Your top 10 films of 2008

[Lord of The Curry 0]

No, it's because I just get the idea that your list-making steps go something like "Hey, let's put this one here" without too much forethought.

[bob_barron 0]

I actually take a lot of time ranking the movies in the upper echeleon of my list, I probably take it too seriously. I find it hard to rate films in the middle of the pack, why is Baby Mama #58 and Ghost Town #63? I could't tell you, so that I usually do pretty quickly. I also enjoy ranking movies at the bottom of the list- I spend time on that too.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Better question: Why is Baby Mama on that list, period?

[The Niggardly King 0]

Because he saw it in the theater for some reason.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Am I the only one who saw Miracle at St. Anna? I haven't seen it on anyone's best or worst lists. It would place in my top 10, although the order is yet to be determined since I haven't seen films with limited release yet (Gran Torino, The Wrestler, etc).

 

I want to see it. Considering how big of a Spike Lee fan I am, when I finally do it will crack my top 10.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

From all accounts Miracle at St. Ana was a flop.

[Epic Reine 0]

My top 10 in '06 looked a little something like this:

 

1. The Departed

2. The Prestige

3. Children Of Men

4. The Fountain

5. Hard Candy

6. Little Miss Sunshine

7. Inside Man

8. V For Vendetta

9. Borat

10. A Scanner Darkly

[Jingus 0]

I don't think I've seen enough really noteworthy movies this year to even make anything more than a top 5. Past that, it would entirely be various summer blockbusters and Apatow flicks all having a pointless little moshpit to establish relative dominance.

 

1. Wall-E

2. Let the Right One In

3. The Dark Knight

4. Encounters at the End of the World

5. The Wrestler

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Thank you for your insight, Roger Ebert.

[JHawk 0]

Better question: Why is Baby Mama on that list, period?

Because he has a thing for Tina Fey.

 

So do I, but not enough to ever see that movie.

[bob_barron 0]

Better question: Why is Baby Mama on that list, period?

 

I saw it in theatres. Anything I see in theatres gets ranked. Even Delgo.

 

Baby Mama was funny and it had some unexpected plot twists and turns, but I felt the ending was a cheap copout, and didn't go the way I would've gone.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

All I saw was Dark Knight, Iron Man, Indiana Jones, and Lakeview Terrace.

[Nighthawk 0]

 

Synecdoche, New York

The Dark Knight

The Wrestler

Let the Right One In

Mister Lonely

The Boy In the Striped Pajamas

The Fall

Milk

Iron Man

Curious Case of Benjamin Button

 

This was also a good year for mindfucking action movies, ie Doomsday, Wanted, The Spirit and Punisher: War Zone (A+++++++)

[The Mandarin 0]

My top five of 2008 would be Forgetting Sarah Marshall (a flawed film-- poor writing esp. for Mila Kunis-- but generally the best time I had watching a movie all year), Milk (brilliantly acted and the magnificent opening? scene taking place in the subway had me convinced, if just momentarily, that I was watching something special; the film was somewhat weakened when some pivotal sequences were a bit too schmaltzy), Doubt (show-stealing performance by Amy Adams! who, I'd have to imagine, is a lock for Supporting Actress this weekend, otherwise a very good play that transferred to the screen just fine), Funny Games (makes your skin crawl, it's a rare experience; three strong performances, as expected) and I guess Burn After Reading if just for Brad Pitt's reactions. Dark Knight was a lot of fun. I was disappointed by Synecdoche, New York and Vicky Christina Barcelona. Paranoid Park aimed high but was a mess.

 

I still have yet to see Che & The Argentine (I love the work of Soderbergh and Del Toro so I have very high expectations), The Wrestler, The Class and Man on Wire however.

