We get it, it’s the time of year when theaters are pushing ghosts, creepy possessed dolls, and axe-murderers onto the masses. But that’s not everyone’s jam. No taste for the supernatural but still want that rush of adrenaline? We’ve got you covered. Here are 13 of the most formidably frightening films we could think of, guaranteed to set your skin crawling and max out your energy bill with how many lights you’ll need on. Forget those psycho villains, the wide world of cinema offers plenty more thrills without ’em.

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park was the first movie my parents went to see on their own before deciding to let my brother and I see it in theaters. Not a bad idea as I was 10 and he was 9 when it released in 1993. Even with their blessing, in my first viewing of the film I had to leave the theater during the iconic t-rex chase scene because the adrenaline rush was too much for little me. As one of Stephen Spielberg’s absolute masterpieces, what makes this tale of extinct animals brought to life so thrilling is the perfect combination of Spielberg’s expert pacing and detailed visuals. Incorporating some of the first truly successful CG elements with elaborately crafted mechanics, the film had children and adults alike wondering if Spielberg had actually recreated dinosaurs. In one of the film’s most panic-inducing scenes, two kids (who 10-year old me identified with a little too well) crawl in fear around a stainless steel kitchen to elude two smart velociraptors. Their clacking claws on the kitchen tile, their echoing barks, and roving eyes searching for their prey still cause me to breakout in a cold sweat. [Ananda]

Gravity

First off, watching Gravity outside of a theater is significantly easier to handle than when the endless vacuum of space is projected onto a huge eyeball encompassing screen. Second, I can say from experience that seeing this film on a first date may cause you to relate stressful feelings toward that person and may impede the success of future dates. As Sandra Bullock’s Dr. Stone spins uncontrollably into the dark depths of space when her astronaut team is hit by an unexpected debris shower hurtling at them, viewers are introduced to a nightmare they’d previously been unable to imagine without actual space travel exposure. The never-ending inertia of zero-gravity and the utter loneliness of space are so absolutely realistic as we remain fixed inside Dr. Stone’s helmet, floating with her. A true survival tale, every difficulty she encounters is petrifying. Forget “edge of your seat,” this film has you clinging to the seat back, feet lifted, doubting everything you ever learned about physics and solidifying that those silly childhood dreams you had of being an astronaut were really, really not thought out. [Ananda]

Rear Window

The official “Master of Suspense” excelled at films that weren’t strictly speaking “horror” but were always enthralling. The one that presents the most uncomfortable feelings of distress for me as I watch it is my favorite of Hitchcock’s, Rear Window. Jimmy Stewart’s wheelchair-bound photo journalist Jeff starts to notice his neighbor in the apartment complex across the way has been behaving quite suspiciously. A scenario made incredibly relatable as his daily observances seem to affirm his rising paranoia. As he and his beautiful girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) push boundaries, eventually breaking into the man’s apartment, Hitchcock leaves us feeling just as vulnerable as Jeff is when forced to watch as the man comes home during the break-in and catches on to Jeff. Using Jeff’s telescopic camera lens to focus in on the scene, there’s hardly a shot so chilling as when the burly man turns to look straight at Jeff, and the audience, instilling instant fear. [Ananda]

A Clockwork Orange

This 1971 Kubrick directed dystopian crime thriller is spine-chilling entirely because of the lurid actions of its main character, Alex. A sociopathic hoodlum, Alex leads his band of thugs on a crime spree that includes plenty of raping and pillaging. With the same creepy effervescence of a clown, Alex’s enjoyment of his actions and the way these scenes are drawn out and narrated with his cockney slang all add to the difficulty of watching it. From the gang’s outfits to their brutal actions, there is plenty of truly disturbing imagery. The moog-filled soundtrack by Wendy Carlos only adds to the ill-feeling. Not even Alex’s eventual capture and brainwashing lead to any sort of relief as the film leaves us with a sense that a “cure” for sociopathy is simply impossible. [Ananda]

