Best Movies Of 2008
By Nicole Belle Sunday Dec 28, 2008 9:00amWith the end of the year in front of us, it's natural that we look back at 2008 and reflect. Each day, we'll do another Ten Best list and ask for your picks. Today, it's the Best Movies of 2008. From NowPublic, here is the consensus list of critically acclaimed movies:
1 Slumdog Millionaire
2 Wall-E
3 Milk
4 The Wrestler
5 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
6 The Dark Knight
7 Frost/Nixon
8 Doubt
9 Revolutionary Road
10 Rachel Getting Married
I am probably the worst person of the C&L team to do this, since I rarely see movies in the theaters and when I do, they are invariably kid movies that usually don't make anyone's ten best list. This year, however, I can say that Wall-E is deservedly on that list with stunning animation and a surprisingly sophisticated and progressive underlying message. I just saw The Dark Knight on DVD, and thought that with the exception of Heath Ledger's performance, the movie was really overrated. Being from San Francisco, I am really looking forward to seeing Milk (although the events precede my residence here); from the clips I've seen, it's really uncanny how well Sean Penn has channeled Harvey Milk. And although not on this list, just from word of mouth from people whose opinions I respect, I'm also looking forward to the DVD release of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Doubt.
My list of favorite films of 2008 (in alphabetic order): The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Gone Baby Gone; In Bruges; Iron Man; Mamma Mia (yes, I'm the demographic for this movie and I love Greece and the male eye candy as well -- sue me); Persepolis; Taxi to the Dark Side; The Visitor and Wall-E.
What were your favorites of the year and what films did you think were overrated?
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was by far the most under rated. It was very well done. Over rated? Indian Jones. It was gawd aweful.
Iron-man was just sheer fun. DC is trying to hard to bring in sturm and drang that they haven't seemed to noticed that the 60's are over when Marvel excelled at such things.
I've never seen so many well made "comic book" movies as in the last couple years. I really wanted to see Religulous, but it was never released here.
It was released in Dallas area on the Art-House circuit, which means one it's not at your nearest theatre, and two there are no matinee hour prices.
Even though it didn't last long it actually performed better than American Carol.
Commissioner Gordon?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6gNOQyeGlk
http://www.fastpasstv.com/
You can find Religulous along with a lot of other recent releases.
We met with a "meetup" group of fellow atheists/free thinkers in order to see this. Great fun. Kick Ass ending. Do the video.
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Indiana Jones did not get good reviews....so I don't know how it can be over rated.
See how much money it made? It deserved less than half of what it earned. I don't go by reviews because I find critics to be quite moronic. What they pick as good movies, usually are boring crap.
That was a horrible, horrible movie. And so unnecessary.
I actually thought everyone INCLUDING Heath Ledger was overrated, but it was his death that provided the draw.
But unlike most critics I wasn't reminded of Alex in The Clockwork Orange, but the Scorpio Killer in Dirty Harry.
I actually thought everyone INCLUDING Heath Ledger was overrated, but it was his death that provided the draw.
No, he'd be getting the accolades, had he lived. It was an amazing performance, alive or dead.
Ledger would have been completely ignored had he not died. His role was excellent, but awards shows and film "critics" mostly ignore "kids movies".
I thought Heath Ledger's performance was fantastic. He really stretched to come up with that psycho that he played. It was a great, gritty version of a comic book villian.
Ledger was very good as the Joker but his performance was still over-hyped. Hollywood would love to give him an Oscar to make up for how completely they f-ed up on 'Brokeback Mountain.'
he came on screen I kept thinking unfunny Beetlejuice.
I'm pretty sure I haven't seen a movie this year. Actually, I'm postitive I haven't. Not sure I saw one last year either.
... then make it Wall-E. You'll walk out of the theater feeling good and the feeling will stay with you.
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Coming from me this is surprising, but I never went to see Quantum of Solace, because it looked so damn dumb. It was all "showstoppers" of Casino Royale I rolled my eyes at being fleshed out into a movie.
