Best movies of 2009 & 2010

I like officially stating somewhere, let's say here, my favourite movie of the year and I didn't do so last year as there wasn't anything released that really grabbed me.

I would have to say last year it would be a tie between Little Sisters vs. Big Brother and A Streetcar Named Desire. I blogged about Little Sisters recently and seeing Miss Scarlett go crazy because of Brando's excessive sex appeal was quite fun.

Jumping the gun possibly slightly, I now present my favourite movie of 2010. A film I saw last night, Steal this Film II, the best part is you can watch it right now, for free, in HD, by clicking this link.

This film got me thinking so much I couldn't get to sleep. It starts off by exploring the issue of downloading movies, hence the title, but it becomes so much more.

The film shines when it discusses the invention of the printing press. The French Governement at the time was reluctant to give free reign on printers, so they would regulate volume and what could be printed. Countries outside of France, not subject to these regulations, started mass printing subversive texts and flooding the French market, meaning the printers who obeyed the law lost money and the efforts to regulate the information failed.

Similarly, we find ourselves now in a similar situation. Getty, from Getty Images, said "Information is the oil of the 21st century" and we can now obtain more information quicker than ever before.

The film examines the ethics of trading information, similairites to other historical events, and really presents the point that we are on the precipice of what could be the greatest achievement in human history. With the internet, everyone on earth can distribute material, in effect we each have our own printing press, and as such the time honoured system of information being regulated and disseminated from a single source is gone forever.

What will humanity do with this new power?

I'm interested too in taking it a step futher. The film explores the idea that selling information, putting data on a 15 cent disc and selling it for $30, is not sustainable. As it is the only people who actually pay for music now are over 40, and even they are wavering. What will the movie and music landscape look like in 40 years, when everyone alive has never paid? Is there a way we can come together to set up a system where people are reimbursed for creating content simply because they deserve to be, because we want them to be paid, and not because they have enough financial clout to back the movie? I want to know.