Oscar time of the year

So the nominees are… ten movies! Yes, we now know the Oscar nominees for 2010 and this year the academy decided to expand the nominations for best picture to ten films.
Avatar, James Cameron’s animated (motion captured) attack against American imperialism.
The Blind Side, the Hallmarkized version of Michael Oher’s and foster mom Leigh Anne Tuohy’s true story.
District 9, an extraterrestrial allegory of apartheid.
An Education, a young girl/older man relationship drama.
The Hurt Locker, Irak through the eye of Kathryn Bigelow.
Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino’s self appointed masterpiece.
Precious, incest, abuse and the chance for a new life.
A Serious Man… faces his own life.
Up, animated life lessons.
Up in the Air, reassessing a controlled life.

So those are the academy’s nominees. I think there where many, much more interesting films out the past year, that also deserve recognition. Here’s my top ten of 2009 (the ones I’ve seen so far) in alphabetical order.

(500) Days of Summer (dir. Marc Webb)
The Box (dir. Richard Kelly)
Broken Embraces (Los Abrazos Rotos) (dir. Pedro Almodóvar)
District 9 (dir. Neil Blomkamp)
Drag me to Hell (dir. Sam Raimi)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (dir. Wes Anderson)
Inglourious Basterds (dir. Quentin Tarantino)
REC 2 (dir. Jaume Balaguero & Paco Plaza)
Star Trek (dir. J.J. Abrams)
Whatever Works (dir. Woody Allen)

On my next post I will go into detail on why I picked these films. Stay tuned…