Well I let down this site again last year but I plan to keep up with things in 2012 once I’ve tidied up a bit, but that won’t stop me having fun with the awards shows as usual (I’ll make sure I get my usual Oscar predictions page up and running for next year in good time this year, too – promise).

Best Motion Picture – Drama – Moneyball – anything but Snore Horse will do me here, though I’ve seen nothing but that. I just have a gut feeling they’ll go with Moneyball here.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama – Tilda Swinton – We Need To Talk About Kevin – I don’t like the obvious so no Meryl Streep for me. I like seeing Tilda Swinton winning anything.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama – Brad Pitt – Moneyball – Again, just a feeling I have about the Globes and Brad Pitt here.

Best Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical – Midnight In Paris – The only one I’ve seen. I know, The Artist, The Artist – but I freakin’ loved this movie and have a feeling it has an attitude to nostalgia that, even once I’ve seen The Artist, I’ll favour.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical – Charlize Theron – Young Adult – Seen none of these, I love Jodie Foster, but Young Adult looks fantastic.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical – Owen Wilson – Midnight In Paris – Again, I just loved this movie, and Owen Wilson was particularly impressive.

Best Animated Feature Film – Rango – Just caught this the other day and loved it. Stunning animation and genuinely moving in places.

Best Foreign Language Film – The Skin I Live In – Oh, I was gonna go with the Angelina Jolie one for the same reasons as my Moneyball ones above, but I just saw this one this week, too, and, OMG… hope this one wins, the Oscar too (though it’ll probably somehow not even be on the shortlist there or something).

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs – I have absolutely no clue here… but I’ve liked Janet McTeer in other things…

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Albert Brooks – Drive – hmm, torn between him and Plummer, but this is the only one I’ve seen and he was one of the best things in it.

Best Director – Motion Picture – Woody Allen – Midnight In Paris – I may as well stick with Midnight as my one to root for. It really is his best in years (though I haven’t seen a bunch of ‘em lol). As I think I usually say at the Globes (I hope I’ll be more up to speed, as I said, this time next year, though) – I know I’ll be wrong.

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture – Woody Allen – Midnight In Paris – Well, I hope he wins one or the other, directing/writing, hehe…

Best Original Score – Motion Picture – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Again anything but Snore Horse here for me… haven’t seen any except that. Loved the Reznor/Ross Social Network music tho.

Best Original Song – Motion Picture – “Masterpiece” – W.E. – Hmm, sad there’s no Rango here… but I’ll go with Madonna for the same reason stated above for Brangelina. It’s the HFPA.

And now the interesting stuff I don’t normally do! TV! lol… genuinely, more excited about this portion than the cinema side this year.

Best Television Series – Drama – Game Of Thrones – I don’t know if Boardwalk is up for season 1 or 2? I preferred season 1, anyway. In any case, Game of Thrones held my interest more consistently.

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama – Claire Danes – Homeland – yikes, haven’t seen any of these… but I love Claire Danes.

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama – Steve Buscemi – Boardwalk Empire – duh of the night?

Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical – Enlightened – haven’t started watching this yet but I believe this is what I would pick if I had.

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical – Laura Dern – Enlightened – ditto.

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical – Matt LeBlanc – Episodes – something tells me “they” won’t be able to resist this, as explained for other things above… plus it’s the only one I’ve seen. And I liked.

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television – Mildred Pierce – Just please not f-ing Downton… but I absolutely LOVED this series, this is my favourite thing up for anything tonight.

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television – Kate Winslet – Mildred Pierce

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television – William Hurt – Too Big To Fail – oy… no clue in this category lol.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television – Evan Rachel Wood – Mildred Pierce – my MEGA root for the night. Have loved Evan Rachel Wood for years and not only was she brilliant overall in this, she was so brilliant she made me not regret her being swapped in for the equally amazing Morgan Turner who played the young Veda.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television – Peter Dinklage – Game Of Thrones – tough category but Dinklage was easily the best thing in Game of Thrones next to Maisie Williams

I finally made it to 20! lol. It’s taking longer this year ‘cos I’m determined to have all titles link to a half-decent review, plus all the Hitchcock watching and stuff

