The Oscar nominations for this year were released on Tuesday, Feb 2.  I do this every year, I go through the nominations for the biggest categories and see how much I agree with the Academy. More often than not, I don’t agree at all.

See my thoughts on last year’s Oscar nominations here.

See the Oscar noms for 2007 here.

You can see all the nominations on the official Oscar website.  So, without further ado, here are the nominations.

BEST PICTURE
Avatar – I can see this in Visual Effects, but not Best Picture. It’s a good movie, it’s just not a great movie.  And by that I mean it’s not the best written movie in the world and it’s AT LEAST 30 minutes too long. The mineral the corporation is mining in the movie is called Unobtainium. They actually say it in the movie. COME ON!
The Blind Side – Think about this: The Blind Side has a shot at being the BEST PICTURE OF 2009. Don’t get me wrong, I like this movie, but BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR?! No.
District 9 – On my list of top 5 movies of 2009. Of course, there’s no way in Hell this is going to win, but it’s good to see it here.
An Education – Yeah, didn’t see it.  Nor have I heard of it.  Well, played, Academy.  Well.  Played.
The Hurt Locker – I don’t normally like war movies. I hear great things about this, so I may have to suck it up and give it a watch.
Inglourious Basterds – An exception to my war movie rule. In my top 5 movies of 2009.
Precious – I see why this is nominated.  I really do.  I just never want to watch it.
A Serious Man – The Coen’s are weird, dude.  I’ve only enjoyed 3 of their movies.  EVER.  And I’ve only watched one of those three movies more than once.  I’m not exactly itching to see this.
Up – I really did enjoy this movie, but, again, I’m not sure it deserved a BEST PICTURE OF 2009 nomination.
Up In The Air – I love George Clooney.  I knew this was going to be high on Academy voters’ lists.  And I still have no desire to watch it.

BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges, CRAZY HEART – Bridges wasn’t nominated for The Men Who Stare At Goats?  RIGGED!  I’m kidding.  Of course, I’ve never even heard of this movie.
George Clooney, UP IN THE AIR – Another missed opportunity for The Men Who Stare At Goats.
Colin Firth, A SINGLE MAN – Love Colin Firth.  Unless this is a sequel to Love Actually, then I’m not interested.
Morgan Freeman, INVICTUS – I have a man-crush on Matt Damon and I love Morgan Freeman.  That still does not make me want to see a movie about rugby…and apartheid.
Jeremy Renner, THE HURT LOCKER – Again, I hear Renner is great in this.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon, INVICTUS – Yay, Matt!  I’m still not going to see this movie.
Woody Harrelson, THE MESSENGER – WTF is The Messenger?!  Harrelson should have been nominated for Zombieland.  There, I said it.
Christopher Plummer, THE LAST STATION – What?
Stanley Tucci, THE LOVELY BONES – Nice nom for Tucci.  He was good in this sequel to What Dreams May Come.
Christoph Waltz, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS – Waltz better win this.  From what I see here, he PWNS this category.

BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock, THE BLIND SIDE – Sandra Bullock was really good in this.  I concur, Academy.
Helen Mirren, THE LAST STATION – Never heard of it.
Carey Mulligan, AN EDUCATION – Or this.
Gabourey Sidibe, PRECIOUS – I hear she’s great.
Meryl Streep, JULIE & JULIA – This was a really good movie.  I’ve been loving Streep lately.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, NINE – No.
Vera Farmiga, UP IN THE AIR – I loved this chick in The Departed.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, CRAZY HEART – Crazy Heart again.  I’m not sure how much enthusiasm I can muster for a movie about a broken down country music singer who finds redemption in a journalist at least 10 years his junior.
Anna Kendrick, UP IN THE AIR – In all of the trailers, I totally thought this chick was Amy Adams.
Mo’Nique, PRECIOUS – I hear good things.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Coraline – Based on a book by Neil Gaiman who also wrote Stardust.  I really need to see this movie.
Fantastic Mr Fox – I am reluctant to watch a movie by the director of Magnolia and The Life Aquatic.
The Princess And The Frog – Disney returns to 2-D cell animation.  WANT. TO. SEE.
The Secret Of Kells – Never heard of it.
Up – Meh.  This movie is good, and I see why it’s here, but I didn’t just love it like I loved The Incredibles or A Bug’s Life.

BEST DIRECTOR
AVATAR, James Cameron – Really, Academy?  Really?
THE HURT LOCKER, Kathryn Bigelow – Like I said, I’ve still not seen it, but seeing how many noms it’s getting I may have to pick it up.
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, Quentin Tarantino – Loved this movie, but Quentin is the dark horse in this category.
PRECIOUS, Lee Daniels – Okay.
UP IN THE AIR, Jason Reitman – Got it.

BEST WRITING (Adapted Screenplay)
DISTRICT 9, Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell – For me, this is the winner.  It won’t actually come away with the trophy, but it should.
AN EDUCATION, Nick Hornby – Did Nick Hornby sing lead vocals for The Range?  Nick Hornby and The Range, right?
IN THE LOOP, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche – If District 9 is the dark horse, this is probably the darker horse.  I love this movie and would love to see it win…but it won’t.  Hilariously vulgar British political comedy.
PRECIOUS, Geoffrey Fletcher – What a shocker.
UP IN THE AIR, Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner – We meet again.

