Like Kathryn Bigelow, recipient of the Oscar for Best Director, I’m utterly speechless.  Last night the Academy decided, under pressure from the big moneymakers and unique genre films, to select the best-made film for best picture.  Going into this, I was almost certain that it was going to be Kathryn Bigelow for Best Director and Avatar for Best Film.  I am so glad that I was wrong.

To quote Jake’s succinct and neatly-put Facebook summary:

“All and all, not a bad oscars. The best film won, a woman won best director, avatar won the stuff it actually did well, up in the air went home empty-handed… Mo’Nique is awesome, maybe Sandra Bullock can adopt her?”

Last night may prove to be a turning point for the Oscars, in which discerning judgement came back into the game.  The Academy made a call not to act as the “People’s” (that’s a capital-p) award , or as the “Industry” (that’s a capital-i) award, but as an award given by a body of artists in Hollywood.  There was chatter in the bars, there was word of mouth, and there were actual opinions of the work produced in 2009.  That — not an Oscar campaign — gave out the Oscars last night.

One could make an argument that Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar was nothing if not political, but Hurt Locker‘s best picture Oscar was not.  Last year, Slumdog Millionaire won out of an odd mixture of guilt and sentimentality–the same mechanism that pops in our brain when we see poor and starving children on the streets.  It had little to do with the filmmaking and much to do with triumphalism of a little film that could take down the big dogs to win the awards.

Avatar was essentially a special installation at the Universal Studios Orlando theme park.  It was a 3D visual feast, and big-screen entertainment in its fullest incarnation.  But it never attempted to identify itself within the tradition of Hollywood and the film arts; that was James Cameron’s hubris.  He complained that the press never took his actors seriously and that there was a conspiracy to belittle motion-capture technology.  You can’t have it both ways, Jimbo.

The Hurt Locker is not a perfect film.  Kathryn Bigelow is not a perfect director.  But sometimes, the Academy manages to act as a legitimate voice and point out excellence in filmmaking.  And when that happens, it’s a good night.

Now, on this snowy New Year’s Eve, it’s a better time than ever to reflect back on the year and select our choices for the best cinematic efforts in 2009.

Myself, Peter Warren, Brian Barth, Giampaolo Bianconi, Jake Teresi and Matt Paley all wrote down our Top-10 lists (although Matt, in an uncharacteristically cynical move, declined to offer a full 10).  There were ten films overlapping our choices, and, ranked by frequency, comprise the final top-10 list.

Best Films.

Up (Dir. Pete Doctor) — 5 Votes
The Hurt Locker (Dir. Kathryn Bigelow) — 5 Votes
A Serious Man (Dirs. Joel and Ethan Coen) — 4 Votes
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Dir. Wes Anderson) — 3 Votes
Up In The Air (Dir. Jason Reitman) — 3 Votes
Inglorious Basterds (Dir. Quentin Tarantino) — 2 Votes
Lorna’s Silence (Dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne) — 2 Votes
Where The Wild Things Are (Dir. Spike Jonze) — 2 Votes
The Road (Dir. John Hillcoat) — 2 Votes
Sugar (Dir. Anna Boden) — 2 Votes

———————

Peter Warren’s Picks

Up
Adventureland
Bronson
Coraline
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
A Serious Man
Sugar
Tyson
Up In The Air

———————

Giampaolo Bianconi’s Picks

The Road
Police, Adjective
Up
The Limits of Control
Summer Hours
Beaches of Agnes
24 City
Lorna’s Silence
Two Lovers
2012

———————

Brian Barth’s Picks

A Serious Man
The Road
Up in the Air
Crank 2: High Voltage
Sugar
The Princess and the Frog
The Hurt Locker
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Girlfriend Experience
An Education

———————

Matt Paley’s Picks

Up
A Serious Man
A Single Man
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Bright Star
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Lorna’s Silence
Where The Wild Things Are
The Hurt Locker

———————

Jake Teresi’s Picks

Up
The Hurt Locker
A Serious Man
Adventureland
Funny People
Avatar
The Cove
Food, Inc.
An Education
Precious

———————

Adam Hirsch’s Picks

The Hurt Locker
Up
Where The Wild Things Are
Fantastic Mr. Fox
White Ribbon
Tetro
In The Loop
Star Trek
Up In The Air
Inglorious Basterds

———————

]]> http://sainteliotandco.com/round-up/the-best-of-2009/feed/ 1 http://sainteliotandco.com/round-up/the-last-good-film-picks-of-the-year-and-a-squeakuel-to-avoid/ http://sainteliotandco.com/round-up/the-last-good-film-picks-of-the-year-and-a-squeakuel-to-avoid/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:06:43 +0000 Jake Teresi http://sainteliotandco.com/?p=1197

This is the time of the year when the big passion-projects come out–films that either soar (Lord of the Rings, Million Dollar Baby) or sorely disappoint (All the Pretty Horses, Ali, Alexander). It’s Oscar season, but you wouldn’t know it from the year-end mainstream releases, many of which hope to be THE hit Christmas movie. Don’t believe the hype: Sherlock Holmes will be mostly air, It’s Complicated won’t work out (just stop, Nancy Meyers) and were you actually going to see Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel? There won’t be much to see for a while besides Avatar, unless you live in a town with an independent cinema, until some of the indies start to expand.

Here are a half dozen movies I GUARANTEE are worth seeking out:

UP IN THE AIR:  Jason Reitman, it seems, was not destined to be a one-film wonder. Ironically, George Clooney flying around on planes and firing people seems like this year’s perfect Christmas movie.  (http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/upintheair)

PRECIOUS:  Okay, so it’s actually been out for a while in urban areas but I live in the middle of nowhere. We’re always drawn to great performances we didn’t see coming and this delivers two–by Mo’Nique and Mariah Carey. If a film about teen pregnancy can be uplifting (Juno), can a teen incest rape be too?   (http://www.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/precious)

BROKEN EMBRACES:  Minor Almodovar is still better than 95% of films out there.   (http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/brokenembraces)

NINE:  Rob Marshall is flashy and mediocre but Daniel-Day Lewis is always worth watching. I suspect they’ll average each other out. With 9 nominations, it topped the Press Academy’s nominations earlier this week.    (http://www.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/nine)

AVATAR:  Let’s say that the naysayers are right and that it doesn’t deliver, that it isn’t the most sensational movie since Titanic, or that it’s not even close. I think this will be interesting to sit through. And if it’s not for the right reasons, go wasted.   (http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/avatar)

THE WHITE RIBBON:  Haneke’s masterpiece. This is a film people will be watching in film school decades later.    (http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/thewhiteribbon/)

NOTA BENE: I had the exclusive pleasure of seeing a post-production lab work on Alvin and Chipmunks: The Squeakuel over the summer. This place had at least 150 workers dedicating their time to animating chipmunks in live-action scenes. “It takes a long time because we wanted to simulate the movement of real chipmunks,” the guide told us. No one bothered to tell him that chipmunks don’t hop around on on their hind legs. I signed a form promising not to disseminate details about the story of the film. Needless to say, a bunch of chipmunks scurry around, sing and play dodgeball. Watching the dodgeball scene, where Theodore and Simon battle real human children, I recall remarking: “I noticed some existential elements in the first film, but the squeakuel really takes it to the next level.”