coraline
Link to the List

Jen Yamato

1 Beaches of Agnes
2 Fantastic Mr. Fox
3 Up
4 The Hurt Locker
5 Bronson
6 Where the Wild Things Are
7 The Messenger
8 An Education
9 District 9
10 (500) Days of Summer
Link to the List

Jennifer Merin

1 An Education
2 Beaches of Agnes
3 Bright Star
4 The Cove
5 District 9
6 Fantastic Mr. Fox
7 The Hurt Locker
8 The Messenger
9 Precious
10 Up in the Air
Link to the List

Susan Granger

1 Avatar
2 The Hurt Locker
3 Inglourious Basterds
4 Invictus
5 Julie & Julia
6 Nine
7 Star Trek
8 The Blind Side
9 Up
10 Up in the AIr
Link to the List

Tricia Olszewski

1 Up
2 Inglourious Basterds
3 Up in the Air
4 Paranormal Activity
5 Coraline
6 Adventureland
7 World’s Greatest Dad
8 The Hurt Locker
9 Food, Inc
10 Sherlock Holmes
Link to the List

Ann Lewinson

1 Gomorrah
2 An Education
3 The White Ribbon
4 A Serious Man
5 Hunger
6 District 9
7 The Single Man
8 The Hurt Locker
9 The Limits of Control
10 Princess & the Frog
Link to the List

Jette Kernion
AWFJ

1 A Serious Man
2 Bronson
3 World’s Greatest Dad
4 Coraline
5 St. Nick
6 A Town Called Panic
7 District 9
8 Fantastic Mr. Fox
9 Up in the Air
10 Inglourious Basterds
Link to the List

Marjorie Baumgarten

1 Where the Wild Things Are
2 The Beaches of Agnes
3 A Single Man
4 A Serious Man
5 The Hurt Locker
6 Summer Hours
7 An Education
8 Up
9 Antichrist
10 Bright Star
Link to the List

Katey Rich

1 Inglourious Basterds
2 Up
3 In the Loop
4 Star Trek
5 A Serious Man
6 Avatar
7 The White Ribbon
8 Fantastic Mr. Fox
9 Sugar
10 Duplicity

Al Alexander | Marjorie Baumgarten | Susan Granger | Jette Kernion | Ann Lewinson | Jennifer Merin | Tricia Olszewski | Betsy Piickle | Katey Rich | Jen Yamato

Page 22

Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Link to the List

Nell Minow
AWFJ

1 Up in the Air
2 Where the Wild Things Are
3 Precious
4 Fantastic Mr. Fox
5 (500) Days of Summer
6 District 9
7 Coraline
8 Up
9 Star Trek
10 An Education
Link to the List

Jessica Barnes

1 Where the Wild Things Are
2 The Hurt Locker
3 Moon
4 Inglourious Basterds
5 District 9
6 Funny People
7 Watchmen
8 Star Trek
9 Adventureland
10 Food Inc.
Link to the List

Shelli Sonstein
AWFJ

1 Up in the Air
2 Inglourious Basterds
3 Up
4 The Hurt Locker
5 Precious
6 The Messenger
7 Avatar
8 Zombieland
9 Pirate Radio
10 Bruno
Link to the List

Cynthia Fuchs

1 Back Home Tomorrow
2 Beaches of Agnes
3 How to Fold a Flag
4 The Hurt Locker
5 Living in Emergency
6 October Country
7 Sugar
8 35 Shots of Rum
9 Treeless Mountain
10 24 City
Link to the List

Diana Saenger
AWFJ

1 Avatar
2 The Messenger
3 Bright Star
4 Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
5 Sin Nombre
6 Me & Orson Welles
7 The Cove
8 The Burning Plain
9 The Hangover
10
Link to the List

Joanna Langfield
AWFJ

1 Up in the Air
2 The Hurt Locker
3 A Serious Man
4 Avatar
5 Up
6 District 9
7 Crazy Heart
8 An Education
9 (500) Days of Summer
10 Adventureland
Link to the List

Thelma Adams

1 Up in the Air
2 The Hurt Locker
3 Star Trek
4 The Hangover
5 The Young Victoria
6 District 9
7 Coco Before Chanel
8 Inglourious Basterds
9 Paranormal Activity
10 Up
Link to the List