I guess like Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan, I'm going to be skipping most of Craig's Bond movies.
James Bond movies have went to crap. Even the last one with Brosnan and Halle Bailey was just plain old junk. Too bad to even watch.
For 20 years I've been thinking the Bond producers need to sit down and watch Nighthawk, the only movie I ever saw with Sylvester Stallone and LIKED. The ending was unbelievable, but up to that point it would set the template for the modern spy movie.
was well made. I liked it too. Bond movies have went to, here's Bond, now let's add explosions and totally idiotic scenes. Kind of like Indiana Jones. That was the worst movie of 2008 in my view. I hated it. Why does Lucas want to destroy every franchise series he made? First Star Wars, now Jones. It's sad. Oh and they are now in the process of making another Ghostbusters. I. Can. Imagine. Yikes. Did you see Jumper? Although the acting was a bit off in spots, as a whole the movie wasn't that bad. They are making 2 sequels.
Actually, I've been wanting a new Ghostbusters movie for about 10 years. I see the original guys franchising their operation, so the new movie is set in LA, so you can have Hollywood ghosts and weirdies, and star guys like Damon Wayons, Bernie Mac (now dead) and Spike Lee.
Wayons could be wooing the girls, Mac getting pissed off at the ghosts, and Lee trying to raise their consciousness.
The guy seems dedicated to destroyed whatever artistic reputation he ever had. He's probably working on a CGI re-release of 'American Graffiti' as I type this.
Totally forgot about that movie. Thanks for reminding me. It was very suspenseful and entertaining. Not just Stallone was in it, but Billy Dee Williams, Rutger Hauer, Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner and Persis Khambatta (the bald lady from the 1st, disastrous, Star Trek movie). The cast sounds potentially dreadful, but they were all good - particularly Rutger.
Casino Royale was very good. Quantum of Solace wasn't as good, but it was an original story and IIRC, they popped out the story really quickly to capitalize.
People read too much into the devices necessary to move the story along.
It's like saying "Ol' Yeller" had the message that urban encroachment into wildlife areas should be curtailed because we will all be metaphorically bitten by skunks and have to be metaphorically shot in the head.
The only "message" I saw was "Never give up" (in terms of Wall-E and Eve, as well as the Axiom's return to try to restore the planet after being told it was hopeless).
Note to conservatives: "Everything doesn't have to be about you." The BnL corporation is not depicted as evil; in fact, restoration of the planet at the end wouldn't be possible without their robots and other products. So it's silly to say the message is anti-business or anti-capitalist or any of that crap.
You didn't see the cautionary tale in the sedentary passengers floating about on their chaises with TV screens in front of their faces, unused to contact with one another?
You didn't see the cautionary tale in the making of Earth uninhabitable by our toss away consumerism drowning the planet with garbage?
Maybe you and I saw different movies.
Re: the sedentary passengers, to me they were being generous as well as practical. To explain the bone loss issue in less "obvious" terms they would have needed to bang away on the science of it, which would have distracted from the story. To be more realistic, they would have had all the passengers pinned to the floor when the Axiom hit around 20,000 feet or something, even if they looked like Charles Atlas. But that would not help tell the story, so they didn't.
Similarly, making the earth uninhabitable explains why everyone had to vacate. It's a simple excuse, and it's easy to show.
What else could they do? Have all the people leave the planet because abortion?
Did you ever see The Changeling with George C Scott? It was one of my favorite horror movies from the 80's.
The other was An American Werewolf in London.
Try reading a book by a British writer on the importance of Hammer Studios in the 50's, 60's and 70's. They get into so many social issue snarls, and they overlook that they were primarily genre flicks that were influenced by American studios, sold with lots of sex and violence.
And even if the social arguments held true, that would be in England, not the rest of the world where they made tons of bucks.
I saw only Speed Racer in the theater this year. My 4-year old requested it.
We were both sorely disappointed -
But I hear "Marley & Me" isn't a "fun family flick" - what a surprise!