BEST WRITING (Original Screenplay)
THE HURT LOCKER, Mark Boal – Again, haven’t seen it, can’t really say.
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, Quentin Tarantino – I hope Quentin gets at least one trophy for this movie.  It totally deserves it.
THE MESSENGER, Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman – No.
A SERIOUS MAN, Joel & Ethan Coen – Like I said, I don’t just love the Coens.
UP, Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter. Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy – This was a cute movie.  I think Zombieland should be in this category but I doubt the Academy would nominate a movie with zombie in the title.

Those are the big categories for the Oscar nominations. To see all the nominations go to the Official Oscar website here. And watch the Oscar telecast on Sunday, March 7 at 8 EST. It’s going to be a good show as it’s co-hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin!

Anything missing?  Yes, Star Trek is missing.  It did get several nominations in Visual Effects (which will be won by Avatar…rightly so) and a bunch in the sound categories.  But that’s it.  Nothing in the “showtime” categories.  That is a shame.  I would also liked to have seen Taken get some more love from the Academy. Maybe some for State of Play, with Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck. But, at this point, I’m just reaching.

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What makes a bad movie for me, for the most part, is disappointment because of expectations. I expect to really enjoy the movie because of a funny trailer or an interesting story and the movie doesn’t live up to those expectations. Those are the movies that go on this list. There are movies like Crank or Fast & Furious that you would expect to be on here, but let’s be honest, those movies are supposed to be bad. They are awful for a reason. Plus they are fun-awful, not awful-awful.

Before we get started, take a look back at previous years’ lists with my worst movies of 2007 and my worst movies of 2008 articles.

So here are the movies I was most disappointed with this year. Honestly, I could only come up with four. I really had a hard time putting together this list. There were a lot of good movies this year.  Here are the movies I really didn’t like.

Men Who Stare At Goats - This was a very disappointing movie for me. The trailer was awesome, however they pretty much showed every single punchline for every single funny scene in the trailer. EVERY SINGLE ONE. The rest of the movie was an awkwardly quirky ride that was neither funny nor interesting.  So by the time I saw the movie, every funny event was spoiled and that made me not care about the rest of the movie.  So many good actors, so much wasted potential.  And, to whomever cut the trailer, thank you for ruining this movie for me, d-bag.

Gamer – This movie had so much promise.  Gerard Butler as a prisoner fighting in some type of corporate war games run by Michael C Hall? Oh, and Gerard Butler is being controlled remotely by a video game user played by the kid who’s going to be the lead in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians movie? Yes, please. However this movie BLEW. It was weird, there wasn’t enough action or humor and the mechanics of the video war games Gerard Butler’s character participates in came and went depending on what was needed in the story. Michael C Hall was good but his character was off the charts weird. This was just a bad movie based on a very solid premise.

The International - This movie was 90% boring. I literally was dozing off halfway through. The convoluted corporate conspiracy plot was so intricate and involved so many levels I no longer cared 30 minutes into the movie. It’s like watching Bourne Identity while on a fistful of Valium.  Clive Owen has been burning through all the goodwill he built up with Inside Man by making movies like this and Shoot ‘em Up.  Where have you gone, Clive Owen?

Taking of Pelham 123 - I had high hopes for this. I thought Denzel and Travolta would play well off each other. Denzel did okay, but Travolta was all over the map. He was completely over the top for no other reason than he could. And the motives for the movie were flimsy at best. This movie could have been good, but really it was just a lost opportunity.  I also have high hopes for Travolta’s next movie, From Paris With Love, but it looks like a very similar role in that movie to this movie, which makes me worried now.

Okay, those were the absolute worst of the movies I saw this year.  Not bad for a worst of list, I guess, which shows the strength of the year.  How about some Honorable Mentions?  The following movies were bad, but I really enjoyed them.  Like, there’s no way I could possibly defend the merits of any of the below movies, but I had fun watching them in spite of myself.

Crank 2: High Voltage - I didn’t honestly like this movie or the original Crank, but I enjoyed watching the mayhem unfold onscreen. It was a captivating orgy of violence and insanity.  After falling out of a f***ing helicopter, Chaz is picked up by a van and has his heart replaced with a mechanical device hooked to a temporary battery and is then left for dead.  Chaz must now constantly charge up the battery by pumping himself fully of ever increasing levels of deadly electricity while simultaneously trying to find out who took his heart by killing every person he comes in contact with.  And I’m not even kidding.  This movie even has a small cameo by Corey Haim.  COREY HAIM IS IN THIS MOVIE!!  Wall to wall violence, profanity, sex and mayhem.  I can’t even begin to describe the unbelievable ride you get with this movie.

