The 2026 Paultacular Bruene Awards

 

The 2026 Paultacular Bruene Awards Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome! to the fifteenth annual Paultacular Bruene awards. They grow up so fast. Heeere’s the format. We – you, me, all of us – are going to run through some categories, most standard and a few of my own creation. Inertia reigns this year, no new categories and none leaving us. Is that because I’ve perfected this thing after fifteen years, or I’ve lost my creativity and/or gotten lazy? Who’s to say. Each category gets five Contenders and one Winner. As of this writing I’ve seen 52 films released in 2025, which is…fine. I did fine. So without much further ado…the Pauls!

The 2025 Paultacular Bruene Awards

Wilkimen, bienvenue, welcome! to the fourteenth annual Paultacular Bruene awards. This thing is now getting old enough to hold independent annoying opinions. Let's keep it away from TikTok and YouTube.

Mostly unchanged, here is the format. We (that’s supposed to include you, the reader, not be a royal “we”) are going to talk about a bunch of categories, some traditional movie awards and some of my own creation. No new ones this year, but I am retaining Best Stuntwork from last year. I’m also ditching Newcomer of the Year, because I can’t come up with a way to do it that doesn’t feel arbitrary even by the standards of a thing I write by myself about my own taste (like, is it just someone I haven’t seen before? What if I just forgot them?)

Each category gets five Contenders and one Winner. As of this writing I’ve seen 56 films released in 2024, which is, I think you’ll agree, pretty good all things considered.

So without much further ado…the Pauls!

The 2024 Paultacular Bruene Awards

Hello and welcome to the thirteenth annual Paultacular Bruene awards, a vanity project that is somehow now a teenager. So if this year this thing is suddenly moodier, more annoying, and less rational than ever before, and also smells bad, well, they grow up so fast don’t they.

As in previous years, here is the format. We (“we”) are going to go through a bunch of categories, both the traditional ones and a few of my own creation that replace categories in the real awards that I don’t care about. I’m debuting a new category this year, Best Stuntwork, which is something the actual Oscars should’ve done a long time ago and bizarrely continue to refuse to. But I can!

For each category, I’ll list my top five (called the “contenders”) from 2023, and then crown/award a winner. As of this writing I’ve seen 55 films released in 2023, which means I’ve seen most, but not all, of the major relevant movies from that year. Sorry Nyad.

So without much further ado…the Pauls!

The 2023 Paultacular Bruene Awards

Hello and welcome to the twelfth and once again annual Paultacular Bruene awards. After last year's double sized (or, really, like 1.5x sized) awards covering both 2020 and 2021, we're back to our regularly scheduled vanity project. My zero readers are, I'm sure, ecstatic, joyous, even ebullient.

As usual, here's the format. We (for a generous interpretation of the word "we") are going to go through a bunch of categories, some traditional film awards categories and a few of my own invention. There's a new category debuting this year, we'll see if it lasts or if it's just auditing the course. For each category, I'll list my top five (the "contenders") from 2022, and I'll then crown a winner. As of this writing I've seen 56 films from 2022, so I think it's fair to say I've seen most, but not all, of the relevant movies from the year. Well, except for the horror movies, those I haven't seen. Sorry, Barbarian.

So without much further ado...the Pauls!

The 2022 Paultacular Bruene Awards

Hello and welcome to the eleventh and now not quite annual Paultacular Bruene awards. So it’s been, uh, quite a two years since I last did this. I took 2021 off because there just weren’t enough movies released to make this exercise, which is already straining at having a point, worth it. But now we’re back and better than ever (?) and it’s time to get back into the swing of things with a double-sized Paultacular Bruene awards covering both of the past two years. Okay, it’s not quite double-sized because even with an extra year to watch I’ve still only seen twenty-eight films released in 2020, but something like 1.5x sized. Sesqui-sized?

Here’s the format, mostly unchanged. Normalcy and all. I’m going to run through a bunch of categories and give my top five for the period of 2020-2021 combined, which I’m calling the five “contenders,” and then I’ll give a winner. The categories are mostly the normal awards ones with a few extras of my creation to replace categories I don’t like or don’t see many of (hello, live-action shorts). One category, Best Line, is gone this year because there are just too many films I watched too long ago to remember individual lines of dialogue. It may or may not be back. As always I’ve seen many but far from all of the relevant films so if your favorite goes unmentioned here, maybe I just didn’t see it. Or maybe it sucks.

So without much further ado...the Pauls!

The 2020 Paultacular Bruene Awards

Hello and welcome to the decennial Paultacular Bruene awards. That’s right, I’ve been doing this dumb thing for ten full years now. To address a few questions: Yes, it is a coincidence that I started doing this at the start of a decade. Yes, I will be writing a “best of the decade” type of thing here at some point, hopefully before we’re done with 2020. And no, I categorically do not stand by anything I wrote when I was 19.

