In the world of film criticism, you’d be a loser if you don’t have a Top Ten list for the year. So in order to not feel like such a loser, especially considering that I am sitting at home watching Sunday Night Football and eying up my pile of “Best Foreign Film” screeners on New Year’s Eve instead of partying, I have decided to draw up my own list to conclude the year. Here they are, my personal favorites, in reverse order:

10. The Devil Wears Prada

Meryl Streep absolutely steals this one, and turns it into one of the more fabulous and stylish films of the year.

9. United 93

Paul Greengrass handled a very touchy subject with immense reverence and class, allowing it to pay homage to heroes rather than exploit a tragedy.

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Release Date: November 21, 2006 (limited)

It is always a great risk taking a popular play from the stage and transferring it onto the silver screen. If you can endure the criticism from theater purists and dumb it down enough for mainstream America to be entertained, then there is room for a bit of success. Rob Marshall found great mainstream success with Chicago, infusing it with Hollywood talent that blew audiences away. Other stage to screen adaptations, such as Joel Shumacher’s The Phantom of the Opera have been well received by critics, but shunned by the American audience in that they were too difficult to follow on the silver screen. In cases like these, and many others, it often rests on the vision of the director and how he or she decides to interpret the small world of screen into the vast realm of film. With The History Boys, director Nicholas Hynter shows plenty of vision in making a film that does the play justice, he just may not capture the minds and hearts of the American moviegoer.

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Release Date: December 22, 2006

In We Are Marshall, the dubious tandem of Director McG (Charlie’s Angels) and actor Matthew McConaughey team up to relive the story of the 1970 Marshall University football team that was lost in a plane crash coming home from a game against Eastern Carolina. The deaths of 75 players, coaches and boosters was a devastating blow to the University and the community around it, leaving many to wonder whether there would ever be football again at Marshall. The result is a poorly managed, severely miscast walking sports cliché.

Enter McConaughey as coach Jack Lengyel, a man who sought out the opportunity to help Marshall get back on the field and teach an entire community to keep on living. Full of inspiration and annoying quirks, Lengyel reassembles the program with the help of Red Dawson (Matthew Fox), the lone coach left after the tragic crash.

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It has been a few days since I last blogged Oscar bliss, but rest assured that there has been plenty of news; all of which I will deliver to you now in my own special way.

We start with something that is more than just speculation, and it actually relates to the Oscar ceremonies (everything else, at this point, is just other people’s awards generating speculation). The 79^th Annual Oscar show now has a poster (which can be seen below). This year’s design is a simple one, focusing on that little golden man that everyone is desperately seeking, with some famous quotes in the background that will give any film fan a case of historical euphoria. One word-ers like “Rosebud” and “Stella” and “Frodo!” got the largest font, but others caught my eye because they remind me of childhood favorites - like “E.T. phone home.” The poster is cool, you get that; now onto something more gossip-ish.

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The Golden Globe nominations for this year have been made - it is time to talk about them.

We’ll start with the big winners. Babel took in 7 nominations, including Best Picture (Drama), Best Actor (Brad Pitt) and Best Supporting Actress (Rinko Kikuchi). It is very quickly becoming the odds on favorite, which means that it will most likely get snubbed by the Academy. Mark my words, this one will get screwed.

Along with Babel, Best Picture nominees also included Emilio Estevez’ ensemble flick, and one of my personal favorites of the year Bobby, Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, Little Children and The Queen. It excites me to see Bobby getting recognition, as it was not received well by critics - except for me, of course. Rocking out in the Comedy/Musical category were some other spectacular films that, while they may not all be destined for Oscar noms, are also very deserving. Borat strikes again, along with Little Miss Sunshine, The Devil Wears Prada and Dreamgirls. Also making the cut is another favorite of mine, Thank You for Smoking. Containing one of the best comedic performances I have seen all year (Aaron Eckhart), Thank You for Smoking was both smart and sexy, taking the cool factor of smoking to new lows.

