I just read a post on another blog about The 20 Greatest Show intros of all time. After looking over the list, I was shocked to discover that the intro to the A-Team was missing. Blasphemy! I decided to compile my own list. As I was doing this, I also realized that most of these are from the late 70’s and early 80’s. I guess they just don’t make intros like these anymore. Note: I’m only doing 10 because I am lazy. I know that I’ve left off some other classics. Let me know about it in the comments section. (Read the article)

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Sad day here in the ‘burgh.
R.I.P. Myron Cope.

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1. No Country For Old Men
2. Once
3. Juno
4. There Will Be Blood
5. Zodiac
6. Control
7. Into the Wild
8. This is England
9. Gone Baby Gone
10. Superbad
11. In the Valley of Elah
12. The Bourne Ultimatum
13. The King of Kong : A Fistful of Quarters
14. Atonement
15. Waitress
16. 3:10 to Yuma
17. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
18. Darjeeling Limited
19. Knocked Up
20. Eastern Promises

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Here are the Official 2008 Orange Street Oscar Nominations and Winners. Winners are listed in white bold print. According to the accounting firm of Dumbauld and Dumbauld, No Country For Old Men wins the closest Best Picture voting in Orange Street history. (Read the article)

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The Orange Street awards origins date back to a decade ago, a time before wives, kids and premature male baldness. I had compiled my personal top 20 lists for a couple of years before as the film critic for the criminally underappreciated cable access entertainment show Now Showing. Then in 1997, Adam, Ron, Grant, Sharky and Shanghai Dan (along with my other buddy Andy) joined in the fun of coming up with The Definitive Film Ranking System. In later years we added the award and nominee portions of our annual fete du cinema, but in its original incarnation we simply ranked our Top 20s and then compile them together. It is often said that you shouldn’t judge a film until 10 years after its original release in order to fully appreciate its greatness (or lack thereof). So with an eye on perspective here is the original Best Films of 1997 list from the Orange Streets: (Read the article)

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Good year. Some pretty good films didn’t make my list. Michael Clayton, The Host, American Gangster, 300, 3:10 to Yuma – would have probably cracked the top 20 in previous years. Didn’t get to Atonement or Persepolis or Talk to Me and probably a few others. That said, it put this group against any other year since we’ve been doing this. My apologies for having my format different that the other members. I apparently lack the basic intelligence to create paragraphs or get the bolding function to work and I’ve tried really hard. Anyway here’s my list. (Read the article)

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OK, so I suppose this is where I write how 2007 was a standout year overall for movies and how difficult it was for me to narrow down and order my top 20. Well, it was, but before i get into that, let me begin with one major complaint to the powers-that-be in Hollywood (i promise that it has nothing to do with underpaid writers). My gripe involves the multiplex system and how despite living in a major metro market like Philadelphia i wasn’t able to see Grace is Gone. For those who haven’t heard of this movie, it starred John Cusack in what was billed an oscar-caliber performance about dealing or not dealing with grief of a loved one killed in Iraq. Yes, it sounds like a bit of a downer in a year of many depressing movies, but it also looked like an incredibly moving picture about an important subject matter. But what the fuck do i know, cause i didn’t get to see it. This is my big gripe. Philly may have 3 Ritz theaters and Jersey sort of one, but the movies do tend to come and go pretty fast if they come at all. New York City gets all the good independents weeks ahead of time, but philadelphia gets treated like a second-class city. (Except by M. Knight who fucking loves us) Oh, and even non-independents come and go from the multiplexes too quicky, especially if they don’t crack the Top 5 gross box office receipts their first weekend or whatever. I know this may seem petty, but it really annoys me. So this year, can the people in charge please do us movie lovers in Philly, Scranton, Pittsburgh and beyond a solid and give a wider release to some promising indies. (I didn’t mention China because Dan gets to see everything courtesy of those pesky commie film pirates. I am extremely jealous.)

And, yes, there were a lot of really good movies this past year and deciding on my favorite 20 was a real bitch.

Here’s my list: (Read the article)

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I thought it was kind of tough to do a list this year. There were a lot of movies that I missed, but on the other hand, of the films that I did see, it was pretty difficult to actually put them in any sort of order. I guess in short, 2007 was a good year for movies. Looking back at our trip to the Toronto Film Festival this past year we did a pretty good job of making picks. Several of the movies we saw are Oscar contenders and most of them are on this list. Hopefully 2008 holds the course. Although, this doesn’t look too promising. Enough banter already, my list after the break. (Read the article)

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Here’s my personal top 20, I thought it was a solid year for film. not a lot of great films but a lot of good ones (note-I missed The Diving Bell and Butterfly, The Savages, La Vie En Rose and King of Kong): (Read the article)

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I think this is the first year I actually hit a wall in movie watching. Maybe it’s because the movies were so freakin’ depressing, maybe it’s because the writers strike allowed me to pare down my normal TV viewing and really dive into movie watching, or maybe it’s because I was just plain uninterested

So I’m calling uncle. With Amerigan Gangster, Into the Wild, Gone Baby Gone and Assassin . . . oh, forget it. I’m too tired and done with movies to even type of the whole title of that movie. Point is, I wanted to see a lot that I’m not getting to.

Here’s my Top 20:

(Read the article)

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