My Academy Awards

Dear Jonny,

I have struggled greatly over writing a movie post to wrap up 2010. I have a hate/love relationship with “Best Of” lists. I love reading them and hate what everyone else writes. I can be very opinionated and the internet has allowed anyone with an opinion to express it publicly. I have tried very hard to keep my deepest opinions away from public scrutiny, hence I do not discuss things like politics or religion or the ending of The Sopranos on the internet. I also tend to avoid discussing movies unless it is in a favorable light, like “I enjoyed that film.”

But the urge to write about some of my favorite films from 2010 has finally overcome me. So I am going to write my personal picks to win the “Academy Awards” this weekend. I’m not limiting myself to their nominations or even their categories. Instead I’m looking at this as an opportunity to bring to light some of my favorite things about the 2010 cinematic year.

Okay, that was a hefty introduction. As you can see I still have reservations about this post, but here it goes.

Best Picture: A Prophet. I’m not usually a huge fan of crime dramas, but this movie struck me in all the right ways, just like the first time I watched City of God. I paused this movie several times to get over how good I found it.

Best Director: Christopher Nolan. I don’t know how he made Inception. It’s just so impressive.

Best Original Screenplay: Four Lions. I love this movie and how daring it is.

Best Adapted Screenplay: I should probably say The Social Network. But I’m going to say Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Because I can.

Best Actress: Natalie Portman in Black Swan. I dug this movie so much and she was pretty great.

Best Actor: Tahar Rahim in A Prophet. He was awesome. If I had to go American I’d be torn between James Franco in 127 Hours and Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine.

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale in The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress: That chick from Catfish.

Best Editing: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Best Score: Tie: True Grit and Black Swan

Sound Stuff: Black Swan

Visual Effects: Inception. JGL walked on the ceiling.

Best Song: Everything in Scott Pilgrim

Best Sex Scene: MacGruber. So amazing…

Best Fight Scene: Kick-Ass. Nic Cage is amazing.

Best One-Liner: “I wanna wrap your legs around my head and wear you like the crown you are.” Michael Cera in Youth in Revolt.

Scene that made me cry the most: The flying scene in How to Train Your Dragon. And the death of Macgruber’s crew…

Okay, that’s enough. I tried to think about this but then I got bored. I’m gonna get back to revising our script.

-Patrick