Rebecca Murray

1 Avatar
2 (500) Days of Summer
3 Up
4 An Education
5 Inglourious Basterds
6 The Hurt Locker
7 The Road
8 Zombieland
9 Up in the Air
10 District 9
Link to the List

Claudia Puig
AWFJ

1 The Hurt Locker
2 Up
3 Up in the Air
4 Sin Nombre
5 Sugar
6 (500) Days of SUmmer
7 District 9
8 Inglourious Basterds
9 A Serious Man
10 Summer Hours
Link to the List

Carol Cling
AWFJ

1 The Hurt Locker
2 An Education
3 Bright Star
4 Up
5 Princess and the Frog
6 The Cove
7 A Serious Man
8 In the Loop
9 Up in the Air
10 Sin Nombre

Thelma Adams | Jessica Barnes | Carol Cling | Cyntia Fuchs | Brandy McDonnell | Nell Minow | Rebecca Murray | Claudia Puig | Diana Saenger | Shelli Sonstein

Page 21

Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Link to the List

Susan Wloszczyna

1 Up in the Air
2 The Hurt Locker
3 Up
4 Precious
5 A Serious Man
6 An Education
7 Zombieland
8 Coraline
9 Fantastic Mr. Fox
10 Inglourious Basterds
Link to the List

David Walsh

1 Everlasting Moments
2 Of Time and the City
3 The Country Teacher
4 Laila’s Birthday
5 Where the Wild Things Are
6 Serbis
7 The Men Who Stare at Goats
8 24 City
9 A Serious man
10 Bright Star
Link to the List

Karina Longworth

1 Silent Light
2 Two Lovers
3 The Girlfriend Experience
4 Summer Hours
5 Beeswax
6 Cargo 200
7 The Limits of Control
8 Bad Lieutenant
9 The Hurt Locker
10 Inglourious Basterds
Link to the List

Mark Jenkins

1 35 Shots of Rum
2 Summer Hours
3 Still Walking
4 The Beaches of Agnes
5 The Hurt Locker
6 24 City
7 The Cove
8 Tokyo Sonata
9 Departures
10 Police, Adjective
Link to the List

Sean P. Means
Salt Lake Tribune

1 Sita Sings the Blues
2 A Serious Man
3 Up
4 The Cove
5 Up in the Air
6 Phoebe in Wonderland
7 The Class
8 Pirate Radio
9 Every Little Step
10 In the Loop
Link to the List

Aaron Hillis

1 Tetro
2 Two Lovers
3 Inglourious Basterds
4 The Hurt Locker
5 Fantastic Mr. Fox
6 35 Shots of Rum
7 You, the Living
8 The Informant
9 Paradise
10 Tony Manero
Link to the List

Caryn James

1 Up in the Air
2 Bright Star
3 The Hurt Locker
4 A Single Man
5 Inglourious Basterds
6 An Education
7 Fantastic Mr. Fox
8 In the Loop
9 The Road
10 Seraphine
Link to the List

Dennis Lim
Moving Image Source

1 Summer Hours
2 The Limits of Control
3 The Headless Woman
4 Inglourious Basterds
5 24 City
6 Police, Adjective
7 Fantastic Mr. Fox
8 Night and Day
9 Liverpool
10 Beeswax
Link to the List

Richard Brody
New Yorker

1 Fantastic Mr. Fox
2 Beaches of Agnes
3 Funny People
4 Two Lovers
5 Gentlemen Broncos
6 Police, Adjective
7 24 City
8 Lorna’s Silence
9 Frontier of Dawn
10 Alexander the Last
Link to the List

Ed Gonzalez

1 Two Lovers
2 Up
3 Julia
4 Where the Wild Things Are
5 The Hurt Locker
6 Revanche
7 35 Shots of Rum
8 Inglourious Basterds
9 That Evening Sun
10 The Window

Richard Brody | Ed Gonzalez | Aaron Hillis | Caryn James | Mark Jenkins | Dennis Lim | Karina Longworth | Sean Means | David Walsh | Susan Wloszczyna