Fast and Furious - Yes, I know this series is crap, but it’s enjoyable crap. The first one takes itself way to seriously but parts 2 and 3 were a blast to watch (and still are). This movie, reuniting the first cast is also a lot of fun to watch. Paul Walker is still a horrible actor and the script is cliched and formulaic, but the car scenes and hot ladies make the entire trip worth it. There’s even a scene in the beginning that sets events in this movie right before the third movie, Tokyo Drift. It’s just a lot of fun. You should totally expect bad dialog like “You make a mess of everything you touch” “It’s what I do best”. Lots of cliched crap like that. But watching Vin and the other characters is a lot of fun and the action is cool. I also had forgotten how hot Jordana Brewster is.  Yowzah.  Anyway, let’s hope Vin makes another Riddick movie next.

That’s the worst list this year.  I have to say, for a worst of, it’s not that bad.  Last year’s list was full of completely awful movies.  I mean, Indy 4, X-Files 2, Disaster Movie?!  Those are truly awful movies.  This year just seemed like boring or mildly bad movies.

Let’s hope 2010 is just as good as this past year has been.

As you can see, I saw 53 movies that were released in 2009 (and therefore are eligible for the Oscars).  Some of those movies were in the theater (the majority of them, actually) and some were at home on Blu-Ray.  That’s 4.42 movies per month. Up from last year. Also, I was able to top 50 movies for the first time since 2007. So, I’m excited about that.  Last year my total was 49, so I was a bit irked I didn’t make it.  This year, I’m back, baby!

For those just joining us this year, or for those that like reliving the past, check out my favorite movie picks in my Movie Board articles for 2007 and 2008.  I myself like to look back every year before I write this article, just to get in the movie pickin’ mood.

This was a really good year for movies. I saw a metric TON of good flicks in 2009.  I really had a hard time getting this list down to my favorite movies of the year.  As usual, I’m just picking my favorite five.  My own personal “best” list.  You may agree, you may disagree.  Regardless, I’m right, so pipe down and prepare to be told what 5 movies rocked my world this year.

Okay, 2009 movies, let’s do this.

Star Trek – Blew my ass away. I’d take a picture of my ass to prove it to you, but you wouldn’t see anything but a blank space, because it was BLOWN AWAY.  I saw this movie twice in theaters because I had my ass kicked so incredibly hard the first time, I had to go back to be sure it wasn’t an illusion.  And it wasn’t.  I laughed and cried (yes, I f’n cried) at all the exact same spots on both viewings.  Then, my dad gave me the movie for Xmas and I watched it again on Blu-Ray and was reduced to a blubbering, laughing mess for a THIRD TIME.  THIS MOVIE IS FANTASTIC.  I can’t place this movie high enough on the list to get across how much I love this movie.  JJ Abrams gets it.  Orci and Kurtzman get it.  The actors get it.  This movie was Star Trek, warts and all.  I know some people were bitching about the plot holes and time travel, but I invite those haters to SHUT THEIR CHEETOS HOLES.  If you have watched any of the original series episodes from the ’60s (which I’ve been doing) then this movie fits right in.  I put this movie up there with Wrath of Khan and Undiscovered Country as my favorite Star Trek movie.  I balled when George Kirk died.  I laughed and pumped my fist when Kirk beats the Kobayashi-Maru.  I marveled at the final battle with Nero.  I couldn’t have asked for a better Star Trek movie.  PERIOD.  Best.  Movie.  This.  Year.  Take that to the bank, haters.

District 9 – I read a lot of the press for this movie before it opened.  A small sci-fi film from South Africa produced by Peter Jackson and written/directed by a little known but talented guy named Neill Blomkamp.  I knew most of the movie is done in a mock documentary style about aliens that have come to Earth.  That’s about all I knew, but it looked like a really clever idea and I was excited to see it.  I had no idea what I was in for.  Fantastic.  This movie blends CGI, practical effects and live action in an unbelievably seamless way.  The aliens are all CGI, but they are REAL.  This is no Jar Jar Binks, my friends.  Also, even though it’s only used for the first 2/3 of the movie, the mockumentary structure really works.  This is just a wonderful sci-fi movie.  Some of the movie review guys on the Internets that I respect even put this in their best of the year.  Devin over at CHUD put it #4 in his top 15 of the year and both Massawyrm and Harry Knowles over at Aint It Cool News put it #1 on their lists.  I absolutely agree.  This movie deserves to be seen.  It’s awesome.  I can’t recommend it enough.  Hopefully we’ll see a nomination for Special Effects as well as Best Screenplay (fingers crossed).

Taken – Liam Neeson is a bad ass.  I never really saw him like that.  Sure, he was Qui-Gon Jinn in Episode I, but Qui-Gon was tagged by the MUCH badder ass Darth Maul (who was then, sadly, tagged by Obi-Wan).  In this movie, BAM!, holy crap, here’s Liam becoming not just awesome bad ass, but SCARY bad ass.  Like, you don’t actually want to mess with this dude.  A far cry from his weepy turn in Love, Actually.  And coming up this year we see Liam as Hannibal in The A-Team as well as friggin’ ZEUS in Clash of the Titans.  Hello, Mr Neeson, welcome to the party.  This movie is awesome and action packed.  A race from start to finish.  I thought it was going to be good when I saw it, but I didn’t realize how good.  Fantastic, fantastic movie.

