What were some of your favorite quotes from movies this year? Please share in comments below.

1. THE DESCENDANTS > Sad. Wonderfully sad. Clooney expresses emotional struggles with just 43 muscles. Sid gets cold cocked.
2. THE ARTIST > Dance scene retakes = pure chemistry. I would watch this again and again, “With pleasure.”
3. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO > Tried not to like it. Original had Mikael’s generous awe; Hollywood’s Lisbeth is deeper, more compelling.
4. A BETTER LIFE > Didactic title aside, Demián Bichir’s performance as an undocumented immigrant father who keeps moving forward is brilliant.
5. HUGO 3D > Stunningly beautiful, although charmingly predictable, and still wonderfully magical.
6. MIDNIGHT IN PARIS > Classic Woody Allen, although these days he looks much younger, has blond hair, and wears contacts.
7. TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY > Would knew such slow pacing could move so quickly. Methodical spy thriller.
8. BEGINNERS > The costume party scene = most romantic pick-up ever. Arthur, the sub-title talking dog, as funny as Jon Hamm’s uncredited Ted.
9. BRIDESMAIDS > Start with a base of raunchiness, add a dash of physical comedy, and warm until your heart says, “Ahhh.”
10. TREE OF LIFE > Planet Earth with creepy voice overs and a dickweed dad as the apex predator.

STILL TO SEE:

• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
• The Help
• Moneyball
• War Horse
• Albert Nobbs
• The Iron Lady
• My Week with Marilyn
• Warrior

What nominated movies have you seen already? What do you plan to see before Oscar Night? What are your favorites so far?

See my rankings here.

Two years ago, I decided to up my viewing of the Oscars from pure spectator sport to active predictor and vocal commentator. Not that I have anything worth saying, but I get a lot more out of the event by putting in my two cents. To do this meant I needed to see as many of the nominated movies as possible.

The process I used the last two years was to take Entertainment Weekly’s 25 Must See Movies before the Oscars list and work my way through it before Oscar night. I briefly recapped each movie and kept a running ranking of which movies I liked best.

I like to share the list with friends, because I found I learn more about the movies by hearing how others like and rank them differently than me. In short, the process added value to my Oscar viewing experience.

This year, I waited until the nominations came out to focus my efforts a little more. The obvious place to start was with the movies nominated for best picture — this year there are nine. Then I added movies for Best Actress — The Help was the only duplicate in the Best Picture category so that added another 4 movies. Then Best Actor which added 2 movies to the list. Supporting actress added Bridesmaids to the list, and supporting actor added Beginners and Warrior. That brought the total to 18 movies.

Of those, I’ve only seen 4: Beginners, Bridesmaids, The Descendants, and Midnight in Paris. So I have four weeks to see 14 movies and rank them as I go. Wish me luck!

Now, here’s where you come in. I’d love for you to join me on this journey. Share your list of movies to see, tell me how you would rank the movies, react to my rankings and tell me where you think I got it wrong. If you don’t see all the movies, no worries, comment on what you have seen. And then on Oscar Night, let’s tweet and Facebook to cheer and moan together. I look forward to learning what you think about the best movies of 2011 over the next four weeks.

I took this picture on Loveland Pass on a recent trip to Colorado, and I wasted plenty of hours listening to Tom and Ray on Car Talk.

This is actually of my children’s Lego Advent calendar. I’m working hard to raise future troublemakers.

My daughter and I went to see Mavis Staples at Helzberg Hall in Kansas City. At 72, she rocked the house (Mavis, not my daughter).

Since that visit, there have been a few mornings where I think of that incident, and I think my poor uncle. He never gets credit for putting away the dishes quietly. If he does them quietly, my aunt doesn’t wake up, so she never thinks that he did it quietly; however, every time he makes enough noise to wake her up, he probably gets nagged when she stumbles out of bed.

In providing customer service, there are several examples where you don’t get credit for an activity, behavior, or outcome when you do it right, but if you do it wrong, it’s a huge take away.

• CLEANLINESS > If the store is clean, customers won’t go tell their friends, “You should definitely shop there. It was so clean.” But if the store is dirty, you can bet that will get noticed.
• POLITENESS > Being polite is expected = no credit. Being rude = big takeaway.
• ACCURACY > Get my order right, and I simply go on about my business. Get it wrong, and I’ll tell everyone for the next week.
• PUNCTUALITY > It’s only when people are late that we start to notice.

What are some other taken-for-granted service behaviors that we don’t get credit for, but have a heavy penalty when they are missed?

If you’ve read the book, or any in the series, what are some of your favorite lines?