In March, take your 4 year old to see Monsters and Aliens. The trailer looks like it will be far more entertaining.
John Amato bought my kids the DVD for Christmas, and they LOVE it.
We're going to go see either Bedtime Stories or Marley & Me this afternoon. Given the choice between Adam Sandler and Owen Wilson, I'm pulling for Marley & Me.
liked Kung Fu Panda Nicole. As for the Adam Sandler movie? I'm not a huge fan of his. He's had good films (Happy Gilmour) and some total garbage (Click). I hate to pay to see something only to find out how terrible it is.
My daughter wanted me to see Twilight with her. It was storming too bad for me to go (she lives in another city now). So she went with friends. She said it was terrible, and she adores those vampire movies.
(I didn't see it) And she breathlessly tore through the four novels in the series in the space of about 10 days, significantly faster than the teenager in my house who is very obsessed with it and loved the movie and books.
My kids love 50 First Dates and I actually liked him in Punch Drunk Love. But he is so hit and miss and the reviews have been less than kind, so I'm still pushing Marley & Me.
Is a classic in my book, and it shows that Sandler can be very good in the right movie and with the right director.
I think the book series actually degraded too. My daughter read the first two - couldn't wait to buy the third - and then only read half of it and didn't even look at the fourth book. BUT she likes the genre and is an avid book reader otherwise and reads copiously. Maybe she just outgrew them - she's 21 now. BUT she never stopped reading Harry Potter.
She absolutely LOVED "The Historian" - recommended it highly.
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the way i see it is most movies today are actually made for video rentals , but first put on at theaters to glean as much of the top end money first from an intertainment hungry bunch of bored americans , and it doesnt matter if the movies plot is pure horseshit, or that they use money hungry out of work top star actors that will sell out thier acting skills just to keep working, jesus the movies today rival the crap that movie studios put out in the sixtys, fortunately thiers that one or two rare films a year that can be said of as well done and worth the wait! i saw two last saturday night one with the black prince of belair forget his name but it was a recent release ,hooper or something like that , but it was certainly a piece of shit, and i couldnt get past 20 minutes of it before i put myself out of the misery of watching it, then i put on a new dvd with the gal who played in fargo and had george cloony and brad pit , i watched it all the way thru, jesus to think these actors would whore thierselves to play in such craps pathetic!
Milk, The Witnesses, Before I Forget, Synecdoche New York, Meadowlark, Paranoid Park, Savage Grace, Changeling, Les Chansons d’amour, Momma’s Man.
My favorite movie moment of the year.
That was wonderful - loved the sudden change halfway through and the kiss at the end was lovely. Sorry about the red undies though . . . . .
The Guy singing is WAY hot.
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My problem with best of lists is usually they're from critics who don't have to pay for their tickets, probably get free snacks, press-packets to explain the movie and cast to them, they see it with other critics not your regular audience, who's getting sore it's costing $10.00 a ticket now in some areas, and a small popcorn and coke is easily another $8.00--to $10.00. So excuuuuse us if we want to have some fun.
So of course audience favorite movies are like the audience themselves, fickle.
Artier films like Milk, or the one years ago with Tom Hanks with AIDs are harder to analyse, because it becomes more about the politics than the art. If you like it you can be accused of already being sympathetic to their cause, if you don't you can be accused of already being hostile to their cause. Things like acting, writing, direction tend to get lost in the discussion.
And then what are the films we remember from the past? Is it the best of list, or who won Oscars? No, it's your particular favorite movie, comedians like Abbott and Costello, and genre actors like Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Cary Grant Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne and others like that.
Adam sadlers movies prove the point that some without talent can still make it in todays movies! marly and mes got to be the better pick of the two flicks ben stillers another example of no tallent! s < /p>
Sandler was great in 'Punchdrunk Love'.
Be careful about writing someone off as 'without talent'. Nobody ever thought Jean Claude Van Damme could act, but his new movie has gotten great reviews. Of course he IS playing himself.
