Oscar contenders

Award-season movie reviews

Read our reviews of Oscar-nominated movies

CBC Arts Posted: Dec 22, 2009 4:12 PM EST | Last Updated: December 24, 2009

George Clooney has won widespread praise for his turn as a high-flying corporate downsizer in Jason Reitman's timely comedy Up in the Air. ((Paramount Pictures))

(Twentieth Century Fox)

Avatar

"Avatar is every bit as bloated and cornball as you'd expect from the guy who made Titanic but that won't matter much once viewers slap on their 3-D glasses."

The Hurt Locker

"Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker is the rare perhaps the first fictional film about Iraq that people might actually want to see."

Inglourious Basterds

"Like a swastika on the forehead, Inglourious Basterds is blunt and literal. Brute force is the film's mode of delivery and it calls evil as it sees it."

An Education

"An Education is a near-perfect little film, a poignant depiction of England in 1961 a time when there was nothing remotely 'swinging' about London."

Up in the Air

"Up in the Air is a bittersweet rumination on life's purpose in light of the current economic recession."

Precious, Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

"First-time actor Gabourey Sidibe invests her embattled character with poise, strength and even joy."

District 9

"When was the last time you saw an FX-laden sci-fi thriller set in South Africa that was a parable of apartheid?"

Up

"It turns out one of the best movies in recent memory to broach the subject of old age is a kid's cartoon about balloons."

A Serious Man

"While not exactly an upbeat tale A Serious Man is disarmingly affectionate, even sweet. Its also their most personal and, to use Joel Coens word, 'Jew-y' film to date."

The Cove

"The documentary The Cove delivers more edge-of-your-seat moments and high-tech gadgets than Quantum of Solace and Ocean's 11 combined."

Fantastic Mr. Fox

"While Fantastic Mr. Fox operates on many levels, it works especially well as a screwy caper movie."

A Single Man

"Director Tom Ford's handling of gay themes is admirable. Though there are no sex scenes in A Single Man, the movie is still surprisingly frank."

(David James/Weinstein Co./Alliance Films)

Nine

"Nine may boast half a digit more than the title of Fellini's 8, but it's incalculably less of a movie."

Coraline

"Coraline is terrifying as well as thrilling, but the story never quite lives up to its potential as a satisfying modern-day variation on the Brothers Grimm."

Invictus

"Invictus is a stirring sports drama with a little politics on the side. But if the movie is largely superficial, it never feels dishonest."

Julie and Julia

"Both sides of the film romance the stomach as much as the heart, but in only one does the love truly radiate."

(Lorey Sebastian/Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Crazy Heart

"Crazy Heart is one of those slow-burning character studies that'll restore the faith of viewers who think they no longer make movies like they did in the '70s."

The Last Station

"As the Count and Countess Tolstoy in The Last Station, Plummer and Mirren are wonderful a lion and lioness in winter, by turns mauling and nuzzling each other."

(Films du Losange/Sony Pictures Classics/Mongrel Media)

The White Ribbon

"Michael Haneke's brilliant new film is a tale of dirty secrets and religious repression, of hypocritical adults and scary, enigmatic children."

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