This year, I quite enjoyed Oscar contending films like Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, The Wrestler, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Wall-E, The Dark Knight and In Bruges. I also really enjoyed a non-Oscar consideration with Kevin Smith's crude yet indearing Zak and Miri Make a Porno. That is all beside the point, because I am going back to the 80s to give you my 2^nd Annual Old School Movie Awards (Also know as the OldSchooly's).

As I stated last year, the OldSchooly's are my own special awards to honor the great films from my younger formative years and will surely not be your traditional awards. Instead they feature unique categories (all new for each year) that address the 80's genre. So let's get on to the 2^nd ANNUAL OLD SCHOOL MOVIE AWARDS 80s STYLE:

• Special Achievement Award for Product/Brand Created Especially for a Movie - And the OldSchooly goes to... Coming to America for "Soul Glo" hair product with Eriq LaSalle playing "Darryl" who is heir to that empire. Here is a link to watch a commercial for it from the movie.

• Special Achievement Award for Most Aliases for One Character - And the OldSchooly goes to... Chevy Chase as "Irwin R. Fletcher" in Fletch. Here is a list of all of them that he used at one point or another: Ted Nugent, Arnold Babar, Dr. Rosenpenis, Dr. Rosenrosen, Dr. Rosen, John Cocktolstoy, Mr. Poon, Igor Stravinsky, Fletch F. Fletch, Gordon Liddy, Don Corlione, Alan Stanwyk, Harry S. Truman, Mattress Police, Geometry Fletch, Mary Poppins, Nostradamus, Baba au Rum, Jane Doe, Peggy Lee, Zorba, Victor Hugo, Henry Himler (Hank Himler), Billy Jean King, Eldridge Cleaver, Claud Henry Smoot, Peter Lemonjello, Ed Harley, Elmer Fudd Gantry, Bobby Lee Swartz. That is 30 in all! Here is a link to watch a memorable scene when he was using the alias of Arnold Babar.

• Special Achievement Award for Use of a Giant Piano to Create an Iconic Scene in a Movie - And the OldSchooly goes to... Big written by Gary Ross & Anne Spielberg and directed by Penny Marshall. Here is a link to watch this fun scene starring Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia.

• Best 2008 Sequel to an 80s Movie - The nominees include Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (the third sequel to 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark) and Lost Boys: The Tribe (sequel to 1987's The Lost Boys), but the OldSchooly goes to... Live Free or Die Hard (the third sequel to 1988's Die Hard).

• Best Fist Fight (not including fighting movies like Rocky or The Karate Kid) - The nominees include a fight between Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in 48 Hrs [link to video] and the rumble at the end of The Outsiders [link to video], but the OldSchooly goes to...Indiana Jones and his fight with the big bald Nazi in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Here is a link to watch the winning scene.

• Best Movie Starring Steve Guttenberg - The nominees include Diner (1982) as "Eddie Simmons", Cocoon (1985) as "Jack Bonner", Short Circuit (1986) as "Newton Crosby" and Three Men & A Baby (1987) as "Michael Kellen", but the OldSchooly goes to... Police Academy (1984 + 3 sequels too) as "Officer Carey Mahoney".

• Best Performance by a Musician turned Actor - The nominees include David Bowie in Labyrinth, Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan (among others), Prince in Purple Rain, Cher in Moonstruck (among others), Sting in Dune and Phil Collins in Buster, but the OldSchooly goes to... Dolly Parton as "Doralee Rhodes" in 9 to 5 (among other performances including 1989's Steel Magnolias). Here is a link to watch a great video of Dolly's finer moments in 9 to 5.

• Best Performance by Character Who Dresses Up as the Opposite Sex - The nominees include Dustin Hoffman as "Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels" in Tootsie and the Alpha Beta's skit at the Homecoming Carnival in Revenge of the Nerds, but the OldSchooly goes to... Joyce Hyser as "Terri Griffith" in 1985's underrated Just One of the Guys (maybe not the best, but my favorite).

• Best Scene Featuring a Bicycle - The nominees include The Karate Kid [link to video], the kid who wants his two dollars in Better Off Dead [link to video], Pee-Wee's Big Adventure [link to video] and when the adventure begins in The Goonies [link to video featuring Josh Brolin], but the OldSchooly goes to... "Elliot" trying to get his friend to safety in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. Here is a link to watch the scene which includes that iconic moment when they fly across the full moon.

• Best Motivational Speech - The nominees include Robin Williams' "carpe diem" speech in Dead Poets Society [link to video], Gilbert's speech at the end of Revenge of the Nerds [link to video], Ronald Miller's speech at the end of Can't Buy Me Love [link to video with speech starting at about the 3 minute mark] and Mikey's declaration that it's "our time" in The Goonies [link to video], but in a very close vote the OldSchooly goes to... Michael Douglas as "Gordan Gekko" proclaiming that "greed is good" in the 1987 Oliver Stone film Wall Street. Here is a link to watch this awesome speech.

• Special Tribute to some actors who we lost this past year who had some 80s movie moments -
Roy Scheider (1932-2008) starred as "Martin Brody" in Jaws which was released in 1975, but based on when I saw it in the 80s, it is more of an 80s memory to me. Here is a link to watch the scene where he says the line "We're going to need a bigger boat."

Director, producer and actor Sydney Pollack (1934-2008) won the Oscar for Best Director for 1985's Out of Africa which also won Best Picture. He also was nominated for 1982's Tootsie which he also appeared in as agent "George Fields" uncredited. Here is a link to watch a scene from Tootsie which features Pollack with Dustin Hoffman.

The amazing Paul Newman (1925-2008) had several great performances in the 80s including Absence of Malice and The Verdict, but my favorite was as "Fast Eddie Felson" in The Color of Money which won him the Oscar for Best Actor. Here is a link to watch the trailer for this great film from 1986 which also starred Tom Cruise.

That is all for tonight's awards, please drive home safely. Hope you enjoyed this year's incarnation. I may have missed some deserving nominees for these awards, so please leave comments if you can think of any obvious (or not so obvious) nominees you would have included. If you did not see the 1^st annual version from last year, be sure to click on the link at the start of this issue and check it out. I look forward to watching the real Academy Awards tonight.

That wraps up another issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the new Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: Here is a fortune cookie that is either very old or very wrong. Thought it was humorous...

Quote of the day: "For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake." -Alfred Hitchcock