Then again, Chuck Norris has had 35 years to show some acting talent and we're still waiting on that one.
I know people who LOVE Sandler and think everything he does is hilarious. I guess I've laughed at the few Sandler pics I've seen, but I seriously have ZERO inerest in seeing Sandler movies.
Particularly 'PD Love', 'Happy Gilmore', 'The Waterboy' and 'The Wedding Singer'. But he has also made some absolute stinkers
('Little Nicky', 'Mr. Deeds'), so I can understand where you're coming from.
the best war movie i ever saw was and i know it was a ten hour movie was band of brothers , it was well done and the actors were excellent choices , ive seen it ten times since it was made and enjoyed the realisim of it every time i watched it!
you have good taste.
thnx mad bomber high praise indeed!
My favorite war movie, even though it's more about World War II spying, is Where Eagles Dare. I also liked Schindler's List, M.A.S.H., and Sgt York.
Funny thing is that Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus with scads of social issues: French revolutionary policies, the rights of women, social justice, the science of Luigi Galvani and his nephew Giovanni Aldini, her own personal anxiety that all her children seemed to be dying young, her estrangement from her father, alchemists like Philipus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus Von Hohenheim (also known as Paracelsus), Cornelius Agrippa and Albertus Magnus, weighty tomes the monster favored like Volney's Ruins of Nations, Plutarch's Lives, John Milton's Paradise Lost, and Johann Goethe The Sorrows of Young Werther.
Now how is it remembered?
Aaaargh, smash, kablooie.
I'm only now getting to the monster's favorite books, having already read some of Paracelsus, Agrippa and Magnus. The last one is a bitch though. It's the Boke of Secrets, and I got a facsimile of its 16th century text and copied it. With so much odd printing based on old Germanic style lettering, Latin phrases, and pure nonsense terms for creatures that either don't exist or are now known by another name it takes me 20 minutes or so just to read one page.
I think it's only remembered that way if your only exposure to it is movies, like Abbot & Costello meet Frankenstein or the like. The Kenneth Branagh version tried to look at larger social issues, somewhat successfully. IIRC, he focused more on the ethical questions of our burgeoning scientific understanding--somewhat like Jurassic Park--just because we have the capability to do something doesn't mean that ethically/morally we should.
I read the book sometime in the sixth or seventh grade and had a FANTASTIC English teacher who really forced us to look at themes and messages. The true story of Frankenstein has stayed with me from that and that's why I generally don't like Frankenstein movies (with the exception of Young Frankenstein).
Movies that stay with me generally fall into two categories--ones that blow me away with the art (the animation of Ratatouille/Cars, Daniel Day Lewis's complete commitment to his character in My Left Foot--actually just about everything he does, the ironic/smart dialogue in In Bruges, the quietness of The Visitor) or just make me feel uplifted and happy (Amelie, the aforementioned Mamma Mia, Monty Python, Richard Curtis films, Some Like It Hot) without getting too deep into the art/quality.
I generally don't love movies because of specific actors. In fact, if I'm aware of the actor himself as I'm watching it (like Tom Cruise in Valkyrie--or any other movie he's done lately), I won't like the film.
The interesting thing though was by the 1820's in England they were producing plays based on Frankenstein, first The Man and the Monster, and then Presumption: Or the Fate of Frankenstein, both starring Thomas Potter Cooke as the monster. He also starred in stage productions of The Vampyre (Lord Ruthevan).
The productions were already boiling the plot down to creation, some scenes of violence and then a spectacular destruction. Mary Shelley herself was in attendance at one presentation of Presumption and wrote that she was pleased with it, and especially the audience's reaction to the monster.
I wanted to like the Branagh version, but they had so many people working on the experiment, and moved the monster away from being a strangler to one who would rip hearts out, and what I thought was uninspired makeup and performance by Robert De Niro, I wasn't terribly impressed. My understanding was Branagh was given a completed script, he usually writes his own, and he tried to bring it closer to the book.
