Best Picture Race 2011

(Top row from Left to right-Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King’s Speech.

Bottom row from Left to right-127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, Winter’s Bone.)

  

For the first time that I can remember I have seen all of the Best Picture nominees of the Academy Awards, in particular the 83rd Annual Academy Awards® .  Quite a feat especially since they expanded the category from five to ten pictures last year. (From 1944 to 2008, the Academy restricted nominations to five Best Picture nominees per year.)

From left to right: Academy Award winner Mo'Nique and Tom Sherak, President of the Academy announcing the nominees for Best Picture January 25, 2011.

Now that the awards are over and I already gave MY pick for Best Picture (linked at the end) here is a more detailed recount of what I thought about each film in alphabetical order. (You can read about each film at Wikipedia by CLICKING each poster below.)

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BLACK SWAN What a wonderfully trippy film. From beginning to end this picture was just a psychotic break without going too over the top…or totally breaking from reality mostly due to great direction by Darren Aronofsky. Mila Kunis gives another good performance (I liked her performance in Book of Eli as well.) Natalie Portman gives a frenetic yet nuanced performance. It could have easily become scenery chewing and over the top yet didn’t.

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THE FIGHTER A really good film that gave a different take on the boxer who must over come odds to become champ. This film focused on the boxer’s dysfunctional, yet supportive family. Melissa Leo was good, but Amy Adams was FANTASTIC. Every scene she was in, she was great. The star Mark Walhberg was good too, but Christian Bale had another FANTASTIC performance. His performance also could have been easily become scenery chewing and over the top yet didn’t.

 
 
 

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INCEPTION Talk about a trip, like Black Swan, this film was sort of a psychotic break WITH ACTION. An excellent film that, even though it had a mind bending story, had an underlying storyline about guilt, grief and love loss. About 30 minutes into the movie I thought, yeah Paris folds onto itself that’s cool, but what else? Well when one of the antagonists interrupts the dream I started thinking “What was that about?” From that moment until the end I was completely into the picture. Great direction by Christopher Nolan and yes the picture is a special effects extravaganza, but great performances by Leonardo DiCaprio,  Marion Cotillard and the rest of the cast add to it. Last, but not least I have to point out Hans Zimmer’s work on the score.  The score is original music written specifically to accompany a film in order to enhance the dramatic narrative and the emotional impact of the scenes in question and Zimmer’s pulsating score did just that! Great direction, special effects, performances and score equal an excellent motion picture.

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THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT A really nice “dramedy”. Every year the academy tends to nominate a really good film that blends comedy, drama and good performances and this was it. Yes Annette Bening gets all the attention (and has some great dramatic scenes) but the rest of the cast, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska  & Josh Hutcherson are also very good. Mark Ruffalo in particular gives a performance that makes you like him, but makes you also think he’s kind of a jerk. A subtlety that’s not easy to accomplish.

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THE KING’S SPEECH An excellent film all the way around. Great story, direction and pitch perfect acting by and Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. I expected this film to be a nice story of overcoming odds and I’ve read about the great acting, but EVERYTHING about the movie was excellent including the direction by Tom Hooper.

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127 HOURS How can a movie about some guy who gets his arm trapped by a rock be interesting? Fantastically so. With a great performance by James Franco, the director Danny Boyle really finds ways to make a mostly solitary story interesting. I won’t tell you how, you just have to see it, but the ending is really emotional and I’m not talking about the “pivotal scene”. Great direction by Boyle and a REALLY great performance by James Franco.

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THE SOCIAL NETWORK Another excellent film all the way around. Great direction, an excellent script and great acting. The WHOLE cast, even the supporting cast, gave great natural performances aided by the director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. Fincher and Sorkin made a story about a bunch of geeks writing computer code interesting and compelling by combining it with a story about power, success and envy.

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TOY STORY 3 Not much to say other than rarely (if ever?) is a second sequel good, nonetheless excellent and this one was. A very nice and touching way to tie up the trilogy. 

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TRUE GRIT A really good film, with really good direction, script and performances. The true standout performance though was Hailee Steinfeld (pictured below right) who was EXCELLENT and commanded many scenes she was in. The story starts out with this little girl in pigtails making arrangements for her father’s burial and “making arrangements” is an understatement. She convincingly negotiated the price and the eventual bounty for her father’s killer with men twice (three times?) her age. That kind of convincing portrayal is quite an achievement for a 14 year old.