Page 20

Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Link to the List

Amy Taubin
Film Comment

1 35 Shots of Rum
2 The Hurt Locker
3 The Headless Woman
4 Tulpan
5 Tokyo Sonata
6 The Informant
7 Lake Tahoe
8 Police, Adjective
9 The Sun
10 Sugar
Link to the List

Chuck Wilson
LA Weekly

1 Bright Star
2 The Hurt Locker
3 Everlasting Moments
4 A Single Man
5 Drag Me to Hell
6 Police, Adjective
7 Public Enemies
8 The Beaches of Agnes
9 The Messenger
10 Bad Lieutenant
Link to the List

Joe Leydon
Variety

1 Up in the Air
2 That Evening Sun
3 (500) Days of Summer
4 The Messenger
5 Fantastic Mr. Fox
6 A Serious Man
7 The Informant
8 Summer Hours
9 The Hurt Locker
10 Funny People
Link to the List

Gerald Peary
Boston Phoenix

1 The Hurt Locker
2 A Serious man
3 Precious
4 Humpday
5 The Baader Meinhof Complex
6 Lorna’s Silence
7 The Informant
8 Beeswax
9 Up
10 Treeless Mountain
Link to the List

Sam Adams
LA Times

1 Still Walking
2 A Serious Man
3 The Sun
4 Fantastic Mr. Fox
5 Coraline
6 The Hurt Locker
7 The Limits of Control
8 The Headless Woman
9 Two Lovers
10 Crank: High Voltage
Link to the List

Ben Kenigsberg
Time Out Chicago

1 Inglourious Basterds
2 The Hurt Locker
3 A Serious Man
4 Tokyo Sonata
5 The Headless Woman
6 Julia
7 The Box
8 The White Ribbon
9 Public Enemies
10 Summer Hours
Link to the List

Nathan Lee
Film Comment

1 The Headless Woman
2 Halloween II
3 Summer Hours
4 Inglourious Basterds
5 TheSun
6 Next Day Air
7 Adventureland
8 Loren Cass
9 The Feature
10 The Limits of Control
Link to the List

Matthew Wilder
Collider.com

1 Broken Embraces
2 A Serious man
3 Inglourious Basterds
4 The Hurt Locker
5 The Headless Woman
6 Tetro
7 Bad Lieutenant
8 The Informant
9 Night and Day
10 You, the Living
Link to the List

Matt Prigge
Philadelphia Weekly

1 In the Loop
2 Inglourious Basterds
3 Duplicity
4 The Headless Woman
5 I’m Gonna Explode
6 The Beaches of Agnes
7 Fantastic Mr. Fox
8 Sita Sings the Blues
9 Afterschool
10 Crank: High Voltage
Link to the List

Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly

1 Up
2 A Serious Man
3 Adventureland
4 Public Enemies
5 The Hurt Locker
6 Two Lovers
7 Where the Wild Things Are
8 Fantastic Mr. Fox
9 Funny People
10 Bad Lieutenant

Sam Adams | Sean Burns | Ben Kenigsberg | Nathan Lee | Joe Leydon | Gerald Peary | Matt Prigge | Amy Taubin | Matthew Wilder | Chuck Wilson

Page 19

Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Link to the List

Whitney Matheson
USA Today PopCandy

1 Fantastic Mr. Fox
2 Star Trek
3 Inglourious Basterds
4 The Rock-afire Explosion
5 Tyson
6 Whip It
7 Humpday
8 Coraline
9 Best Worst Movie
10 Adventureland
Link to the List

Don Sanchez
ABC-7

1 A Single Man
2 An Education
3 Avatar
4 The Blind Side
5 The Hurt Locker
6 Inglourious Basterds
7 Nine
8 Star Trek
9 Up
10 Up in the Air
Link to the List

Michael Sragow
The Baltimore Sun

1 The Exiles
2 The Hurt Locker
3 The Class
4 Up
5 Waltz with Bashir
6 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
7 Bright Star
8 Cheri
9 Everlasting Moments
10 Precious
Link to the List

George Roush
Latino Review

1 Up
2 Inglorious Basterds
3 The Hurt Locker
4 Precious
5 District 9
6 Taken
7 The Cove
8 In the Loop
9 The Hangover
10 The Mystery Team
Link to the List

