Long time listeners of this show are aware that every January I usually do a wrap up of the previous year, counting down my picks for the ten best and worst films and making note of some of the trends. A wrap up of 2008 is coming but it will air a little later than in previous years. In order to make the list legitimate, I always attempt to see the films that have lots of award buzz about them (although I have to resign myself to missing some pictures until they arrive on video, and relegating them to the “Good Buzz List” on the countdown). Many of these films do not open wide until Oscar time (late February or early March) to capitalize on award publicity and still others never make it to southern Minnesota, where I reside.
In the four years I have been doing this show, 2008 has been by far the most difficult year to see these award-circuit films. This is partly due to my relocation from Mankato (which had two first-run theaters and one second-run theater) to Winona (which has only one first-run theater but others in adjacent cities and towns). It is also due to the release strategy of the studios, which have not yet released films like The Wrestler, Frost/Nixon, Wendy and Lucy, or Che in this state. It is extremely aggravating to see trailers advertizing the pictures and read publications praising these films as the best work of the year but then having to wait months and months to get a chance to see them, and even then having to drive two and a half hours through a snow storm to get to a theater that is screening them.
But rest assured that the Sounds of Cinema 2008 Year End Wrap Up will be broadcast by the end of January and as always I will place the text of my lists on the website. You can find information on previous End of the Year Wrap Ups here.