Inglorious Basterds – Where the hell did this movie come from? For me, Quentin had pretty much peaked in the late ’90s. Kill Bill was good, but not great. Death Proof (Grindhouse) was pretty much ass from start to finish.  And not just ass, but boring as ass.  It was a horrible, horrible movie. So I went into this movie mainly because I was intrigued by the premise and interested to see what Quentin had been working on the last 8 years (he’d been writing this movie FOREVER).  This movie was nothing like what I was expecting.  I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting, but this movie wasn’t it (I mean that in a good way).  There is a bunch of action, but there is also a bunch of the “talky” scenes Quentin is famous for.  I really enjoyed this movie.  The two people to watch in this are Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine and Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa.  Brad Pitt is awesomely funny as the leader of the Basterds.  He owns every moment he’s on screen.  Christoph Waltz plays Landa as the Nazi version of Sherlock Holmes.  He makes this incredible leaps of logic and loves to keep the people he’s interrogating in suspense, drawing out the reveal as long as possible to make his victim squirm.  Unbelievable work.  Hopefully there’s an Oscar nom for Mr Waltz in the near future.  This movie was picked by Devin from CHUD as his #1 of the year.  Harry Knowles put it #4 on his list this year. I may not rewatch this as many times as the other movies on this list, but it’s definitely one of my favorites of the year.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – Yes, I am a Harry Potter dork. I’ve read all the books multiple times (except Book 7) and I’ve seen all the movies (so far) in the theater. Half-Blood Prince is my favorite Potter book, so I was naturally anxious to see the movie afraid of what they may cut out of the story. I was a bit disappointed with Goblet of Fire’s movie, but I REALLY enjoyed the Order of the Phoenix movie.  So, even with being anxious to see this movie, it still BLEW MY MIND. Fantastic movie. I CAN NOT WAIT to see the final two movies. CAN’T WAIT.  It is against the laws of nature that these movies are getting better and better.  Sequels just don’t do that.  But these are, in fact, getting better and better.  Right before writing this article I re-watched Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince on Blu-Ray back-to-back.  I’m now torn which one I liked best.  Order of the Phoenix is fantastic with the huge battle at the end between Voldemort and Dumbledore.  The movie is just AWESOME (check out my original movie review here).  Half-Blood Prince’s movie is awesome, but is really a setup for Deathly Hallows.  You see a lot of Tom Riddle backstory as well as some awesome Pensieve scenes.  I tell you two things, well three.  First, Alan Rickman owns the character Professor Severus Snape.  PWNS IT.  I can’t think of one without the other.  Really, really fantastic work by Rickman.  Second, Michael Gambon, in a bad situation had to take over the Dumbledore role after Richard Harris passed away in 2002.  I honestly was upset they picked Gambon to replace him because they had Harris’ stunt double ready to go.  I was wrong.  Mr Gambon is now Albus Dumbledore, greatest wizard in the world of Harry Potter.  He makes Dumbledore feel more like the book than Harris did.  I actually get the sense that Dumbledore is much more than he lets on.  Especially in this movie.  Wonderful work by Gambon.  I admit I was wrong about him.  Finally, the kids.  Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.  It has been a joy to watch these kids grow up in these roles and they fill them wonderfully.  The final two movies will be a bittersweet end to a wonderful run of movies.

Well, those are my top five movies of the year.  I really had a hard time nailing down that last spot.  There really were a bunch of great movies I could have included.  How about some Honorable Mentions?  You got it.  Here are some other fantastic movies I highly recommend watching.

Watchmen – I was a comic book fan that hated the graphic novel. It was over long, super indulgent and really hard to read. I liked the idea of the graphic novel, but the execution was complete ass (I realize that I am in the minority on this). However, the movie was awesome. Jackie Earl Haley ruled as Rorschach. The action and atmosphere was fantastic. I really enjoyed how this movie was put together.  The action scenes were awesome and the story moved at a quick pace.  And I just can’t get over how bad ass Jackie Earl Haley was.  I’d watch a Rorschach solo movie.  Truly fantastic.

Fanboys – It took me a while to watch this movie. Being a huge Star Wars fan I was concerned that it may hit too close to home. My friend Dr Mike recommended it and he loaned me the DVD to watch.  Come to find out, I was wrong. This movie was laugh out loud funny. I loved every second of it.  It made fun of fanboy nerds, but it did it lovingly.  And there were a ton of geek cameos.  I really, really loved this movie.

Zombieland – A funny, clever, ridiculously awesome zombie movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Thank you. I love this movie.  Woody Harrelson is hilarious in this.  See it.

State of Play – Russell Crowe is awesome. I love almost everything he’s in. I’m totally looking forward to Crowe’s Robin Hood movie this year.  But, he’s great in this.  Ben Affleck is fantastic too. Look for a great scene with Jason Bateman also. Fantastic murder/mystery/political thriller.  I was not expecting to like it as much as I did.