Curt Holman
Creative Loafing

1 Up
2 The Hurt Locker
3 12
4 In the Loop
5 The Damned United
6 District 9
7 A Serious Man
8 Fantastic Mr. Fox
9 Coraline
10 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Link to the List

Brandy McDonnell
The Oklahoman

1 Inglorious Basterds
2 The Hurt Locker
3 Up in the Air
4 (500) Days of Summer
5 Precious
6 Fantastic Mr. Fox
7 Up
8 District 9
9 Invictus
10 The Brothers Bloom
Link to the List

Matt Goldberg
Collider.com

1 The Brothers Bloom
2 Up
3 A Serious Man
4 Where the Wild Things Are
5 District 9
6 Inglourious Basterds
7 A Single Man
8 Away We Go
9 In the Loop
10 Fantastic Mr. Fox
Link to the List

Brad Schreiber
Huffington Post

1 Coraline
2 Duplicity
3 Moon
4 The Baader Meinhof Complex
5 The Last Station
6 Hunger
7 O’Horten
8 A Serious Man
9 An Education
10 The Hangover
Link to the List

Clint O’Connor
The Plain Dealer

1 Precious
2 In the Loop
3 Fantastic Mr. Fox
4 Up in the Air
5 Avatar
6 Me & Orson Welles
7 Inglourious Basterds
8 The Hangover
9 The Hurt Locker
10 A Serious Man
Link to the List

Matt Pais
Metromix Chicago

1 A Serious Man
2 Where the Wild Things Are
3 The Hurt Locker
4 Tulpan
5 Crazy Heart
6 Mary & Max
7 An Education
8 In the Loop
9 The Girlfriend Experience
10 Extract

Matt Goldberg | Curt Holman | Whitney Matheson | Brandy McDonnell | Clint O’Connor | Matt Pais | George Roush | Don Sanchez | Brad Schreiber | Michael Sragow

Page 18

Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Link to the List

C. Robert Cargill

1 District 9
2 Fish Story
3 Avatar
4 Star Trek
5 Moon
6 Fantastic Mr. Fox
7 The Road
8 Up
9 Taking Woodstock
10 Up in the Air
Link to the List

Amanda Mae Meyncke

1 Bright Star
2 Inglourious Basterds
3 The Brothers Bloom
4 A Single Man
5 Public Enemies
6 (500) Days of Summer
7 An Education
8 The Hangover
9 Avatar
10 Sunshine Cleaning
Link to the List

MaryAnn Johanson
Film.com

1 The Hurt Locker
2 District 9
3 The Road
4 The Soloist
5 A Serious Man
6 Bright Star
7 Up
8 Inglourious Basterds
9 Fantastic Mr. Fox
10 The Brothers Bloom
Link to the List

Laremy Legel

1 Inglourious Basterds
2 In the Loop
3 Fantastic Mr. Fox
4 Star Trek
5 Sherlock Holmes
6 Up
7 (500) Days of Summer
8 The Hangover
9 The Brothers Bloom
10 Away We Go
Link to the List

Josh Tyler
Cinema Blend

1 Up in the Air
2 (500) Days of Summer
3 The Hurt Locker
4 Bad Lieutenant
5 Up
6 Whip It
7 Mystery Team
8 Peter and Vandy
9 Watchmen
10 Star Trek
Link to the List

Kiko Martinez
San Antonio News

1 Where the Wild Things Are
2 Up in the Air
3 A Serious Man
4 Fantastic Mr. Fox
5 The White Ribbon
6 Broken Embraces
7 An Education
8 Mary & Max
9 The Hurt Locker
10 Precious
Link to the List

Kevyn Knox

1 Inglourious Basterds
2 Antichrist
3 The Hurt Locker
4 Public Enemies
5 Red Cliff
6 Watchmen
7 Tetro
8 Drag Me To Hell
9 Gomorrah
10 Star Trek
Link to the List

Harry Knowles
Ain’t It Cool News

1 District 9
2 Where the Wild Things Are
3 Up
4 Inglourious Basterds
5 The Square
6 Private Eye
7 Avatar
8 Moon
9 Bronson
10 Fantastic Mr. Fox
Link to the List

