Top 100: 30-21

     After a week's hiatus, this week I move past the final quarter mark of my countdown as we approach the end (if you missed them, check out the previous weeks: 100-91, 90-81, 80-71, 70-61, 60-51, 50-41, 40-31). It's a huge week for comedy, as four of my absolute favorites from the genre pop up. These are movies that will keep you laughing through multiple viewings. I also have the only 100% silent film on my list this week, which is also my only film from the 1920's (making the oldest film on my list). In terms of genres, I also reach my all-time favorite horror film, my all-time favorite Christmas film, my all-time favorite super hero movie, and my all-time favorite war film. Looking through the decades, this week's ten are fairly spread out through the timeline, with the 1980's making the most appearances (3). No director makes more than one appearance this week, with the exception of Mr. Frank Capra, an auteur who pretty much created his own genre (pejoratively referred to as "Capra-corn"). There are also some one-time appearances from some very famous directors, in what I consider to be their very best work. Now on to the countdown!

News: Directors Guild Helps Clarify Competitive Director's Race

     The Directors Guild of America (DGA) today came out with their nominations (click here to take a look) for their five best directors of the year. There are a lot of big name auteurs in this year's race, which makes it one of the most interesting races of the season, and probably one of the hardest to predict. Coming into today, there where about 7 or 8 names that all seemed very credible competitors, but after the DGA's nominations I think is more of a six-way race. Of course, there are many more members of the DGA than the smaller, more exclusive, directors branch of the Academy, so I may be premature in narrowing the race down to six. Personally, with the recent box office success of 'True Grit", and the fact that many of the members of the DGA may not have had the opportunity to see the movie before they sent in their ballots, I think when it comes down to Oscar time the Coen brothers will end up replacing Christopher Nolan in the Best Director category, but they may just be me. Either way, it will be interesting to see, because as you may have guessed by the name of this blog, outside of Best Picture, Best Director is my favorite category.

News: Take a Look at Your Best Picture Nominees

     Earlier this week, the Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced their nominations for Best Picture (click here to see their choices). These nominations are pretty important because they usually closely match the eventual Oscar Best Picture nominations. For instance, last year 8 out of the 10 the PGA nominees matched up with the eventual Oscar nominations. This year, I think their is a good chance for a complete 10/10 match up, as the the only film that appears to have a chance at a Best Picture nomination that missed the PGA's group is the independent "Winter's Bone" (the PGA tends to only nominate bigger production). The Writer's Guild of America (WGA) also announced their nominees this week, but because of their ridiculous rules that makes almost every film ineligible to be nominated, their awards are fairly meaningless. The final critics awards, the National Society of Film Critics, also came out this week (click here for their winners and nominees), with both some expected and surprising choices. Next week will bring an onslaught of guild awards, including the Directors Guild of America who will help shape the most competitive category this year, so stay tuned for continuing coverage of this year's awards season.