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Release Date: December 15, 2006

Every year Hollywood has the propensity to spew forth a few films that we have seen before. Some are carelessly repetitive, and even fewer are intelligently re-imagined. Either way, it leads many to believe that they are just plain running out of ideas. The most recent example is the excruciating fantasy regurgitation Eragon, a film that resembles something that could have been mere scraps of silicon plucked from George Lucas’ cutting room floor.

At the heart of Eragon’s failures is a poorly constructed plot, adapted from a book written by Christopher Paolini, who at the time was about 15. Luckily, he was old enough to see both Star Wars and read Tolkien’s LOTR series, otherwise he would not have had any material for his book. The story is a trite mishandling of previously good stories.

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The Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning. I will break them all down a bit later in tonight’s Oscar Beat, but for now there are some nominees that can do all the talking for me.

Ben Affleck, nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Hollywoodland, had this to say through his publicist:

“I am honored that the HFPA chose to nominate me in the company of such fine actors. I take this as recognition and acknowledgement of the work of Allen Coulter and the amazingly talented cast and crew that helped to bring George Reeves’ story to life. The Golden Globes are a great party and my enthusiasm for going this year is tempered only by the knowledge of how much George would have loved to be there. I’m sorry he missed it.”

And while Ben is sentimental about this “great party”, Sacha Baron Cohen was a little bit more playful when commenting on Borat’s 2 Globe Nominations (via Craig’s MovieBlog):

“I am extremely honored. I’m very proud as well for my fellow writers as well as our director Larry Charles, and our producer Jay Roach, and am very thankful for the HFPA’s belief and acknowledgment of our film. I have been trying to let Borat know this great news but for the last 4 hours both of Kazakhstan’s telephones have been engaged. Eventually, Premier Nazarbayev answered and said he would pass on the message as soon as Borat returned from Iran, where he is guest of honor at the Holocaust Denial Conference.”

Oh, that Borat.

More Oscar Beat coming at ya this evening, so stick around!

This time of year, there is enough movie news to make you bleed from the ears. On top of the actual “news” there is tons of speculation, gossip and predicting that will make your head spin if you aren’t doped up on Dramamine. That is why I am here to sort things out for you, making your Awards season a bit easier to take. It’s like having a guide to Holiday dinners with the in-laws - virtually indispensable.

On the docket this Tuesday morning are plenty of awards announcements that will undoubtedly spawn more awards speculation. Yesterday the West Side represented with some awards. AFI named its Top Ten, with Borat and Half Nelson showing up alongside Letters from Iwo Jima and Little Miss Sunshine. And LAFCA (Los Angeles Film Critics Association) announced their awards, giving praise to - Sascha Baron Cohen for Best Actor? In a tie with Forrest Whitaker? Go figure.

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Release Date: December 27, 2006 (limited)

When you think of perfume, you very rarely think about movies. One reason for this is that the two give you such different sensations. Perfume is an olfactory sensation – a smell. Movies give you both audible and visual sensations – images and sounds. It is almost implausible to think that these two sensational experience could ever cross paths. But don’t tell that to the makers of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, for they seem to think that even a film can omit a scent.

But before we go into whether Perfume comes out smelling like a rose or manure, it is necessary to understand what the film is all about. Perfume is the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), a boy born with a highly superior olfactory sense who becomes obsessed with preserving all of the world’s smells. There to help him (and profit from his amazingly keen sense of smell) is Italian perfumer Giuseppe Baldini (Dustin Hoffman), who shows Grenouille how to turn scent into oil and make fine perfumes.

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Rapidly approaching are the 2006 Oscars, and with that come plenty of horses that need to be beaten - so bring on more Oscar Beat! Fresh for your Monday morning afternoon, here is some slick Oscar news and a side dish of opinions.

On her blog last week, Karina Longworth (who pretty much runs that show at Netscape nowadays) blogged about how sources close to Director Martin Scorsese say that he has asked Warner Bros. not to promote him for The Departed during awards season. It looks like one of two things: either he is really not concerned with winning this year (a sort of defeatist thing) or he is trying to fake everyone out. In the end I would hope that whether or not they spend money promoting the film or not, Scorsese should be honored - his was one of the best directorial efforts of the year, hands down.