Deliverance

This one’s for city slickers like me. Maybe it was my upbringing, or my longtime aversion to sleeping on the ground (others think “sleeping under the stars”; I think “sharp rocks on my spine”), but nature always frightened me. The four businessmen who choose to leave the concrete jungle and spend a weekend retreat floating down a river in the middle of nowhere in John Boorman’s Deliverance serve as filmic vindication of my fear of the great outdoors. (That’s how I look at it, at least.) While their excursion starts out pleasantly enough, the nightmarish events that await down the river subsequently ravage their minds and bodies, and while Boorman’s film is a pretty one (those trees…), it’s also given us some of the most iconically disturbing moments in movies. The film, starring the great Jon Voigt and Burt Reynolds, doesn’t fit squarely into the horror genre, but it’s as freaky as they come. Hillbillies give me the willies. [Bernard]

Requiem for a Dream

Darren Aronofsky’s quick-cut tale of addiction is one of the few films I’ve ever had to turn off and finish when there was more daylight to be had. Watching it alone isn’t just scary, the sensory overload may lead us sensitive folk straight into full-blown panic attacks. Following four different people, each with different drug addictions, it’s hard to decide which storyline is most traumatizing. For me Ellen Burstyn’s character, Sara, was most relatable as she starts taking over the counter amphetamine pills to aid in her obsession to lose a little weight. Her jitters, teeth grinding, and sedative-induced hallucinations aren’t even the hardest scenes of the film to watch, but a scene where she experiences the delusion that her own fridge attacks her will make anyone reconsider crash dieting. And then there’s all the heroin addicts that make up the rest of the characters. Not an easy watch, but the closest thing non-users will get to experiencing the actual horrors of drug addiction. [Ananda]

Hard Candy

Before David Slade made the hellish Alaskan vampire chiller 30 Days of Night (and later, one of those Twilight movies), he made a more subtly terrifying movie in his directorial debut, Hard Candy. The revenge fantasy stars Ellen Page as a 14-year-old girl who dupes a man she believes is a pedophile (Patrick Wilson) into letting her into his home. She then proceeds to outsmart and physically abuse the guy in gruesome fashion (the film came out when torture films like Audition and Hostel were cool), she threatens to expose him for the predator he is. It’s such a sadistic, monstrous film not because of gore or jump scares, but because of the psychological trauma we suffer along with the man as the girl toys with his precious…manhood. Revenge is messy, and deep down, although we hate to admit it, the whole “eye for an eye” philosophy exists on the ugly side of human nature. [Bernard]

127 Hours

Sometimes movies are scariest not when we’re shown the quick, flashy death of a faceless victim, but when we’re allowed to spend time with a person as they face death itself, feeling the weight of mortality sink into our bones and theirs, the character’s face growing pale along with ours. 127 Hours is the most extreme example of this there is. Based on a true story (which makes it scarier), James Franco plays real-life mountain climber Aron Rolston, who on a solo hike got trapped under a boulder in the middle of nowhere and had to do the unthinkable (with a small knife) to attempt to free himself from the crag. “What if that were me?” is the thought that’s on repeat as you watch Danny Boyle’s minimalistic meditation on the human spirit, and while most consider the film a story of heart and resiliency, the film plays more like a living nightmare for those like me who are scared shitless of mountain climbing, suffer from mild claustrophobia, and have never broken a bone. Much like Deliverance, 127 Hours demonstrates just how disastrous things can get when you’re out in the wild. [Bernard]

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Elizabeth Olsen plays Martha, a girl who attempts to reunite with her family after spending years away on a hippy cult compound, in Martha Marcy May Marlene, an unsettling mind-fuck drama by Sean Durkin. In the role that announced her as a serious talent to watch, Olsen is a picture of mental collapse as her soul-sick eyes telling most of Martha’s twisted story. The always-excellent John Hawkes delivers one of his spookiest performances as the cult leader who strips Martha of everything, mentally and physically, damning her to a life of perpetual paranoia and torment. Indoctrination and loss of identity are horrible things to think about, and Martha makes you think about them from every angle until your blood curdles and you’re as deeply troubled as the poor girl on-screen. [Bernard]

