I Get to Make a Ten-Best List, Too

Well hell, it's my blog and I can take this initiative. So although my viewing roster this year is hardly as comprehensive as Roger Ebert's, I have experienced enough Oscar-bait films to justify a list of personal favorites (sorry, "Vera Drake," "Being Julia" and "Beyond the Sea," I'm saving you for cable). My criteria is as follows: how well did the movie execute its premise? Did I leave the theater emotionally drained, philosophical or musing on where to have dinner? The choice of ten is arbitrary and difficult, but it does usefully limit my grandstanding.

10. "Spiderman 2": Made for purely commercial purposes, it expanded the genre by imbuing the tale with emotional resonance. It provided plot twists and revelations that defied expectations of standard comic book fare. Spidey must be the only superhero to really resent his job, and he'd make a lot more as a Starving Student. Quibble(s): James Franco's friend/foe. You wanna slap him. And the Graduate/Rhoda wedding resolution was cliche.

9. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind": One mind that is hardly spotless is Charlie Kaufmann's. He rendered an impossible premise intriguing enough to suspend disbelief. Though I rate this movie only ninth, its originality may give it a longer shelf life as the classic from this year. It's always nice to see a restrained Jim Carrey (who was so terrific as Andy Kaufman in "The Man in the Moon." Hey--I mentioned two different Kaufmans in the same listing!) Quibble: Kate Winslet's crayola hair.

8. "The Incredibles": I viewed this on DVD so I didn't get the full cinematic impact; but I found myself so intrigued with the story that I forgot I was watching animated characters. Of the films on the list, the one which will see the earlierst sequel. (Of course there will be "Spiderman 3" but it will take some time to reunite the cast with their salary demands). Quibble: the weird Chinese fashion agent. Kinda racist in a Mr. Moto sense.

7. "Collateral": Michael Mann's rain-soaked glistening L.A. still has burned its image on my retina. A nerver-racking performance by Tom Cruise, who is always workmanlike but will have to wait till his "True Grit" to earn his overdue Oscar. And Jamie Foxx--what a Career Year-- thoroughly grips the audience. Quibble: the dovetailing of story lines and characters is a predictable and so convenient.

6. "Bad Education.": Almodovar is a great filmmaker, and this Chinese Box of a movie is both sumptuous to observe and intriguing to follow. I love films that demand my attention. His thoroughgoing cynicism is rough to digest, but there's no reason he should compromise with the nature of corruption. Quibble: Gael Bernal is revealed to be tinier than even a romantic hero ought to be. Either they used Peter Jackson's hobbit-camera or "Motorcycle Diaries" played loose with its lenses.

5. "Maria Full of Grace": The tender and riveting performance of its star was equalled by the audacity of the American director to portray the characters in their appropriate Spanish context. He managed to create a naturalist fairy tale. I'll never look at grapes quite the same way again (was there some unintended reference to the fractured child's rendition of "Hail Mary, Full of Grapes"?). Quibble: That really didn't look like Jackson Heights.

4. "Million Dollar Baby": Clint Eastwood's likely Oscar-winner was so wildly hailed that I was expecting to be transported to Heaven after viewing it. I've never been a big fan of boxing movies; the blatant brutality of the sport always repelled me. But this is a well-directed and affecting character drama, and while the moral dilemma at the end is handled satisfactorily, Eastwood really stacks the deck. Quibbles: Morgan Freeman's narration is a tad novelistic, and wouldn't somebody have told Maggie what her nickname means?

3. "Hotel Rwanda": The impact of the film still resides in its can't-miss tragic subject matter. Don Cheadle is terrific in a second-place Oscar effort as the African Schindler. There are a few jump-in-your-seat moments of terror, and the ending, also Schindleresque, does evoke the requisite throat lump. A worthy effort, and could steal the Oscar from Eastwood (who has already won) because of Hollywood's self-congratulatory affinity for Epics of Goodliness. Quibbles: Not quite enough depicted horror (by choice) to arouse the emotions. Despite all the bodies on the road, we never see any massacres close-up, which somehow shortchanges the victims.

2. "Ray": This has to be Taylor Hackford's best film; not just because of the subject, but because he elicits magnificent performances from all his actors. Who is that young woman who plays Ray's mother? She's staggering; a lingering, gut-wrenching performance that had better earn her a nomination, and will surely earn her a career. Then of course there's Jamie Foxx's amazing impression of Charles, to Don Cheadle's regret. A generous serving of musical and cultural history. Quibble: the murky back story of Ray's guilt regarding his brother seems uncomfortably shoe-horned in for emotional climax purposes.

1. "Kinsey": This is basically a movie about a statistical survey, yet it that was still fascinating from its inception. There was simply no film this year that was as interesting. It does much more for academia than "A Beautiful Mind," but it won't win nearly as many awards. It's also a document about personal liberation on a grand scale, and about cultural enlightenment, so meaningful today during an incresingly Retrograde Era. OK, sure, this is one of the great Blue State movies. Quibble: the Lynn Redgrave salutation-to-Kinsey coda was a little pat and feel-good. Didn't need it to tie the gift with a ribbon.

The numbers game has forced me to exclude other obvious candidates as "The Aviator," "Finding Neverland," "Closer," and "Sideways," of which I'll have something to say later, since only my jittery DSL connection can keep me from my appointed posts.