Lord of The Curry Posted January 7, 2009 Report Posted January 7, 2009 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 Posted January 7, 2009 Report Posted January 7, 2009 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 Posted January 7, 2009 Report Posted January 7, 2009 Better question: Why is Baby Mama on that list, period?
The Niggardly King Posted January 7, 2009 Author Report Posted January 7, 2009 Because he saw it in the theater for some reason.
Lt. Al Giardello Posted January 7, 2009 Report Posted January 7, 2009 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). Â 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 Posted January 7, 2009 Report Posted January 7, 2009 From all accounts Miracle at St. Ana was a flop.
Epic Reine Posted January 7, 2009 Report Posted January 7, 2009 My top 10 in '06 looked a little something like this: Â 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 Posted January 8, 2009 Report Posted January 8, 2009 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. Â 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 Posted January 8, 2009 Report Posted January 8, 2009 Thank you for your insight, Roger Ebert.
JHawk Posted January 8, 2009 Report Posted January 8, 2009 Better question: Why is Baby Mama on that list, period? Because he has a thing for Tina Fey. Â So do I, but not enough to ever see that movie.
bob_barron Posted January 8, 2009 Report Posted January 8, 2009 Better question: Why is Baby Mama on that list, period? Â I saw it in theatres. Anything I see in theatres gets ranked. Even Delgo. Â 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 Posted January 8, 2009 Report Posted January 8, 2009 All I saw was Dark Knight, Iron Man, Indiana Jones, and Lakeview Terrace.
Nighthawk Posted January 8, 2009 Report Posted January 8, 2009  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 Posted January 8, 2009 Report Posted January 8, 2009 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. Â 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. Â 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. Â I am guilty of not having watched Into the Wild, Gone Baby Gone or Jesse James. Â 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! Posted January 8, 2009 Report Posted January 8, 2009 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.) Â IMDB's plot synopsis doesn't fill me with a ton of hope for this: Â 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. Â Bleh. If you're going to adapt David Foster Wallace for the screen, why would you choose his least adaptable stuff?
Gary Floyd Posted January 8, 2009 Report Posted January 8, 2009 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 Posted January 8, 2009 Report Posted January 8, 2009 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 Posted January 8, 2009 Report Posted January 8, 2009 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 Posted January 8, 2009 Report Posted January 8, 2009 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 Posted January 10, 2009 Report Posted January 10, 2009 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 Â
PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! Posted January 10, 2009 Report Posted January 10, 2009 Do you just not go to foreign movies?
The Niggardly King Posted January 10, 2009 Author Report Posted January 10, 2009 Marley and Me at #11... really?
bob_barron Posted January 10, 2009 Report Posted January 10, 2009 Do you just not go to foreign movies? Â 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. Â 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 Posted January 10, 2009 Report Posted January 10, 2009 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 Posted January 10, 2009 Report Posted January 10, 2009 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 Posted January 10, 2009 Report Posted January 10, 2009 Can't believe you haven't seen those movies yet, Raven. Â JCVD was mostly in French, so does that count Byron? Â Valkyrie was a good thriller, but the lack of suspense and the English accents really hurt it.
PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! Posted January 10, 2009 Report Posted January 10, 2009 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. Â Oh. For some reason I thought you actually lived in NYC itself.
bob_barron Posted January 10, 2009 Report Posted January 10, 2009 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 Posted January 10, 2009 Report Posted January 10, 2009 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.
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