Shock Corridor

It’s typically a beautiful thing when someone devotes their life to their craft, but Shock Corridor serves as a stark warning that, yes, there is a line, and if you cross it you may not come back. (You hear that, Shia?) In Sam Fuller’s mind-bending masterpiece, Peter Breck plays Johnny Barrett, a journalist who feigns mental sickness to get himself committed to an insane asylum where he hopes to solve a murder three inmates were the only witnesses to. Off the deep end he goes. It’s a decidedly melodramatic film with lots of over-acting and pretentious dialogue, but the wackiness of it all sort of makes it scarier, distancing the film from the firm ground of reality in a way that’s really quite disturbing. Barrett’s “fake it ’til you make it” approach may have gotten him into the looney bin as planned, though “fake it ’til you break it” seems a more apt phrase for what happens to his brain once he’s locked in. [Bernard]

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

So much of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is enchanting and fun and delightful that it’s easy to forget the crazy levels of creepiness it reaches in a handful of unforgettably weird scenes. For one, the kids who fail Wonka’s cleverly orchestrated morality tests meet their fates in ways so bizarre and twisted you could look at the film as a loose precursor to recent Rube Goldberg death extravaganzas like the Saw series. On top of that, there’s Gene Wilder’s climactic spluttering tirade that reminds you of that time your dad caught you drawing on the wall with crayons when you were a kid. Traumatic! And don’t get me started on that acid-trip boat ride. “Is it raining is it snowing? Is a hurricane a’blowing?” You’re freaking me out, man! Just give me some snozberries and let me off the boat! [Bernard]

Mulholland Drive

Choosing only one of Lynch’s films to include in this list proves quite difficult, we mentioned in our latest podcast just how frightening a phone call in Lost Highway was and I mention that almost every scene of Eraserhead gives me the willies, but the Lynch film that is so genuinely start-to-finish utterly unnerving that it almost classifies as horror is without a doubt Mulholland Drive. Every scene of this dream-like film is confusingly creepy, one of the earliest scenes even includes a man who literally dies of terror when a nightmare he had proves to be reality. And that’s why this film is so scary, it can’t be trusted. No character is set in stone (not all of them even know who they are at any given moment) and the storyline literally snaps part of the way through and starts again with a whole new set of rules. Trying to make actual sense of the film isn’t advised, but the tension is real in every feverish scene that makes up the whole. [Ananda]

Sleeping With The Enemy

The most terrifying scenarios in film, to me, are those based in very real situations. It’s a sad reality that spousal abuse is one such real situation and no film has left me more scarred by the extent to which a controlling abusive spouse will go then this 1991 thriller. In it, Julia Roberts plays Laura, a young wife whose marriage to an affluent physically abusive jerk becomes unbearable. Laura fakes her own elaborate death and takes off to start a new life in a small town. But her husband starts to doubt her death, obviously there was no body found, and starts the hunt for her. There are plenty of close-call hold-your-breath types of scenes but the most formidable aspect is that feeling a good thriller permeates viewers with, which is a total sense of the villain’s ceaseless energy to pursue his weak prey. The climax, where Laura realizes her husband has found her because her bathroom towels have been aligned in his obsessive perfectionist style, is an exercise in slow dawning terror. [Ananda]

Film Independent Spirit Awards is arguably the most important film awards of the year, however, it is easy to be over-shadowed during the award season by the Oscars. This is especially true if it is held just one night before.

Black Swan took home the most awards this year with 4 including most of the big ones including; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Female Lead and Best Cinematography. I am glad that Black Swan was the leader of awards because I think it was the best film of the year. Winter’s Bone had the most nominations going in with seven but only walked away with 2 wins for Best Supporting Male and Best Supporting Female.

There were not a lot of huge surprises, with maybe the exception of John Hawkes winning over Mark Ruffalo, and I felt like everyone who won deserved to win. The Independent Spirit Awards ended up being a great watch thanks to the host Joel McHale and all of the presenters.

See the full list of nominations

Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Get Low, directed by Aaron Schneider; Producers: David Gundlach, Dean Zanuck

Daddy Longlegs

Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

James Franco, 127 Hours

Dale Dickey, Winter’s Bone

John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone

Matthew Libatique, Black Swan

Exit Through The Gift Shop

The King’s Speech, Tom Hooper

Please Give
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Casting Director: Jeanne McCarthy
Ensemble Cast: Ann Guilbert, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Lois Smith, Sara Steele

Anish Savjani, Meek’s Cutoff

Mike Ott, Littlerock

Jeff Malmberg, Marwencol

Marwencol

The 2011 Oscar nominations were announced this morning with The King’s Speech leading the way for the 83rd Academy Awards. The film, which also led the Golden Globes nominations (but only took home 1 award), took 12 nominations which include; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Surprisingly, The Social Network only took 8 which tied Christopher Nolan’s Inception and behind Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit which had 10 nominations.