So, that’s the year in movies, 2009, according to the Cavalcade of Awesome.  Were there movies I wish I’d seen?  Sure, but I saw all of the big ones, including Avatar 3-D.  The above movies were the best for me.  Like I said, it was a pretty good year for movies.  I could have listed five more honorable mentions; Wolverine, The Hangover, Gran Torino, Sherlock Holmes, Law Abiding Citizen.  Very good year, indeed.

Okay, you’ve seen the best.  On next, I’ll give you the worst.  Gird your loins, people.  The five worst movies of 2009 is coming.

If you click the poster you can go to the Oscar website to see all of the nominees for 2009.  It’s perfect timing that they announced the nominees today because I just told you guys what I think the best and worst movies of 2008 were.  You didn’t see that?  Shame on you.

Check out my favorite movies of 2008 here

Check out my worst movies of 2008 here

You can see where I discuss last year’s nominations here

For the last two years or so, when the Academy announces the nominees, I take a look at the biggest categories (you know, the ones we actually care about) and see how I think the academy did with its choices.  It’s only my opinion mind you, but I like to see how my own sensibilities compare to the Academy (FYI…we aren’t even close).  Each year when I look at the nominees, I notice that either I didn’t see enough movies (4+ a month isn’t enough?) or I just don’t like the same movies as the Academy because they pick things I’ve never seen a trailer or ad for.  I mean, a movie that opens in October for 2 weeks in 4 cities seems like an odd choice to go up for Best Picture of the Year because most of the nation will not see it.  It seems these movies are mostly seen by critics.  I guess that’s what the People’s Choice Awards are for, to give us a say.  But then, the People’s Choice Awards are looked at with the same respect as the Nickelodeon awards shows.  But, that’s neither here nor there.  It’s time to check out this year’s Oscar nominees.

So let’s start with

Leading Actor:
Richard Jenkins – The Visitor – Here we go. A movie I’ve never even heard of. Yahoo! Movies says it’s about 62 year old Walter Vale. He’s sleepwalking through life. Having lost his passion for teaching and writing, he fills the void by unsuccessfully trying to learn to play classical pian—zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon – Ahhh, nice. This is a good choice. Langella was phenomenal in this.
Sean Penn – Milk – I know it’s the guy’s name, but Milk seems like such an odd name for the movie. Milk. M-m-m-m-i-i-i-l-l-k. See, weird. If you can’t tell, I haven’t seen it.
Brad Pitt – Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Looks weird. Heard it’s good from a few people, but I’m cautiously pessimistic about it.
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler – I’m intrigued. It looks dirty, grungy and harsh. I’ll probably watch it at some point.

Best Supporting Actor:
Josh Brolin – Milk – There’s Milk again. M-m-m-m-i-i-i-l-k. No, it’s still weird.
Robert Downey Jr – Tropic Thunder – Nice! I personally would have put his performance in Iron Man above his performance in Tropic Thunder, but you can’t NOT recognize the dude playing the dude disguised as another dude. You just can’t.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt – PSH gets nominated for everything. Period. I haven’t seen this movie, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t think the Academy has seen it either. PSH is in a movie, he gets nominated. It’s in the by-laws.
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight – Totally deserved. Will he win? And if he wins, will it be because he died that he won? Interesting questions for which I have no answers.
Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road – Hmmmm, this movie has the first on-screen coupling of Leo and Kate Winslet since Titanic and Michael Shannon is nominated for his performance. Really?

Leading Actress:
Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married – This actually looks pretty good and I like Anne Hathaway. I may have to rent it.
Angelina Jolie – Changeling – They really overplayed the crap out of this trailer last year. I swear a full 2/3 of the movies I saw carried it. I will forever hear Angelina scream, “I WANT MY SON!!”, until the day I die. I wanted to scream back at her, “I GET IT!  YOU WANT AN OSCAR!  STOP SHOUTING!”
Melissa Leo – Frozen River – I feel the world of illegal immigrant smuggling has finally got it’s Citizen Kane in Frozen River. Thank you Melissa Leo.
Meryl Streep – Doubt – I am shocked and dismayed that Meryl Streep was not nominated for her tour de force performance as Donna, the mother in Mama Mia*.   (* This statement contains copious amounts of sarcasm.)
Kate Winslet – The Reader – If Kate is nominated for this, then I guess Revolutionary Road with Leo is not that good. Interesting, Academy. Interesting.

Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams – Doubt – While this was in theaters I literally had zero interest in seeing it. And I’m being very generous when I say “zero interest”. All these noms may punch it up to a 1 interest. But I still have doubt that it’s any good (see what I did there?  I used the name of the movie as a pun.  LOL…I rock)
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona – Ahh, the new Woody Allen movie. Yes, let’s keep encouraging him by giving his movies Oscars.
Viola Davis – Doubt – WTF?! Really? Doubt again? Maaaaaaan, now I gotta watch it.
Taraji P. Henson – Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Wait, someone was in this movie besides Brad Pitt and a bunch of special effects to make him look old? Who knew?
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler – This further intrigues me.

