Rama's Screen

Ya know what would make this day glorious? If for some astronomical reason, director James Cameron released the teaser trailer for AVATAR. That would make every movie blog online go bananas! But since that’s not happening yet (clock’s ticking though), I figured let’s talk about something else for the time being with the little help of our imagination and dreams. As you know, the Oscars changed its rule recently, it has increased the number of movies allowed to be nominated for Best Picture from 5.. to 10. Some say it’s a good idea because fairness will be achieved while others say it’s a bit too much, kinda like adding another zero in the dollar amount of what Steve Jobs makes in a year.. what’s the point?!

Anyways, I’m sure we can all agree that we can’t fully say the 10 best movies of the year because obviously we haven’t got to the end of the year yet to know which title is better than the other. But let’s say you can foresee the future and imagine yourself on February 2nd, 2010 when AMPAS President Sid Ganis and some god-knows-who actor/actress announce the nominees. Which movies do you hope will get nominated? Here are my picks.. pretty fair if you think about it, there’s foreign language, animated, action, sci-fi, thriller, definitely drama. Keep in mind that I haven’t seen half of these, check them out after the jump…

THE ROAD
Directed by: John Hillcoat
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron

Academy Award nominee Viggo Mortensen, Academy Award winners Robert Duvall and Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and 12-year-old Kodi Smit McPhee star in the big-screen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Road” – the story of a man (Mortensen) and his young son (Smit-McPhee) traveling through a desperate, post-apocalyptic world.

WORLD’S GREATEST DAD
Directed by: Bobcat Goldthwait
Starring: Robin Williams

A thoughtful but outrageous comedy from Bobcat Goldthwait, “World’s Greatest Dad” is a story about a man that learns the things you want most may not be the things that make you happy, and that being lonely is not necessarily the same as being alone.
Robin Williams stars as Lance Clayton, a man who has learned to settle. He dreamed of being a rich and famous writer, but has only managed to make it as a high school poetry teacher. His only son Kyle (Daryl Sabara) is an insufferable jackass who won’t give his father the time of day. He is dating Claire (Alexie Gilmore), the school’s adorable art teacher, but she doesn’t want to get serious — or even acknowledge publicly that they are dating.
Then, in the wake of a freak accident, Lance suffers the worst tragedy and greatest opportunity of his life. He is suddenly faced with the possibility of all the fame, fortune and popularity he ever dreamed of, if he can only live with the knowledge of how he got there.

THE LOVELY BONES
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Saoirse Ronan

Based on the critically acclaimed best-selling novel by Alice Sebold, and directed by Oscar® winner Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Jackson & Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyens, “The Lovely Bones” centers on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family – and her killer – from heaven. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.

PUBLIC ENEMIES
Directed by: Michael Mann
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale
Check out My Review

No one could stop Dillinger and his gang. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyone—from his girlfriend Billie Frechette (Cotillard) to an American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression. But while the adventures of Dillinger’s gang—later including the sociopathic Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) and Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi)—thrilled many, Hoover (Billy Crudup) hit on the idea of exploiting the outlaw’s capture as a way to elevate his Bureau of Investigation into the national police force that became the FBI. He made Dillinger America’s first Public Enemy Number One and sent in Purvis, the dashing “Clark Gable of the FBI.”

AVATAR
Directed by: James Cameron
Starring Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

“Avatar” tells the story of an ex-Marine, thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit an exotic planet rich in bio-diversity, who eventually crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival.

MOON
Directed by: Duncan Jones
Starring Sam Rockwell
Check Out My Review

It is the near future. Astronaut Sam Bell is living on the far side of the moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth’s primary source of energy, Helium-3. It is a lonely job, made harder by a broken satellite that allows no live communications home. Taped messages are all Sam can send and receive.
Thankfully, his time on the moon is nearly over, and Sam will be reunited with his wife, Tess, and their three-year-old daughter, Eve, in only a few short weeks. Finally, he will leave the isolation of “Sarang,” the moon base that has been his home for so long, and he will finally have someone to talk to beyond “Gerty,” the base’s well-intentioned, but rather uncomplicated computer.
Suddenly, Sam’s health starts to deteriorate.

UP
Directed by: Peter Docter
Starring the voices of: Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Delroy Lindo
Check Out My Review

From Disney•Pixar comes “Up,” a comedy adventure about 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic 9-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell.

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
Directed by: David Yates
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint

Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas. And Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, only she hadn’t counted on Romilda Vane’s chocolates! And then there’s Hermione, simpering with jealously but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

AWAY WE GO
Directed by: Sam Mendes
Starring: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph
Check Out My Review

Directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes (“American Beauty”) from an original screenplay by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, this funny and heartfelt film follows the journey of an expectant couple (John Krasinski [“The Office’] and Maya Rudolph [“Saturday Night Live’]), as they travel the U.S. in search of the perfect place to put down roots and raise their family. Along the way, they have misadventures and find fresh connections with an assortment of relatives and old friends who just might help them discover “home” on their own terms for the first time. The movie features the music of Alexi Murdoch.

SIN NOMBRE
Check Out My Review

“Sin Nombre” is an epic dramatic thriller written and directed by Student Academy Award winner Cary Joji Fukunaga in his feature debut. The filmmaker’s firsthand experiences with Central American immigrants seeking the promise of the U.S. form the basis of the Spanish-language movie. “Sin Nombre” tells the story of Sayra (Paulina Gaitan), a teenager living in Honduras, and hungering for a brighter future. A reunion with her long-estranged father gives Sayra her only real option – emigrating with her father and her uncle into Mexico and then the United States, where her father now has a new family.