We are about two weeks away from the Oscar nominations, a chance to debate the year that was in movies.

Thanks to Netflix, I think I saw no more than two movies in the theater this year. But also thanks to Netflix, I will be able to catch up on all the best films once they hit DVD.

The other day I watched The Reader, one of the five films nominated for Best Picture last year. The others, in case you have forgotten, were Frost/Nixon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk and winner Slumdog Millionaire.

Having seen all except Benjamin Button, I can say I am glad I didn’t have to cast a vote in that category. I still agree with the Slumdog pick, but any of the others are a great way to spend a few hours. Throw in Changeling, Rachel Getting Married and The Wrestler and we’re talking about a stellar year in film.

The previous year was also strong with Best Picture nominations going to Juno, Michael Clayton, Atonement, There Will Be Blood and winner No Country for Old Men. There weren’t as many top flight films, especially compared with what we got in 2008.

Then again, 2007 did bring us The Simpsons Movie and Superbad.

The latter I saw at 10:45 a.m. in a theater that featured myself, my brother and three other adults. Before our show, they had some sort of discount children’s movie day. The place was packed to the gills with little kids and their parents.

As soon as they filed out of the theater, we started to go in just as everybody does when the previous showing lets out. We were downright yelled at by a theater employee who said we couldn’t go in yet. He even went as far as putting up a little rope to prevent five adults from disobeying his verbal warning.

Then again, he did have to clean up tons and tons of spilled candy/popcorn from all those damn kids.