My Academy Awards

The Oscar nominations were announced today, and so I am going to give out my own movie awards for 2009. I can not claim to have seen every movie, but I think I saw enough of them. So:

Best Movie: TIE- Avatar and Inglourious Basterds
This was a tough call, and so I decided to declare it a tie. Avatar was a truly groundbreaking movie, and as far as a theater experience goes, nothing tops seeing Avatar in IMAX 3-D. However, the movie itself is a bit cliche and is somewhat lacking. Basterds was a great movie, classic Tarantino, and great dialogue. It was also a lot of fun to watch, without the 3D effects of Avatar, Inglourious Basterds would have been the pick.

Best Movie No One Saw: The Road Runner-up: A Serious Man
Honestly, The Road might have been the best movie I saw in 2009. It will take another viewing before I make that decision. But regardless, it was still a great movie that almost no one saw. I found it to be a very exciting film about human survival. The film is all about despair: Make no mistake, this is not a popcorn movie, it is very sad and depressing.

Most Surprisingly Good Movie: District 9 Runner-up: Star Trek
District 9 really surprised everyone. A small budget movie out of South Africa, I was really only expecting an entertaining sci-fi movie, but what I got was a really exhilarating story about a man desperately trying to save himself from a seemingly irreversible transformation. The symbolism for apartheid in South Africa adds even more depth.

Funniest Movie: The Hangover Runner-up: A Serious Man
Not too much to say here, other than that The Hangover was a lot of fun to watch and provided a ton of laughs. Even upon a second viewing, I still found the jokes to be hilarious. The actors are great, and Mike Tyson's cameo is hilarious. The general premise of a tiger inside a Vegas hotel room is also very funny to me.

Most Disappointing Movie: Invictus Runner-up: Funny People
Throw together Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, and Matt Damon and you would think you have an instant classic. However, I found myself quite bored throughout the entire movie. So much more could have been done in terms of chronicling the life of Nelson Mandela. Additionally, the rugby scenes were both cliche and boring, not helped by the fact that the sport is not very popular in America. I should mention, though, that the acting in the movie is phenomenal and is a nice redeeming quality.

Worst Movie: Bruno Runner-up: Bruno
This movie sucked. So bad. Borat was hilarious but this movie was anything but. The jokes were crude and felt forced. I would like not only my money back after watching this, but also the 90 minutes I spent watching it, and any amount of time I spent watching commercials for it. I would also like the studio to pay for the therapy I am going to need for years to come after suffering through this horrible trauma.