Gary Cogill
WFAA-TV

1 Up in the Air
2 The Hurt Locker
3 Inglourious Basterds
4 Avatar
5 Nine
6 Sherlock Holmes
7 Up
8 Precious
9 Crazy Heart
10 This is It
Link to the List

Chuck Koplinski
Illinois Times

1 Up in the Air
2 The Hurt Locker
3 Up
4 The Messenger
5 The Hangover
6 Fantastic Mr. Fox
7 Precious
8 An Education
9 It Might Get Loud
10 Knowing

C. Rogert Cargill | Gary Cogill | MaryAnn Johanson | Harry Knowles | Kevyn Knox | Chuck Koplinski | Laremy Legel | Kiko Martinez | Amanda Mae Meyncke | Josh Tyler

Page 17

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Link to the List

Peg Aloi

1 Fantastic Mr. Fox
2 Bright Star
3 O’Horten
4 Inglourious Basterds
5 Moon
6 An Education
7 Summer Hours
8 In the Loop
9 Sin Nombre
10 Star Trek
Link to the List

Dwight Brown
Tri-State Defender

1 Avatar
2 Fantastic Mr. Fox
3 Hunger
4 The Hurt Locker
5 Invictus
6 Precious
7 Public Enemes
8 Star Trek
9 This is It
10 Up
Link to the List

Steve Persall

1 Up in the Air
2 Precious
3 (500) Days of Summer
4 District 9
5 Inglourious Basterds
6 The Cove | Food Inc
7 An Education
8 Where the Wild Things Are
9 The Messenger
10 Up
Link to the List

Christy Lemire
Associated Press

1 Moon
2 An Education
3 The Hurt Locker
4 Up
5 District 9
6 A Serious man
7 Fantastic Mr. Fox
8 Sugar
9 Passing Strange
10 Drag Me to Hell
Link to the List

Brian Miller
Seattle Weekly

1 The Maid
2 The Hurt Locker
3 Revanche
4 A Serious Man
5 In the Loop
6 Duplicity
7 The Informant
8 Up
9 Up in the Air
10 Avatar
Link to the List

David Germain

1 The Hurt Locker
2 Precious
3 The White Ribbon
4 Bad Lieutenant
5 Up
6 An Education
7 (500) Days of Summer
8 Passing Strange
9 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
10 The Damned United
Link to the List

Kevin Williamson
Ottawa Sun

1 Up in the Air
2 Up
3 The Hurt Locker
4 The Cove
5 District 9
6 Avatar
7 The Hangover
8 (500) Days of Summer
9 Inglourious Basterds
10 An Education
Link to the List

Lexi Feinberg
BigPictureBigSound

1 (500) Days of Summer
2 A Serious man
3 An Education
4 Inglourious Basterds
5 Up
6 I Love You, Man
7 Up in the Air
8 Precious
9 The Hurt Locker
10 Where the Wild Things Are
Link to the List

Liz Braun
Ottawa Sun

1 A Single Man
2 The Hurt Locker
3 Hunger
4 Crazy Heart
5 Food Inc
6 Gomorrah
7 The Hangover
8 Precious
9 The White Ribbon
10 Sin Nombre
Link to the List

Jim Slotek
Ottawa Sun

1 Up in the Air
2 The Hurt Locker
3 The Road
4 Star Trek
5 Up
6 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
7 The Cove
8 In the Loop
9 The Hangover
10 Avatar

Peg Aloi | Liz Braun | Dwight Brown | Lexi Feinberg | David Germain | Christy Lemire | Brian Miller | Steve Persall | Jim Slotek | Kevin Williamson

Page 16

Thursday, January 21st, 2010


Link to the List

Gary Dretzka

1 The Hurt Locker
2 Up
3 Avatar
4 The Maid
5 The Baader-Meinhof Complex
6 Bronson
7 Up in the Air
8 In the Loop
9 Burma VJ
10 Sin Nombre
Link to the List

Ray Pride

1 Limits of Control
2 The Hurt Locker
3 The Headless Woman
4 A Serious Man
5 Summer Hours
6 Fantastic Mr. Fox
7 Bad Lieutenant
8 Two Lovers
9 Loren Cass
10 Antichrist
Link to the List

