Best Picture

The ten Oscar nominees for the 2009 best picture are:
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Up
An Education
District 9
The Serious Man
Avatar
Up in the Air
Precious
The Bright Side
What goes into a film that is overall great? There is more than a great script, a great cast, and great directing and editing. It is how all this works together to produce a movie that is memorable in a way that is greater than the sum of it's parts (usually--sometimes there are really great parts and the movie is a slam dunk best, but that is usually not the case).

I have put these in the order I would rate them (with the exception of the last three, which no one at my house has seen, so impossible to have an opinion about). So, the top seven are in order. The Hurt Locker is a no-brainer first choice. It is a remarkable film that doesn't stoop to any of the obvious heart string pulling moments that the Iraq war has held. There is little in the way of mellow-drama. The director and the writer seem to realize the enormity of their subject brings with it all the drama that is needed and they go about putting you in the streets, in the war with a small group of soldiers. It was a big film, one that you think about for weeks to come, that you always have something to say about it when others start talking about it. I get a little closer to the edge of my seat and my shoulders swing forward because I have to talk about this movie with my whole body, it is that intense. My second choice is a bit of a surprise to me. I didn't even watch this movie until after is was nominated. I have never seen anything by Quentin Tarentino that I have liked. I think he is brilliant. His work is unique and gorgeous. I just hate it, is all. Not so with this film--it has a lot of things that are characteristic of Tarentino's prior films. Serious things are made fun of (cleverly). The cinematography is so beautiful you could cry. The acting is sensational. Evil is brilliantly portrayed. And yet here I think it works magnificently. The script is well crafted and carefully pieced together--still too long, but not a hanging offense. It is wonderful to watch. My third choice is Up, although I had a real struggle between the next three. They have such great things about them, each of an entirely different ilk than the other, that is was hard to choose, and on another day I might have another order.