Anyways, here’s the format, almost entirely unchanged from the last few years. I’m going to run through a bunch of categories and give my top five for the year (which I’ve termed “contenders”) and then give a winner. Many of the categories are copied from standard awards categories, plus a few of my own creation and minus a few I don’t like or didn’t see enough to judge—maybe one day I’ll watch newly-released documentaries, but that has not yet come. As always, I barely know what I’m talking about, so your indulgence is greatly appreciated

So without much further ado…the Pauls!

The 2019 Paultacular Bruene Awards

Hello and welcome to the ninth (!!!) annual Paultacular Bruene awards! This year coming so late even I wasn’t sure if I’d ever actually finish. Due to a number of events both foreseen and unforeseen—well, okay, basically all foreseen and simply ill-planned-for—it took me much longer than usual to reach my arbitrary threshold of fifty 2018 movies seen before I write this, a number I didn’t even hit last year so frankly I don’t know why I insisted on it this year. But nevertheless.

Anyways, here’s the format, almost entirely unchanged from the last few years. I’m going to run through a bunch of categories and give my top five for the year (which I’ve termed “contenders”) and then give a winner. Many of the categories are copied from standard awards categories, plus a few of my own creation and minus a few I don’t like or didn’t see enough to judge—I saw a few foreign language films year, but probably not really enough to have a separate category. This is all strictly subjective, and for the technical categories I rarely know what I’m talking about. What do I know about editing? Do I know anything? Let’s find out!

So without much further ado…the Pauls!

The 2018 Paultacular Bruene Awards

Hello and welcome to the eighth (!!) annual Paultacular Bruene awards, coming to you live on the west coast (tape-delayed in Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, and American Samoa) from a one-bedroom apartment in North Seattle.

This year is going to be a little shorter (a little shorter) than in years past, in large part because this is the fewest movies I’ve seen before writing this since the first year, only 46 movies released in 2017. That’s a full 20 less than last year, though in my defense I spent the bulk of the past 12 months either studying for the bar exam or as a practicing attorney, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ whatryagonnado. Though there are a few movies I didn’t get to that I wanted to (like All The Money In The World, The Greatest Showman and literally anything in a foreign language or any documentary), I think I did a pretty good job all things considered.

Anyways, here’s the format, almost entirely unchanged from the last few years. I’m going to run through a bunch of categories and give my top five for the year (which I’ve termed “contenders”) and then give a winner. Many of the categories are copied from standard awards categories, plus a few of my own creation (and minus a few I don’t like or didn’t see enough to judge, like, as noted above, anything involving foreign language films). This is all strictly subjective, which, though obvious, I feel like I should mention because my personal taste in movies is further from consensus for 2017 than usual—a lot of the popular (and I mean that both in a critical and commercial sense) 2017 movies I liked but didn’t love. No shots intended at anything or anyone omitted here.

So without much further ado…The Pauls!

The 2017 Paultacular Bruene Awards

Aloha everyone to the seventh (!) annual Paultacular Bruene Awards, formerly known as the I’m Right Awards. I think the ironic bluster that characterized the previous title (and sometimes content) has run its course as a joke, so I’m doing a minor rebranding. Focus group testing has been very positive.

Here’s the format, pretty much unchanged: I’m going to run through and give my own five contenders (renamed from “nominees” because I wasn’t really nominating anything) and winners for all of the traditional Oscar film categories, with a few tweaks. I’ve removed categories about which I lack an opinion*, due to either a) not having seen (m)any, like the three shorts categories, or b) I don’t care about, like Best Makeup.

But, due to a tax loophole I’m exploiting, for every category I take away I add one back. Bolded words in italics are winning movies, bolded words or phrases not in italics are hyperlinks.

And, without much further ado…the Pauls!

*Dangling prepositions are part of the old brand. That’s something I feel very strongly about. Wait, shi-

The 2016 I'm Right Awards

Greetings and salutations, welcome to the sixth (!) annual I’m Right Awards!  I can’t believe I’ve been doing this stupid thing for six years now, you’d figure eventually I’d get a life.  Well, you’d be wrong about that, and probably other stuff too, ya dummy.  (The last few months have taught me that apparently insulting people makes you popular, so I’m trying it out.  See, e.g., Trump v. Bush). Meanwhile, I’m right, about movies at least.

The rules are pretty much unchanged from the last couple of years: I’m going to run through and give my own five nominees and winners for all of the traditional Oscar film categories, with a few little tweaks. I’ve removed the categories that I don’t have an opinion about, due to either a) not having scene (m)any, like Best Documentary, or b) I don’t care about, like Best Makeup and Hairstyling. But I am a just and benevolent god, and for every category I’ve taken away, I’ve added one of my own (okay not quite, I didn't replace the three shorts categories). These new categories are mostly the same as they’ve been the last couple of years, but there are a few tweaks, and I’m trying out a brand new one.  Hooray!