Hailee Steinfeld

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WINTER’S BONE This film was so authentic in its story and acting it kind of turned me off when I watched it. It was only in retrospect that I realized what an achievement it was. Some of the most truly authentic acting I have seen in ANY picture last year. Jennifer Lawrence was EXCELLENT in the lead and many of the supporting cast was equally gritty and authentic. An excellent authentic film.

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I can truly say that EACH OF THE TEN PICTURES I SAW deserved to be nominated for Best Picture. Each film was fantastic in its own right and while the award went to The King’s Speech, for each it SHOULD be an honor to be nominated. I have seen three of my favorites twice now and those being The Social Network, The King’s Speech, and Inception and they still hold up as excellent.

The Oscar is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry and having watched ten of their honorees, I have to say yeah, they know what they’re doing.

You can read MY picks for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards by CLICKING the graphic below

Related posts-

Lack of Diversity at the Oscars 2011

African Americans at the Academy Awards

Cool Black's Oscar Recap Past & Present

Cool Black's Entertainment Review 2010-Best Movie

Cool Black's Oscar picks 2011

Of the ten pictures nominated for "Best Picture" I have seen eight of them and they are (pictured above left to right, top, True Grit, The Kids Are All Right, Winter's Bone, Toy Story 3, (left to right, bottom)The King's Speech, Inception, Black Swan and The Social Network.) My picks for the Oscars will be from those pictures. (I will also bold the correlating nominations.)

My pick will be under “Cool Black’s Oscar Pick:” These are NOT who I think will win; it’s who I think SHOULD win based on my opinion and those who know me, know I am quite discerning.

As a screenwriter two of my favorite categories are the two screenwriting ones. For the record:
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source (usually a novel, play, or short story but also sometimes another film). All sequels are automatically considered adaptations by this standard (since the sequel must be based on the original story).

Best Writing – Original Screenplay

Another Year – Mike Leigh

The Fighter – Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, and Eric Johnson

Inception – Christopher Nolan

The Kids Are All Right – Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg


The King's Speech – David Seidler

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Christopher Nolan for Inception. Of the original screenplays Inception was just a trip…a mind trip and while it was full of hard to grasp concepts it had an underlying storyline that was pretty easy to follow.


Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay

127 Hours – Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy from Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston

The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin from The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich


Toy Story 3 – Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich; characters based on Toy Story and Toy Story 2


True Grit – Ethan Coen and Joel Coen from True Grit by Charles Portis


Winter's Bone – Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini from Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network. Sorkin wrote one of the smartest screenplays in modern history. Not only is it smart, it made “geek speak” not so boring by combining it with whip fire dialogue, wit and sarcasm.


Best Cinematography

Black Swan – Matthew Libatique


Inception – Wally Pfister


The King's Speech – Danny Cohen


The Social Network – Jeff Cronenweth


True Grit – Roger Deakins

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: (Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography.)

Hard, hard category. Having seen all of these pictures I’m going to say that ALL are worthy nominations, but I have to go with a TIE for Wally Pfister for Inception and Danny Cohen for The King's Speech.


Best Film Editing

127 Hours – Jon Harris

Black Swan – Andrew Weisblum


The Fighter – Pamela Martin


The King's Speech – Tariq Anwar


The Social Network – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: I’m going with Andrew Weisblum for Black Swan.

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale – The Fighter as Dicky Eklund

John Hawkes – Winter's Bone as Teardrop


Jeremy Renner – The Town as James "Gem" Coughlin


Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right as Paul


Geoffrey Rush – The King's Speech as Lionel Logue

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Geoffrey Rush for The King's Speech as Lionel Logue. Again PITCH PERFECT acting!


Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams – The Fighter as Charlene Fleming

Helena Bonham Carter – The King's Speech as Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon / Queen Elizabeth

Melissa Leo – The Fighter as Alice Ward

Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit as Mattie Ross

Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom as Janine "Smurf" Cody

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: I refuse to pick Hailee Steinfeld in this category because I stated above she deserved to be in the “Best Actress” category so I’m going with Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech as Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon / Queen Elizabeth.


Best Actor

Javier Bardem – Biutiful as Uxbal

Jeff Bridges – True Grit as Rooster Cogburn


Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network as Mark Zuckerberg

Colin Firth – The King's Speech as Prince Albert / King George VI

James Franco – 127 Hours as Aron Ralston

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: I heard this category referred to as Colin Firth and everyone who will lose against him. I totally agree. PITCH PERFECT acting!