 

2007 was brilliant: see There Will Be Blood, No Country and The King of Kong. If you still haven't watched Kong, go for it. It features a truly engaging story and some of the most unbelievable, terrifying characters in all of cinema. Also 4 Weeks, 3 Months and 2 Days was superior to any film I watched in theaters this year. It really cemented, at least for me, that Cloverfield was totally flat (although an intriguing experiment). Zodiac was very strong. Grindhouse was a riot in the theater, as mentioned-- I have no idea how the separate releases turned out. Ocean's Thirteen was strong in a way which I did not expect, if you liked The Departed's twisting plot then this film is for you. If you like characterization, look elsewhere. I found Bourne Ultimatum to be a lot of fun. I appreciate films that appropriate cinema-verite style tendencies and aesthetics-- I was also a fan of United 93.

 

I am guilty of not having watched Into the Wild, Gone Baby Gone or Jesse James.

 

2009 should be promising. I want to watch Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, like, today. (Yes, I too read the book. I'm really interested to see how John Krasinski will pull this off. I figure he'll be writing an original narrative based around the interviewer but I really hope he can do something with On His Deathbed. I have a perverse desire to see him attempt either Octet or Church Not Made with Hands, or both. You never know, perhaps cinema will be revolutionized.) I hope to see good stuff from Soderbergh and Luiz Guzman this year. Ohhhh man, The Limey you guys. Scrap everything I said about 2008, no film did nearly as much with editing as The Limey.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

I want to watch Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, like, today. (Yes, I too read the book. I'm really interested to see how John Krasinski will pull this off. I figure he'll be writing an original narrative based around the interviewer but I really hope he can do something with On His Deathbed. I have a perverse desire to see him attempt either Octet or Church Not Made with Hands, or both. You never know, perhaps cinema will be revolutionized.)

 

IMDB's plot synopsis doesn't fill me with a ton of hope for this:

 

After her boyfriend mysteriously leaves her with little explanation, grad student Sara Quinn is left looking for answers as to what went wrong. Directing all her energies into her anthropological dissertation, Sara conducts a series of interviews with men in an effort to uncover the secret thoughts that drive their behavior. As she records the astonishing and disquieting experiences of various subjects, Sara discovers much more about men and herself than she bargained for.

 

Bleh. If you're going to adapt David Foster Wallace for the screen, why would you choose his least adaptable stuff?

[Gary Floyd 0]

1.) The Dark Knight

2.) The Wrestler

3.) Let The Right One In

4.) Iron Man

5.) Hellboy II

6.) Slumdog Millionaire

7.) Inside

8.) Milk/Burn After Reading (tie)

9.) The Lost

10.) The Signal

[The Flamboyance 0]

I've only seen 10 movies of 2008, but they certainly weren't all good.

 

Iron Man

Incredible Hulk

The Dark Knight

Speed Racer

The Wrestler

Wanted

Indiana Jones IV

10,000 BC

Hancock

Role Models

 

I really liked the first 6 that I listed. 10,000 BC was awful. The other 3 were decent.

I'm planning to watch Wall-E tomorrow. I also want to see Gran Torino, Benjamin Button, Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Punisher, Star Wars, The Spirit and Hellboy 2 soon. A lot of catching up to do. To be honest though, I don't really like watching movies. I'm really impatient when it comes to watching television.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I saw Button today, it doesn't change my top 10 any. Certainly not a bad movie by any means, but not a great one either

[NoCalMike 0]

I just got done watching Gran Torino. It's definately added to my best of list as of now, but like I said before, I have so many more films from this year yet to have been seen.

[bob_barron 0]

Final rankings, hopefully I can do a write-up soon:

 

