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Lately I have been looking at some of my year-end awards screeners, mainly the documentaries. My critics’ group votes for the year’s best documentary; we each vote for our top five and then vote again from the top five finalists. It’s not easy to figure out this year’s front-runner as of yet, and most of the contenders have been huge yawners. For several years in a row, the big award-winners have always been about war in some form, either WWII or the more recent wars in the Middle East. But this year I have detected grumblings of ennui from the other critics, an ennui that i started developing years ago. This year the favorites appear to be a bit more lighthearted in tone, as well as more local in theme. Rowdy movies like Anvil: The Story of Anvil](http://www.cinematical.com/2008/01/19/sundance-review-anvil-the-story-of-anvil/), Capitalism: A Love Story](http://www.cinematical.com/2009/10/02/capitalism-a-love-story-review/) (52 screens) and Food, Inc.](http://www.cinematical.com/2009/06/13/review-food-inc/) (5 screens) for example have captured the hearts of my colleagues.
The Academy threw a monkey wrench in the works when they announced their shortlist of 15 films that they would be considering for Oscar nominations. Following their bizarre rules, it was an odd list; it included many titles that no one has seen, and it eliminated many of the favorites, including Tyson](http://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/17/cannes-review-tyson/) (prompting an interesting response from director James Toback), Good Hair](http://www.cinematical.com/2009/10/09/good-hair-review/) (38 screens), The September Issue](http://www.cinematical.com/2009/08/30/review-the-september-issue/) (13 screens), It Might Get Loud](It Might Get Loud (2009) - Movie | Moviefone) (11 screens), Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg](http://www.cinematical.com/tag/Yoo-Hoo+Mrs.+Goldberg/) (10 screens) and More Than a Game](More than a Game (2009) - Movie | Moviefone) (46 screens). The list also eliminated a couple of my favorites, both lively and spirited: Kirby Dick’s Outrage](http://www.cinematical.com/2009/04/27/tribeca-review-outrage/) and Not Quite Hollywood](Not Quite Hollywood (2008) - Movie | Moviefone), about the history of Australian exploitation cinema.