Best Actress

Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right as Nic


Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole as Becca Corbett


Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone as Ree Dolly


Natalie Portman – Black Swan as Nina Sayers

Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine as Cindy

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: First, I totally have to say that Hailee Steinfeld (the little girl from True Grit) deserves to be in this category! She was absolutely fantastic in that film and had such a large role (like every scene). She was nominated for “Best Supporting Actress” for that role, but…I just don’t have the words.

Anyway, my picks are again a TIE Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone as Ree Dolly and Natalie Portman for Black Swan as Nina Sayers.

Natalie Portman did give the performance of her career, but so did Jennifer Lawrence. While Natalie’s was frenetic, Jennifer’s was just the embodiment of distress.


Best Director

Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan


Ethan Coen and Joel Coen – True Grit


David Fincher – The Social Network


Tom Hooper – The King's Speech

David O. Russell – The Fighter

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Not really a hard choice, I think all four I did see did great jobs, but my pick is David Fincher for The Social Network.


Best Picture

127 Hours – Danny Boyle and Christian Colson

Black Swan – Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, and Brian Oliver

The Fighter – David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, and Mark Wahlberg

Inception – Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas


The Kids Are All Right – Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, and Celine Rattray


The King's Speech – Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Gareth Unwin


The Social Network – Dana Brunetti, Ceán Chaffin, Michael De Luca, and Scott Rudin


Toy Story 3 – Darla K. Anderson


True Grit – Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, and Scott Rudin


Winter's Bone – Alix Madigan and Anne Rosellini

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Like I stated at the beginning, I have seen eight of these ten pictures and each one worthy of the nomination. While I personally thought Inception and The Social Network were the best films I saw last year I have to pick The Social Network as Best Picture.

So that’s it, my picks this year with only two travesties Hailee Steinfeld not nominated for “Best Actress” and Christopher Nolan not nominated as “Best Director” for Inception.

List of ALL the Cool Black’s Oscar Picks
Best Writing – Original Screenplay - Christopher Nolan for Inception

Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay - Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network

Best Cinematography - TIE for Wally Pfister for Inception and Danny Cohen for The King's Speech

Best Film Editing - Andrew Weisblum for Black Swan

Best Supporting Actor - Geoffrey Rush for The King's Speech as Lionel Logue

Best Supporting Actress - Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech as Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon / Queen Elizabeth


Best Actor - Colin Firth – The King's Speech as Prince Albert / King George VI


Best Actress - TIE Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone as Ree Dolly and Natalie Portman for Black Swan as Nina Sayers


Best Picture - The Social Network

*UPDATE APRIL 2011*

Now that I have seen ALL TEN of the Best Picture nominees I do have TWO changes and they are both from The Fighter.


Best Supporting Actor - Christian Bale – The Fighter as Dicky Eklund

Best Supporting Actress - Amy Adams – The Fighter as Charlene Fleming

My other choices above haven’t changed and I have written about each ten and my cumulative thoughts here

Related posts-

Lack of Diversity at the Oscars 2011

African Americans at the Academy Awards

Cool Black's Oscar Recap Past & Present

Cool Black's Entertainment Review 2010-Best Movie

Cool Black's 2010 Entertainment Review

by Dankwa Brooks AKA Cool Black

As you can tell by this blog, I love media. Not just films, but television and music too. You might call me a MEDIAPHILE. I also love to read and watch the many “Best of the Year” lists that get published and shown this time of the year.


This year I decided to form my own list. The people who know me know that even though I’m not a critic, I’m a critical thinker and I have a critical eye. You might say “That makes you a critic”. Perhaps…I just don’t like the term. I also think a “critic” is someone who criticizes, but is not an artist beyond that. I'm an artist! 


Having said that, here is what I thought was the best media had to offer and at the end the almighty return of the Cool Black Awards. (For the record I used to have “awards” for the column I wrote in college.)


Disclaimer: While I tried to consume as much media as I could in 2010, honestly I did, I couldn’t consume everything so when you say “what about BLANK?”, I probably haven’t seen it, haven’t heard it or just didn’t like it…but feel free to ask :D

NOW! Let's review shall we?

Toy Story 3 is the rare second sequel that is just as good as the previous installments. Excellent triad of films.

Freedom Riders An excellent documentary about a movement in the civil rights era. (Read more of what I had to say about the film here )

Shutter Island I didn’t want to see this movie. Even though the director, Martin Scorsese is one of my favorite filmmakers and Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the best actors around, the trailer looked too weird for me. A friend of mine got me to go see it and I really liked it. In fact I thought it was very good and the only thing that didn’t make me think it was excellent was that it was toooo loooong. If they cut about 40 minutes of material out of this it would be excellent.

