Avatar was the topic du jour on the mediabistro.com Morning Media Menu podcast this morning, as hosts Jason Boog of GalleyCat and AgencySpy‘s Matt Van Hoven discussed the year’s best movies with Infrastructurist.com editor and movie buff Melissa Lafsky.

All three decided that Avatar was one of the year’s best films, although Jason had trouble with the movie’s story and Melissa criticized its swipes at former President George W. Bush. Still Avatar‘s plot, involving humans overpowering an alien race while one man betrays his own kind to save the natives, is “a constant theme in movies,” Melissa pointed out. “It’s a constant plot line for a reason. We all have these fantasies of…going back to nature.”

In addition to Avatar, Matt’s list of the top 12 movies of the year included Where The Wild Things Are, The Informant, The Hangover, Adventureland, I Love You Man and Inglorious Basterds. Jason named The Hurt Locker his favorite film of the year, and picked The Fantastic Mr. Fox and Where The Wild Things Are as two of the best adaptations of the year, in addition to critical fave Precious and the blockbuster Twilight sequel New Moon.

Melissa disagreed with Jason about Where The Wild Things Are but sided with him on The Hurt Locker. She also named Drag Me To Hell and Up as her picks of the year. “You don’t see to many movies about getting old,” she said of the poignant Pixar pic.

Also discussed: the biggest infrastructure stories of 2009 and the decade.

You can listen to all the past podcasts at BlogTalkRadio.com/mediabistro and call in at 646-929-0321.

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