Noah Forrest

1 Inglourious Basterds
2 The Hurt Locker
3 Mammoth
4 Tetro
5 The White Ribbon
6 A Serious Man
7 Private Lives of Pippa Lee
8 In the Loop
9 Two Lovers
10 Fantastic Mr. Fox
Link to the List

Kim Voynar

1 Up in the Air
2 The Hurt Locker
3 An Education
4 Goodbye Solo
5 In the Loop
6 A Serious Man
7 Where the Wild Things Are
8 Precious
9 Beaches of Agnes
10 District 9

The MCN Critics | Gary Dretzka | Noah Forrest | Ray Pride | Kim Voynar |

Page 15

Thursday, January 21st, 2010
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Jay Stone
Calgary Herald

1 Bad Lieutenant
2 A Serious Man
3 A Single Man
4 District 9
5 The Hurt Locker
6 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
7 Precious
8 Up
9 An Education
10 Fantastic Mr. Fox
Link to the List

Katherine Monk
Calgary Herald

1 The Hurt Locker
2 District 9
3 Polytechnique
4 Up in the Air
5 Summer Hours
6 Up
7 Star Trek
8 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
9 End of the Line
10 The Young Victoria
Link to the List

Barbara Vancheri
Post Gazette

1 Up in the Air
2 The Hurt Locker
3 Up | Princess and the Frog | Fantastic Mr. Fox
4 Precious
5 The Messenger
6 Julie & Julia
7 The Informant
8 Bright Star
9 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
10 Sin Nombre
Link to the List

Scott Marks
KPBS

1 Bright Star
2 Il Divo
3 Mother
4 Adoration
5 The Song of Sparrows
6 Seraphine
7 Still Walking
8 Inglourious Basterds
9 Tony Manero
10 The Box
Link to the List

Rob Thomas
The Capital Times

1 The Hurt Locker
2 (500) Days of Summer
3 Gomorrah
4 An Education
5 Away We Go
6 Hunger
7 The Cove
8 Lake Tahoe
9 Broken Embraces
10 Star Trek
Link to the List

Beth Accomando
KPBS

1 Il Divo
2 A Single Man
3 District 9
4 A Serious man
5 Inglourious Basterds
6 The Song of Sparrows
7 The Hurt Locker
8 Red Cliff
9 Pontypool
10 Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus | Silent Light | Crank: High Voltage
Link to the List

Stephanie Zacharek
Salon

1 Summer Hours
2 Fantastic Mr. Fox
3 Antichrist
4 The September Issue
5 Bright Star
6 Coraline
7 The International
8 Lake Tahoe
9 Broken Embraces
10 Star Trek
Link to the List

Josh Tate
The LAist

1 (500) Days of Summer
2 An Education
3 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
4 Big River Man
5 The Cove
6 Fantastic Mr. Fox
7 In the Loop
8 Men Who Stare at Goats
9 A Serious Man
10 Up
Link to the List

Micheal Compton
BG Daily News

1 Up in the Air
2 The Hurt Locker
3 Inglourious Basterds
4 The Cove
5 (500) Days of Summer
6 Up
7 Food Inc
8 An Education
9 The Messenger
10 Revanche
Link to the List

Iann Robinson
Crave

1 The Hurt Locker
2 The Road
3 Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
4 Where the Wild Things Are
5 World’s Greatest Dad
6 Up
7 (500) Days of Summer
8 The Cove
9 Coraline
10 Star Trek

Beth Accomando | Michael Compton | Scott Marks | Katherine Monk | Iann Robinson | Jay Stone | Josh Tate | Rob Thomas | Barbara Vancheri | Stephanie Zacharek

Page 14

Thursday, January 21st, 2010
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Matt Singer

1 Two Lovers
2 Summer Hours
3 Drag Me to Hell
4 Up
5 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
6 The Hurt Locker
7 The Headless Woman
8 In the Loop
9 The White Ribbon
10 Crank: High Voltage
Link to the List

Alison Willmore
IFC

1 You, the Living
2 Fantastic Mr. Fox
3 The Hurt Locker
4 The Headless Woman
5 A Twon Called Panic
6 Somers Town
7 Public Enemies
8 A Serious Man
9 Paradise
10 The Missing Person
Link to the List

