Michael Stuhlbarg

The doubters have been confounded yet again by James Cameron. They predicted disaster for Titanic: it became the world's biggest box-office hit. Now Avatar seems set to prove them wrong again. With glowing reviews and Golden Globe nominations for best picture and best director, it has suddenly energised an awards season short on buzz. Love Cameron or hate him, there is no denying he's that rare phenomenon: a genuine Hollywood auteur with a blazing personal vision. Up against him, in both categories, at the Globes on 17 January are his former wife Katherine Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), Jason Reitman (Up In the Air) and Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds) but, ridiculously (what can you expect from a coterie of Los Angeles Foreign Press junketeers), Precious is only nominated for best picture: its director Lee Daniels was ditched to make way for Clint Eastwood (Invictus). Excluded altogether are Joel and Ethan Coen, directors of arguably the best American picture of the year, A Serious Man, although they have the consolation of Michael Stuhlbarg (above), getting a nod for (oddly) best actor (musical/comedy).


As predicted in Offcue, Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer – he's finishing it while under house arrest in his chalet in Switzerland – has been selected for Berlin Film Festival, where it will compete with Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island for the Golden Bear.


Speaking of best pictures of 2009, on the plane back from the European Film Awards last weekend I jotted down 12 of my favourites, in alphabetical order: A Serious Man, Avatar, Broken Embraces, Fish Tank, Gomorrah, The Hurt Locker, Il Divo, Inglourious Basterds, Slumdog Millionaire, Up, The White Ribbon, and The Wrestler. This prompted me to list my pictures of the noughties, the fifth end-of-decade list I've made since I first started reviewing in 1960 (I'll exclude 2009, because it's too recent): In The Mood For Love, Traffic, Mystic River, The Last Mitterand, Fahrenheit 9/11, Sideways, Downfall, The Lives Of Others, Hidden, The Death of Mr Lazarescu, Volver.