That thou mayest possess all things, seek to possess nothing. — St John of the Cross
I think 2010 must be about when I stopped accumulating every DVD that came out. At least I don't think I own a single movie that came out in 2010. Is that because I got a bit less materialistic in my outlook? Or because they stopped selling them in local stores? Or maybe I just ran out of room ...
That's not a picture of every DVD I own, by the way. A hundred or so from the silent era are in a different cabinet and thirty or forty Criterion editions are on a shelf under the television. But you get the idea.
My choices are noted with a ★. A tie is indicated with a ✪. Historical Oscar winners are noted with a ✔. Best foreign-language picture winners are noted with an ƒ. Best animated feature winners are noted with an @. A historical winner who won in a different category is noted with a ✱.
Ah, now we're getting to something new. Well, I say new — these movies are eleven years old — but it's the first all-new set of alternate Oscars I've done since I quit after the 2009 polls. I had no juice left after a year of fighting cancer, and besides, the Washington Nationals were busy winning the World Series. Who had time for Oscars?
Time to get on with the rest of my life.
2010 was a solid year for movies without any one outstanding film that truly set the world on fire, at least not that I remember. Inception seems to have shown up on cable more than any of the others, so I voted for that. But you wouldn't be wrong to choose something else. Unless I didn't nominate it, in which case, you're out of luck.
In fact, that's kind of how I feel about everything from here on out — who knows what overlooked treasure will eventually rise to the level of a classic and what Oscar winner will sink under the surface never to be seen again? Certainly not me.
Note: Even though child actress Hailee Steinfeld was in virtually every scene of True Grit and is the driving force behind the action, the Academy nominated her in the category of best supporting actress — it's a family tradition. I've promoted her to the lead where she belongs.
My choices are noted with a ★. A tie is indicated with a ✪. Historical Oscar winners are noted with a ✔. Best foreign-language picture winners are noted with an ƒ. Best animated feature winners are noted with an @. A historical winner who won in a different category is noted with a ✱.
Named for Katie-Bar-The-Door, the Katies are "alternate Oscars"—who should have been nominated, who should have won—but really they're just an excuse to write a history of the movies from the Silent Era to the present day.
To see a list of nominees and winners by decade, as well as links to my essays about them, click the highlighted links:
Remember: There are no wrong answers, only movies you haven't seen yet.
The Silent Oscars
And don't forget to check out the Silent Oscars—my year-by-year choices for best picture, director and all four acting categories for the pre-Oscar years, 1902-1927.
Look at me—Joe College, with a touch of arthritis. Are my eyes really brown? Uh, no, they're green. Would we have the nerve to dive into the icy water and save a person from drowning? That's a key question. I, of course, can't swim, so I never have to face it. Say, haven't you anything better to do than to keep popping in here early every morning and asking a lot of fool questions?
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