In honor of the Academy Awards tonight, I’m finally going to list the favorite films that I saw this past year (a calendar year according to Oscar)

11. Diary of a Wimpy Kid - saw this on a trans-Pacific flight and to me this was the most hilarious movie I’ve seen all year. the kids were so funny and it was super cute.

10. Boy - this is a new Zealand film (has yet to be released in the US) and saw it while in NZ this summer. At the time, it was NZ’s highest grossing domestic film. It’s a charming, sad, funny, and imaginative film and full of Kiwi-isms and even some MJ. watch the trailer to get a glimpse.

9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One - dark, bleak, and very emotional. I think the HP films just get better and better (with the exception of that crazy awkward dream sequence with Harry and Hermione…ew). can’t wait for Part Two!

8. The Kids Are All Right - a refreshing indie comedy with authentic characters and an original storyline.

7. Toy Story 3 - let’s just say I cried a lot. I feel like Woody, Buzz and Co. are all my childhood toys having grown up with these movies. Moving and funny - what Pixar does best.

6. The King’s Speech - what I loved especially about this film was Geoffrey Rush’s performance. Yes, Colin Firth was terrific, but Rush was so fun to watch. I loved how British it was and the uplifting score.

5. The Fighter - Two words: Christian Bale. What a show! I’m usually not a huge fan of boxing-oriented films, but I thought this was extremely well done and I actually didn’t want it to end when it did. I also enjoyed watching Amy Adams be so different from her usual roles.

4. 127 Hours - I finally just saw this yesterday, and I must say I was blown away by how this film was put together and James Franco’s performance. It’s always interesting watching a film when you know what will happen and you get antsy waiting. Yes, it’s cringe-worthy at a particular moment, but was a truly beautiful and inspiring film. Also love that A.R. Rahman is Danny Boyle’s go-to composer now.

3. Black Swan - Natalie Portman. Ballet. Feathers. Three things that I never thought would come together to make such a suspenseful and perfect film. Wow.

2. The Social Network - I really loved how this was written and directed, and really was just a courtroom drama. Add in Jesse Eisenberg’s spot-on performance and Trent Raznor’s numbing musical score, then you get a pretty damn good entertaining and timely film.

1. The Ghost Writer - this film seems to have been lost when being considered for awards (it was released last Spring), but I was mesmerized by it. The Film Noir aspects made it especially chilling and thrilling. It was beautifully shot and, maybe I’m just biased because I love him so much, it was so great to see Ewan McGregor in a leading role again.

There you go! Happy Academy Awards Day!