1. Kick-Ass Matthew Vaughn
2. Toy Story 3 Lee Unkrich
3. Four Lions Chris Morris
4. Hot Tub Time Machine Steve Pink
5. The Karate Kid Harold Zwart
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid Thor Freudenthal
7. Edge of Darkness Martin Campbell
8. Cemetery Junction Ricky Gervais / Stephen Merchant
9. Inception Christopher Nolan
10. The Last Song Julie Anne Robinson
11. The Crazies Breck Eisner
12. The Infidel Josh Appignanesi
13. The Wolfman Joe Johnston
14. Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars Ron Oliver
15. The Runaways Floria Sigismondi
16. Green Zone Paul Greengrass
17. Shutter Island Martin Scorsese
18. Cop Out Kevin Smith
19. Alice in Wonderland Tim Burton
20. The A-Team Joe Carnahan
21. Eclipse David Slade

I was going to start the entry with “I don’t bother predicting the nominations for these awards but…” but, eep, well it seems I didn’t even bother with this last year lol. Anyway, this is like an Oscars preview, I guess, and I’ve decided that since the awards are so predictable this year (you can find predictions all over elsewhere that will be 100% right, and I could easily transcribe if I wanted), I’m going to root for the underdogs, the ones that I love, unless those happen to coincide particularly well with the “locks”. So, yeh, again the “predictions” moniker isn’t entirely correct, but y’know, it’s the internet, and you gotta use the keywords.

In short, you could say that this year I’m going for a score of zero, lol. (actually, having completed the list, I reckon it might just be my usual 50/50 again with the lesser categories working in my favour…)

… 8/21!

Best Film: Up in the Air
Outstanding British Film: Moon
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer: Duncan Jones, Moon
Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Original Screenplay: Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino
Adapted Screenplay: Up in the Air, Jason Reitman
Film not in the English Language: Let the Right One In
Animated Film: Coraline
Leading Actor: George Clooney, Up in the Air
Leading Actress: Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Supporting Actress: Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Music: Crazy Heart
Cinematography: The Hurt Locker
Editing: The Hurt Locker
Production Design: Avatar
Costume Design: A Single Man
Sound: Avatar
Special Visual Effects: Avatar
Make Up & Hair: Nine
Rising Star: Carey Mulligan

I have a feeling I will do better than my 6/14 of last year here. What I am noticing about this year’s awards season is (especially with the Oscars having 10 Best Picture slots now) how surprisingly predictable it is and yet how even if the wildest outcome occurs, most people are gonna be pretty satisfied. With that said, the following is not exclusively the ones I “really” think will win, rather a combination of that and a few that I really deep down personally want to win. I shall be live tweeting my thoughts from red carpet time onwards

7/14

Best Motion Picture – Drama: Up in the Air (really want this, here and at the Oscars)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama: Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the Novel Push By Sapphire (haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard enough)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama: Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart (haven’t seen it, but by all accounts… plus he’s overdue: here and the Oscars, please)

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical: (500) Days of Summer (unlikely, but it’s the one I like best)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical: Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia (not a lot to pick from here)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical: Joseph Gordon-Levitt – (500) Days of Summer (again, just the one I liked best)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Mo’Nique – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (same as Sidibe in the lead: haven’t seen, but heard plenty)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds (the surest of my predix)

Best Animated Feature Film: Up (hmm, maybe even surer)

Best Foreign Language Film: The White Ribbon (though the HFP really like Almodovar, right?)

Best Director – Motion Picture: Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker (here and the Oscars please, but less of the big deal about her being OMG Roger Moore voice a woman!)

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture: Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds (this is so the best of the five nominated it’s ridiculous)

Best Original Score – Motion Picture: Karen O and Carter Burwell – Where the Wild Things Are (I didn’t like the movie much, but the music was some of the most original of last year, shame Bruno Coulais isn’t nominated for Coraline)

Best Original Song – Motion Picture: “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart) (getting Wrestler vibes from this and Bridges)

(I don’t do the TV ones but Drew Barrymore deserves anything)

I wasn’t sure if I’d bothered/got around to doing this last year but I did so I’ll continue the habit. I’ve been “locking” this list at the end of each year since 2004 now so it is kind of interesting to see how it changes over time afterall [2004 2005 2006 2007 2008]. I haven’t actually updated the current list on the site in months either so this is the absolute latest, making it doubly worth a front page entry. There are still some unreviewed titles, but that number does go down a little each time too.

