Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish pine for each other in Bright Star

I’ve noticed I’m writing fewer reviews of individual movies this year, and by fewer, I mean “not a single one yet.” Sorry, movie fans. Here’s some (I hope) useful info that I can jot down quickly.

We’ve seen 26 of the 34 Oscar movies we intended to, so I can now recommend which you should see and which you should shun.

DON’T MISS:
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Up in the Air
Avatar
The Messenger
In the Loop
Bright Star
Star Trek
Crazy Heart
A Single Man
The Last Station
Up
Invictus
The Princess and the Frog
Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince
Food Inc.
The Cove
Burma VJ

DON’T BOTHER:
The Lovely Bones
Nine
The White Ribbon
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

GOOD, BUT FOR NICHE FANS ONLY:
Precious
Coco Before Chanel
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Blind Side
The Young Victoria
Julie & Julia
The Secret of Kells
Coraline

I STILL CAN’T DECIDE:
A Serious Man

Do you know where I could see these movies? They are Oscar-nominated, but eluding me. Help a movie-lover out!

• Ajami (from Israel)
• Burma VJ
• El Secreto De Sus Ojos (from Argentina)
• The Messenger
• The Milk of Sorrow (from Peru)
• The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
• The Secret of Kells
• Un Prophete (from France)
• Which Way Home

Current state of the Oscar Run: 28 more movies to see in 25 days.

As I first explained a year ago, my husband and I try to see every film with an Oscar nomination or a nominee in it before the prizes are awarded. We call this the Oscar Run.

Today we got our marching orders – the 2009 Oscar nominees were announced. Go here for a complete list.

Here are all the movies with a nomination or nominee (excluding shorts and the more obscure technical nominees):

Nine

Up in the Air

Crazy Heart

Precious

Invictus

The Messenger

The Last Station

The Lovely Bones

Inglourious Basterds

The Blind Side

An Education

Julie & Julia

A Single Man

The Hurt Locker

Avatar

A Serious Man

Up

District 9

In the Loop

Ajami (from Israel)

El Secreto de Sus Ojos (from Argentina)

The Milk of Sorrow (from Peru)

Un Prophete (from France)

The White Ribbon (from Germany)

Coraline

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Princess & the Frog

The Secret of Kells

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

Sherlock Holmes

The Young Victoria

Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince

Bright Star

Coco Before Chanel

Burma VJ

The Cove

Food Inc.

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers

Which Way Home

Il Divo

Star Trek

Paris 36

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

That’s 44 movies, of which I’ve seen 8. Bottom line: I’ve got to watch 36 movies in 33 days. Gulp!

Anybody want to go see a movie?