Eyeing the Oscars: Brian picks his favorite flicks from 2009

By Brian Reinhart     1/28/10 6:00pm

On Tuesday, all eyes will be on Hollywood as the 2010 Academy Award nominees are announced. Ten movies may be set to be nominated for Best Picture - not five, as in years past - but that does not mean there is any less debate about the ballot. Which movie will take home the top honors?Who were the best actors and actresses of the last year? And is there any category in which Avatar will not be nominated? What follows is a summary of the best movies of 2009 in two parts. At the end, I name some probable Oscar winners and a few movies which might receive surprise nominations. But first I list my five favorite films of the last year -I'll leave the debate about the 10 best to others. These are not necessarily predictions of which films will get Best Picture nominations; instead, read them as one avid moviegoer's attempt to sort out his favorites from a great year at the movies.

5. (500) Days of Summer

When was the last time a romantic comedy was this original? (500) Days of Summer is heartwarming, heartbreaking, hilarious and poignant, a riot of awesome characters and memorable dialogue. Rookie director Marc Webb - who will soon be helming the Spiderman reboot -makes this rom-com defy the Hollywood formula by telling the story out of chronological order and creating one unforgettable sequence in which the left side of the screen shows what a character wants to happen, and the right side shows what actually happens.

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Strengths: The funniest, most remarkable romantic comedy since Much Ado About Nothing (1993).

Weaknesses: The movie's style seems gimmicky at first. Also, why are there parentheses around the 500 in the title?

4. Up in the Air

George Clooney (Ocean's Eleven) stars in the year's most timely movie, a story about a man (Clooney) whose job is to fire people. He lives and works deep in the heart of the current economic crisis, but the movie is at its strongest examining his own problems. Clooney's character is a loner who thinks he is happy, but what happens when he finally discovers the joys of human attachment? A marvelous character study that just happens to preserve as art the spirit of 2009.

Strengths: Clooney gives the performance of a lifetime, and Vera Farmiga (Orphan) and Anna Kendrick (Twilight) deliver great supporting performances. Hilarious one-liners and a surprisingly honest, realistic ending.

Weaknesses: The interviews with actual fired people, about how it feels to be unemployed, are unnecessary.

3. Up

Pixar has only ever had one slip-up (Cars), but even in the midst of its glorious run of movie magic, Up stands out. This is a movie fueled by magic, awash with glorious colors and propelled to greatness by a beyond-perfect soundtrack. Make no mistake: Up is a movie for adults. A friend of mine, Wiess College junior Michelle Conway, described the opening montage showing the lives of Carl and Elly Fredricksen as "the most romantic thing I've ever seen in a movie." And come to think of it, I agree.

Avatar set a new standard for special effects, but with that incredible opening sequence, Up set a new standard for computer-generated storytelling. And storytelling beats special effects any time.

Strengths: Incredibly mature themes, fabulous colors and music, perhaps the most romantic scenes ever, characters who defy family-movie stereotypes and an adorable bird.

Weaknesses: Like most animated movies, Up has an annoyingly one-dimensional villain.

2. Sugar

The most underappreciated movie of the year, Sugar begins as a baseball movie and ends up being something much more important. It tells the story of Miguel "Sugar" Santos, a Dominican baseball player who is drafted by a major league team and heads to the United States to prove his worth. Despite the appearance of several ballgames in the movie, Sugar is more about the immigrant experience, and ultimately about chasing the American dream. It's heartwarming and surprising, and it defies all the stereotypes of sports movies.

Strengths: Vivid, realistic, humorous and original, with great plot turns and a beautiful ending. Algenis Perez Soto, who is not an actor at all but a real Dominican baseball player, turns in a wonderful performance as Sugar Santos.

Weaknesses: For the DVD release, the creators censored the movie in an attempt to reduce the rating from R to PG-13. Why would anybody want to lower the rating on a DVD? At any rate, I want to see Sugar again but will wait until they sell the original release. In theaters, the movie was just about perfect.

1. The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is an all-time great film. It is a war movie about an Iraq War soldier (Jeremy Renner, 28 Weeks Later) whose job is to dismantle roadside bombs in Baghdad. Director Kathryn Bigelow -likely to become the first woman ever to win an Oscar for Best Director -controls the story with incredible suspense and power.

Strengths: Like no other movie this year, The Hurt Locker feels authoritative. It expresses itself with such confidence, such assurance and such authenticity that I never questioned or doubted the way the story was told. It disarms the critic's sense of "could that have been better?" The Hurt Locker will be watched, analyzed and maybe even taught decades from now.

Weaknesses: None. Seriously, none. If Locker loses the Oscar for Best Picture to Avatar, the only reason will be money. Locker is the best movie of the year, plain and simple.

Honorable mentions: I loved An Educationand thought Inglourious Basterds was pretty cool. Star Trek exceeded my expectations, since I'd never watched the original series. Funny People was a better movie than everybody thinks, even though it was way too long.

Notably absent: Avatar. Special effects, imaginative settings and a wildly plagiaristic story do not a great movie make, unless you're Star Wars.

Best male acting performance: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

As SS Colonel Hans Landa, Waltz owned this movie; he is quite possibly one of the scariest movie villains of all time, and certainly Hollywood's greatest Nazi. More importantly, Basterds just wasn't as good when Waltz was off the screen. His energy and his evil charisma were the best parts of the whole film.

Best female acting performance: Carey Mulligan, An Education

Mulligan is the next Audrey Hepburn, a future superstar. Her performance in An Education defined the movie and announced her arrival as a major actress, the same way that Ellen Page won our hearts in Juno. The problem is that Mulligan is too young, so, like Page, she will lose the Oscar to an older actress, probably Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side).

Best director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Just think about this: One of the most emotionally powerful moments in The Hurt Locker is a man buying cereal at the grocery store. How many directors could make such a dull scene into a gripping psychological turning point? How many directors can justify putting a grocery store in a war movie? No woman has ever won an Oscar for Best Director. Bigelow will change that.

Best original musical score: Michael Giacchino, Up

The best soundtrack of the year gives us an unforgettably beautiful tune which we will always mentally associate with images of old Carl flying through the sky in his floating house. When I hear the music from Up in my head, my mind's eye can see Carl and Elly waltzing around their living room. Movie music doesn't get more perfectly suited to the subject matter than this.

Likely Oscar winners: The Hurt Locker, best picture; Jeff Bridges, best actor (Crazy Heart); Bullock, best actress (The Blind Side); Waltz, best supporting actor (Inglourious Basterds); Mo'Nique, best supporting actress (Precious); Bigelow, best director (The Hurt Locker); Quentin Tarantino, best original screenplay (Inglourious Basterds); Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, best adapted screenplay (Up in the Air).

Some possible surprise nominations: Adam Sandler for best actor (Funny People), Marc Webb for best director ((500) Days of Summer), Ramin Bahrani for best director (Goodbye Solo), Star Trek for best adapted screenplay, Star Trek for best picture, Up for best picture.

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