248 Films Eligible for Best Picture

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a total of 248 motion pictures released in 2010 are possible contenders for Best Picture of the year. The numbers are shrinking: 274 films were eligible in 2009, and 281 in 2008.

To be considered, a film must be theatrically released first - which means no VOD before theatres -and it has to play at least a full week by December 31st at least in Los Angeles.

While the newsbit does not mention it, I’m almost sure “Toy Story 3″ and “How To Train Your Dragon” will be shoved on over to the Best Animated film category. However, I was curious as to what films that were not eligible. I was not surprised by the films given distribution by Magnolia Pictures and their genre arm Magnet. The majority of those films picked up hit a film fest or two, but wind up suffering an ugly fate of HDNet and VOD before a limited theatrical run. So this excludes films like “I’m Still Here ” (the Joaquin Pheonix fake documentary) and the mildly pleasing ” Centurion”. But one exclusion surprised me.

That’s Country Strong , which opens this week nationwide. There was a lot of Oscar buzz around lead Gweneth Paltrow, but the media was stunned that there wasn’t a Golden Globe nomination for her. Well, the film played one day in Nashville in 2010. Guess what? The film isn’t going to make the Oscar cut either. That’s not saying the film is bad or Paltrow doesn’t deserve any accolades. It just means she -and her film- didn’t make the cut.

Here’s what I’ll look for in the comments section from the Int’l friends. What film would you like to see make the Oscar Best Picture shortlist *if* you could only pick one out of the 248? Especially one that didn’t get much attention and *does* qualify under Academy guidelines?