Another surprise was Christopher Nolan’s absence from the Best Director’s category. But another person’s snub is another person’s gain as Darren Aronofsky earns his first ever Oscar nomination for Black Swan in the Best Director category. Some say he was snubbed two years ago in that category for The Wrestler.

Even though there were a few surprises, most of the nominations were fairly predictable, especially if you paid attention to the Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nominations. Most of the leading nominations were mostly expected.

See who I predict will win Oscars

It was a very solid year for cinema making the award shows very interesting to watch as there was a lot of strong competition all around. The 2011 Oscar winners will be announced on February 27th (a day after the Independent Spirit Awards).

Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 hours

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David O. Russell, The Fighter
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
David Fincher, The Social Network
The Coens, True Grit

Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Mike Leigh, Another Year
David Seidler, The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson, The Fighter

Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy, 127 hours
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich, Toy Story 3
The Coens, True Grit
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini, Winter’s Bone

Biutiful
Dogtooth
In A Better World
Incendies
Outside The Law

How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King’s Speech
The Tempest
True Grit

“Coming Home”, Country Strong
“I See the Light”, Tangled
“If I Rise”, 127 Hours
“We Belong Together”, Toy Story 3

How to Train Your Dragon, John Powell
Inception, Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech, Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours, A.R. Rahman
The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

Black Swan
The Fighter
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

Barney’s Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

Inception
Toy Story 3
TRON: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Inception
The King’s Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Comes Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let’s Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)

The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143

127 Hours is the motivational film of the year that proves nature is unforgiving and shows the powerful strength in human determination. Even with the storyline being very basic, it is still captivating enough to not only keep your attention but also make it memorable. James Franco gives it his all with his performance, setting off well deserved Oscar buzz.

Aron Ralston (James Franco) is an avid thrill seeker that decides to go hiking into the canyons of Utah. He briefly runs into a couple lost female hikers that are lost. He jokes with them and shows them some amazing swimming areas before departing with them. Little does he know, it is the last time he comes in contact with a person for the next 127 hours.

As he is climbing around the canyons, a large rock falls down and pins his arm between canyon walls. He has a very limited amount of supplies for survival including; a water bottle, a little food, rope and a multi-tool. He even had a video camera he brought with, although He immediately begins to try chipping away at the rock to free his arm, but with no success. To make matters worse, he realizes that he told no one where is was going, thus nobody will be looking for him.

It is impossible not to feel empathetic for him. Since he is trapped, he is forced to think about his mistakes he has made in the past. How he is sorry that he did not return his mom’s phone calls and how he wishes he would have brought more liquids to drink. He even creates a faux talk show with himself with the video camera, which is both comical and depressing.

Everything around him is draining; his battery in his camera, the water supply and most importantly his hope of survival. Even the movie poster is shaped like an hour glass as if it were a countdown to his likely death. At one point, he states that his whole life he was drawing him closer and closer to the rock that would eventually trap him in. After 5 days he decides the only way out is for him to cut his own arm off to free him from the large rock.

Undoubtedly, part of what makes 127 Hours so interesting is that it is a true story and how accurate the film is to was actually happened. The real footage of Aron Ralston stuck in the canyon has been restricted to close friends and family members, however, before shooting began, James Franco and Danny Boyle were allowed to watch the footage in order to portray the events in the film accurately.

The most difficult scene to watch in the film was when Ralston has to amputate his own arm. To summon the courage to do that, even in his situation, given the amount of excruciating pain to do so, I feel most people would be unable to do it. The special effects are incredibly realistic and detailed, making it almost hard to watch. Interestingly enough, the scene was done in one take using multiple cameras because they only created one prosthetic arm.

James Franco is simply amazing, working in a very tight space for nearly the entire film by himself. Since there were virtually no supporting roles, he is given the difficult task of carrying on a film alone and does it masterfully. There has not been a role since Tom Hanks in Castaway that done it better. It is a performance that will put him as a serious contender for an Oscar and should win Best Male Lead at the Independent Spirit Awards this year.

