Runners-Up to the 10 Favorites: Exit Through the Gift Shop, Fair Game, Get Him to the Greek, The Ghost Writer, I Am Love, Inception, The Other Guys, Restrepo, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, Waiting for "Superman."

Runners-Up to Those Runners-Up: Babies, Brooklyn's Finest, Despicable Me, Going the Distance, Hot Tub Time Machine, The Karate Kid, The King's Speech, Megamind, Please Give, The Town.

And Since it Was Such a Good Year ... : Cyrus, Easy A, For Colored Girls, Iron Man 2, It's Kind of a Funny Story, Ramona & Beezus, Salt, Tangled, Unstoppable, Youth in Revolt.

Okay, yes, we've been trying this for years. But this time, I think I've finally figured out how you can score 24 out of 24 in your office's annual Academy Awards pool.

A Best Picture slate for the Oscars with twice as many titles as usual? A female front-runner for the Best Director trophy? Not one, not two, but three science-fiction films potentially up for the big prize? What the hell is going on this year?!?

We'll know more when the nominees for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards are revealed on Tuesday, February 2. In the meantime, there's no harm -- although there is the possibility of an eventual loss of dignity -- in my making a few predictions... .

As one calendar year ends and another begins, it feels like a good time to give thanks. And amidst the lame romantic comedies and thrill-less thrillers and unending stream of remakes, sequels, and - in the case of Rob Zombie's Halloween II - even the remake of a sequel, there was actually quite a lot that I was thankful for in the movie year of 2009.