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Release Date: December 8, 2006

There was a time in America – long before my time or the time of my parents, when most Americans worked hard, overcame great obstacles and drove themselves toward a small ideal known as the pursuit of happiness. It was known as the American Dream, or at least it was the path to get there. But since then much has changed about America. Now instead of overcoming our own personal obstacles and living the American Dream, we would much rather watch it all happen to someone else by way of the silver screen.

We would much rather watch stories like that of Chris Gardner, a struggling bone density scanner salesman who lived with his young son on the streets of San Francisco for months as he pursued a career as a stock broker. Gardner’s story is a perfect example of determination and will – the unrelenting need to move forward toward making things better for himself and his son. It is a wonderful tale that embodies the spirit of those generations of the past. Unfortunately, translated into film as The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith, the story loses its flare thanks to a poorly illustrated narrative that seems a bit “runny”.

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I don’t know if you are ready for this, but here is your second (count it), your second dose of Oscar Beat this week! If you are excited, the great. If you aren’t excited, then you should be.

Yesterday the National Board of Review handed out their year end awards, an event that is closely watched by Oscar predictors every year. The reason they are so closely spied by critics and industry insiders alike? Because it is one of the first major awards list of the year and it very often is a good gauge on the Oscar races. Some in the industry, including David Poland of The Hot Blog, say that the NBR Awards are relatively meaningless. Only time will tell whether NBR’s list will be relevant in late February, but that won’t stop me from dissecting it a bit.

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Release Date: December 8, 2006

As Ron Burgundy would say, “I am a man! A man who invented the wheel and fire!” And then he would go into some nonsensical rant about the size of women’s brains, but I am not going to do that. The statement that I am a man is supposed to somehow reaffirm my masculinity right before I go on to talk about The Holiday, which is set to be released on Friday starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black. During this review I will use such emasculating words as “cute” and “charming” and I may also refer to Jack Black as “adorable”. But setting these atrocities of manhood aside, I would like to actually talk about the movie.

If you have seen the trailer for The Holiday, you are already thinking that it is just another chick flick released just in time to remind all of those without love in their life that it is Christmas and they are doomed to be alone. It is also just in time to remind guys like me that it is Christmas and I do have someone in my life – whom I have yet to get any sort of gift. But this movie, while it does take place during Christmas, is less about The Holidays and more about taking a Holiday from your life, and how it can ultimately save you from yourself.

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If there is one thing that all critics have in common, it is that we are generally bitter. If there is a second thing that all critics have in common, it is that we all love to analyze things and think that we can predict an outcome. And around this time of year, predicting who will win which awards in which ceremonies seems to be the taster’s choice for many critics, myself included.

But before I can make any predictions, I must ensure the readiness of my readers. I must feed you long lists of possibilities and throngs of gossip in order to ready you for my predictions. Then, and only then can I unleash upon you my picks for this years Oscars. The staff of Film School Rejects may also be tapped to help me with said predictions, as well as make their own, but that will come later. For now, let us dish some dirt on Hollywood’s most sought after little golden man.

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Release Date: December 8, 2006

It takes balls to make a film such as this. Scratch that, it takes some serious bravado to make a film about Africa that is as unabashed as Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond. Difficult to watch, daring and unrelenting, Zwick’s film is a winner through and through.

The film takes place in the late 1990’s during the height of the conflict diamond trade. Sierra Lione is a country torn by civil war and genocide all due to the world’s need to have the luxuries of life at the slimmest price. Djimon Hounsou plays Solomon Vandy, a simple fisherman whose village is ransacked by rebels who separate him from his family and force him to work in the mine fields. There he finds a precious diamond, and just before the rebel diamond field is taken by the government, Vandy buries the diamond for later. While he is in prison as a result of the government’s raid, he meets Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), a diamond smuggler who insists that he can help Vandy sell the diamond and find his family.

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