I think the headline is self explanatory so without further adieu, here’s the list:

1. Fantastic Mr. Fox:If you asked me a few years ago who may favorite filmmaker was, i’d likely say either Cameron Crowe or Spielberg. After seeing Fox twice, i’m ready to add Wes Anderson to that list. With Tannenbaums, Anderson took a story of family in turmoil and gave it the look and feel of a children’s book. This time, he takes a children’s book and makes it into an adult drama-dy. I loved this book as a kid, but i love this movie even more as a so-called adult. Now if only i could find my bandit hat.

2. Away We Go:This movie is my Big Chill. What i mean is it captures that weird time in ourlives betwen growing up and growing old. To say this movie speaks to me would be a colossal understatement (i was even inspired to try to grow a Kransinski beard for a while). No i don’t have cardboard for windows, but quite often i do find myself falling asleep wondering just how big a fuck up i really am, just like the film’s two main characters who have to journey from one end of the continent to the other in order to find a home that was always there waiting for them. Best soundtrack of the year, most heartbreaking striptease and best ending. Period.

3. (500) Days of Summer:  There are few things harder to write than a good romantic comedy about a breakup. Swingers succeeded. So did High Fidelity and Better Off Dead. (500) Days may not be as good of those films, but it’s certainly the most realistic, particularly the scene where reality and Tom’s perspective are seperate. Great soundtrack, great acting (Zooey and a pre-cobra commander Levitt), great story and great opening “The characters in this movie are fictional and any resemblance to any real person is purely a coincidence… especially (fill in the blank). Bitch.” Amen.

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All along, I was thinking that Precious was going to be my number one, but you know what? Tarantino hooked me again. Then again, maybe bad memories of Shadowboxer had something to do with it. Anyway, here are my top 20 rankings and nominations:

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Watch the Oscars tonight if you want, but here are the Official Orange Street Nominations and Winners. Winners are listed first.

Best Picture
The Wrestler
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Slumdog Millioniare
Iron Man

Best Actor
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
Sean Penn – Milk
Robert Downey Jr-Iron Man

Best Actress
Sally Hawkins – Happy Go Lucky
Kate Winslet-Revolutionary Road
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Kristin Scott-Thomas -

Best Director
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Chistopher Nolan – The Dark Knight
Darren Arronfsky – The Wrestler
Gus Van Sant-Milk/Paranoid Park

Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Josh Brolin-Milk
Phillip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Eddie Marson-Happy Go Lucky

Supporting Actress
Marissa Tomei – The Wrestler
Viola Davis -Doubt
Amy Adams – Doubt
Rebecca Hall-Vicky Christina Barcelona/Frost/Nixon
Kate Winslet-The Reader

Adapted Screenplay
Peter Morgan-Frost/Nixon
John Patrick Shanley-Doubt
Simon Beufoy-Slumdog Millionaire
Justin Haythe-Revolutonary Road
Christopher and Jonathon Nolan-Dark Knight

Original Screenplay
Martin McDonagh-In Bruges
Mike Leigh-Happy Go Lucky
Dustin Lance Black-Milk
Thomas McCarthy-The Visitor
Robert Siegal-The Wrestler

