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3:10 to Yuma
Reelz Rating (out of 10): 
Award(s) It Was Forgotten For: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor
In a Nutshell: Smart, gritty western even non-western fans loved.
Why It's Award-Worthy: Westerns are always a tough sell and this one was no exception, although you have to question Lionsgate's decision to open it in the dead season of early September. Christian Bale and Russell Crowe are two of the finest actors of their generation, a paring akin to DeNiro and Pacino in Heat. Ben Foster offers the year's finest supporting performance as the cold-hearted killer Charlie Prince.
Full 3:10 to Yuma Review
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The Lookout
Reelz Rating (out of 10): 
Award(s) It Was Forgotten For: Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor
In a Nutshell: Great thriller, great story, great acting.
Why It's Award-Worthy: Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Chris Pratt, a local high school football hero whose life is destroyed by a tragic car accident. His memory comes and goes now he works as a janitor at a local bank. When he falls in with a bad gang and winds up the pawn of a bank robbery, he must turn to his only friend for help - Jeff Daniels in an amazing performance as his blind roommate.
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Rescue Dawn
Reelz Rating (out of 10): 
Award(s) It Was Forgotten For: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor
In a Nutshell: Great thriller, great story, great acting.
Why It's Award-Worthy: How this movie is not being talked about this awards season is a mystery to me. Christian Bale is Lt. Dieter Dengler, a real-life German-American who was shot down and captured during his first flight over Loas. He organizes a daring escape from the P.O.W. camp, eventually left with only one friend in the lonely jungles, the decisively less positive-thinking Duane Martin (Steve Zahn in the finest work of his career). Dawn is a thrilling, heartbreaking, near-masterpiece.
Full Rescue Dawn Review
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Black Snake Moan
Reelz Rating (out of 10):
Award(s) It Was Forgotten For: Best Actor
In a Nutshell: Sam Jackson is almost unrecognizable as former bluesman Lazarus in this sexually-charged tribute to 70's exploitation.
Why It's Award-Worthy: When Laz (Jackson) discovers a young, pretty nymphomaniac (Christina Ricci) lying beaten and broken outside his house, he decides it is his chance to find a little bit of redemption by saving her soul. While his methods may be questioned by some - he chains her to a radiator in her panties midriff-baring shirt - his heart is in the right place. Directed by Hustle and Flow's Craig Brewer, Black Snake Moan is nothing if not a highly original cinematic trip.
Full Black Snake Moan Review
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Reign Over Me
Reelz Rating (out of 10):
Award(s) It Was Forgotten For: Best Actor, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay
In a Nutshell: A touching story of post 9/11 trauma and a great story of friendship.
Why It's Award-Worthy: Instead of focusing on the events of 9/11 as did United 93 or World Trade Center, Reign explores the not-so-uncommon fallout of survivor's guilt. The unlikely Adam Sandler gives the best performance of his career as Charlie Fineman, whose wife and three daughters were killed during the World Trade attacks. When his college roommate Alan Johnson (the incomparable Don Cheadle) re-enters his life, Charlie starts to face the facts of what's happened to his world.
Full Reign Over Me Review
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Bug
Reelz Rating (out of 10):
Award(s) It Was Forgotten For: Best Adapted Screenplay
In a Nutshell: Great performances highlight this intense, simple little thriller.
Why It's Award-Worthy: Based on a one-room play by Tracy Letts, Ashley Judd is Agnes White, a white trash addict whose abusive husband (Harry Connick, Jr.) returns from prison to discover she's met a new man - quiet-natured hunk Peter Evans (Michael Shannon). The bigger issue at hand is that Peter has brought with him an invasion of creepy crawly bugs that no one can see. He claims it's all part of a military experiment, but he might also just be completely out of his gourd.
Full Bug Review
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Sunshine
Reelz Rating (out of 10):
Award(s) It Was Forgotten For: Best Visual Effects
In a Nutshell: Highlighted by gorgeous visuals, director Danny Boyle offers up a thinking man's sci-fi thriller with equal parts Alien and 2001.
Why It's Award-Worthy: The biggest, best sci-fi movie of 2007 that no one saw. Set in the not-too-distant future where the sun is nearing extinction, Earth is in a constant state of winter weather. The only hope to save mankind? Re-ignite the sun. After the first mission mysteriously vanishes, the crew of the Icarus II is sent on a semi-suicidal mission to look for the missing Icarus I and take their own payload (essentially a massive bomb) straight into the heart of the sun.
Full Sunshine Review
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The Hunting Party
Reelz Rating (out of 10):
Award(s) It Was Forgotten For: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay
In a Nutshell: Richard Shepard (The Matador) keeps the faith with his sophomore effort in this smart, black dramedy about journalists who risk their lives hunting down war criminals in Bosnia.
Why It's Award-Worthy: Based on a true story about Esquire journalist Scott Anderson's trip to Sarajevo hunting for rather easy-to-find war criminals, The Hunting Party attracted A-list talent like Richard Gere and Terrence Howard. You've probably never ever heard of it, but this intelligent, funny, tense, touching and disturbing film cements writer/director Richard Shepard's position as an auteur. It's distinctly Shepard, and it's distinctly good.
Full The Hunting Party Review
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Broken English
Reelz Rating (out of 10):
Award(s) It Was Forgotten For: Best Screenplay, Best Actress
In a Nutshell: Written and directed by Zoe Cassavetes, and starring Parker Posey, Broken English tells the story of a single thirty something New Yorker trying to navigate the rough waters of finding romance in a sea of loneliness.
Why It's Award-Worthy: This romantic dramedy may be full of indie royalty, but you don't have to be an art house aficionado to appreciate it. So much more than just a Bridget Jones or Sex and the City rip off, Broken English is full of surprising depth and compassion for a normally fluffy subject matter. If you've ever been single and sad about it, this movie is an absolute must-see. Plus, French actor Melvil Poupaud is beyond hot.
Full Broken English Review
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