All of this is, of course, only in my own humble opinion…though I am right. It says so in the title.

And, without much further ado…the Pauls!

The 2015 I'm Right Awards

Welcome, welcome, to the fifth annual I’m Right Awards, celebrating everything that I was right about in 2014. Actually, no, that would take me weeks to write, so why don’t we focus on something a little more specific, maybe…hmm, I don't know, there are so many options. Wait, did someone say movies? Sounds great!

The rules are pretty much unchanged from the last couple of years: I’m going to run through and give my own five nominees and winners for the traditional Oscar film categories, with a few exceptions. I’ve removed some of the categories that either a) I’m not really qualified to judge due to, you know, not having seen (m)any (see, e.g., Best Documentary), or b) I don’t give a turd about (like Best Original Song). But as Paul taketh away, Paul also giveth, so for every category I’ve taken away, I’ve added one of my own. These new categories are the same as last year, which means nothing more than I didn’t feel like spending time trying to think of new ones. The only real change from last year is that I have reinstated the two different Screenplay categories.

All of this is, of course, only in my own humble opinion…though I am right. It says so in the title.

And, without much further ado…the Pauls!

Letterboxd

In case anyone cares, I've pretty much entirely moved my movie reviewing over to Letterboxd.com (specifically http://letterboxd.com/teddroe/). I'm still planning on writing another I'm Right Awards here in a few months, and perhaps some other stuff, but most of what I'm writing now is over there.

The 2014 I'm Right Awards

Velkommen, bienvenue, benvenuto, tervetuloa, and welcome, to the fourth annual I’m Right Awards! It’s so lovely to have all you beautiful and sophisticated people—with great taste in seldom-updated blogs—with me. No, you’re the best!

Quick rundown of the rules, which are mostly unchanged from last year: I’m going to go, category by category, through many of the Oscar categories and give my personal list of what the nominees, and winner, should have been. In my humble opinion, of course…though, after all, I am right. It says so right in the title.

Anyways, like in the past few years, I’ve replaced a few of the Oscar categories with new ones of my own. Some I ditched because I think they’re dumb, or at least don’t really fit in with the rest, like the shorts categories. Others I’ve chosen to replace simply because I haven’t really seen enough films to render any sort of opinion, namely Best Foreign Film and Best Documentary. I’ve gotten rid of a couple of my original categories from last year and replaced them with what I think are better one; Best Trailer is gone, as is Best Sequel, Remake, or Ripoff.

Finally, I’ve consolidated Best Adapted and Best Original Screenplay into one category (Best Screenplay); I understand the value of treating them differently (adapting source material and coming up with your own are very different tasks), but the distinctions were giving me a headache. So, fuck it.

And, without much further ado…the Pauls!

