Amazon Blogs: Armchair Commentary Daily Digest

Check out these Updates from Armchair Commentary for December 21, 2009.

2009 Wrap-Up: The Year in Movies 12:35 AM PST TELL US THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN: Nine / 9 / District 9; A Single Man / A Serious Man; The Uninvited / The Unborn; 12 / 12 Rounds BEST FIRST 10 MINUTES: Up BEST LAST 10 MINUTES: Duplicity BEST TITLES: Drag Me To Hell, The Hurt Locker, The Informant! WORST TITLES: Knowing, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans MOST UNDERSTATED TITLE: The Hangover TITLE TREND: Recycling the original franchise title when you can't come up with any more variations on the name  (Fast & Furious, The Final Destination) TITLE THAT WILL FRUSTRATE SPELL CHECK EVERY TIME: Inglourious Basterds WINNING THEME: For once, films centered around the war in Iraq were both acclaimed and successful (The Hurt Locker, The Messenger) LOSER THEME: Prehistoric times (Year One, Land of the Lost) MOST RANDOM CAMEO: Tyler Perry in Star Trek CLEVEREST CASTING: Christa B. Allen, who played Jennifer Garner as a 13-year-old in 13 Going on 30, playing Jennifer Garner as a 17-year-old in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past THE ARMAGEDDON / DEEP IMPACT CONFLICT OF 2009: Paul Blart: Mall Cop / Observe and Report BEST BATTING AVERAGE: Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia, It's Complicated, The Fantastic Mr. Fox); WORST BATTING AVERAGE: Dennis Quaid (Pandorum, Horsemen, G.I. Joe); Jennifer Aniston (Love Happens, Management); Milla Jovovich (The Fourth Kind, A Perfect Getaway) ATTEMPT TO RE-CREATE SUCCESS OF THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA=FAIL: Confessions of a Shopaholic MOST ADORABLE PAIRS: John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, Away We Go; Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, (500) Days of Summer; Meryl Streep & Stanley Tucci, Julie & Julia; Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, I Love You Man MOVIE YOU CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ENJOYED: Taken MOVIE YOU REALLY WANTED TO ENJOY MORE: Watchmen BEST CATFIGHT: Beyonce and Ali Larter, Obsessed BEST MUSICAL NUMBER IN A NON-MUSICAL: The Proposal's Ryan Reynolds singing "It Takes Two" by Rob Base (runner-up later in the film: Sandra Bullock doing Flo-Rida's "Get Low") '80s NOSTALGIA = GOOD: Adventureland '80s NOSTALGIA = BAD: Fame WORST FOLLOW-UP AFTER AN OSCAR-NOMINATED ROLE: Anne Hathaway, Bride Wars CAST THAT MOST EXCEEDS ITS BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE QUOTA: Nine MOST HYPED NEW A-LISTER: Sam Worthington(Terminator Salvation, Avatar) MOST SURPRISING NEW A-LISTER: Liam Neeson(Taken) MOST BRAZEN PLOT DEPARTURE FROM THE BOOK: The ending of My Sister's Keeper BOX OFFICE WINNERS: Zoe Saldana, Star Trek and Avatar ($334 million--and counting--total box office, will likely surpass $400m by year's end); Ryan Reynolds (X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Proposal=$342 million); Sandra Bullock (The Proposal and The Blind Side=$329 million) PROOF GERARD BUTLER ONLY DOES GOOD MOVIES IN A TOGA: The Ugly Truth, Gamer, Law Abiding Citizen What else would you add? --Ellen Armchair Daily: News From the World of Movies & TV December 21, 2009 SESAME STREET'S OLIVIA DIES: Alaina Reed Hall, best known as Olivia on Sesame Street and who later starred on 227 , died Dec. 17th after a lengthy battle with breast cancer at the age of 63.We remember her fondly for teaching us all how to "Sing, sing a song."... read more Remembering Brittany Murphy December 21, 2009 Actress Brittany Murphy , who died suddenly of cardiac arrest on Dec. 20 , at the age of 32, got her start in a number of television shows and bit parts in movies, but it was her role of Tai in 1995's Clueless at the age of 18--alongside Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd --that really brought her... read more

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