Kinda odd that they decided to expand the number of films nominated for Best Picture this year as 2009 seems to have been a dreadful year as far as "Oscar bait" goes. As usual I have not seen all of the films nominated but here is what I have checked out:

The Hurt Locker - I thought this was a good film, not great but pretty good. I guess if choosing from the nominated films that I've actually seen, yeah, this would be it, the best picture of 2009. I think according to what I read in the paper it is also the favorite to win for many reasons.

Inglourious Basterds - Personally, I think Mr. Tarantino has gone a bit round the bend. The latest in his increasingly over the top series of revenge fantasies this time he has a group of Jews kill Hitler and burn the Nazi brass alive. Pretty subtle stuff. I tried to find some deeper meaning in this film, some sort of commentary on the effects of propaganda on our society, our acceptance of violence against perceived "evil enemies" using any means available to us to destroy them no matter how vile we become in the process...then I thought, "Nah, this is just Quentin Tarantino being Quentin Tarantino. He probably jerks off to this shit." In a year of better films (or maybe if they had not doubled the number of nominees) this would not be up for Best picture...the fact that it is, is kind of a joke but I have to admit a funny one.

A Serious Man - Maybe the tagline for this film should have been "Not since the Holocaust have we seen a Jew tortured this viciously!" Pretty much the Coens take their Jewish protagonist and put him through the trials of Job. This is the kind of film that will either make you laugh or make you wince or maybe you'll do both. I'm guessing this film would be more amusing to somebody that was Jewish but then maybe not, as I watched it with a Jewish friend and he nudged me several times saying he wanted to walk out on it. I kept saying he should give it a chance and sadly forced him to sit through the whole thing. His comment at the end "What a piece of shit." Again this should not be nominated for Best Picture and I'm guessing the only reason it is on the list is they needed something to pad out the now expanded ballot.

Up - Had this on the tv at my house on Thanksgiving so the kids that were over would have something to keep them from getting bored. I ended up watching it too along with a lot of the other adults. Fun movie and Ed Asner and the boy who voiced the kid were great. Dug the dog also made me laugh. I would not nominate it for best picture but considering how lame the competition is this year I can see why it is on the list.

District 9 - Just watched this recently. This has elements of sci-fi, comedy, and reality show in it. It also has a message which it delivers with about as much subtlety as a sledgehammer to your temple (this by the way would fit right in with the sense of humor displayed in the film). By no means a candidate for best picture this is an entertaining film and might make a good Saturday afternoon matinee or maybe something Pat should watch after a day of listening to talk radio.

That's it, those are the films from the list I've seen. I think the running theme here is they are celebrating the films and or filmmakers most likely to turn a profit and do good rental numbers.

As for the blue/green screen stuff...yeah, I think it was John Ford or Anthony Mann or both that said you get better performances out of your actors if you put them out in a real environment.