Stephen King
Entertainment Weekly

1 The Hurt Locker
2 Last House on the Left
3 The Road
4 Disgrace
5 The Reader
6 District 9
7 Law Abiding Citizen
8 The Taking of Pelham 123
9 Fantastic Mr. Fox
10 2012
Link to the List

Michael Atkinson
IFC

1 Made in the USA
2 The Headless Woman
3 Inglourious Basterds
4 I’m Gonna Explode
5 Hunger
6 The Baader Meinhof Comples
7 Up
8 Night and Day
9 You, the Living
10 Three Monkeys
Link to the List

Kim Brown

1 The Hurt Locker
2 Up in the Air
3 An Education
4 (500) Days of Summer
5 The Road
6 Precious
7 Inglourious Basterds
8 Up
9 A Single Man
10 Bright Star
Link to the List

John Harding
Cantonsville Times

1 The Hurt Locker
2 A Serious Man
3 Up in the Air
4 Beaches of Agnes
5 Up
6 Nine
7 In the Loop
8 The young Victoria
9 This is It!
10 The English Surgeon
Link to the List

Brian Tallerico
Movie Retriever

1 Where the Wild Things Are
2 The Hurt Locker
3 Up in the Air
4 The White Ribbon
5 An Education
6 Bright Star
7 Star Trek
8 Sin Nombre
9 Goodbye Solo
10 Inglourious Basterds
Link to the List

Mike Giuliano
Cantonsville Times

1 Up in the Air
2 Bright Star
3 Julie & Julia
4 The Messenger
5 Tetro
6 Invictus
7 Star Trek
8 A Serious man
9 Inglourious Basterds
10 Everybody’s Fine
Link to the List

Matthew Hays
Montreal Mirror

1 Pontypool
2 Bruno
3 Inglourious Basterds
4 I Killed My Mother
5 Captialism: A Love Story
6 Precious
7 Petropolis
8 A Single Man
9 The Queen and I
10 Cairo Time
Link to the List

Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle

1 A Single Man
2 12
3 Moon
4 Antichrist
5 Bad Lieutenant
6 The Cove
7 The Hurt Locker
8 Up
9 Inglourious Basterds
10 In the Loop

Michael Atkinson | Kim Brown | Mike Giuliano | John Harding | Matthew Hays | Stephen King | Marc Savlov | Matt Singer | Brian Tallerico | Alison Willmore

Page 13

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Link to the List

Malcolm Fraser
Montreal Mirror

1 Anvil! Story of Anvil
2 Bad Lieutenant
3 A Serious Man
4 I Love You, Man
5 Adventureland
6 Drag Me To Hell
7 Last Train Home
8 (500) Days of Summer
9 I Killed My Mother
10 Antichrist
Link to the List

Christopher Sykes
Montreal Mirror

1 The Class
2 35 Shots of Rum
3 Where the Wild Things Are
4 Tulpan
5 Up
6 The Hurt Locker
7 Sin Nombre
8 District 9
9 Antichrist
10 The Hangover
Link to the List

Andy Klein
Brand X

1 In the Loop
2 35 Shots of Rum
3 Red Cliff
4 Inglourious Basterds
5 Up
6 Up in the Air | Hurt Locker
7 A Serious man
8 The Fantastic Mr. Fox
9 Tokyo Sonata
10 Star Trek
Link to the List

Mark Slutsky
Montreal Mirror

1 Inglourious Basterds
2 A Serious Man
3 Bad Lieutenant
4 Bright Star
5 Public Enemies
6 The Hurt Locker
7 Antichrist
8 Two Lovers
9 District 9
10
Link to the List

Keith Cohen
Sun Publications

1 Invictus
2 Departures
3 Gran Torino
4 It’s Complicated
5 The Princess & the Frog
6 Defiance
7 Every Little Step
8 Up in the Air
9 Up
10 An Education
Link to the List

Jeffrey M. Anderson
Cinematical

1 The Hurt Locker
2 Coraline
3 Bright Star
4 Red Cliff
5 You, The Living
6 35 Shots of Rum
7 Drag Me To Hell
8 Sita Sings the Blues
9 Inglourious Basterds
10 Adventureland
Link to the List