The Town I’ve seen a ton of heist flicks, but this one seemed interesting. The resulting film was great. It managed to take a different…take on the heist genre.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths is not only one of the most action packed animated films I’ve seen, but the story was great and it had all of the all-stars, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash etc. as well as some kick ass villains.

Honorable Mention, An official recognition of merit (i.e. really enjoyed them)

From left to right.

The Karate Kid Another remake? I went to see it to see how they would screw it up. I was wrong, the movie was terrific! (Read more of what I had to say about the film here )

Takers Another cool different take on the heist film.

Night Catches Us A very nice movie with understated performances. Nothing flashy, just solid.
(Read more of what I had to say about the film here )


For Colored Girls Some excellent performances in Tyler Perry’s best film to date. (Read my full review here here )

Predators Really good sequel to the franchise. Gives great homage to the original.

There is only one new show I liked in 2010 and I’m saving it for the awards at the end.

Best Singles of 2010
(in no particular order)

1. B.M.F. (Blowing Money Fast) Rick Ross

2. Lil Freak Usher feat. Nicki Minaj

3. Whip My Hair Willow Smith

4. Un-thinkable (I'm Ready) Alicia Keys

5. Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home) Usher

6. Over Drake

7. Power Kanye West feat Dwele

8. Love the Way You Lie Eminem feat. Rihanna

9. F**k You Cee Lo Green

10. All I Do Is Win (feat. T-Pain, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg & Rick Ross) DJ Khaled

Best Albums of 2010

Drake
'Thank Me Later '
Really good album that grew on me. (Read my review here )

Usher

'Raymond v. Raymond'

Usher’s last album ‘Here I Stand’ was cool, but it couldn’t compare to the smash ‘Confessions’. This album doesn’t compare to that album either...but it comes close.


Raheem DeVaughn
'The Love & War MasterPeace'

Really good album. Raheem DeVaughn would be a bigger star if he wasn’t a “soul singer” and made more “radio mainstream” songs, but his fans appreciate him for what he is...the truth.



Nicki Minaj
'Pink Friday'

The album is more pop than hip-hop, but I still liked it. (Read my full review here )



And now! The moment you've all been waiting for...

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Kanye West

'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'

The best album of 2010 is a masterpiece.  Read my “sort of” review and further explanation of why it is a “masterpiece” here

Of all the singles I listened to and loved over the year, Un-thinkable (I'm Ready) by Alicia Keys still holds the most resonance. The song off of her 2009 album The Element of Freedom (one her BEST albums by the way) was already one of my favorites before it started getting radio play in the spring 2010. (Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready) was number one on the US Billboard R&B chart for twelve consecutive weeks.) The song had great lyrics, great melody and most of all great emotion and vulnerability.



Didn’t want to see this show because it reminded me too much of a show I really liked last year ‘FlashForward’ that got cancelled. It looked like the same ol’ serialized conspiracy crap. I tuned in because of the fantastic Blair Underwood and it looked interesting. The pilot to me was all over the place and Blair Underwood didn’t seem to have as big a role as I thought. I tuned in the next week…and the week after that…and the week after that and BOY did it suck me in. Blair Underwood’s involvement did get bigger and more integral and the conspiracy stuff was well executed. You really can’t sustain a show like this without an effective lead and Jason Ritter was it. He was the perfect reluctant hero. He wasn’t "Jack Bauer" here to save the day. He was a hero because he had to be. Fantastic job by Jason Ritter.

 The best movie of the year is a tie. These two movies I thought were excellent.

The Social Network I’m going to join the bandwagon and cite as one of the best movies of the year. A cerebral and excellent film all the way around, story, acting, and direction.

Inception was a trip, a mind trip. I thought the movie was kind of out there for the first act, but by the end I was completely into the movie and I thought it was excellent. Just as cerebral and excellent as ‘The Social Network’, but with more suspense and action.

ANTOINE DODSON

Before you give me the

face, let me say he IS NOT the "Person of the Year", he is "Pop Culture Person of the Year", there IS a difference. Now, allow me to give you some background and then my explanation.

Kevin Antoine Dodson (born June 27, 1986) is a former resident of the Lincoln Park housing project in Huntsville, Alabama, whose interview on local television became an Internet sensation.

Dodson was interviewed on July 28, 2010, by NBC affiliate WAFF-48 News after the attempted rape of his sister by an intruder in her bedroom, in the projects of Lincoln Park.