Some versions seem to be based on the mystique and name recognition of Frankenstein, others seem like arty Hallmark productions and ignore the more frightening scenes in the book. One scene I've never seen in the movies is after creating the monster, Victor throws himself into bed, a rather odd reaction I've always thought. He dreams he sees his fiancee walking the streets of Ingolstadt, instead of being in the Swiss Alps. He runs toward her and embraces her and gives her a kiss, but then pulls away and sees he's holding the corpse of his dead mother, and worms crawling through the folds of her clothes. He wakes up in alarm, and right at that moment the presumably naked monster opens his bed curtains and attempts to communicate.
I saw "Milk" on Friday night. As a film fanatic, I've got to say that movie was, far and away, the best I've seen not only this year, but in many years. Sean Penn is extraordinary, but the entire ensemble was equally fantastic.
My favorite movies of 2008 include "In Bruges" (classic line: "You f***ing retract that bit about my c*** f***ing kids!" "I retract that bit about your c*** f***ing kids."), "The Band's Visit," and "Religulous."
The MOST OVERRATED film of the year--by far--was Slumdog Millionaire. It's amazing to me how many critics got the sari pulled over their eyes on this one. Cliched, gratuitously violent, and tossing the subplot of an actual TV show in the middle of this mess ruins what could have been a promising picture.
It's also head-scratching that The Dark Knight makes it to the top ten. I guess some people can read lips, as I could not make out what gravel-voiced Batman was saying half the time and the final conflict between Batman and Twoface was laughable. Seriously, folks, just because Heath Ledger had a great performance, don't be afraid to criticize what's wrong with the rest of the movie.
The above reasons are why you should spend more time in truly indie theaters than the suburban crap complexes. Demand that smaller movies reach you!
My top ten (these were movies released in Chicago in 2008. Note: some were not even released in theaters--proof that the movie distribution system drastically needs changing):
1. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
2. The Fall (THE MOST UNDERRATED film of the year. Period.)
3. Milk
4. Boy A
5. London to Brighton
6. Dante's Inferno
7. The Visitor
8. Save Me
9. Frost/Nixon
10. Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa
Also good this year:
Beauty in Trouble
Body of War
Burn After Reading
Encounters at the End of the World
Full Battle Rattle
In Bruges
Le Leon
Let the Right One In
Man on Wire
OSS-117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
Snow Angels
Standard Operating Procedure
Synecdoche, New York
The Tiger's Tail
Vantage Point
Wall-E
Zebraman
Is Dante's Inferno actually based on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy? I have a silent version made in 1909, released 1911. There was one other made in the 30's but it had a framing story reminiscent of A Christmas Carol, which I've never seen.
Speaking of A Christmas Carol, the best I've ever seen was George C Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge. This wasn't just a miserly man, but an angry one who barked and snarled his lines. David Warner who's more famous at least here as the villain in Disney's Tron, and as Jack the Ripper in Time After Time made a very good and believable Bob Cratchett. Roger Rees played Scrooge's nephew, and could take fairly complex lines and make it sound conversational. Susanah York played Mrs. Cratchett. I don't recall his name, but they had an angelic looking five year old as Tiny Tim, so it rips you when you found out he's died in one of the projected futures. They even had Edward Woodward (The Equalizer, The Wicker Man) as the Ghost of Christmas Present.
I thought Slum Dog Millionaire was an amazing film. Dark and brooding but with much survival, renewal and hope. I am not much of a film goer, but this would definitely be on any top 10 list, period.
Benjamin Button made me cry for better than two hours. A good flick with some interesting juxtaposition relating to the premise but far too many tears for me (yeah, I am a super sensitive sap and if it has old people or dogs in it, I am bound to cry).
I just saw Wall-E a few minutes ago and thought it was amazing, especially considering that there was little dialog...very powerful. I wonder how children "read" it?
The Fall was marvelous. It's the only movie my son asked for for xmas.