Jeff Walls
Seattle Post Intelligencer

1 (500) Days of Summer
2 Avatar
3 Star Trek
4 Up
5 A Serious Man
6 An Education
7 Fantastic Mr. Fox
8 The Hurt Locker
9 District 9
10 Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince
Link to the List

Mike Ward
Richmond.com

1 Up in the Air
2 State of Play
3 Inglourious Basterds
4 The Hurt Locker
5 Zombieland
6 Up
7 The Road
8 District 9
9 The Damned United
10 The Messenger
Link to the List

Tom Charity
CNN

1 A Serious Man
2 Ponyo
3 Inglourious Basterds
4 Two Lovers
5 Coraline
6 The Headless Woman
7 The Hurt Locker
8 Bright Star
9 Fantastic Mr. Fox
10 La Danse
Link to the List

Jack Garner
RocNow

1 The Hurt Locker
2 Up in the Air
3 Fantastic Mr. Fox
4 Avatar
5 Precious
6 Inglourious Basterds
7 Up
8 The Young Victoria
9 Me & Orson Welles
10 This is It!

Jeffrey M. Anderson | Tom Charity | Keith Cohen | Malcolm Fraser | Jack Garner | Andy Klein | Mark Slutsky | Christopher Sykes | Jeff Walls | Mike Ward

Page 12

Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Link to the List

Zorianna Kit
California Literary Review

1 The Hurt Locker
2 A Serious Man
3 A Single Man
4 An Education
5 Precious
6 Inglourious Basterds
7 The Hangover
8 The Cove
9 Avatar
10 Up
Link to the List

Joanne Thornborough
The Daily Journal

1 The Hurt Locker
2 An Education
3 Fantastic Mr. Fox
4 Up in the Air
5 Drag Me To Hell
6 Inglourious Basterds
7 Up
8 Public Enemies
9 (500) Days of Summer
10 The Informant!
Link to the List

Josh Board
San Diego Reader

1 Avatar
2 Up
3 Funny People
4 A Serious Man
5 The Messenger
6 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
7 Good Hair
8 (500) Days of Summer
9 Moon
10 Adventureland
Link to the List

Joan Vadeboncoeur
Syracuse Post Standard

1 The Hurt Locker
2 Up in the Air
3 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
4 Precious
5 The Young Victoria
6 Paranormal Activity
7 District 9
8 The Road
9 Star Trek
10 (500) Days of Summer
Link to the List

David Ansen
Newsweek

1 The Hurt Locker
2 Summer Hours
3 Up in the Air
4 In the Loop
5 Fantastic Mr. Fox
6 Up
7 Seraphine
8 Rudo y Cursi
9 Avatar
10 An Education
Link to the List

Richard Roeper
Chicago Sun Times

1 A Christmas Tale
2 Silent Light
3 Wendy & Lucy
4 Goodbye Solo
5 Summer Hours
6 Hunger
7 Fantastic Mr. Fox
8 Lorna’s Silence
9 Che
10 Up
Link to the List

Melissa Starker
Columbus Alive

1 Up
2 A Serious man
3 Up in the Air
4 The Hurt Locker
5 Sugar
6 Hunger
7 Fantastic Mr. Fox
8 The Class
9 Star Trek
10 Food Inc
Link to the List

Dave Mar
Athens Flagpole

1 A Christmas Tale
2 Silent Light
3 Wendy & Lucy
4 Goodbye Solo
5 Summer Hours
6 Hunger
7 Fantastic Mr. Fox
8 Lorna’s Silence
9 Che
10 Up
Link to the List

Barry Koltnow
Orange County Register

1 Up in the Air
2 Sunshine Cleaning
3 Zombieland
4 The Hurt locker
5 (500) Days of Summer
6 District 9
7 Star Trek
8 Adventureland
9 Avatar
10 Nine
Link to the List

Jim Luksic
Santa Ynez Valley Journal

1 Seraphine
2 The Hurt Locker
3 Inglourious Basterds
4 Moon
5 Public Enemies
6 Precious
7 A Serious Man
8 District 9
9 Julie & Julia
10 Brothers

David Ansen | Josh Board | Zorianna Kit | Barry Koltnow | Jim Luksic | Dave Mar | Richard Roeper | Melissa Starker | Joanne Thornborough | Joan Vandeboncoeur