Fulltime Casual – An Australian Film and TV Podcast

It wasn’t until now that I realised how slack I have been this year. After looking over the biggest releases of 2008, it struck me that I have seen hardly anything. So the following list is of the movies I did manage to watch, but keep in mind that I am yet to see some of the bigger releases such as Wall-E (Pete, I apologise but I will get there eventually), Slumdog Millionaire, Frost/Nixon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Wrestler.

But for now, here are my best and worst movie and music lists for 2008,

BEST MOVIES
1. Gone Baby Gone (Ben give up the acting, you’ve finally found something that you’re good at)
2. Iron Man (Downey Jr. is officially Man of the Year)
3. The Dark Knight (Heath… what more can I say?)
4. Burn After Reading (The Coens deliver a light snack after the heavy serving of No Country)
5. Shine a Light (The Stones & Scorsese deliver a film that rocks)
6. The Orphanage (Scared the shit out of me)
7. Pineapple Express (Funnier with each viewing. Closely followed by Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay as best stoner comedy)
8. Man On Wire (Mesmerising)
9. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Even after falling short with Step Brothers and Drillbit Taylor, Apatow remains at the helm of Hollywood comedy)
10. Lars and the Real Girl (A man and his sex doll prove that movies don’t need sex, drugs or violence to tell a good story. Hands down the nicest movie of 2008)

WORST MOVIES
1. 21
2. Jumper
3. Wanted
4. The Other Boleyn Girl
5. Semi-Pro

Sorry guys, I know I missed a couple of big ones, but I think I am just going to avoid ever watching Australia, The Love Guru, Max Payne, House Bunny, Speed Racer, 10,000BC, Disaster Movie or The Hottie and the Nottie. I just don’t think I can handle them.

BIGGEST MOVIE LET DOWNS
1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2. Choke
3. The Quantum of Solace
4. Zack & Miri Make A Porno
5. Hancock

BEST ALBUMS
1. Oracular Spectacular – MGMT
2. Ode to Sunshine – Delta Spirit
3. Attack & Release – The Black Keys
4. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
5. Viva La Vida – Coldplay
6. Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust – Sigur Ros
7. Santogold – Santogold
8. Apocalypso – The Presets
9. Feed The Animals – Girl Talk
10. Flight Of The Conchords – Flight Of The Conchords

BEST SONGS
1. People C’mon – Delta Spirit
2. Time to Pretend – MGMT
3. Crawl – Kings of Leon
4. Guarantees – Atmosphere
5. Something Is Not Right With Me – Cold War Kids
6. Psychotic Girl – The Black Keys
7. I Like It, I Love It – Lyrics Born
8. Oxford Comma – Vampire Weekend
9. You Don’t Know Me – Ben Folds (Featuring Regina Spektor)
10. Jimmy Recard – Drapht

BEST PERFORMANCES
1. Rage Against The Machine – Big Day Out (Melbourne)
2. The Hives – The Falls Festival (Lorne)
3. The Black Keys – The Palace Theatre (Melbourne)
4. Cold War Kids – Splendour in the Grass (Byron Bay)
5. Billy Joel – Rod Laver Arena (Melbourne)

BIGGEST MUSIC LET DOWNS
1. Kanye West – For a horrible new album and a woeful performance at Good Vibrations
2. Kings of Leon’s new album Only By The Night
3. MGMT’s performance at Festival Hall (Melbourne)
4. The weather at Meredith Music Festival
5. The Kooks follow-up album Konk

THE MOST ANTICIPATED MOVIES OF 2009
1.    Watchmen (I just finished the novel. Can’t fucking wait!)
2.    Sherlock Holmes (Ritchie, Law and Downey Jr. I hope this is as good as it looks)
3.    Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino and Pitt are bankable and Meyers is in desperate need of a hit)
4.    Moon (Sam Rockwell flying solo)
5.    Star Trek (Just ask Pete or Justin)
6.    X-Men Origins: Wolverine (It’s taken four movies, but Gambit is finally here!)
7.    The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Gilliam directs Ledger in his final performance with the addition of Depp, Law and Farrell)
8.    Avatar (It’s been on the cards for some time, but 2009 could be the year Sam Worthington takes Hollywood)
9.    Terminator: Salvation (Bale has proved a knack for rebooting franchises, hopefully this one is just as good)
10.   S. Darko (I don’t imagine this will surpass the original, but I can’t help but be a little curious)

MOST ANTICIPATED MUSIC OF 2009
1.    Triple J’s Hottest 100 countdown, Australia Day – Easily my favourite day of the year
2.    The Strokes new album (unfortunately still TBA)
3.    Girl Talk at the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival
4.    Fatboy Slim at Good Vibrations
5.    The return of old skool hip-hop – Eminem aside, old skool hip-hop could make a comeback with anticipated releases from Dr. Dre and Outkast

So there it is, my entire year in a nutshell.

Thanks to my man Jordo for his music contributions, without him I’d still be listening to Smash Mouth.

Pete, Justin and Dave – Thanks for taking me on, it’s been emotional.

And for everyone else who actually reads my stuff, cheers guys!