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Since there were no real comedies on the list, I thought I'd do one of the funniest movies I saw this year:
Burn After Reading was fantastic. It's not on the Big Labowkski's level, but the Coen's could take a shit on screen and I'd still buy a ticket.
Role Models was probably the most surprisingly funny film I saw. I really laughed pretty hard.
Although all the hype and trailers all but ruined it, Pineapple Express was still very funny.
I just saw Valkyrie, and wasn't disappointed. It was just about what I was expecting, but the style sort of got in the way of the storytelling.
Can't wait to see the new Kaufman flick.
Best overall movie I saw this year? That's a tough one, there have been so many, and there are so many movies still too limited in release for me to have caught yet, but I'd say The Dark Knight. I didn't think it was overrated at all, and seeing it in Imax was quite an experience.
Can't really remember a lot of the other movies I've seen. I see a lot, and am usually pretty stoned ;)
Then you need to see the old Cheech and Chong ouvre.
They were very popular at Edwards AFB where I was based. It was kind of funny. Car doors would open in the parking lot, and all this smoke would come billowing out, and the concession stand looked like Night of the Living Dead, with no one able to figure out what they wanted or how to pay for it.
Up In Smoke is absolutely the best. Funny thing is, this pretty much resembled the scene at the midnight showing of Pineapple Express. Was also peculiar that the parking lot, that is usually cased buy cops, was completely cop-less. Don't think they wanted to be haha. They'd have to arrest the entire audience.
Is that the one where Tommy Chong snorted some Comet thinking it was coke, there was a live roach in their roach box, and Tommy was bringing some of his sister's piss to his parole officer so he'd look clean, and Chong takes a swig of it thinking it was beer?
I can't remember which movies they were in, but Stacy Keach was in one C&C movie as a hardcore cop, and Paul Reuben was in one as the ultimate snooty French waiter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=067FMmyrXmQ
I meant Cheech takes a swig of it.
I was waiting for the santa monica bus on san vicente and the pulled up in the prop "ice cream" truck, sat on a fence and took a break from filming. I got each of their autographs, but later lost them. I was 15 and yes I was a dedicated stoner.
I met Goldie Hahn and Hal Davis when I worked as an extra on Private Benjamin. The movie was about the Army, I and two guys I went with were Air Force, but the bulk of the extra were Marines. I only spoke briefly with Goldie. One of the Air Force guys was our resident stoner, and they got her to pose with a picture with them, and right when the camera was clicked he stuffed her pony tail into his mouth so the picture shows her laughing like hell.
I got to speak a little more to Hal Davis (I think that was his last name), when I asked him if he was ever in the military. He said no, even though he was playing Goldie's drill sergeant. I just said I was wondering because he actually kind of reminded me of some of the drill sergeants I've had.
I had a weird conversation with one of the Marine extras. We were talking about the Iranian students taking the American embassy hostage, and he said he was looking foreward to getting some "raghead" in his sites. I just looked at him a moment and said, "Surely you realized if he's in your sites, then you're in his."
He looked startled and said, "If I do what my sarge says I'll be alright."
I said, "Good luck."
In the Air Force, we were all setting up appointments at the JAG's office to draw up our wills. So when war didn't break out we partied for a week, Cheech and Chong style, relieved we weren't going to war, but saying at the same time we couldn't believe we were letting the bastards get away with it.
Role Models was probably the most surprisingly funny film I saw. I really laughed pretty hard.
Yeah, this movie was very very funny.
I laughed all the way through "Interview With a Vampire" with Cruise. My kids got mad at me and made me leave the room. A few years later they were laughing at it too.
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The funny thing about that movie (to me, anyway) is that a lot of people think it has something to do with vampires. That goes totally over my head. As far as I can see it's a movie about an unhappy young gay couple who decide to adopt a little girl in an attempt to save their relationship. The title is totally misleading, unless there is some kind of subtext I'm missing.
did that link work for you?
http://www.fastpasstv.com/
Man, that's quite a list on there!