Best Animated Picture:

Bolt – I really wanted to watch this. I’ll have to catch it on Blu-Ray. Looks awesome.
Wall-E – Didn’t see it. I want to because it’s Pixar, but I’m also put off by the obvious environmentally preachy message that goes on throughout the movie.
Kung-Fu Panda – OMFG!!! This better win or I will throw myself into oncoming traffic. This movie RAWKS!!!!!

Best Motion Picture:
Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Brad and a bunch of S/FX? Seriously?
Frost/Nixon – Fantastic. See it. It’s awesome.
Milk – M-m-m-m-m-m…well, you get the idea.  it’s weird.
The Reader – Haven’t seen it. Sounds somewhat interesting. But part of the movie sounds like Notes on a Scandal several years ago and that was VERY uncomfortable for me.
Slumdog Millionaire – Lots of buzz for this. Surprisingly, Lots of non-interest from me. **shrugs**

Adapted Screenplay:
Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Ok, I get it. Brad is good in Ben Button and the effects are awesome. I get it.
Doubt – **shuts eyes** Steph is going to make me watch this….
Frost/Nixon – So awesome. Can’t recommend this enough.
The Reader – I stick by what I said above.
Slumdog Millionaire – **continues doing something else to illustrate lack of interest**

Original Screenplay:
Frozen River- Apparently it’s the Casablanca of illegal immigrant smuggling movies.
Happy-Go-Lucky – I’ve never heard of this. Reading Yahoo! Movies’ description it sounds like chick lit. Quirky girl meets neverending parade of quirky characters that teach her much about herself. Whatever.
In Bruges – Steph and I actually watched this the other night. The first 2/3 of this movie is awesome. The end totally shifts gears and everything ends in a hail of unexpected violence and gunfire. What started off as a fun dark comedy devolved into a dark, dramatic blood bath. It’s not for everyone.
Milk – Still weird.
Wall-E – I guess. Kung-Fu Panda deserved it more, but it might have been entirely too awesome for the Academy. I understand, being too awesome for things is a problem I deal with every day. You just gotta live your life, man. You hear me Panda? Just live your life.

You know what really surprises me.  Valkyrie received no nominations AT ALL.  None.  I just went to Oscar.com and sorted the nominees by movie, not one award nomination for Valkyrie.  That is shocking.  No art direction, no costumes, no makeup.  I’m completely appalled.  Iron Man got two technical nominations as well as the awesome action-fest Wanted.  No Valkyrie.  It’s like it didn’t even exist.  That’s crazy.  I really wonder about the Academy sometimes.

So those are the main Oscar nominees for this year. There are a bunch more. If you want to see the complete list check out Oscar.com. The ceremony will be telecast on Feb 22, 2009 at 8pm EST on ABC.

I was originally just going to start in the mid-’80s but started moving backwards to my birth year, 1974. Then I moved even further back to 1970. Obviously, I didn’t start seriously watching the Oscars until the mid-’80s but 1970 is about where I start to recognize movies and have opinions on what happened that year. If you want to check out year by year results of the Oscars head on over to Oscars.com to their Academy Awards Database. You can search by year, award or actor. It helped me a lot in piecing this whole article together.

I started by looking back at the nominations and winners for the 8 main award categories (Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Director, Picture, Adapted Screenplay and Original Screenplay). Like I said, I went back to the 1970 Awards and started my research there. I looked at the nominees and winners for the year and picked the times that I thought the Academy got it wrong. I tried to only pick out completely egregious errors. Ones that offended my delicate sensibilities. I mean, the oversight had to leap off the page at me screaming, “WTF WAS THE ACADEMY THINKING?!” If a movie I liked didn’t win, but I thought the movie that won was worthy, I didn’t bother mentioning it. Keep in mind, this is my own opinion, however right I am, it’s just an opinion.

Let’s begin.

1972 – This year, the Best Supporting Actor was filled with 3 actors from The Godfather; Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall. How do you choose? If you are the Academy, you pick Joel Grey for his work in Cabaret. Wait, wha-?! That’s right, neither Michael, Sonny nor Tom Hagen won an Oscar for their efforts. But looking back on it, we all can see Mr. Grey’s performance was one for the ages. To throw salt in the wound, Cabaret wins Best Director over Godfather. Tell me that is not a tragedy. At least Brando won Best Actor this year (but he refused the award because Indians were not being treated fairly or something. What a weirdo).

1974 – The year of my birth. Al Pacino is nominated again for his performance as Michael Corleone, this time in Godfather Part II. Finally! Vindication for the oversight of two years ago. Instead of manning up, the Academy goes a completely different direction and awards Art Carney for Harry and Tonto. HARRY AND TONTO. An old guy and his cat traveling cross country to visit his family. Yeah, compelling. That plot synopsis alone fills me with chills. Wow, WTF, Academy? On a side note, I love, love, love that Madeline Kahn got a nomination for Blazing Saddles this year. Also, Young Frankenstein gets a nom for Adapted Screenplay. I love that, too. Neither wins, however, but Art Carney finally gets his trophy.

