woolf (Level 15)

Best New Series: Louie. While it may force you to squirm as often as you laugh, Lewis C.K.’s latest take on life as a comedian stands out for its ability to take tired TV plots to interesting and often hilarious new places. The show takes a no-holds-bar approach to taboos of race, religion, and sex that succeeds largely due to offering insight instead of shock, which today is a rarity. C.K. may be relieved that Louie’s getting a second season but it’ll be tough to top the first.

Runner-Up For Best Art-House Flick: The Kids Are All Right. Not as laugh-out-load funny or politically charged as other indie darlings, this is a movie all about subtlety, which is probably its best feature. It never feels the need to take dramatic turns or set-up elaborate jokes, rather it lets its story play out in a simple but relatable fashion. A slew of strong performances and a great script easily made this the summer’s most pleasant film.

Best Art-House Flick: Exit Through the Gift Shop. A documentary, a prank or maybe a bit of both, Banksy’s look at the world of street art is a viciously funny film that’s all the better for leaving you unsure of whether or not anything you witnessed was real. I believe that if something is too good to be true, it usually is, which is probably why I think Exit Through the Gift Shop is a sham, because it’s so damn good.

Runner-Up For Biggest Genre Success: Animation. Pixar, Dreamworks and newcomer Illumination all scored with their animated features. It’s just a shame little Miyazakai has gotten off to such a rough start.

Biggest Genre Success: Limited Releases. Dragon Tattoo, Cyrus, The Kids Are All Right, Winter’s Bone, Get Low and Exit Through the Gift Shop all saw success critically, commercially or both. This summer would have been far more memorable if people had spent less time bemoaning the state of major releases and spent more time checking out some of the year’s smallest and best pictures.

Runner-Up For Biggest Genre Failure: Comic Book Movies. This summer was more about exciting announcements than adaptations. Kick-Ass and Scott Pilgrim failed to attract the non-devoted to theatres and Iron Man 2 couldn’t live up to the lofty expectations set by its predecessor. If backbenchers Thor, Cap and Green Lantern can’t save next summer, that’ll just add to the pressure put on The Avengers.

Biggest Genre Failure: Comedy. The funniest movies this summer were either ignored (Scot Pilgrim) or enjoyed by a smaller audience in art-houses. Schmucks was a colossal disappointment and The Other Guys, which is memorable for Sam Jackson and The Rock alone, forgot it was a parody and instead turned into a run-of-the-mill buddy cop film. And those are the highlights, let’s not even talk about Grown Ups or Vampires Suck. The fall doesn’t look much better so this might just be symptomatic of 2010 as a whole.

Runner-Up For Saddest Cancellation: King Of The Hill. It had a good run and Mike Judge’s series was the rare animated show that prided itself on funny characters and writing over funny situations. Congratulations world, now your Sunday’s consist of The Simpsons and THREE Seth McFarlane shows.

Saddest Cancellation: Law & Order. Really NBC? You couldn’t let L&O stick around just a little longer so that it could finally topple Gunsmoke? Although a mere shadow of its former self, it was a bloody institution. You’d think the dozens of cop shows it has since spun-off or inspired would provide comfort but no. L&O will forever be the best chronicle of the police, the district attorneys and their stories. Can I get a Dun-Dun?

Runner-Up For Trend That Needs To Stop: Betty White Fever. OK, we get it; she says things you wouldn’t normally expect the elderly to say. My grandma does that all the time, where’s her Emmy?

Trend That Needs To Stop: M. Night Shyama-lol. In a phenomenon I have experienced multiple times, the once proud director of The Sixth Sense has been met with laughter in theatres at the mere mention of his name. It seems any discussion of the Devil trailer has to involve some anecdote about people giggling at the crediting of Shyamalan, which is a shame because he might be involved in a legitimately good movie this time. We’ll find out in a few weeks if the snorts and cackles were justified.

Runner-Up For Most Unintentionally Hilarious Moment: Salt. In a movie chalk full of stupid moments, Liev Schreiber takes the cake here for doing something that, when shot, was probably meant to be shocking, but in execution is so bafflingly unexpected that one can only laugh in confusion.

Most Unintentionally Hilarious Moment: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Let me set the scene for you. Swedish heroine Lisbeth Slander invades the home of the film’s villain to save her partner. She proceeds to chase the baddie out of his home by brandishing a golf club. As the antagonist climbs into his car, Lisbeth proceeds to attack the car with her golf club and break one of the windows before he speeds off. Sound familiar? The majority of the theatre I was in seemed to think so.

Runner-Up For Best TV Moment: Party Down, Finale. The last episode of Party Down aired with the show’s cancellation an almost certainty, but Adam Scott and company sure made the most of it. The guest stars were frequent and each character had their own little cathartic moment, with Henry’s being the real standout. The last scene, which by my count is only the second time the show has left the workplace setting, is surprisingly hopeful for a series about living life at the bottom. It’s strange that a show as cynical as Party Down would have one of the most bittersweet and emotionally resonant moments of the summer, but that just adds to the laundry list of qualities that made this a show whose greatness was only matched by its brevity.

Best TV Moment: Breaking Bad, Half-Measure. The end of this episode was one of the most awe inducing, jaw-dropping moments of any TV show I can think of. Like a car crash, you realize what’s about to happen the second before it does, and that does nothing to soften the impact. It marks a major turning point for the characters and I think the show as a whole, and it works because it was earned. This season was all about Walt figuring out if he could be the bad guy, and Half-Measure gave us a definitive answer. July 2011 cannot come soon enough.

Runner-Up For Most Disappointing Movie: The Expendables. While not without merit, Stallone’s reunion is mostly bark thanks to underwhelming CGI and a poor script. Remember Sly, I don’t care if your muscles are authentic, just as long as the blood and explosions are.

Most Disappointing Movie: Dinner For Schmucks. Solid trailer plus great premise times hilarious cast equals… one lousy, lousy movie. Between its meandering pace and flat out hypocritical message, this turned out to be the most frustrating film of the summer, especially considering the current dearth of good comedies.

Runner-Up For Best TV Comedy: Futurama. On aggregate, it’s not yet up to the high bar set by seasons 2-4, but I’ll be damned if it’s not close. Featuring the same trademark humour and love of sci-fi that gave the original it’s cult-like following, Futurama is back and it’s nice to know that David X. Cohen and co didn’t get rusty during their 5 year hiatus.

Best TV Comedy: Party Down. What do you get when the mutant offspring of Extras and Curb is raised by The Office? You get one of the funniest, most memorable and sadly shortest comedies in recent years. The show may no longer be with us, but the crew behind Party Down crew can take pride in knowing that they delivered one hell of a second season in a summer that desperately needed laughs.

Runner-Up For Best TV Drama: Lost. The ending will be debated for a long time, and it’s by no means the show’s best season, but the hotly anticipated last act of Lost did not disappoint. Full of the series’ unique drama, humour and insight, season 6 was a fitting send-off for a show that’s destined to become a classic.

Best TV Drama: Breaking Bad. The best show on TV just got better. Vince Gilligan played it fast and loose with this season and boy did it pay off. Not only was season 3 of Breaking Bad consistently amazing for all thirteen weeks, it had one of the biggest “Oh Sh*t” moments of any TV show not named Lost. The idea that we won’t see what happens to Walt and Jessie for another eleven months is almost too much to bare, but if the quality of the show continues as it has, it’s going to be another explosive summer in Albuquerque.

Runner-Up For Best Movie: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. It’s a shame so few took a chance on this one because it was far and away the summer’s funniest and most visually inventive film. That’s 3 for 3 for Edgar Wright; now give him Ant-Man damnit!