1. Slumcat Trillionaire
2. Paint-Me
3. Skim Milk
4. The Boxer Short
5. The CC of Benji's Dog Collar
6. The Bright Morning
7. Frost Bitten/Dick
8. Certain Doubt
9. Conservative Toll Road
X. Rachael's Big, Fat Divorce
The Brotherhood of the Travelling Jock-Strap.
Gran Torino is classic Eastwood.
entertaining and well acted as they might be...both take great liberty with historical accuracy
My absolute favorite movie of 2008, even though I didn't see it, was "An American Carol."!!!
If was my favorite because BillO the Clown was in it, and the movie failed big time! They spent $20 Million to make it, but it only made something like $7 Million!!!
Just shows that you can't make a funny conservative movie, so that's why it's my favorite of 2008!!!!!
In all seriousness, some of my favorites include the following (and not in any particular order):
"The Visitor," "Roman de Gare," "Tell No One," "Man on Wire," "Vicki Christina Barcelona," "Milk," "In Bruges," (really liked this one, especially since I've been to Bruges a number of times....it's a dark comedy,), and "Religulous."
I saw "The Dark Knight" and liked it, but while Heath Ledger's performance was great, the movie overall was overrated.
Stil want to see "Slumdog Millionaire," "Doubt," "Let the Right One In", "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."
I disagree so hard on your assessment of The Dark Knight. It was amazing.
Chemo an radiation therapy sorta kept me away from the movies this year but the bestest movie I ever saw was "Bambi meets Godzilla. You can see it too it at; http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BXCUBVS4kfQ
Festivals for at least 25 years.
If you haven't caught a Spike and Mike Fest, they are well worth the time. I think you can buy DVDs of classic shorts through their website.
Laughter is the best medicine for you. I highly recommend Monty Python and Marx Brothers movies. That's what I did when I went through radiation therapy 20 years ago.
I still think Margaret Dumont's a major schweng.
A guy know's he's getting old with Ethel Mertz starts looking good.
And I simply adore The Angry Kid.
Any time that you do a "best of" list at the end of the year, the most recent movies almost always get picked over those that were released earlier in the year. You have to get some distance on the films, time-wise, and then approach it objectively. For example, there is no way that Frost/Nixon should be in the top 10. But it just came out and is somewhat germaine to the current situation (at least in emotion) so people want to name it for the list. Yet, as a movie, it was really not very good.
Slumdog Millionaire was very good, but is it really worth the number one position?
The list in the blog post is very heavy with the most recent releases. I would bet that would not be the case if this list were compiled in 6 or 8 months.
The movies were rated/ranked by a consensus of movie reviews. The more positive reviews it got, the better the ranking.
Would distance change those reviews? Possibly. I do agree with you that the movies that win Best Movie at the Oscars, for example, are very rarely the best movie of that year.
I wonder how, then, the reviews were quantified so as to come up with a top ten list? Most reviews that I've ever seen were a narrative. Sometimes there is a letter or number grade, but those are very inaccurate, because they are affected by the reviewer's mood and movie experience.
I am not trying to dump on the idea of the list, or on the movies in it. It would probably be better to wait (as I said) and then give someone a list of all the movies released during the year. Then ask them to assign them a score if they've seen them. Average the scores, and you might have a somewhat accurate list.
I know, I get too technical on this kind of stuff. OCD, I guess! LOL. I should just sit back and take it all in.
We've only seen Wall-E of the bunch - we just can't budget movies in unfortunately. Wall-E was wonderful. But we do plan to see Slum Dog Millionaire. It has been very highly recommended to us by people whose opinion we value. Also my son has told me we have to see Dark Knight.
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with a very good video card to connect to your hd tv
stay at home at watch the myriad of classic movies you can now watch online
might i suggest angels with dirty faces and city lignts
We haven't watched television in 15 plus years. Our one television is older than any of our kids (oldest 23).
But we rent/buy/generate videos and watch them.