Because the film completely straightforward, to keep the audience engaged throughout is a task not easily achieved. Not only was the acting brilliant being is such a confined space with no supporting actors but Danny Boyle gets creative with the camera and special effects to keep it entertaining. 127 Hours is a powerful survival story that ends up being an inspirational statement about choosing to live through willpower.

There were a total of 615 films that have been released in 2010. Here is the total list alphabetically, in case you need to make a Top 10 of 2010 or if you were at all curious (courtesy of indieWire).

[Rec] 2
127 Hours
16 to Life
180 South
2012: Time for Change
3 Billion and Counting
44 Inch Chest
45365
8: The Mormon Proposition

A Film Unfinished
A Film With Me in It
A Marine Story
A Mother’s Courage: Talking Back to Autism
A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Prophet
A Room and a Half
A Small Act
A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop
A Year Ago in January
After the Cup: Sons of Sakhnin United
After.Life
Agora
Ahead of Time
Ajami
Alamar
Alice in Wonderland
Alien Girl
All Good Things
Alpha and Omega 3D
Altiplano
American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein
And Everything Is Going Fine
Animal Kingdom
Another Year
Anton Chekhov’s The Duel
Applause
Around a Small Mountain
As Good as Dead
Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?
Audrey the Trainwreck

Babies
Barefoot to Timbuktu
Barking Water
Barney’s Version
Bearcity
Beautiful Islands
Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
Behind the Burly Q
Beijing Taxi
Beneath the Dark
Best Worst Movie
Between Two Worlds
Biker Fox
Bitch Slap
Bitter Feast
Biutiful
Black Swan
Blood Done Sign My Name
Blue Valentine
Bluebeard
Boogie Woogie
Boxing Gym
Bran Nue Dae
Break ke Baad
Breaking Upwards
Breath Made Visible
Broderskab
Brooklyn’s Finest
Brotherhood
Budrus
Buried
Burlesque
Burzynski

Ca$h
Cairo Time
Carbon Nation
Carlos
Carmo, Hit the Road
Case 39
Casino Jack
Casino Jack and the United States of Money
Catfish
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
Centurion
Chain Letter
Chance Pe Dance
Charlie St. Cloud
Cherry
Children of Invention
Chloe
Circle
City Island
Clash of the Titans
Clear Blue Tuesday
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer
Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky
Come Undone
Con Artist
Convention
Conviction
Cool It
Cop Out
Countdown to Zero
Country Strong
Crazy on the Outside
Creation
Cropsey
Cyrus

Dabangg
Daddy Longlegs
Daddy’s Home
Dancing Across Borders
Daniel and Ana
Date Night
Daybreakers
DDR/DDR
De Mai Tinh
Deadfall Trail
Dear John
Death at a Funeral
Defendor
Delta
Despicable Me
Devil
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Dinner for Schmucks
Disco and Atomic War
District B13 – Ultimatum
Dogtooth
Don McKay
Double Take
Double Tide
Douchebag
Down Terrace
Dream Boy
Dreamkiller
Due Date
Dulha Mil Gaya

Easier with Practice
Easy A
Eat Pray Love
Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl
Edge of Darkness
Eichmann
Enemies of the People
Enter the Void
Entre Nos
Etienne!
Everyone Else
Everything Strange and New
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Expecting Mary
Extraordinary Measures
Eyes Wide Open

Fair*Game
Falling Awake
Farewell
Faster
Finding Bliss
Fish Tank
Flipped
Flooding with Love for the Kid
Floored
For Colored Girls
For My Father
Formosa Betrayed
Four Lions
Frankie and Alice
Freakonomics
Fresh
From Paris With Love
Frozen
Furry Vengeance

Garbage Dreams
GasLand
Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould
George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead
Get Him to the Greek
Get Low
GhettoPhysics: Will the Real Pimps and Ho’s Please Stand Up?
Ghost Bird
God of Vampires
Godspeed
Going Blind
Going the Distance
Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then
Great Directors
Green Zone
Greenberg
Grown Ups
Gulliver’s Travels
Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench
Guzaarish