1978 – The events of this year’s Academy Awards leaves an extremely bitter aftertaste in my mouth. Star Wars opened in May 1977 and was eligible for this year’s Oscars. As we all know, Star Wars broke box office records and went on to be one of, if not the, most influential movie of all time. It changed how movies are made and marketed. It’s success launched a thousand different careers. Without Star Wars there would have been no Harrison Ford, no Industrial Light and Magic and no Pixar (which was a part of ILM before it was sold to Steve Jobs). How could Star Wars not be a shoe-in for every category it was nominated for? It was its destiny. However, it was not meant to be. The old guard of the voting Academy would never allow a “kids movie” to reap the highest rewards. The only actor to be recognized for Star Wars was Sir Alec Guiness, who was already an established and well respected actor. Come on, I mean, even John Travolta got a nomination for his performance in Saturday Night Fever (yes, I’m serious) and Harrison Ford couldn’t get a nomination for Han Solo? That’s messed up, dude. Star Wars was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. However Annie Hall STOLE all three of those awards from George Lucas’ monster space epic. Because today, I know you quote Annie Hall to your friends at every opportunity. Annie Hall pervades our pop culture like no other movie has (hope you are catching the sarcasm, I’m laying it on pretty thick). So, in the interest of fairness, I watched Annie Hall several years ago to see if it deserved all of its awards…and I hated every #%$& second of it. To start off with, I am not a fan of Woody Allen’s movies when he is acting in them. The movies he directs that he doesn’t appear in, I really like (see Purple Rose of Cairo and Radio Days). The reason? His acting style, to me, is nails-on-a-chalkboard irritating. He plays the same bumbling, neurotic character in every single movie. EVERY MOVIE. Show some range, man! Not only that, since he is writer and director, he writes himself as the lead and puts as his leading lady someone that would obviously, in real life, have nothing to do with him. However, in Annie Hall, he breaks from tradition and writes the leading female character, Annie Hall, as ridiculously neurotic as himself thereby making it seem as if two Woody Allens were in this movie at the same time. Yes, it’s Woody Allen squared. That’s like having two people kick you in the pills as hard as you can, one for each genital. I actually contemplated suicide while watching this atrocious movie. And what the hell is up with Diane Keaton’s wardrobe? She dresses like a 1930s lesbian gangster throughout the movie. Holy crap I hate Annie Hall, so yes, I am a little bitter about it beating Star Wars in 3 major categories during 1978′s Academy Awards.

1981 – Henry Fonda wins Best Actor for On Golden Pond over Dudley Moore for Arthur. How iconic a character is Arthur? It’s a classic drama/comedy with two very entertaining characters, Arthur and his butler, Hobsen. The character of Arthur is defined by Dudley Moore, his was a fantastic performance that should have won. Thank the Lord Sir John Gielgud won for Supporting Actor, otherwise there would be another entry for Arthur this year. It’s was a great movie, and two great performances. However the Academy decided they better give Fonda the Best Actor Oscar before he died (he was 72 this year and died the next). I watched On Golden Pond many years ago mainly because I love Katherine Hepburn (who is wonderful in the movie and rightfully wins the Best Actress award) and because my mom made me. How Fonda’s performance as a cranky, crotchety old fart gets him this award is beyond me. THIS MOVIE IS SO $%^$ BORING I WANTED TO DIE. Old people, living in the woods get visited by their well-meaning but irritatingly nosy daughter. If that premise screams Oscar to you then you live on a completely different planet than me, cause I don’t get it. Another head scratcher this year, Chariots of Fire beats Raiders of the Lost Ark for Best Picture. Honestly, I’m surprised that Raiders even made it into the Best Picture category. That, in and of itself, is a win. However Lucas (and Spielburg) gets snubbed again for a far inferior picture. I guess I should be happy that On Golden Pond didn’t win, but Chariots of Fire is just as boring. Trust me.

1984 – This is a year of ommission. Robert Redford’s classic baseball flick, The Natural is all but ignored by the Academy. This includes Robert Redford’s phenomenal performance as Ray Hobbs. It’s bad enough it didn’t win, but nothing was even nominated. NOT EVEN NOMINATED!! Strangely enough, Glenn Close, who has about 10 minutes of screen time in the movie, gets nominated as Best Supporting Actress. That’s a complete slap in the face. It’s not like there was a ton of competition; Amadeus, Killing Fields, Passage to India. You can’t tell me The Natural wouldn’t have fit in here. Amadeus won for crying out loud. The Natural wasn’t even nominated for Adapted Screenplay where Amadeus won again. Other nominees included the awful Greystoke: Legend of Tarzan and the ultra-boring Killing Fields. Where’s the love, Academy?

1989 – Did Driving Miss Daisy really deserve to be nominated for this many awards? Best Actor, Best Actress, Supporting Actor, Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. It’s about an old black guy that chauffeurs around an old white lady and they become friends (“Hoke, your my best friend”…..Awwwwww). Seriously, this won Best Picture? Really? I have 3 words…Dead Poet’s Society. Suck it, Academy.