The video of the interview caught attention because of the passionate and flamboyant style of his delivery, speaking directly to the camera, in which he directly addressed the people of his neighborhood as well as the would-be rapist, and his use of street vernacular. The reactions were mixed. Some local viewers phoned the TV station to complain that interviews with people such as Dodson reflected poorly on the community, whereupon the station defended broadcasting the interview by stating that censoring such people is "far worse".

The video of Dodson's television interview went viral and then inspired several musical remixes, including a video by musical group The Gregory Brothers, known as the "Bed Intruder Song".

The song was a huge success and eventually reached number 89 on Billboard's Hot 100 list. The popularity of the song inspired many covers and remixes, including a punk rock version by a team formed by Hayley Williams of Paramore, Jordan Pundik of New Found Glory, and Ethan Luck of Relient K.

Dodson was interviewed for the Today Show on NBC on 26 August 2010 about his new found "Web superstardom". On the program, Dodson's YouTube video was called "one of the most watched online videos ever," with the hosts noting it had already been viewed more than 16 million times as of that date. Dodson has done radio shows in Australia, has fans in London and is now widely recognized in his hometown of Huntsville.

Dodson launched a website in which he asks for donations to assist his family in moving "out of the hood". The money, as well as money from sales of "Bed Intruder" on iTunes and merchandise such as T-shirts, will go to helping his family buy a new home and setting up a foundation for juvenile diabetes, a disease that has afflicted both his sister and his mother. In August 2010, Dodson noted the irony of having "a hit on iTunes, but we're still in the projects"; one month later, Us Weekly reported that Dodson had made enough money from the song to move his family out of the projects to a better house. In September 2010, the Gregory Brothers reported that they had sold more than 100,000 copies of The Bed Intruder Song on iTunes.

In October 2010, Dodson even gave a live performance of "Bed Intruder Song" with Michael Gregory of The Gregory Brothers at the 2010 BET Hip Hop Awards.

-info from Wikipedia

Now MY reason for picking him the Pop Culture Person of the Year.

Technically, popular culture (commonly known as pop culture) is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream. Heavily influenced by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of the society. In my opinion Mr. Dodson fits this description.

As of today December 31, 2010 the "Bed Intruder Song" you saw above has 58,886,933 hits. That's 58 MILLION hits.

I saw the initial news video on Facebook and just shook my head. I TOTALLY agreed with the people that thought “interviews with people such as Dodson reflected poorly on the community”. I thought this guy became an Internet sensation for ALL the wrong reasons.

When I saw the video remix with the Gregory Brothers I just had to laugh out loud. It made a ridiculous video even more ridiculous. As you read above that video and subsequent song made Mr. Dodson even more famous. This video even spawned merchandise and parody.

It even spawned an unofficial…then official Halloween costume.

UNOFFICIAL COSTUME

OFFICIAL COSTUME

YES Mr. Dodson became famous for all the wrong reasons, but he has entered pop culture and while this time next year he will be a distant memory, 2010 has been a year he will never forget.

Oprah Winfrey

Yes Oprah is always tops on the lists, but not this one. She IS as she ALWAYS has been, making "gangsta moves" with her own network launching 1.1.11 (or January 1, 2011) OWN-The Oprah Winfrey Network.

She is also ending the talk show that made her rich and famous after 25 years. Hopefully this time next year we can all applaud the success of her new venture.

Jay-Z

How can Jay-Z top Oprah? I guess he holds the most resonance to me and I wrote the list.

Since the release of his album 2009 album The Blueprint III (You can read my review here ) Jay-Z has been on a media blitz, including a memorable performance of his hit “Empire State of Mind” with Alicia Keys during the World Series (featuring the New York Yankees), being interviewed by Oprah for her magazine O Magazine, as well as a “hometown tour” with Eminem in New York and Detroit in September 2010.

The man has just making public moves in these last 18 months capping off the year with a best selling book. (Read more about that here )

He is mostly “Person of the Year” because of these two articles

2010 Hip Hop Cash Kings

Jay-Z's Empire 2010

I mean who really ever thought Jay-Z would be a success outside of music? Music is still his bread and butter, but he has become an astute business man as well. He hasn’t started his own network yet, but the way he is rolling, that may never be out of the question.

That’s it for the year 2010. I will probably publish an addendum for movies and albums when I watch more movies released in 2010 and more albums released in 2010, but for right now, this is it. Thank you for taking this review with me.

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