TTTMOTYADBM!

That's right, it's The Top Ten Movies of the Year As Determined By Me!

It's actually a coincidence that my list is going to begin on the same day that the Oscar nominations are out. As I mentioned, I was going to start this yesterday but my fondness for Generation Kill pushed it back a day and now, damn Academy, I fear this list may be overshadowed by their Best Picture Nominees. Foiled again. You will all be impressed to know that my roommates and I had a bet about who could guess the most Best Picture nominees. Making our lists independently, we each got 9 of 10 correct. I only swapped Invictus for The Blind Side. So close.

I'm going to count down my ten, one per day, though probably with a few empty days and a few other posts thrown in to vary the subject so this isn't purely a movie blog for the next two weeks. Half of my list is also on the Academy's list, though I will put my other five up against their other five any day. Speaking of which, from the hilarious weirdo who brought us the 70 minute Phantom Menace skewering, a new 20 minute review of Avatar is up. I think it articulates fairly well why the movie is, at best, like a 6 out of 10. I urge Avatar fans to watch it.

In regard to my own list, I will admit that there are a few films that I wanted to see but haven't yet. So, if you're upset that Bad Lieutenant, Coco Before Chanel, White Ribbon, Where the Wild Things Are, Sherlock Holmes, Me and Orson Welles, or Bright Star isn't on here, it's because I didn't see them. Anything else--more obscure films aside--I'm fairly certain had no shot to make the list anyway. So, without further ado...

#10 - Crazy Heart
(disappointed groan from dedicated blog readers)
This is like promising a new episode of The Office and then showing a clip show instead. I already wrote about this one. You don't have to read it again. I still think Jeff Bridges was awesome, I still love the music, I still love the setting. I really can't believe that Maggie Gyllenhaal got an Oscar nom as I thought she was the weakest part of the film. Oh well. Avatar is going to win Best Picture (please no) so clearly the Academy and I are not on the same page. Since this film already got its due, I'm going to leave off the coveted "Good Things" tag for this post.

Having Crazy Heart as my #10 is actually okay since I can window-dress the list a bit and get everyone excited for tomorrow/Thrusday's all new entry. Most of us are probably too giddy about the Lost premiere anyway, though I guess it's already on for the East-Coasters.

In the meantime, if you have an hour to spare, check out this great Bill Moyers interview with creative genius David Simon. I was still on my kick from GK so I finally sat down to watch this today and it made me wish I'd included a few of David Simon's Wire themes (e.g. the failure of institutions, the manipulation of statistics) in my GK discussion. Oh well. Pretend that I did. Or, better yet, watch GK for yourself.

Back soon with number nine...number nine...number nine...number nine...