1. The Dark Knight

2. The Wrestler

3. Cloverfield

4. Tropic Thunder

5. Gran Torino

6. Wall-E

7. Milk

8. Slumdog Millionaire

9. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

10. Zach and Miri Make a Porno

11. Marley and Me

12. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist

13. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

14. Wanted

15. High School Musical 3: Senior Year

16. The Bank Job

17. Frost/Nixon

18. JCVD

19. U2-3D

20. Rachel Getting Married

21. Changeling

22. Revolutionary Road

23. Sex and the City

24. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2

25. Hancock

26. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

27. Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day

28. Blindness

29. The Strangers

30. Transsiberian

31. Iron Man

32. Quantum of Solace

33. Traitor

34. Pineapple Express

35. Vicky Cristina Barcelona

36. Happy Go Lucky

37. Yes Man

38. Doubt

39. Eagle Eye

40. The Lucky Ones

41. Role Models

42. Vantage Point

43. Body of Lies

44. Pathology

45. Get Smart

46. Burn After Reading

47. The Promotion

48. The Express

49. Step Brothers

50. Soul Men

51. Semi-Pro

52. Kung Fu Panda

53. The Forbidden Kingdom

54. Horton Hears a Who

55. Rambo

56. Journey to the Centre of the Earth 3-D

57. Valkyrie

58. House Bunny

59. Bolt

60. IO-USA

61. Baby Mama

62. My Winnipeg

63. Elegy

64. Street Kings

65. Funny Games

66. Ghost Town

67. Rock ‘n’ Rolla

68. Battle in Seattle

69. Transporter 3

70. The Wackness

71. Smart People

72. The Reader

73. Nothing Like the Holidays

74. Appaloosa

75. Hannah Montana

76. Death Race

77. Harvard Beats Yale 29-29

78. Cadillac Records

79. American Teen

80. What Happens in Vegas

81. The Visitor

82. Definitely Maybe

83. Man on Wire

84. W.

85. Four Christmases

86. Nobel Son

87. How To Lose Friends and Alienate People

88. Hamlet 2

89. War, Inc.

90. Religulous

91. Patti Smith: Dream of Life

92. The Rocker

93. Leatherheads

94. Made of Honor

95. Deception

96. Lakeview Terrace

97. Seven Pounds

98. Cassandra’s Dream

99. The Sprit

100. Drillbit Taylor

101. Tale of Despereaux

102. Passengers

103. Bedtime Stories

104. Righteous Kill

105. Hell Ride

106. The Happening

107. 21

108. Swing Vote

109. Mamma Mia

110. Synecdoche, NY

111. Babylon AD

112. The Love Guru

113. Strange Wilderness

114. Mirrors

115. Delgo

116. An American Carol

117. Proud American

118. 88 Minutes

119. The Hottie and the Nottie

 

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

Do you just not go to foreign movies?

[The Niggardly King 0]

Marley and Me at #11... really?

[Gary Floyd 0]

Markey and Me

[bob_barron 0]

Do you just not go to foreign movies?

 

My Winnipeg is Canadian. I have nothing against foreign movies, but a lot of foreign movies only play in the city, and I'm not going all the way to NYC just to see a foreign film. I do wish I had been able to see a couple.

 

Regarding Marley and Me- I'm a big dog nut, so I loved everything about the movie, and I enjoyed the themes of family and growing older and found the ending to be very touching. It's a film that resonated with me, and I thought it was very well done.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

1. The Dark Knight

2. Slumdog Millionaire

3. The Wrestler

4. Tropic Thunder

5. Curious Case of Benjamin Button

6. Gran Torino

7. JCVD

8. Iron Man

9. Role Models

10. Valkyrie

 

Honorale Mentions:

 

- Miracle At St. Anna

- Forgetting Sarah Marshall

- The Strangers

[Ravenbomb 0]

I'm seeing Slumdog Millionaire tonight, Frost/Nixon tomorrow, and Gran Torino on Tuesday, so my top 10 will probably be updated soon.

[bob_barron 0]

Can't believe you haven't seen those movies yet, Raven.

 

JCVD was mostly in French, so does that count Byron?

 

Valkyrie was a good thriller, but the lack of suspense and the English accents really hurt it.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0]

but a lot of foreign movies only play in the city, and I'm not going all the way to NYC just to see a foreign film. I do wish I had been able to see a couple.

 

Oh. For some reason I thought you actually lived in NYC itself.

[bob_barron 0]

I live about 40-60 minutes away by train. I do live near a very nice arts theatre, so hopefully I'll get to more foreign flicks.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

Valkyrie was a good thriller, but the lack of suspense and the English accents really hurt it.

I found it pretty suspenseful which is very impressive considering I knew how it would end. And the accents didn't bother me. As Singer said himself, it isn't a documentary. I prefer no attempted accents and good acting over distractingly bad German accents.