Tomorrow morning, 10:00 am local time, the CGV channel here in Korea will be broadcasting the 2010 Oscar ceremony live. Over the past few days, I finally caught up with the final two of the ten Best Picture nominees: the Coen Brothers’ TRUE GRIT and Pixar’s TOY STORY 3. This marks the first time in which I can remember seeing all of the Best Picture contenders before the ceremony. Even if we restrict the best pictures of the year to English language fiction features, my four favorite films from that criterion are not represented: BLUE VALENTINE, NEVER LET ME GO, ANIMAL KINGDOM, and RABBIT HOLE. Of the ten nominees, TRUE GRIT would be my favorite, followed closely by THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT. Many of the Oscar contenders are either on DVD or are now playing here in theatres, such as TRUE GRIT, BLACK SWAN, 127 HOURS, and, opening next week I believe, THE FIGHTER. Below is a comparison, listing my favorite English language features with my ranking of the ten Oscar nominess.

MY TOP TEN                                           TOP TEN OSCAR NOMINEES

1. Blue Valentine                                      1. True Grit

2. Never Let Me Go                                 2. The Kids Are All Right

3. Animal Kingdom                                  3. The Fighter

4. Rabbit Hole                                          4. Toy Story 3

5. True Grit                                              5. Winter’s Bone

6. The Kids Are All Right                         6. The Social Network

7. Cyrus                                                   7. Black Swan

8. Let Me In                                              8. The King’s Speech

9. The Fighter                                           9. Inception

10. Toy Story 3                                         10. 127 Hours

Overall, there are four films overlapping, although not near the top of the list. Not a bad list of movies, but I didn’t feel any of the Oscar nominees were truly great. Compared to last year, I think THE HURT LOCKER, UP IN THE AIR, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, and A SERIOUS MAN are all superior to my favorite of this year, TRUE GRIT. On the plus side, I did not find any of the films, even Danny Boyle’s 127 HOURS (at the bottom of my list) to be as bad as 2009 nominee THE BLIND SIDE or even Boyle’s 2008 Oscar winner SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. That said, a list of the Top Five Korean films of the year (POETRY, OKI’S MOVIE, HAHAHA, THE HOUSEMAID, and BEDEVILED) has the American films clearly beat.

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