The Year in Paul: 2006

What I’ve Seen

300

American Dreamz

Babel

Barnyard

Blood Diamond

Borat

Cars

Cashback

Casino Royale

Children of Men

Eragon

Flags of Our Fathers

For Your Consideration

Half Nelson

Hollywoodland

Idiocracy

Inside Man

Jesus Camp

Letters from Iwo Jima

Little Miss Sunshine

Man of the Year

Mission: Impossible III

Nacho Libre

Night at the Museum

Notes on a Scandal

Open Season

Over the Hedge

Pan’s Labyrinth

Paprika

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Scoop

Snakes on a Plane

Stranger than Fiction

Superman Returns

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

The Da Vinci Code

The Departed

The Devil Wears Prada

The Fountain

The Good Shepherd

The Illusionist

The Last King of Scotland

The Lives of Others

The Pink Panther

The Prestige

The Queen

This Film Is Not Yet Rated

V For Vendetta

X-Men: The Last Stand

50 Total

The Year in Paul: 2005

What I’ve Seen

A History of Violence

Aeon Flux

Batman Begins

Bewitched

Brick

Brokeback Mountain

Capote

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Coach Carter

Constantine

Corpse Bride

Elektra

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

Escape to Canada

Fantastic Four

Flightplan

Four Brothers

Fun with Dick and Jane

Good Night, and Good Luck

Guess Who

Hard Candy

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Hitch

Hoodwinked

Hostage

Jarhead

Kicking and Screaming

King Kong

Kingdom of Heaven

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

Madagascar

March of the Penguins

Me and You and Everyone We Know

Munich

Robots

Sahara

Serenity

Sin City

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

Lady Vengeance

Syriana

Thank you for Smoking

The 40 Year Old Virgin

The Ballad of Jack and Rose

The Brothers Grimm

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

The Constant Gardner

The Fall of Fujimori

The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The Interpreter

The Island

The Longest Yard

The New World

The Producers

Two for the Money

V for Vendetta

Walk the Line

War of the Worlds

Wedding Crashers

Why we Fight

61 Total

Series Obituary: Young Justice

Today I’m debuting a new series on this blog—which probably means I’ll do it twice and never come back, but that’s neither here nor there. I’ve written about TV a time or two before, but I’d like to start doing it more consistently (though, in all likelihood, not more frequently). Reading over my Friday Night Lights piece, I realized that what I was attempting to do was essentially write an obituary of the show, as it unfortunately had to wrap up. While that piece didn’t totally do that perfectly, I like the idea, so I’m going to try and start writing a short (ha!) essay when a show that I really like ends, beginning with the ones that have ended in 2013. Of the two, 30 Rock ended first, and I’ll get to it (probably), but I want to start with a show that ended far too soon: Cartoon Network’s Young Justice

The 2013 I'm Right Awards

Welcome, welcome, to the third annual I’m Right awards, we’re are positively ecstatic to have you with us.

Like I did last year, I'm going to, category by category, go through my personal picks for what should have been nominated for and won the Oscars--and on account of how my name isn't Oscar, we'll call these the Pauls.

I've ditched a number of categories from the real thing, either because I just haven't seen enough to judge (Best Documentary), or I think the category is dumb (Best Original Song). I've replaced them with a few categories of my own, which are similar to last year, though two have been eliminated, one expanded, one tweaked, and one new one added. Well, sort of two added...you'll see when you get there.

So without much further ado...

2012 in Tweet Reviews

This was number 1...

As anyone who follows my twitter feed (@teddroe y’all!) will confirm with a grimace, I have an annoying habit of tweeting movie reviews. I started doing it in spring  of 2010 on a lark—at the time I didn’t know what to tweet, and felt like I should do something—but quickly realized that I quite enjoyed it. To be clear, at no point have I thought that anyone cared what I thought, but it became a great way to organize my thoughts about a film, and to be able to go back later and see a brief record of what I saw, when, and what I thought of it. There might possibly be a movie or two that I haven’t tweeted since then (perhaps one or two that I was embarrassed to be on record as having see…or liked), but I’ve gotten into a pretty solid habit of it over the last three years and I ain’t stopping anytime soon.

The 3^rd annual I’m Right Awards are about six weeks away, and that’s when I’ll write about and celebrate the great films (and Silver Linings Playbook) that came out in 2012. But first, we’re going to quickly go over not what came out in 2012, but what I watched in 2012—though obviously there’ll be a wee bit of overlap.

So without further ado, a list of everything movie review I tweeted during 2012. I started giving number grades about a quarter of the way through, and I haven’t altered any of these. I stand by most…but not all, not completely. I’m 98% sure this is everything I saw, but even if it isn’t, per above, I ain’t telling.

(Okay, so that was a little further ado…)

The Year in Paul: 2004

What I’ve Seen

50 First Dates

Anchroman:The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Cellular

Crash

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

EuroTrip

Fahrenheit 9/11

Friday Night Lights

Garfield

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Hellboy

Home on the Range

Hoodwinked

Howl’d Moving Castle

I, Robot

King Arthur

Lemony Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events

Mean Girls

Miracle

Napoleon Dyamite

Ocean’s Twelve

Saved

Shark Tale

Shaun of the Dead

Shrek 2

Spider-Man 2

Super Size Me

Team America: World Police

The Aviator

The Bourne Supremacy

The Chronicles of Riddick

The Day After Tomorrow

The Forgotten

The Girl Next Door

The Incredibles

The Ladykillers

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

The Machinist

The Phantom of the Opera

The Polar Express

The Stepford Wives

The Terminal

Troy

Van Helsing

Wimbledon

47 Total

The Best of What I’ve Seen

The Year in Paul: 2003

What I’ve Seen

 

A Mighty Wind

American Wedding

Brother Bear

Bruce Almighty

Cheaper By the Dozen

Daredevil

Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat

Elf

Finding Nemo

Freaky Firday

Goodbye Lenin!

Gothika

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Hulk

Intolerable Cruelty

Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Mystic River

Old School

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

The School of Rock

Shortcut to Happiness

The Animatrix

The Corporation

The Fog of War

The Haunted Mansion

The Italian Job

The Jungle Book 2

The Last Samurai

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Matrix Reloaded

The Matrix Revolutions

Timeline

Touching the Void

Underworld

X2

36 Total

A mild improvement over 2002, if only because there are more good movies. The amount of crap remains pretty high, and will for a few years after this, I’d imagine. I feel much better about my top five though, and don’t feel the need to name any runners up.