Hadewijch
Handsome Harry
Happiness Runs
Happy Tears
Harimaya Bridge, The
Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Suss
Harlem Aria
Harry Brown
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
Hatchet II
Have You Heard from Johannesburg?
Heartbreaker
Heartless
Helen
Hell on Wheels
Hemingway’s Garden of Eden
Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno
Here and There
Hereafter
Hideaway
Hiding Divya
Holy Rollers
Honeymoons
Hot Summer Days
Hot Tub Time Machine
House
How Do You Know
How to Train Your Dragon
Howl
Hubble 3D
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist, Rebel

I Am Love
I Love You Phillip Morris
I Spit on Your Grave
I Want Your Money
I’m Still Here
Idiots and Angels
In My Sleep
In My Sleep
In Search of Memory
Inception
Inhale
Inside Job
Inspector Bellamy
Iron Man 2
Ishqiya
It Came from Kuchar
It’s a Bash!
It’s Kind of a Funny Story

Jack Goes Boating
Jackass 3D
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
John Rabe
Jolene
Jonah Hex
Just Say Love
Just Wright
Karthik Calling Karthik
Kawasaki’s Rose
Kick-Ass
Killers
Kimjongilia
Kings of Pastry
Kings of the Evening
Kisses
Kites
Knight and Day

La Mission
Last Train Home
Lbs.
Leap Year
Leaves of Grass
Leaving
Lebanon
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole 3D
Legendary
Legion
Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970
Let Me In
Letters to Father Jacob
Letters to God
Letters to Juliet
Life As We Know It
Life During Wartime
Like Dandelion Dust
Little Fockers
Living in Emergency
Logan
Looking for Eric
Lottery Ticket
Lourdes
Love & Other Drugs
Love Ranch
Lovely, Still
Lovers of Hate

MacGruber
Machete
Made in Dagenham
Mademoiselle Chambon
Make-Out with Violence
Making Plans for Lena
Manuela and Manuel
Mao’s Last Dancer
Marmaduke
Mars
Marwencol
Megamind
Mercy
Meskada
Mesrine: Killer Instinct
Mesrine: Public Enemy Number One
Micmacs
Mid-August Lunch
Middle Men
Midnight Reckoning
Milh Hadha al-Bahr
Milk and Money
Mine
Misconceptions
Modern Love Is Automatic
Modus Operandi
Monsters
Morning Glory
Mother
Mother and Child
Mugabe and the White African
Multiple Sarcasms
Mundane History
Murder in Fashion
Music Makes a City
My Dog Tulip
My Name is Khan
My Soul to Take
My Year Without Sex

N-Secure
Nanny McPhee Returns
Ne change rien
Nénette
Neshoba: The Price of Freedom
Never Let Me Go
Night Catches Us
Nine Nation Animation
No One Knows About Persian Cats
Nobody’s Perfect
North Face
Nothing Personal
Nowhere Boy
Nuremberg restoration
NY Export: Opus Jazz

Ocean of Pearls
Oceans
October Country
Off and Running
Ondine
Only When I Dance
Open Five
Open Five
Operation: Endgame
Order of Chaos
Our Beloved Month of August
Our Family Wedding

Paranormal Activity 2
Patrik, Age 1.5
Peepli Live
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Perrier’s Bounty
Phish 3D
Phyllis and Harold
Picasso & Braque Go to the Movies
Picture Me: A Model’s Diary
Piranha 3D
Please Give
Pop Star on Ice
Pornography: A Thriller
Preacher’s Kid
Predators
Primal
Prince of Broadway
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Princess Kaiulani
Prodigal Sons
Punching the Clown

Queen of the Lot

Raavan
Rabbit à la Berlin
Rabbit Hole
Race to Nowhere
Rachel
Racing Dreams
Rajneeti
Ramona and Beezus
Rann
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
RED
Red Alert: The War Within
Red Birds
Red Hill
Red Riding: 1974
Red Riding: 1980
Red Riding: 1983
Red White & Blue
Remember Me
Repo Men
Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D
Restrepo
Robert Jay Lifton: Nazi Doctors
Robin Hood
Rosencrantz and Guildenstein are Undead
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage

S&Man
Saint John of Las Vegas
Salt
Salt of This Sea
Saw VII 3D
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Secret Sunshine
Secretariat
Sex and the City 2
Shanghai Red
She’s Out of My League
Shrek Forever After
Shutter Island
Shutterburg
Skyline
Smash His Camera
Solitary Man
Somewhere
Soul Kitchen
South of the Border
Speed-Dating
Splice
Spoken Word
Spring Fever
Standing Ovation
Step Up 3D
Still Bill
Stolen
Stone
Stonewall Uprising
Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields
Sweetgrass
Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo

Takers
Tales From the Script
Tamara Drewe
Tangled
Teen Patti
Terkel in Trouble
Terribly Happy
The A-Team
The Afterlight
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector
The American
The Anchorage
The Army of Crime
The Art of the Steal
The Back-up Plan
The Big Uneasy
The Book of Eli
The Bounty Hunter
The Cartel
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The City of Your Final Destination
The Company Men
The Concert
The Crazies
The Cremaster Cycle
The Debt
The Disappearance of Alice Creed
The Dry Land
The Eclipse
The Expendables
The Exploding Girl
The Extra Man
The Father of My Children
The Fighter
The Freebie
The Ghost Writer
The Girl
The Girl on the Train
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
The Girl with the Dragon Tatto
The Good Guy
The Good Heart
The Good, the Bad, the Weird
The Greatest
The Happy Poet
The Human Centipede
The Illusionist
The Joneses
The Juche Idea
The Karate Kid
The Kids Are All Right
The Kids Grow Up
The Killer Inside Me
The King’s Speech
The Korean
The Last Airbender
The Last Exorcism
The Last New Yorker
The Last Play at Shea
The Last Song
The Last Station
The Legend of Pale Male
The Living Wake
The Losers
The Lottery
The Magician
The Milk of Sorrow
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
The Nature of Existence
The New Year
The Next Three Days
The Nutcracker in 3D
The Oath
The Other City
The Other Guys
The Paranoids
The Parking Lot Movie
The People I’ve Slept With
The Perfect Game
The Portuguese Nun
The Red Baron
The Romantics
The Runaways
The Secret in Their Eyes
The Secret of Kells
The Sicilian Girl
The Social Network
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
The Spy Next Door
The Square
The Strange Case of Anjelica
The Sun Behind the Clouds
The Switch
The Taqwacores
The Tempest
The Temptation of St. Tony
The Thorn in the Heart
The Tillman Story
The Tooth Fairy
The Tourist
The Town
The Trial
The Trotsky
The Trouble with Terkel
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
The Two Escobars
The Vicious Kind
The Virginity Hit
The Warlords
The Warrior’s Way
The Weathered Underground
The Wildest Dream
The Winning Season
The Wolf Man
Tibet in Song
Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives
Tiny Furniture
To Die for Tano
To Save a Life
To the Sea
Today’s Special
Toe to Toe
Total Badass
Touching Home
Toy Story 3
Trash Humpers
Tron: Legacy
True Grit
Twelve
Two in the Wave

Udaan
Undertow
Unstoppable
Urville

Valentine’s Day
Valhalla Rising
Valley of the Hearts Delight
Vampires Suck
Veer
Videocracy
Vincere
Violet Tendencies
Vision
Visionaries

Wah do dem
Waiting for Armageddon
Waiting for Superman
Waking Sleeping Beauty
Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps
Waste Land
Watercolors
We Are Family
Welcome to the Rileys
What If…
When in Rome
When You’re Strange: A Film About The Doors
White Material
White on Rice
White Wedding
Whiz Kids
Who is Harry Nilsson (and Why is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?
Who Killed Nancy?
Why Did I Get Married Too?
Wild Grass
Wild Target
Willets Point
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
Winnebago Man
Winston Churchill: Walking with Destiny
Winter’s Bone
Women Without Men
Wonderful World
World on a Wire

Yellow Handkerchief, The
Yogi Bear
You Again
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
You Won’t Miss Me
Youth in Revolt

The 2011 Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced today with Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone being the front runner. Winter’s Bone could be this year’s Precious as it has the most nominations this year with seven which include; Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay and acting nominations for Jennifer Lawrence, Dave Dickey, and John Hawkes. Some of the other major nominees include The Kids Are All Right which received 5 nominations, Black Swan and Rabbit Hole which received 4. All four of those films have a good chance at Oscar nominations as well.

