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.1. The Wrestler-Coming off the uber-pretentious poopsicle The Fountain  I thought that Darren Arrenofsky doing a film about pro wrestling was a bit odd.  His attention to the details of both The Ram’s glory days and current malaise are amazing.  Rourke is amazing, however the talk of his career resurrection seems a bit overplayed to me since I nominated him for an Orange Street Oscar in ‘05 for Sin City.  I thought the love interest of Marissa Tomei was given just the right amount of screentime and the parallels between the short window of viability of the chosen careers of the two was interesting.

2. I’ve Loved You So Long-Kristen Scott Thomas was devastingly good in the completely French speaking role.  The actual reveal of what happened that sent her away for so long is heartbreaking.  Her sister, a newcomer to Americans, Elsa Zylberstein earned a nom from me for her less showy role.  This film takes the Big Daddy ends up sobbing award for ‘08-which is usually earned at The Toronto Film Festival.

3. Frost/Nixon-Despite happening during my lifetime I really knew nothing about these events.  My freshman seminar class was entitled American Political Biography and ended up being all about Nixon and I hated that class.  Unfortunately Ron Howard didn’t teach that course as he takes this history lesson and turns it into a gripping thriller.  Frank Langella nails tricky Dick, but I thought he should have been nominated in the supporting cat.  Michael Sheen is somehow making a career out of playing famous people in films about global icons.  If I was writing a movie about Elvis I think I’d cast Sheen as Colonel Tom Parker

4. The Dark Knight-The only non-Toronto film I saw with other Orange Street voters.  Anticipation for this was off the charts and it lived up to the hype.  I thought it spun its wheels in the third act, but still an amazing film on many levels.  As amazing as Heath was, I thought Aaron Eckhart was almost as good.

5. Doubt-I am not Catholic, so I’m sure there are layers of this film that were lost on me.  My other half went to Catholic school for elementary school and assures me that they nailed all three of the main characters.  Writer/Director John Patrick Shanley does not give the viewer easy answers or explanations to what happened and how you show feel about what may or may not be the truth.  Viola Davis gives perhaps the best 1 scene performance I’ve ever seen in a role that Oprah wanted.

6. In Bruges-Let me introduce you to the Brit version of David Mament-newcomer Martin McDonagh.  The former playwrite turned screenwriter/director’s debut film is funny, suspenseful and poignant.  Colin Ferrel reminds us why everyone knows his name, Brendan Gleeson is fine as usual and Ralph Fiennes plays against type as a foul-mouthed cockney gangster.

7. The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons-I liked this better the first time I saw it when it was called Forrest Gump.  Despite screenwriter Eric Roth seeming to simply revise Gump in reverse I really enjoyed this.  Its stunning to see first Cate Blanchett and then Brad Pitt appearing to look 20 years old is an achievement in makeup not often seen in a non-monster movie.  If I ran Hollywood Cate Blanchett would be a redhead in every film.

8. Milk-Tremendous acting and unfortantely still very relevant.  Despite being kinda prickish in real life Sean Penn can act a little bit.  I was surprised that Josh Brolin was tabbed by us and the academy over James Franco and Emile Hirsch’s performances.  The tragedy of the film resonates more during this Prop 8 era.

9. Iron Man-Had the caped crusader not made such an unbeliavable return this would be considered the benchmark for comic book films.  Jon Favreau did a great job setting up the back story, but I’m looking forward to future installments putting Tony Starks in action a little more.

10. Revolutionary Road-I thought this had a shot at being my number 1 film the year, but unfortanetly fell a little short.  Kate Winslet is my all time favorite actress and it was nice to see her in a film in which her beauty was intrisinic to her role.  Leo was just as good and Michael Shannon steals both scenes in.  I thought the narrative scructure of unhappy to happy back to unhappy was interesting, but in the end it all left me somewhat cold.

11. The Visitor-Richard Jenkins gives the performance of his career.  Writer/director Kevin McCarthy follows up his superb The Station Agent with another slow-moving well done character piece.  Like TSA (which I broke down and cried in the car after the film) The Visitor creeps up on you and stays with you afterwards.

12. Slumdog Millioniare-We were at the world premiere in Toronto sitting two rows in front of MCA of the Beastie Boys.  Unlike some other sleeper hits we viewed at the TIFF like Juno, Sidways and Lost in Translation that we walked out of amazed I’ve been suprised by Slumdog’s runaway success.  It does a good job of melding the two storylines even if they do take a little suspension of disbelief.

13. Happy-Go-Lucky-Mike Leigh is one of my favorite directors and i was glad to see him ease off the heavy drama of Secrets and Lies and Vera Drake with this upbeat film.  Sally Hawkins chews scenery in a breakout role and her sunny disposition on life and how it affects those around her is something to watch.

14. Cloverfield-I saw this at a midnight showing last January and walked out really pumped up.  Over a year later I don’t remember much about it.  I figured this was about the right spot on the list to reconcile those two sentences.

15. Burn After Reading-Had parts that were really funny and I liked all the performances, but it didn’t quite measure up to other Coen Brother films.  Second tier Coens > just about any other filmmakers in the world.

16. Tropic Thunder-A little hit or miss and without Robert Downey’s brilliant turn would have not been anywhere close to this list.  I haven’t purchased this yet, but apparently he, as his character states he would, does not break character on the DVD commentary.  Its easily my most quoted movie of the year.

17. Wall-E-I’m a big Pixar fan, but not a full-on fanboy like Adam.  I liked this, but even though having a good message didn’t feel it measured up to Pixar’s best (i.e. Toy Story and The Incredibles amongst others).

18. The Reader-Intersting, but ultimately too uneven.  Mrs. Mendes is fantastic as always and I thought the young man was also good, but was disappointed by Ralph Fiennes performance and I could never quite understand some of the characters motivation for their actions.

19. Kung-fu Panda-The animation isn’t anything out of this world, but the movie actually functions well as a straight-up action flick.  This just in pandas are cute, especially chubby ones.

20. Hellboy 2-2008 was the year of comic book movies as the second installment of Hellboy was also very good. (The second reinvention of The Hulk wasn’t too shabby either).  Big Red is back kicking ass and taking names.  Guillermo del Toro has the most amazing visual style that certainly lends itself to this type of film.  Del Toro also gets points by making it seem like Selma Blair can actually act.

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