Last night the Kansas City Film Critic’s Circle (the second oldest critc’s group in the country) met to decide on the winners of our 2008 Loutzenhiser Awards. As always, it was a spirited affair filled with heated arguments (”I think ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ should be nominated for Foreign Film!”) and tough questions (”Where do we send the Supporting Actor award to?”). The two guys to the right here both won awards, and I’m pretty excited about most of the choices! You can peruse our list of winners here. Also don’t forget that I’m keeping a running tally of all movie awards winners and nominees up to the Big Oscar Show on February 22. Check it out now, and be ahead of everyone else when the betting starts!

Between all the people in town in the last couple of days and all the band practices, I finally managed to squeak out a list of the best movies of 2008. After going back through my favorite films of the year, I noticed that the last-minute Oscar contender cramming didn’t really change things all that much. Sure, “The Wrestler” and “Let the Right One In” were Oscar season additions, but the other ten or so movies that you’ll be hearing about between now and February 22 didn’t make the list. click here to see my list of Top 10 Movies of 2008, and have a Happy New Year!

The Christmas holiday was a huge time for movies this year, and I’m doing my best just to keep up with everything. Last week, I posted reviews of Frank Miller’s “The Spirit,” play adaptations “Doubt” and “Frost/Nixon,” the new Tom Cruise movie “Valkyrie,” Oscar contender “The Reader,” and a controversial on-camera review of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” Why is it controversial? Because I dared to dislike it apparently! That, and the fact that my disappointment in the film resulted in somewhat of a rant. Tomorrow’s Top 10 Tuesday will be my Top 10 movies of 2008 list. also, don’t forget about our running tally of awards this year to help you predict the Oscars! Click here for the 2008 Oscar Awards Tally.

Eric and guest critic Trevan McGee from inkkc.com battle it out over “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” a big Oscar prestige film starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, adapted from the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, and directed by David Fincher. Will it be the big contender for Best Picture at the Academy Awards that everyone predicts it will be or is it an overly long snorefest? Check out the instant on-camera review for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

Today’s Top 10 list comes from a Scene-Stealers sitegoer who says this very website is at least partially responsible for the creation of his own movie-list site. Andrew Willis knows that when Christmas is over, the only thing left to look forward to is the New Year’s Eve party. So he’s created a list of Top 10 Movie Party Scenes. Much drinking and revelry are included within. Are there more than 10 badass parties in the movies? What do you think of Andrew’s list? Let him know here. And remember, if you have your own list to contribute to the site, just email me at eric@scene-stealers.com. Let’s party.

Jim Carrey’s “Yes Man” opened at number one this weekend, proving that comfort food is really hard to resist sometimes. Who cares if we’ve seen it all before, right? Sometimes you just want to see a movie that delivers exactly what you expect, even if those expectations are pretty low. You already know whether you want to go see “Yes Man” or not. I have a pretty good idea that nothing I write in my movie review will convince you of anything you don’t already know from the movie’s ads. But if you must read my review, here ya go.

Eric Melin and guest co-host Whitney Mathews (www.whitneymathews.com) review Mickey Rourke’s comeback role in Darren Aronofsky’s new movie “The Wrestler.” Co-starring Marisa Tomei as the stripper who wins his heart and Evan Rachel Wood as his estranged daughter, “The Wrestler” is a gripping, realistic walk through some important moments in the life of fictional 1980s professional wrestling icon Randy “The Ram” Robinson. It may not be the WWE (WWF) or ECW, but Aronofsky’s movie is about as hardcore as it gets.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…to search out something different to watch during the Christmas season! Amid reruns of “Christmas Vacation” and “A Christmas Story” (which you’ve probably seen a hundred times already), do yourself a favor and rent one or two of the Christmas gems on this week’s Top 10 Lists. The Top 10 Non-Christmas Christmas Movies list features movies like “Gremlins” and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” that take place during the holiday season but aren’t necessarily full of Christmas cheer. (Yes, “Die Hard” is on the list!) The Top 10 Defining Christmas Moments looks at one particular scene in a movie that revolves around Christmas and changes its characters lives, and it has a link to one of my favorite Christmas short stories ever. If you have a moment, take some time and discover the movies on two of my favorite Top 10 lists I’ve written.

…and it’s not! Trust me. The “hot seat” is just that. But watching Danny Boyle’s new film “Slumdog Millionaire” may make you feel like a million bucks. I saw it and finally got around to writing about it. By now, a lot of you have seen it as well. Sound off here in the comments section and let me know what you thought of the movie that’s considered a frontrunner for Best Picture this year at the Oscars. My season-long Awards Tally 2008 has just added the new AFI Top 10, so check that post out for the latest tally on who’s running ahead of who this year!

Horrible, awful pun, I know, but I just couldn’t resist. The movie that the NY film critics voted the best of the year opens wide today, featuring Sean Penn in the title role as murdered 1970s San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk. Besides being a jubilant portrait of the early gay rights movement, the movie also has some eerie parallels in today’s post-Prop. 8 political scene and features a subtle, affecting performance from Josh Brolin. Read my review of Gus Van Sant’s “Milk” here and let me know what you thought of it in the comments section!