Although, I have not seen the Duplass brother’s Cyrus or Philip Seymour Hoffman‘s Jack Goes Boating, I am a little surprised that they were not one of the major contenders. I suppose Jack Goes Boating did haul in 3 nominations and Cyrus did receive 1 for Best Male Lead. I would have thought they would have had some more praise considering the people behind the films. Also Best Worst Movie did not make an appearance for Best Documentary, bummer.

Joel McHale will host the 26th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica on Saturday, February 26 which will air that night on IFC at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

127 Hours, Danny Boyle, Christian Colson, John Smithson
Black Swan, Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Brian Oliver
Greenberg, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Scott Rudin
The Kids Are All Right, Gary Gilbert, Philippe Hellmann, Jordan Horowitz, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray, Daniela Taplin Lundberg
Winter’s Bone, Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Anne Rosellini

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik, Winter’s Bone
John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole

Everything Strange and New, directed by Frazer Bradshaw; Producers: A.D. Liano, Laura Techera Francia
Get Low, directed by Aaron Schneider; Producers: David Gundlach, Dean Zanuck
The Last Exorcism, directed by Daniel Stamm; Producers: Marc Abraham, Tom Bliss, Eric Newman, Eli Roth
Night Catches Us, directed by Tanya Hamilton; Producers: Sean Costello, Jason Orans, Ronald Simons
Tiny Furniture, directed by Lena Dunham; Producers: Kyle Martin, Alicia Van Couvering

Daddy Longlegs, written and directed by Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie; Producers: Casey Neistat, Tom Scott
The Exploding Girl, written and directed by Bardley Rust Gray; Producers: Karen Chien, Ben Howe, So Yong Kim
Lbs., directed by Matthew Bonifacio, written by Matthew Bonifacio and Carmine Famiglietti; Producers: Matthew Bonifacio, Carmine Famiglietti
Lovers of Hate, written and directed by Bryan Poyser; Producer: Megan Gilbride
Obsedila, written and directed by Diane Bell; Producers: Chris Byrne, Mathew Medlin

Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Winter’s Bone
Nicole Holofcener, Please Give
David Lindsay-Abaire, Rabbit Hole
Todd Solondz, Life During Wartime

Diane Bell, Obselidia
Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture
Nik Fackler, Lovely, Still
Bob Glaudini, Jack Goes Boating
Dana Adam Shapiro, Evan M. Wiener, Monogamy

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Greta Gerwig, Greenberg
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Ronald Bronstein, Daddy Longlegs
Aaron Eckhart, Rabbit Hole
James Franco, 127 Hours
John C. Reilly, Cyrus
Ben Stiller, Greenberg

Ashley Bell, The Last Exorcism
Dale Dickey, Winter’s Bone
Allison Janney, Life During Wartime
Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jack Goes Boating
Naomi Watts, Mother and Child

John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Samuel L. Jackson, Mother and Child
Bill Murray, Get Low
John Ortiz, Jack Goes Boating
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

Adam Kimmel, Never Let Me Go
Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Jody Lee Lipes, Tiny Furniture
Michael McDonough, Winter’s Bone
Harris Savides, Greenberg

Exit Through The Gift Shop, Banksy
Marwencol, Jeff Malmberg
Restrepo, Tim Hetherington, Sebastien Junger
Sweetgrass, Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Thunder Soul, Mark Landsman

Kisses, Lance Daly
Mademoiselle Chambon, Stéphane Brizé
Of Gods and Men, Xavier Beauvois
The King’s Speech, Tom Hooper
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Please Give
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Casting Director: Jeanne McCarthy
Ensemble Cast: Ann Guilbert, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Lois Smith, Sara Steele

In-Ah Lee, Au Revoir Taipei
Adele Romanski, The Myth of the American Sleepover
Anish Savjani, Meek’s Cutoff

Hossein Keshavarz, Dog Sweat
Laurel Nakadate, The Wolf Knife
Mike Ott, Littlerock

Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Sweetgrass
Jeff Malmberg , Marwencol
Lynn True, Nelson Walker, Summer Pasture