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1. Let The Right One In - Hands down my top film of the year. Basically just your 12 year-old boy meets vampire trapped in 12 year-old girl story. Director Tomas Alfredson plays within the rules of vampire lore that we are all familiar with, but somehow manages to make it feel like nothing you’ve seen before. No fangs, coffins, capes or crosses. This film makes every other “vampire” film look stupid by comparison.
2. Milk - The only thing that would have made it better if is were about this Milk. We need more Habs jerseys in hip-hop.
3. The Wrestler - Best thing about this film is that my girlfriend was stunned by how depressing it is. She was honestly expecting a happy ending. Honey, there hasn’t been a wrestling picture with a happy ending since Body Slam. Hey, the guy that directed that film was the stunt coordinator for Smokey and the Bandit, so you know it’s good.
4. The Dark Knight - The best performance by Nicky Katt…ever. Suck it, Dumbauld. Shotgun SWAT for life!
5. Frost/Nixon - I think if they added a car chase sequence in this film…or maybe a karate fight, it would have cracked my top three.
6. Slumdog Millionaire - Burning out kid’s eyes, poop, dancing AND trivia. This one’s got it all.
7. Iron Man - Saw it in the theater.
8. The Visitor - Legit film. Gets a little heavy-handed towards the end, but worth checking out on DVD. This film must be huge in bongo enthusiast circles.
9. Tropic Thunder - I was underwhelmed with this at first, but it plays much better on DVD.
10. Wall-e - The first half was perfect. The second half had fat people on hovercrafts. Only Special Ed should travel via hovercraft. By the way, if the intro to this video were released in 2008, it would be my #13 film of the year.
11. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - I liked this more than I thought I would, but this is a B-grade in my book. Man, this year was a weak year for films.
12. Happy Go Lucky - Eddie Marsan’s teeth still give me nightmares. 
13. American Teen - I don’ t remember much of this film, so here’s a link to the awesome site This is Why You’re Fat.
14. Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Seth MacFarlane was a pleasant surprise.
15. Revolutionary Road - They sure yell at each other a lot in the suburbs. I think I’ll stay within city limits. By the way, in case Ron didn’t mention it yet, in Pittsburgh we now have six Super Bowls.
16. Kung Fu Panda - I like this movie, so sue me.
17. JCVD - Other than Sudden Death, this is Jean-Claude Van Damme’s best work.
18. Forgetting Sarah Marshall - “Dracula’s Lament” is the song of the year.
19. The Strangers - I had trouble falling asleep after seeing this move. Go ahead and make your fun. 
20. Pineapple Express - This film is kind of a mess, but hilarious. It was basically a three-way tie for 20th along with Step Brothers and Hamlet 2. Equally hilarious, but also messes. Those just missed making my list. I think Danny McBride made the difference.

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When it came time to put this list together, I realized I didn’t really see that many quality movies. In the past years most of my list wass made up of films that we saw at the Toronto Film Festival. This years festival wasn’t bad, but not too many of the films we saw had huge buzz in the months that followed. We did see the Wrestler and Slumdog, but my favorite film of the festival didn’t even get a 2008 release (that being the film Sugar) Having a kid makes it more difficult to get out to movie on a weekly basis too. I used to be a weekly fixture at the local theater, but priorities changed and I just don’t get to the theater as much as I used to. Despite having Netflix, I don’t really watch that much on DVD either. But here we are, well into awards season and I have managed to put a list together.  In my eyes 2008 overall was a down year for movies. Lots of stuff out there, but not too many films I would call “great.” I present to you, my top 20 films of 2008. (Read the article)

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All things considered, 2008 was a pretty good year. Obama won. The Phillies captured the World Series title. I walked on the Great Wall of China. The Snuggie was unleashed on the world.

But when it came to movies, 2008 was disappointing. Very few films really captured my imagination, and a few (Gran Torino, Synecdoche, New York, The Reader) were just plain disappointing. Too often, I found myself leaving a movie and thinking “Well, that was … pretty good.” I don’t know what to blame. The writer’s strike? G.W. Bush? Whatever the reason, I’m looking forward to a big 2009.

With that in mind, not everything sucked. There were a few films I enjoyed, and it was a surprisingly good year for superhero movies and cartoons. Here’s my top 20 and nominations: (Read the article)

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I think I owe everyone at Orange Street an apology.

While I was frantically able to keep up with my TV shows, fantasy sports and my workout routine, the one thing I’ve lost track of after having a daughter in September was my movie schedule. Something had to give — for me it was movies in the theater. I just find it much more important to catch up on an episode of Burn Notice than I do to check out Waltz with Bashir. (Read the article)

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This has it all. A musical number, karate chops and world record for saying “I’m pressing charges” consecutive times.  

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For those of you included in the yearly emails you are probably thinking, “Won’t these idiots ever stop?” Well we are back for 2008…now in blog form.

This site won’t just be for those coveted Orange Street Oscars, but for all things pop-culture. Please check back often.

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