Ahead of tonight’s Academy Awards, we bring you the Official OrangeStreet Top 20 Films of 2009. Our list of Nominees and Winners after the jump.
Sadly, only two of these films were seen in a theater. I live in China. Also, this list is subject to change, because I have yet to see All About Steve, Old Dogs, Did You Hear About the Morgans? (pictured) and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.
Top 20
Also Receiving Votes (in alphabetical order)
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.
Soooooound good?
I’m old.
I fall asleep earlier than I ever have and I get worried about the hassle of going to a movie theater that’s within walking distance. So my list is going to reflect that probably forever. But hey, we do our best. (Read the article)
I didn’t hate Avatar, but I didn’t love it either. I understand why there is hype. I also understand Avatar’s place in movie history. But I don’t agree that it was one of the best films of the year. Visually stunning, yes. But in reality, I think the movie is a one trick pony. If Cameron is setting out to make his “Trilogy” then I think he needed to add, you know, some drama to a very – “we’ve already seen this 100 times” – type of script. But that’s just me. Here are 20 Films I thought were better in 2009.
Disclaimer: I only saw four of the 20 best reviewed films of 2008. If that doesn’t depress you, most of the movies on this list likely will:
A decade ago my goal each year was to see 100 films a year. That hasn’t really been a reality since i stopped working at a video store (back in the early ’00s these were placed actually drove to in order to “rent” a video tape), but this year I barely saw half that many. Unlike some other Orange Street voters I don’t have any kids to occupy my time so I’m blaming my limited viewing this year on the quality of films released. Some notables I didn’t get a chance to check out were Vicky Christina Barcelona, The Changeling, Let the Right One In, Man on Wire and Defiance. Other than that I feel like I saw everything of note. (Read the article)
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
As voted by the members of OrangeStreet. We present the official Top Twenty films of 2008.
Others receiving votes : Let the Right One In, Paranoid Park, Burn After Reading, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, Appaloosa, Hamlet 2, Gran Torino, Cloverfield, JCVD, Son of Rambow, Taxi to the Dark Side, The Reader, Encounters at the End of the World, Pineapple Express, Wendy and Lucy, Hellboy 2, American Teen, Charlie Bartlett, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Priceless, The Bank Job, Quantum of Solace, Strangers, Young at Heart, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Semi-Pro
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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