Halfway Decent? (aka “5 months, 4 weeks, 3 days”)

Trying to assemble a list of films we’ll be seeing in the first half of 2009 that stand even half a chance of getting anywhere close to an Oscar nomination — in any category. I threw this together pretty quickly, so I might be leaving out a few important titles. (Please tell me I forgot something. Please.)

They’re in roughly chronological order, so things start to look “Up” as the list gets closer to July, but how many of these movies will we see on Top 10 lists come December? Is there any Once or The Visitor here? Let me know what I left off, but– just to be cruel — you have to say which of these 25 30 you’d kick out to make room for your substitute movies.

• Taken
• Coraline
• Two Lovers
• Watchmen
• I Love You, Man
• The Edge of Love
• Duplicity
• Adventureland
• Goodbye Solo
• Sunshine Cleaning
• Tulpan
• Sugar
• Sin Nombre
• The Informers
• Is Anybody There?
• State of Play
• The Soloist
• Tyson
• Lymelife
• The Limits of Control
• Little Ashes
• Star Trek
• The Brothers Bloom
• Terminator Salvation
• Easy Virtue
• Up
• Away We Go
• My Life in Ruins
• Cheri
• The Hurt Locker