The Oscar nominations are out!

www.imdb.com/features/rto/2010/oscars

I've only seen one- Up, also nominated for Animated Film. I sure hope AMC Theaters is going to do the Best Picture marathon again this year- though it will have to be split into two weekends.

I'm going to pick up Inglorious Basterds, A Serious Man, and The Hurt Locker on DVD this week, so I'll get to see them at least. Mom and Dad loved The Blind Side, and they're sure Sandra Bullock will win Best Actress. But Best Picture, really? My aunt thought Precious was overwhelming but still one of the best movies she's ever seen.

Of the other nominees, I'm most looking forward to seeing Up in the Air, A Serious Man (the Cohen brothers haven't let me down yet!), and An Education. I love that Carey Mulligan got a Best Actress nomination for that one- she won't win, but she'll get other chances.

I wish A Single Man and Crazy Heart would play somewhere near me. I'd love to see the movies that got Colin Firth his first ever Oscar nomination and the one Jeff Bridges will likely finally win an Oscar for.

I think Stanley Tucci should have been nominated for Julie and Julia instead of The Lovely Bones. Would have been nice to see Matt Damon get a Best Actor nomination for The Informant! but a Supporting nod for Invictus isn't a bad deal, either.

Nice that Star Trek scooped up 4 nominations!

But the awards are probably all going to be about Avatar...

I think the acting awards will be: Either Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side or Meryl Streep for Julie and Julia; Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart (though I'd love to see Colin Firth win); Christoph Waltz for Inglorious Basterds; and Mo'Nique for Precious. I doubt there will be any surprises.

I really want Kathryn Bigelow to win Best Director for Hurt Locker...aside from the fact that she'd be the first woman to do so, she'd also be beating her ex James Cameron for Avatar.

Happy 100th birthday, Luise Rainer!

One of the few early Hollywood greats still living. She won back to back Oscars, for The Great Zeigfield and The Good Earth...way back in 1936 and 1937.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0707023/

She pretty much retired before the 50's, but occasionally did television appearances well into the 90's.

The top ten lists for the decade...

They're all coming out now, and I agree with some, not so much with others. I haven't even given a thought yet to my own list. And I have yet to see many of the best 2009 films.

"Best" and "Favorite" are not always the same thing, I've learned over the years. Some of the best films I've ever seen I never want to see again (1993's Schindler's List, for example), while favorite movies I want to watch over and over, even if they aren't the best (Spaceballs is still one of my all time favorites!). And I almost never agree with the Best Picture Oscar (the last couple of years were exceptions).

I know I won't be able to narrow it down to just ten for the best of the decade. And my top ten 2009 won't be complete until the Oscar marathon in February (which will be exhausting, now that there will be ten Best Picture nominations!).

So far my favorites for 2009 were Julie and Julia, Star Trek, Up, and Where the Wild Things Are. Next there's The Men Who Stare at Goats and The Informant!, both very strange but wonderful. Of course, there was also Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which was mostly excellent, though I was disappointed in some changes from the book. Taking Woodstock is one more film I enjoyed that unfortunately didn't get a lot of attention.

What I hope to see soon (and fortunately, several are likely Best Picture contenders): An Education, Up in the Air, Precious, Nine, The Hurt Locker, A Single Man. I'm going to see It's Complicated tommorow night- my last film for 2009!

RIP, Patrick Swayze. :(

He lost his battle with pancreatic cancer at age 57. Dirty Dancing was one of my favorite movies as a teenager. Later, I enjoyed his performance in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar as the drag queen "Vida Boheme".

http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0990014/

Crap. Another icon from my youth is gone. 2009 has been a bad year for celebrities.

Harry and the Half Blood Prince and Julie and Julia...

Yeah, I did get to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I enjoyed it for the most part, despite some questionable changes from the book- the attack on the Weasely home had me thinking, WTF was that? And what the writers did to Neville Longbottom was lame- Order of the Phoenix, he's one of the heroes, now he's reduced to being background. Poor Matthew Lewis. :( I worry about how Neville's big moment in Deathly Hallows will be treated now! On the other hand, the main trio of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint continue to grow as actors, and Grint especially got to shine. I liked having Quidditch back, and the romantic triangle of Hermione/Ron/Lavender (hilarious girl!) was a wonderful break from the more serious themes. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a lot about Voldemort's background, and the Snape/Prince reveal was too low-key. And Dumbledore's funeral isn't shown. But altogether, the movie was fun and visually exciting (if a bit slower than the others).

I was really looking forward to Julie and Julia- the always great Meryl Streep playing Julia Child? I am so there. And I was very happy with the movie. It's based on two books- the blog adventure of Julie Powell (played by the always adorable Amy Adams), who challenged herself to cook every single recipe in Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year; and Child's autobiography. The movie goes back and forth between Child's life in France and her start in cooking, and Powell's often funny attempts to cook every recipe. "Lobster killer! Lobster killer!" One warning: Dan Ackroyd's Saturday Night Live skit about Child (which she supposedly loved) is even more disgusting on the big screen. "I've cut the Dickens out of my finger! Save the liver!" Ewwwwww (but LOL!).

I've only seen six movies this summer. Wow.

This teen of the 80s is very sad right now.

Writer/director John Hughes, who gave my generation movies like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Pretty in Pink, died suddenly yesterday at age 59. Though he had mostly retired from the Hollywood scene, his influence can still be seen in younger filmakers today. I don't think we would have had Juno or Rushmore without the smart humor of Hughes' films. He got teenagers in a way most writers couldn't grasp.

Ferris Bueller is still one of my all time favorite movies. "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." RIP, Mr. Hughes, and thank you.

Two more summer movies down...

Up and Land of the Lost. Up is definitely one of Disney/Pixar's best. It's a fun fantasy about an old man who uses balloons to fly his house to South America. Great story, and terrific animation. Land of the Lost is both spoof of and homage to the Sid and Marty Croft televison show. It's not one of Will Ferrell's best, but there's a lot of laughs in it. Danny McBride steals the film just as he did Pineapple Express last year. And Matt Lauer of the Today Show has a hilarious cameo.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opens next week, finally! I can't wait. The previews look so good.