This year I enjoyed lots of the films, though I don’t think I’ll remember any as utterly amazing except in spectacle. Though Rosamund Pike’s turn as the thickest blonde from Thickton, London rivals Mulligan’s standout show.

@emilyanne – It’s not that Clooney is put forth as the “good at life” character – but his problems are fleshed out and at least partially resolved, and when he can’t connect with other people the audience is on his side. Clooney can’t connect, the audience wants him to be able to. Clooney tries to connect with his sisters and it does work out or with a love interest and it doesn’t work out, either way the audience is on his side. Clooney lives alone and that’s sad.

Kendrick’s character, on the other hand, elicits eye-rolls and scorn with her audacious sense of confidence in her ideas, and when she falls apart the movie takes real glee in it, as if it’s about time she got her comeuppance. Young women shouldn’t be in charge of overhauling a company’s business plan! Who the hell does she think she is?? Kendrick ends up alone and the audience hopes that she’s learned her lesson.

Haven’t seen Bright Star although I imagine I’ll enjoy it based on the subject matter but I have to say I hated Antichrist with a passion, I loathe Von Trier I think he’s a misogynistic prick who tries to hide his misogyny with supposedly empowered female characters. I’m actually sick of watching women sacrifice themselves sexually in his films. He might be a visionary director but i don’t think that counts when the vision is that puerile. Then again I’ve never got over Breaking the Waves, a film which I think is among the most vile made and I wouldn’t have willingly watched Antichrist (I had to for an article).

I said it above and i’ll say it again this was a very bad year for Anglocentric movies, all the foreign film noms were superior to the best pic list and I liked Hurt Locker, I do think it was the best film nominated but it was nowhere near the best film I saw this year. The academy needs to wake up and stop simply nominating US and UK films above everything else.

@emilyanne: ‘this is the sort of lets all pretend we love each other shite that the academy can’t help but vote for in order to pretend that they are caring people and not actually soul sucking greed demons. It’s bound to win even though it’s crap.’
Not exactly my words, but yes. Oh god yes. I didn’t even need to see the movie to know it would win.

And gogo you raise a good point about the Polanski shout outs. I’m not big on the Oscars anyway, but with all the buzz all over the blogs I read I was thinking of watching. Now I’m reconsidering.

So to cheer myself (and anyone else who needs it) up, have an Up remix http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2yt1ooLQGo