1990 – Another especially bitter year for me. Good Fellas gets RAPED by the Academy. And I’m not embellishing for comedic purposes. The fact that Ray Liotta was not at least nominated for his role as Henry Hill is reprehensible. It’s grounds for fire bombing the Academy offices. BURN IT TO THE GROUND. And if that wasn’t enough of a betrayal, Dances With Wolves beats Good Fellas for Best Picture, Best Director and Adapted Screenplay. Yes, Kevin Costner, director of Waterworld and The Postman gets an Oscar over Martin Scorcese (who wouldn’t see a directing Oscar until 2006; 16 years later!). Are you kidding me? No, I’m not kidding. As a matter of fact, Whoopi Goldberg wins Best Supporting Actress for Ghost over Lorraine Bracco in Good Fellas. It’s like the Academy took a vacation this year and let a bunch of drunken monkeys take over the voting. WTF?! On a side note, Godfather Part III was eligible for several awards this year including Best Picture (I’m serious, it was up for best picture…it didn’t win), but Al Pacino is not nominated for Michael Corleone which means that only two actors were recognized with a win for their roles in all three of The Godfather movies (Marlon Brando and Robert Deniro). Interestingly enough, both actors played the same character. And it blows my mind that Al Pacino was never awarded an Oscar for his role as Michael Corleone. That is a shame.

1992 – Deciding that they may have made a mistake letting monkeys vote the winners in 1990, the Academy awards Best Actor to Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman, and realizes that they just made the same mistake. If Pacino is going to get nominated, it should have been for Godfather or Scarface, not this movie. Especially because he won this award over Robert Downey Jr.’s performance in Chaplin. Scent of a Woman was lame but Robert Downey Jr. laid it all out in Chaplin. It was an unbelievable performance in an unbelievable movie. At the very least Clint Eastwood should have won this year playing his typical “outlaw with scratchy voice” character in Unforgiven. Either of these would have been better than Scent of a Woman. Also, Crying Game wins Best Original Screenplay over Unforgiven?! Is it just me or is the Academy losing it’s mind?

1995 – I find it hard to believe that The Usual Suspects was NOT nominated for Best Director or Best Picture this year. Kevin Spacey was rightly nominated (and won) for Best Supporting Actor, but why this wonderful movie was ignored in the other categories is beyond me.

1996 – This was a tough one for me. Cuba Gooding, Jr wins Best Supporting Actor for Jerry Maguire. Don’t get me wrong, he absolutely deserved this, it was a great win for a great performance. However, one of the other nominees in this category was Edward Norton in Primal Fear, his first major starring role. He was so good in this movie it was hard for me to see him not win. I was elated he was even nominated as a nobody, but it just showed how strong a performance this was. So, this isn’t really a problem with the Academy, just a footnote for all of you..

1997 – Oh man. This was an up and down year. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon win Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting. Great win, I loved every minute of it because these two guys seem like awesome guys. However, Jack Nicholson wins Best Actor for As Good as it Gets over Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting. As Good As it Gets was an okay movie, but Nicholson’s character was super-irritating to me and ruined the whole movie. And the ending sucked. By the end it seemed like nothing had really changed from the beginning. But Good Will Hunting was a tour-de-force performance by relative newcomer Matt Damon. How this didn’t win is a mystery. In a nice bit of karma, Nicholson gets robbed in 2006 for his performance in Departed (for which he was phenomenal) as he’s not even nominated for Best Supporting Actor. And how is Russell Crowe NOT nominated for LA Confidential? He was fantastic.

1998 – OMG, this one really frosts my shorts. Roberto Benigni wins Best Actor for Life is Beautiful over Ed Norton in American History X. Ed Norton gets his second nomination in 3 years for another powerful performance as a Nazi Skinhead that tries to teach his little brother not to be like him. Unbelievable movie and an unbelievable performance. How the Academy can justify that Roberto Benigni’s performance was the best that year is beyond me. It must take some serious Geometry to come up with a proof to solve that equation. Hey, where’s Jim Carrey’s nomination for The Truman Show?

2000 – Julia Robert’s wins Best Actress for Erin Brockovich? Really? This baffles me because Joan Allen tore it up in The Contender that year. Unfortunately, you’ve probably never heard of the movie, but it was awesome. Granted, Joan was nominated for her performance, but Julia Robert’s breasts beat her out…wait I mean “performance”. If you get a chance, rent The Contender starring Joan Allen, Gary Oldman, Jeff Bridges and Christian Slater. Trust me, you will love it. It’s a political thriller and all of the performances are top-notch. Jeff Bridges was nominated for Supporting Actor (Gary Oldman should have been nominated also).

Well, those are some of the corrections/additions I would have made to the Academy Awards lists since 1970. Overall, the Academy does a good job, but every once in a while they get caught “drunk in church” and all hell breaks loose.

Hope you agree with my choices, are there any movies you wish you would have seen get a statue? Let me know.

Oh, and watch the Oscars this Sunday at 8pm EST on ABC.

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