International Cinephile Society

The International Cinephile Society, an online organization made up of 60 film historians have announced their favorites of 2009:

BEST PICTURE

1. A Serious Man
2. The White Ribbon
3. Fantastic Mr. Fox
4. Inglourious Basterds
5. Tokyo Sonata
6. 35 Shots of Rum
7. The Hurt Locker
8. District 9
9. Bright Star
10. Up in the Air

BEST DIRECTOR
Ethan & Joel Coen, A Serious Man
runner-up: Michael Hanake, The White Ribbon

BEST ACTOR
Colin Firth, A Single Man
runner-up: Michael Stuhlberg, A Serious Man

BEST ACTRESS
Tilda Swinton, Julia
runner-up: Abbie Cornish, Bright Star

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
runner-up: Peter Capaldi, In the Loop

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
runner-up: Mo'Nique, Precious

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
A Serious Man- Ethan & Joel Coen
runner-up: Inglourious Basterds- Quentin Tarantino

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Fantastic Mr. Fox- Wes Anderson & Noah Bombach
runner-up: In the Loop

BEST FOREIGN FILM

1. The White Ribbon
2. Tokyo Sonata
3. 35 Shots of Rum
4. Summer Hours
5. Broken Embraces
6. Still Walking
7. Lorna's Silence
8. The Beaches of Agnes
9. Ponyo
10. O Horten
11. The Headless Woman

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Fantastic Mr. Fox
runner-up: Ponyo

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Beaches of Agnes
runner-up: Anvil! The Story of Anvil

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The White Ribbon- Christian Berger
runner-up: Inglourious Basterds- Robert Richardson

BEST FILM EDITING
The Hurt Locker
runner-up: Broken Embraces

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Fantastic Mr. Fox
runner-up: A Serious Man

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
A Single Man
runner-up: Fantastic Mr. Fox

BEST ENSEMBLE
In the Loop
runner-up: The White Ribbon

The ICS also recently released their top 100 films of the 1990s-- let's argue about that again. The top ten was:

1. The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick) 1998
2. Short Cuts (Robert Altman) 1993
3. Trois Coloeurs: Rouge (Krzysztof Kieslowski) 1994
4. Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier) 1996
5. The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese) 1993
6. My Own Private Idaho (Gus van Sant) 1991
7. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick) 1999
8. Trois Coloeurs: Bleu (Krzysztof Kieslowski) 1993
9. The Ice Storm (Ang Lee) 1997
10. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese) 1990

That's a divisive list right there, and I applaud it as much as I don't particularly agree. I think my disagreement comes primarly at the high placement of Eyes Wide Shut. While I feel in the minority of people that didn't detest the film, I still don't see it as one of the 10 best of 1990s, and rightfully perhaps the worst film of Kubrick's career, and sadly the final one as well. But I wish the ye olde Academy had a bit more the courage film scope to make decisions that may not be of the all pleasing majority rule.