1. Almost Famous: Untitled Cameron Crowe
2. Tarzan Kevin Lima, Chris Buck
3. Edward Scissorhands Tim Burton
4. Harold and Maude Hal Ashby
5. The Rocky Horror Picture Show Jim Sharman
6. The Exorcist: The Version You’ve Never Seen William Friedkin
7. The Birds Alfred Hitchcock
8. The Bad Seed Mervyn LeRoy
9. La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc Carl Dreyer
10. Schindler’s List Steven Spielberg
11. Unforgiven Clint Eastwood
12. The Fisher King Terry Gilliam
13. The Strawberry Statement Stuart Hagmann
14. The Wizard of Oz Victor Fleming
15. Buffalo ’66 Vincent Gallo
16. Pieces of April Peter Hedges
17. Uptown Girls Boaz Yakin
18. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Jacques Demy
19. Cinema Paradiso Giuseppe Tornatore
20. Magnolia Paul Thomas Anderson
21. The Ninth Configuration William Peter Blatty
22. Punch-Drunk Love Paul Thomas Anderson
23. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron Kelly Asbury, Lorna Cook
24. Once Upon a Time in America Sergio Leone
25. Brokeback Mountain Ang Lee
26. Natural Born Killers Oliver Stone
27. War of the Worlds Steven Spielberg
28. V for Vendetta James McTeigue
29. Whistle Down the Wind Bryan Forbes
30. Artificial Intelligence: AI Steven Spielberg
31. Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Michael Wadleigh
32. Moulin Rouge! Baz Luhrmann
33. Yentl Barbra Streisand
34. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button David Fincher
35. Lawn Dogs John Duigan
36. Tideland Terry Gilliam
37. Riding in Cars with Boys Penny Marshall
38. The Iron Giant Brad Bird
39. Once Upon a Time in the West Sergio Leone
40. Before Sunset Richard Linklater
41. A Home at the End of the World Michael Mayer
42. Man on Fire Tony Scott
43. The Innocents Jack Clayton
44. Vol. 2 Quentin Tarantino
45. Palindromes Todd Solondz
46. Millions Danny Boyle
47. Fahrenheit 9/11 Michael Moore
48. The End of the Affair [1999] Neil Jordan
49. Felicia’s Journey Atom Egoyan
50. Girl, Interrupted James Mangold
51. Marnie Alfred Hitchcock
52. Carrie Brian De Palma
53. The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane Nicholas Gessner
54. Heavenly Creatures Peter Jackson
55. Mandy aka Crash of Silence Alexander Mackendrick
56. Lolita Adrian Lyne
57. Two for the Road Stanley Donen
58. Robin and Marian Richard Lester
59. Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle Eric Rohmer
60. Niagara Niagara Bob Gosse
61. Show Me Love/ Fucking Åmål Lukas Moodysson
62. May Lucky McKee
63. Limelight Charlie Chaplin
64. The Big Sleep [1946] Howard Hawks
65. Citizen Kane Orson Welles
66. Vertigo Alfred Hitchcock
67. The Godfather Part II Francis Ford Coppola
68. Les Yeux Sans Visage Georges Franju
69. Pink Floyd The Wall Alan Parker
70. A Clockwork Orange Stanley Kubrick
71. The Truman Show Peter Weir
72. The Big Lebowski Joel Coen
73. The Opposite of Sex Don Roos
74. The Horse Whisperer Robert Redford
75. Moonlight Mile Brad Silberling
76. Little Voice Mark Herman
77. Run Lola Run Tom Tykwer
78. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Peter Jackson
79. Ed Wood Tim Burton
80. Catch Me If You Can Steven Spielberg
81. The Girl on the Bridge Patrice Leconte
82. Bringing Out the Dead Martin Scorsese
83. The Ninth Gate Roman Polanski
84. Fight Club David Fincher
85. Vanilla Sky Cameron Crowe
86. Babel Alejandro González Iñárritu
87. Once John Carney
88. The Prestige Christopher Nolan
89. The Fountain Darren Aronofsky
90. Shame Ingmar Bergman
91. Easy Rider Dennis Hopper
92. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Stanley Kubrick
93. Dawn of the Dead [1978] George Romero
94. Léon: The Professional Luc Besson
95. All That Jazz Bob Fosse
96. The Hudsucker Proxy Joel Coen
97. The Wicker Man Robin Hardy
98. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Michel Gondry
99. Breaking the Waves Lars Von Trier
100. I Am Sam Jessie Nelson

The list finally reached 100 entries, I realised, so this will be the last bump it gets and going on my final top 5 (at least as it stands) I have to say that 2008 was not as bad a year as for a time I thought. Let’s hope 2009 holds fewer disappointments, though.

