2008 was not the banner year that ‘07 turned out to be, but there were still plenty of movies worth watching. Sometimes end-of-year lists look like straight Oscar predictions, with little deviance from critic to critic, not so this year. Some of our favorite stuff was not playing in a theatre near you, some of it was. For the record, our complete lists are after the jump.

But first! Wholphin 7 is out now! The geniuses over at McSweeny’s have once again curated a delightful collection of rare and unseen short films. We share our thoughts about a few favorites. One film we both loved, Glory at Sea, is available for free here.

(Subscribe to FilmCouch–Spout’s weekly movie podcast–in the iTunes store or to our RSS feed and an episode will download each Friday)

0:00 - Intro, listener e-mail

2:59 - Wholphin 7

16:18 - Kevin’s list, Paul’s “soup”

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Paul’s unranked list:

Tulpan

Be Kind Rewind

I Love Sarah Jane (entire film viewable)

August Evening

Shotgun Stories

Revanche

The Dark Knight

Glory at Sea

Kevin’s ranked list:

1. The Dark Knight

2. Let the Right One In

3. The Good, The Bad, and The Weird

4. Wall-E

5. Wellness

6. Happy-Go-Lucky

7. Glory at Sea

8. Waltz With Bashir

9. Medicine for Melancholy

10. Encounters at the End of the World