2009 Year of Movies

I consider myself to be something of a movie aficionado and since the Oscar season is upon us I figured this would be a good time to give some thoughts on movies that have come out in the last year.

My pick for best movie of 2009 is The Hurt Locker, I saw this movie twice in theatres and it was worth more than cost of the two admissions. This Iraq war drama featured some amazing character work by actor Jeremy Renner as an explosives expert who lives for his work. The film provides viewers with an inside view of the men and women who have become so accustomed to living in dangerous situations that they are unable to function without it once they return home.

Jeremy Renner of The Hurt Locker is my pick for best actor- his performance as a man struggling to live within a high testosterone, high adrenaline environment.

Supporting Actor is undoubtedly Christoph Waltz of Inglorious Basterds. In Tarentino's exceedingly well-made film, Waltz steals the show the bigger name actors like Brad Pitt, though I have a feeling this was Tarentino's intention in his throw-back, mash-up of WWII movies.

Tarentino deserves the award for best director for Basterds which far surpassed the expectations I could have had for it.

As if there was any question over animated picture, Up! will win the award. Though Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr. Fox was another of my animated favorites but I have a soft-spot for stop-motion animation.

I did not see many foreign films this year (well I watched plenty of foreign films but only a couple that came out in the last year), but the clear winner of the ones I viewed was White Ribbon a German "children's folk tale" about a serious of mysterious events in a small town with evidence that points towards a suprising conculsion about the society in the months before WWI.

On a side note, I imagine that James Cameron's Avatar will most likely be a top contendor for Best Picture. In my opinion, remaking Disney's Pochahantas in 3D with dragons doesn't deserve an Academy Award, but I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with me.