1. Let the Right One In Tomas Alfredson
2. Gran Torino Clint Eastwood
3. Phoebe in Wonderland Daniel Barnz
4. Rachel Getting Married Jonathan Demme
5. Mamma Mia! Phyllida Lloyd
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button David Fincher
7. Changeling Clint Eastwood
8. WALL·E Andrew Stanton
9. Australia Baz Luhrmann
10. Doubt John Patrick Shanley
11. Redbelt David Mamet
12. In Bruges Michael McDonagh
13. Slumdog Millionaire Danny Boyle
14. Happy-Go-Lucky Mike Leigh
15. The Dark Knight Christopher Nolan
16. Bolt Byron Howard, Chris Williams
17. High School Musical 3: Senior Year Kenny Ortega
18. Vicky Cristina Barcelona Woody Allen
19. The Wrestler Darren Aronofsky
20. Tropic Thunder Tropic Thunder
21. The Strangers Bryan Bertino
22. Man on Wire James Marsh
23. Waltz with Bashir Ari Folman
24. Frost/Nixon Ron Howard
25. Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Patricia Rozema
26. Wanted Timur Bekmambetov
27. The Happening M. Night Shyamalan
28. Sleepwalking Bill Maher
29. Religulous Larry Charles
30. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Steven Spielberg
31. Vantage Point Pete Travis
32. Nim’s Island Jennifer Flackett, Mark Levin
33. Frozen River Courtney Hunt
34. Sex and the City Michael Patrick King
35. Blindness Fernando Meirelles
36. Hannah Montana / Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Tour Bruce Hendricks
37. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Nick Stroller
38. Pineapple Express David Gordon Green
39. Ghost Town David Koepp
40. Repo! The Genetic Opera Darren Lynn Bousman
41. Che Steven Soderbergh
42. Defiance Edward Zwick
43. Quarantine John Erick Dowdle
44. The Secret Life of Bees Gina Prince-Bythewood
45. Eden Lake James Watkins
46. The Reader Stephen Daldry
47. Lakeview Terrace Neil Labute
48. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army Guillermo Del Toro
49. Milk Gus Van Sant
50. Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson Alex Gibney
51. Hancock Tony Smith
52. Burn After Reading Joel and Ethan Coen
53. The Ruins Carter Smith
54. The Spiderwick Chronicles Mark Waters
55. The Eye David Moreau, Xavier Palud
56. The Day the Earth Stood Still Scott Derrickson
57. The Bank Job Roger Donaldson
58. The Wackness Jonathan Levine
59. Revolutionary Road Sam Mendes
60. The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning Peggy Holmes
61. The Incredible Hulk Louis Leterrier
62. Iron Man Jon Favreau
63. You Don’t Mess With the Zohan Dennis Dugan
64. Merry Christmas Drake and Josh Michael Grossman
65. Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg
66. Zack and Miri Make a Porno Kevin Smith
67. Zeitgeist: Addendum Peter Joseph
68. The Oxford Murders Álex De La Iglesia
69. Be Kind Rewind Michel Gondry
70. War, Inc. Joshua Seftel
71. Death Race Paul W.S. Anderson
72. Return to Sleepaway Camp Robert Hiltzik
73. Superhero Movie Craig Mazin
74. Saw V David Hackl
75. Cloverfield Matt Reeves
76. Tinker Bell Bradley Raymond
77. Speed Racer The Wachowski Brothers
78. Wendy and Lucy Kelly Reichardt
79. Kung Fu Panda Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
80. How to Lose Friends and Alienate People Robert B. Weide
81. Another Cinderella Story Damon Santostefano
82. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Andrew Adamson
83. Quantum of Solace Marc Forster
84. W Oliver Stone
85. The X Files: I Want to Believe Chris Carter
86. Get Smart Peter Segal
87. The Duchess Saul Dibb
88. The Cottage Paul Andrew Williams
89. Day of the Dead Steve Miner
90. Rambo Sylvester Stallone
91. Jumper Doug Liman
92. Doubting Thomas Mark Blutman
93. 27 Dresses Anne Fletcher
94. Igor Anthony Leondis
95. Twilight Catherine Hardwicke
96. April Fool’s Day Mitchell Altieri Phil Flores
97. 10,000 B.C. Roland Emmerich
98. Prom Night Nelson McCormick
99. Doomsday Neil Marshall
100. Camp Rock Matthew Diamond