The 2010 List

*shudder* I just added Bright Star to my NetFlix queue. Remember Bright Star? Costume drama about poet John Keats and his girlfriend, directed by Jane Campion, came out a few months ago? No? You're probably not the only person who has completely forgotten about this minor film from mid-2009; the only person I know who saw it was my pal Lucy, who I fear has a bit of a weakness for such flicks, and even she used the words "emo" and "tuberculoid" to describe it. Nonetheless, Bright Star is not only in my Net Flix queue, but has actually been moved to the top of the pile because it's on The List, and The List must be served.

The List is Entertainment Weekly's annual list of The 25 Movies You Need to See Before Oscar Night, and every year Norman and I, both of us fans of random, pointless challenges, make a point of seeing every one of those movies. This year's List appeared in last week's issue, and EW recommends that viewers "start at the top of this list and work [their] way down." Thus, you've got surefire Oscar nominees clogging the top of The List, while long shots appear farther down; Bright Star, for instance, is in spot #24, and for that reason alone I don't feel too bad about missing it. I'm pleased to note that I have already seen 16 of the 25 films (noted in red below), and I'm going to knock off another one (The Blind Side) this afternoon, so I am in a good position heading into awards season.

1. Up in the Air
2. Avatar
3. The Hurt Locker
4. Precious
5. Inglourious Basterds
6. Invictus
7. An Education
8. Up
9. A Serious Man
10. The Messenger
11. Julie & Julia
12. A Single Man
13. Crazy Heart
14. The Blind Side
15. The Last Station
16. Nine
17. Star Trek
18. District 9
19. Fantastic Mr. Fox
20. The Lovely Bones
21. (500) Days of Summer
22. It's Complicated
23. The Young Victoria
24. Bright Star
25. The Informant!

It doesn't look terribly daunting, now that I see all that reassuring red ink. I find it hard to believe that The Informant! made the list, as the best thing I can say about it is that it was a trifle. The only movies I'm concerned about, besides the dull-sounding Bright Star, are Invictus, which has a dreary, good-for-you vibe surrounding it (although I've heard it's actually quite entertaining, and hey, it's Clint!); and The Messenger, a movie I really wanted to see upon its release but missed, and now it doesn't appear to be playing anywhere and there's no DVD release date in sight.

I'm going to try to knock off at least one more flick, besides The Blind Side, by the Golden Globes next Sunday. What would you recommend?