1. AARP actors. This year they showed that humans are like wine — they only improve with age. What would this year have been without memorable performances from Meryl Streep (60) in “Julie and Julia” and “It’s Complicated,” Alec Baldwin (51) in “It’s Complicated,” Jeff Bridges (60) as the burned-out country singer in “Crazy Heart” and Clint Eastwood’s direction of the moving “Invictus”? Topping this company — and this whole list — is film critic Roger Ebert, whose website boasts a staggering 92 million visits. As defunct movie critics start to line the carbon underbed of our planet, along with other dried out pterodactyls, he constantly reasserts himself as the country’s main cultural gatekeeper.
2. The American auteurs. At a time when blockbuster (to use a quaint term when people actually lined up to see movies together as opposed to illegally downloading them) entertainment threatens to drown out individual expression on the screen, we still have our American creators to celebrate. James Cameron for making “Avatar” his – and only his – way. The Coen Brothers for “A Serious Man.” Quentin Tarantino for “Inglourious Basterds.” When their names are on the marquee, we know we’re going to see their films, not some studio’s market-researched pablum.
3. Breakthough gals. They lit up the screen in different ways, this year: Carey Mulligan in “An Education,” Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air” and Mo’Nique and Gabby Sidibie in “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.”
4. Breakthrough guys. Zach Galifianakis in “The Hangover,” Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds,” Chris Pine in “Star Trek” and Sharlto Copley in “District 9.”
5. American comedy. It continues to be America’s best — and most undervalued — genre. For these two movies, alone, I am eternally grateful: “(500) Days of Summer” and “The Hangover.”
6. Comic-Con culture. These fanboys and fangirls are the under-nerding of the industry. What this event does is celebrate those who bring enthusiasm, weird costumes and impulse money into the box office equation and pop culture in general.
7. American documentaries. They continue at their qualitative clip. My personal fave: “Anvil! The Story of Anvil,” which follows the sad-funny-heartbreaking lives of Toronto-based heavy metallists Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow and Robb Reiner. Also this year were such standouts as “The Cove,” which exposed Japanese fishermen’s unconscionable slaughter of dolphins; Robert Stone’s “Earth Days,” a superbly drawn primer of the environmental movement; and “Food, Inc.,” a scathing expose of the multinationals that exploit our food supply for profit.
8. Foreign films. Yes, those people out there keep making quality product as if Hollywood never existed. God bless ’em every one. A few of the year’s best included Pedro Almodovar’s “Broken Embraces,” as well as the fabulous “Sin Nombre,” “Sugar,” “Departures,” “The Beaches of Agnes,” “The Maid,” “Moscow, Belgium” and “Everlasting Moments.” I also loved the Austrian psychological thriller “Revanche.” Ladies and gentlemen, start your Netflix motors.
9. Cable TV. Now that movies and television are one big melting pot, let’s face it: Cable remains the only media destination where great writing is assumed, expected and enjoyed on a regular basis. In fact, cable shows have been better than the movies for at least a decade. Consider these — just to name a few, most of them still going strong: “Mad Men,” “Deadwood,” “Dexter,” “Family Guy,” “Weeds,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Breaking Bad,” “True Blood” and “Big Love.”
