6. Fight Club (1999) - Fight Club is the ultimate cult classic. It shows a psych case and a crazy soap maker starting an underground club for men to blow off steam by beating the shit out of each other every night. If it sounds like a ridiculous premise, you're not alone. But when you combine all of its ridiculous elements together Fight Club is absolutely brilliant, and has an almost Tarantino pulpiness that makes it brutally entertaining. The performances from Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter are nice editions, but it is Edward Norton's genius that sucks you in, he is brilliant, psychotic, and only adds to his impressive resume. When you add in Norton's performance with Jim Uhls script, and David Fincher's fearless direction, Fight Club is all around simply a well-made movie. While Fincher has delved more recently into more mainstream fair (although arguably his latest The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has some Fight Club and Se7en qualities), he has never lost his instinct for making great movies. And Fight Club is probably his best, which is saying a lot. 
I think that this is a big piece of news if Kathryn Bigelow's newest film Zero Dark Thirty is as popular with the Academy as her previous effort. Since the full trailer debuted for Zero Dark Thirty, it appeared to most of us that Jessica Chastain played a bigger role than previously thought. Our suspicions are correct, as it has been announced that she is going for lead actress, which mixes up my Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress predictions. I think that her status as a hot ticket in Hollywood, and her acting abilities will play well, and if the film is a hit I think she can easily break into this Best Actress race despite some big names and performances. Names like Emmanuelle Riva and Quvenzhane Wallis have to overcome language barriers and issues with authenticity of the performance (both of which are crap, but unfortunately are real hurdles), and neither have the star power of Marion Cotillard (who also has to overcome a language barrier although she already has once before). Kiera Knightley and Naomi Watts are both previous nominees, but both of their films will turn off some voters. So in the end I think there is a place for Chastain, and despite conventional wisdom, I think I am going to include her in my predictions which now stand as (Thanks to AwardsDaily for the Photo!): 
A Royal Affair (Denmark)
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19. Jurassic Park (1993) - Every boy in America at some point went through a dinosaur phase. Steven Spielberg's phase apparently lasted well into adulthood (his house was built near a huge fossil site, so it's not hard to understand why), and I think we can all agree, that with 1993's Jurassic Park, we're glad it did. Spielberg managed in 1993 to make all of our dreams, and worst fears, about the awesomeness and magestic power of dinosaurs come true. It is a magical piece of filmmaking that takes us to a new world without ever really leaving the one we live in. He aptly adapted Michael Crichton's brilliant novel. stocked it full of amiable actors such as Sam Neill and Laura Dern, and utilized the new technology of the 1990's to make us truly believe that we were looking at real dinosaurs. While that year Schindler's List got all the credit (something I don't necessarily disagree with, as you will see), I think that every generation since then has looked back at Jurassic Park as one of the most exciting, thrilling, and yes, scary, adventures of all time. 
17. Election (1999) - I have to admit, between The Descendants, About Schmidt, Sideways, and this stroke of comedic/high school genius, I really do find Alexander Payne to be one of the most creative and fascinating directors working today. 1999's Election is not as soft as his recent efforts, and at times can be brutally blistering. But it remains today a classic high school film, a richly dark comedy, and one of the best films of the 1990's. Led by Paynes apt direction, and brilliant script (written alongside his longtime writing partner Jim Taylor), Election is one of those great films that simply just clicks from its first frame to its last. It doesn't hurt that we have one of the best comedic performances of the 1990's exuding from this film in Reese Witherspoon, whose vicious Tracy Flick remains one of my favorite film characters, and certaintly one of Witherspoon's best performances to date. I think the most important thing that I have always taken away from Election is that high school is brutal, that politics on any level is dirty, and that morals are not so clean cut as people think they are, all of which are life lessons we all could use. 
16. The Lion King (1994) - Disney began to revive itself in the late 80's and early 90's with films like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast which became the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture. But for me, Disney really reached their full swing in 1994, with Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff's brilliant rendition of Hamlet, The Lion King. I actually wrote a paper in high school, utilizing the C.S. Lewis/T.S. Eliot battle over what constitutes a work of art, to argue that in fact The Lion King was more of a work of art than its source material, Hamlet, which is still considered the greatest piece of literature in the English language (despite my futile protests). I argued that by adding humor, grace, awesome and catchy musical numbers, and a range of human emotion (all classic Disney features), that The Lion King was not only more enjoyable, but also more intriguing. Hey, maybe I'm wrong. But I guarantee you every child of the 90's like myself still loves The Lion King, still knows all the words to every song, and still watches it every time it's on television. If that isn't magic, I don't know what is. 
