Avatar vs. The Hurt Locker

Usually the question “Which film deserves to win Best Picture?” is very easy to answer. Just pick the best movie. However, this year’s race between The Hurt Locker and Avatar raises a philosophical question that hasn’t had to been asked in a long time. Is there more to a Best Picture winner than the quality of the movie itself? The debate hinges on a presupposed notion. The Hurt Locker is the better movie, but Avatar is the highest grossing film of all-time and has a chance to completely alter the movie-going experience. Should this year’s race be determined by which was the better movie or which plays a more significant role in movie history?


One theory is that Avatar will win because it is the highest grossing movie of all-time. The Academy will reward its dominance over pop culture the same way the Academy crowned Titanic Best Picture of 1997. To see if this is true, let’s take a look at all the movies which previously held the “Highest grossing movie ever” title since 1939:

Gone With The Wind (1939)
The Exorcist (1973)
Jaws(1975)
Star Wars (1977)
E.T. (1982)
Titanic (1997)
Avatar (2009)

And In The End: Movies vs. Albums

                 There is no question that the ending of a book or a movie can change how you view the overall piece of work. This is only fair. It’s the job of an ending to tie all the themes together and to create a lasting impression. Sometimes an ending can be so perfect that it elevates the entire movie to a higher level like my experience with Before Sunset (see my top 15 favorite movies of the decade). Other times, however, an ending that falls short of expectation or which does not match the tone created by the rest of the movie can devalue the whole experience. There’s a reason why English teachers hate the “It was all a dream” ending.

Top 15 movies of the decade

Here’s a countdown of my 15 favorite films over the past decade. I’ll admit I’m not the world’s biggest fantasy fan. I did not even finish the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Maybe I’ll make that my new decade resolution (but then again, probably not). That being said, I think this list represents a nice mix of genres. We did not plan it this way, but my list is pretty different from Christina’s. Let the debating begin!

15. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind- It’s safe to say that there are thousands of movies in existence that deal with the subject of love. Leave it to Charlie Kaufman to find a way of tackling the pain of heartbreak and the optimism of new beginnings. It’s a shame that Jim Carrey didn’t keep the ball rolling after this performance.

Decade in movies

What better time to look at the world of movies over the last 10 years. As I was thinking about my favorite films of the 00s, I was reminded of not only the great accomplishments but also some of the failures and over-hyped during this period. So let's begin the discussion by remembering the promises that were never fulfillied.

This was supposed to be the decade that: