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.
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.
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)
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)
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)
There is a GI Joe movie in the works. I was a huge fan of the 80’s cartoon, the Marvel comic book and the toys of the same name. I would say out of all of the afternoon cartoons it was easily my favorite. I really got into the comic book first. It was a great read, until they started following the goofy cartoon storylines (Serpentor anyone?).
When I heard that a GI Joe movie was being made, the first thing I thought of was, who is going to play Snake Eyes? He is arguably the most popular GI Joe character of the bunch. I had read a while back that they cast Ray Park in the role of Snake Eyes. Most of you may remember him as Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I. Good choice, I think. Park is a martial artist by trade just like Snake Eyes. Pictures of the costume were recently released to the internet and it looks like they are sticking with the “version 2″ costume for Snake Eyes. The coolest one in my opinion. One thing of note is that in the comic book the red insignia you see there is actually a tattoo that Snake Eyes shares with Storm Shadow. I hope they elaborate on that in the movie, its one of my favorite GI Joe story lines. Another great Snake Eyes story comes from issue 21, aka “The Silent Issue.” but I doubt they will make a movie sans dialog.
Besides Ray Park as Snake Eyes, they have cast most of the major (and minor) characters. There were so many good guys and bad guys, I’m not sure how they can cram all of them into a 2 hour movie. The casting seems to be spot on, but I have a feeling most of the minor characters will just get glanced over. On the Cobra side of things it seems like they have all of the big guns, Destro, Baroness (played by noted Pittsburgh hater Sienna Miller), Zartan and Cobra Commander. It was also reported that part of the movie storyline will focus on Destro. He’s an interesting character, so it could make for a good movie plot.
It will be interesting to see which story lines they actually go with. I read recently that the stories will be pulled from the comic book from the 80’s. That being said, I have sneaking suspicion that the whole thing is going to be one huge mess. The whole project stinks of last summer’s other 80’s cartoon translation, Transformers. I didn’t love Transformers, but I didn’t hate it either, so maybe that is where I will have to level my expectations for the Joe movie.
As a side note, I can’t possibly post anything about GI Joe with out putting a link to the hilarious GI Joe PSA parodies on YouTube. Not sure why, but this is my favorite one.
One of my new favorite sites is hulu.com. It’s a joint online venture from Fox and NBC. The site features full-length TV shows and movies for free. I signed up for the beta back in January, but it’s open to the public now, so check it out. They also have clips from lots of new and old television programs.
Here is an SNL clip to get you going. I tried to embed it here, but for whatever reason it wasn’t working.
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