15. Se7en (1995) - David Fincher has quickly become one of the most prolific directors of our time. His range and focus in his films is unlike any other. And Fincher was never better than in 1995's disturbing and thrilling masterpiece Se7en. A sick killer (Kevin Spacey), creates murders based on the 7 deadly sins, and makes us all sit on the edge of our seats wondering what exactly is in the box!? What makes Se7en really spectacular is that it takes a normal cop/murder thriller, and makes it a work of art. Complete with stunning visuals, a taut and deep script that incorporates sin and death, and the consequences of both, and great performances from Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, Se7en is no ordinary crime movie. It is a beautifully dark and twisted film that is entirely thrilling, shocking, and one of a kind. It also truly launched launched the career one of the best working directors, and did it with style. 
13. Heat (1995) - Michael Mann's Heat is one of the most underrated crime thrillers of all time, still dwarfed by Scorsese and Coppola films. While I recognize that Scorsese and Coppola crime films are usually brilliant, so is this one. A grand ensemble film featuring a dozen or so great performances including Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer. But its pacing, its smart screenplay that aptly balances all of the different characters and action set pieces, is what makes it so great. Mann's vision of robbers and police clashing is violent, gritty, and at times utterly shocking and breathtaking. He also delves deep into the minds of both cops and criminals, blending the lines between good and evil, and providing full arcs for each individual, another accomplishment of great writing, acting, and directing. Most importantly, Heat is one of the most blisteringly entertaining films of the 1990's that is fast-paced and well worth the watch. 
11. The Thin Red Line (1998) - I have not liked the last two efforts by Terrence Malick as New World was just not well done, and The Tree of Life wasted a wonderful story about a family with bookends that were either ridiculous or useless. But his previous efforts, including Badlands and Days of Heaven are pure genius, and this 1998 classic remains one of his best, and one of the best of the decade. Like all of Terrence Malick's films it is at times deep philosophical, and in the midst of action and character it springs forth with wisdoms and theories about war and humanity. But for me, The Thin Red Line still remains one of Malick's most accesible and real films. It provides in depth looks at the consequences, particularly human and psychological ones, while providing us a brilliant adaptation of James Jones' WWII classic autobiography. Probably most importantly, The Thin Red Line is a sweeping, beautifully rendered psychological humanist film that like the middle part of The Tree of Life, tells us a little more about ourselves. A cinematic experience like any other. 
"After 12 years spent mucking about in the motion capture playpen, Robert Zemeckis parachutes back to where he belongs, in big-time, big-star, live-action filmmaking, with Flight. A gritty, full-bodied character study about a man whose most exceptional deed may, ironically, have resulted from his most flagrant flaw, this absorbing drama provides Denzel Washington with one of his meatiest, most complex roles, and he flies with it. World premiering as the closing night attraction at the 50th New York Film Festival, the Paramount release will be warmly welcomed by audiences in search of thoughtful, powerful adult fare upon its Nov. 2 opening."
Lincoln
Other Contenders - Dwight Henry "Beasts of the Southern Wild", John Goodman "Argo", Bryan Cranston "Argo", Hal Holbrook "Promised Land", Hal Holbrook "Lincoln", David Strathairn "Lincoln", Matthew McConaughey "Magic Mike", Russell Crowe "Les Miserables", Michael Pena "End of Watch", William H. Macy "The Sessions", Ewan McGregor "The Impossible", Ezra Miller "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", Ifran Kahn "Life of Pi", James Gandolfini "Killing Them Softly", Tom Wilkinson "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", Jim Broadbent "Cloud Atlas", Joseph Gordon-Levitt "Lincoln", Ian McKellen "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", Christoph Waltz "Django Unchained", Woody Harrelson "Seven Psychopaths", Jared Harris "Lincoln"
