Gopher

1. Drive- first five minutes 2. Tinker Tailor- Le Mer 3. 50/50- Anything from the last half hour, really, but I'll pick Adam's breakdown 4. Tree of Life- baby montage 5. MI4- Dubai 6. DH2- The Prince's Tale 7. The Muppets- Man or Muppet? 8. War Horse- last minute with the Gone with the Wind-esque cinematography 9. Bridesmaids- Shit in the sink 10. The Artist- Final dance number

It's totally worth it, though.

Noctis, if you PINKY PROMISE to see Hugo and/or The Artist by Friday, I'll count yours, even if it's late. But darn it, I want to compile this list already! For everyone else, Drive is on iTunes and Amazon now, so you don't have to wait until Tuesday to see it.

To be fair, none of them made much on Monday in the first place. Artist's presales according to THR jumped 190% in the hours following the nomination list.

I'll say this again- this was a great year for very good movies, and not a great year for great ones. The results so far reflect that. There's not much of a consensus in the top ten right now.

Really the only problem DT had was that Fincher was so attached to the material he included the novel's shortcomings, which is what the Swedish movie did. He would probably do the same for Played with Fire and Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

I'll see your edited list, just remember to nake your edits noticable.

If TDKR is as least as satisfying as Batman Begins (probable) and makes over 400 million (definitely happening), then it's a big contender. Not to win, and not for a director's nod, but the same way Inception was a contender, plus I wouldn't be surprised at all if Tom Hardy got some attention. So if the rule is still 5-10 movies next year, then TDKR has a strong chance. If they go back to five, which I half expect to happen, then probably not, though The Hobbit should be fair game.

24 votes so far, which is enough to represent the majority of the Theory public. But if you want to post your lists or make corrections, do it soon! I'll only accept lists through Wednesday (but if you post your Thursday morning, that's totally fine).

Oh, they will be. What BP nom have a lot of people seen? The Help? Maybe Moneyball? All the more incentive to nominate TDKR and Hobbit next year, providing they're up to snuff in quality.

Hugo leads The Artist, 11 to 10 nods. That's big. I'm expecting a BP/BD split now. I said Extremely Loud might get in with ten. Without Tattoo, I probably would have picked TOL and EL&IC to fill out the ten. But I still would have put Bridesmaids before either of them. What a weird year. TOL, Malick and Oldman are great choices, but some odd snubs- Tattoo misses Picture despite acting and editing nods, War Horse gets picture in spite of no acting or directing nods, Tintin misses animated entirely after winning the Globe, there's only two movies up for Best Song (just hand it to Man or Muppet), no Fassbender, no Woodley, no Swinton, NO ALBERT BROOKS? Now I have to see Extremely Loud. UGH.

What bugs me about this is that 30 Rock is getting the same/worse ratings as Community in the 8PM slot and a new low for the series. They might as well air Office reruns at 8PM because there's no point competing against Big Bang Theory and Idol. 8:00: The Office (rerun) 8:30: Parks & Rec 9:00: The Office (new) 9:30: Up All Night 10:00: 30 Rock10:30: Community With The Firm likely to be pulled by the time I finish typing this post, they could do the three hours of comedy thing again in the format above. Whitney and Chelsea may survive through the spring, meaning they can keep their hands off the Thursday schedule.

This is a devastating movie. I've never felt more uncomfortable or captivated during any film. It's powerful, disturbing, and Aronofsky's masterful hand makes it all come together. A Remains Aronofsky's best work to date.

Two days left to vote!

The fun starts (or ends) in 13 hours! Final prediction: Artist The Descendants Hugo The Help Midnight in Paris These are all locked. If it's six, add Dragon Tattoo. If it's seven, add Moneyball. If it's eight, add War Horse. If it's nine, add Bridesmaids (I get the sense this is an actor's favorite). If it's ten- I doubt it will be- pick from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Drive, Tree of Life, and Ticker Tailor (TOL has the upper hand).

Really heavy competition in the top 10. 20 points separate #3 and #8 right now.

My favorite moment was when the title card of "POW!" came up, and it cut from George with the gun up his mouth to Peppy crashing the car into a tree. I was laughing for a solid minute. I'd like to see this again. I certainly enjoyed it.

Which reminds me, the Golden Gophers are coming up in a couple weeks. What 2011 film will take home the Golden Gopher for best picture? (Drive, probably)

The forrest scene is well executed, I agree. But that's maybe 10 minutes. The other 140 minutes are insufferable. Oh my lord.

Will do.

I love scotch. Scotchy, scotch, scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly... You're so wise. You're like a miniature Buddha, covered in hair. I'm a man who discovered the wheel and built the Eiffel Tower out of metal and brawn. That's what kind of man I am. You're just a woman with a small brain. With a brain a third the size of us. It's science. What? You pooped in the refrigerator? And you ate the whole... wheel of cheese? How'd you do that? Heck, I'm not even mad; that's amazing. I'm Ron Burgundy? I'm gonna punch you in the ovary, that's what I'm gonna do. A straight shot. Right to the babymaker. "Brick, where did you get a hand grenade?" "I don't know." Well, I could be wrong, but I believe diversity is an old, old wooden ship that was used during the Civil War era. I ate a big, red candle. It's so damn hot... milk was a bad choice. Jazz flute is for little fairy boys. Where'd you get your clothes... from the... toilet store? Hey, Ron. I'm riding a furry tractor. I love lamp. I love lamp. Oh, uh, it's the pleats... the pleats in the pants. It's an optical illusion. I was just about to take them back... to the pants store. Oh this is embarrassing. Tonight's top story: The sewers run red with Burgundy's blood. Brick, My sweet Brick. Brick, come hug me! I know you want to. "Yeah, I stabbed a man in the heart." "I saw that. Brick killed a guy. Did you throw a trident?" "Yeah, there were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident." "Brick, I've been meaning to talk to you about that. You should find yourself a safehouse or a relative close by. Lay low for a while, because you're probably wanted for murder." Solid A. One of the funniest movies ever made.

How about the rest of the weekend?

It's really as if they asked themselves what people liked in movies and produced two and a half hours of everything- action, romance, one-liners, a sweeping score- at full volume. Sure, it's sort of a mess. But unlike 2012 or Transformers 3, it's rarely ever boring. In fact, it's usually entertaining.

HBO running a show like Smash would be terrific. Not because it would be raunchier- though it would be, without the raunchiness even being a problem- but they would let the creators succeed with their show or let them run it into the ground themselves. I get the feeling that NBC will be trying to milk anything they can out of Smash.

Disney and Pixar. Pixar made a movie every 2-3 years, so 90s Disney picked up the slack considerably. That's really why I love animation. I started paying attention to live action movies more when I started reading Entertainment Weekly in 2001.