Love some of the classics. Love foreign films. Love some of the new stuff too. I know there's a lot worth seeing though I stay away from the stuff that is extra "painful".
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the first half, that has no dialogue, was almost an homage to chaplin's modern times
when they get on the ship, the movie loses alot
it is still a great pixar movie....but i would have loved for them to go all the way with the experiment and have no dialogue at all
their next film, up, appears to be even more brilliant
The best thing about this post, and the subsequent comments, is that i'm making up a list of movies to watch from it. I've never heard of a bunch of them. This will be fun.
I rented Rachel Getting Married since it was on a number of "best movies of the year" lists even though it had a lot of bad reviews when it first appeared in the theaters. The bad reviews were correct--this movie should be on the top ten WORST movies of the year. Pointless story with extremely repulsive, self-absorbed characters. Even the children in the movie were unlikeable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDATNzpfIpI
Slumdog Millionaire had a great vibe to it.The story,The performances and the realism made it very special for me.
Gone Baby Gone-one of the most depressing endings but a really good movie.
Benjamin Button-a really great Hollywood movie-deserves it's praise
Vicky Christina Barcelona-I really enjoyed this movie-Woody Allen recovering some of his Mojo and a great soundtrack
The Savages-Really enjoyed that as well
Tropic Thunder-A totally not serious movie but I thought it was alot of fun-and is there anything wrong with fun??
In Bruges-Brittish crime drama-Love them
but I agree i was a great movie. Not necessarily for the acting, or direction (which was surprisingly good), but for the story. It's an extremely challenging dilemma that challenges the audience as well as the characters.
So I'm way behind on the prestigious 'Oscar Worthy' year end movies. There are a bunch I want to see though, and 'Slumdog' is playing in an hour and a half about 5 blocks from me. Looking back it seems a pretty bad year. I didn't care much for 'The Dark Knight'. '4 Months, 3 Weeks ...' was beautifully done, but it was about trying to get an illegal abortion in Ceausescu's Romania, which was a bit too much of a downer for me. 'Wall -E' was well made - but animated kids' movies put me to sleep. 'In Bruges' had great dialogue, but not much else. Still want to see 'Man on Wire'.
I can only come up with a best 5 (for now):
'The Visitor' - I've loved Richard Jenkins for years. I was so happy that he finally got a starring role.
'Snow Angels' - Great performance by Sam Rockwell.
'Kit Kittredge: An All American Girl' - Dragged to this against my will, but a very winning film. Timely, as well, with a potential 2nd Great Depression looming.
'Son of Rambow' - Two little English boys in the 80s decide to make their own video version of 'First Blood.'
'The Foot-Fist Way' - Apparently played in a few festivals back in 2006, but I'm not sure if it ever went into anything resembling national release. Saw it on DVD. Way low budget. Spotty. Uneven. But when it's on, it's just hilarious.
If you plan to see "The Day The Earth Stood Still" - do yourself a favor and see the marvelous original first.
It's still on the list of the Top Ten Sci-Fi movies ever made.
NEVER remake a classic unless you can actually make it better. It looks like they've failed miserably.
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I always liked the sound of Michael Rennie's voice.
He was marvelous. The director originally considered Spencer Tracy but decided he needed the doors of the spaceship to open to a face that American audiences didn't know at all - to take the feeling of just being a "movie" out of it. He really wanted to deliver his message.
Rennie was awesome - one of my favorite roles in any movie ever.
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Rennie also had a way with unspoken, fleeting expressions, like he was all rather amused by American parochialism.
In Bruges was a great movie, but I wish the story would have taken place in the summer --- Bruges (or Brugge) in the summer is beautiful --- although I suppose all of the tourists would have made it difficult logistically.
I also just rented Burn After Reading. It's not your typical Brad Pitt, George Clooney movie, but it was entertaining anyway. The Coen's have done it again.
Why only seven? Because I first lost hours at my job, then was laid off in late October. I couldn't afford to see ten good movies in the theatre. Here are my picks chronologically:
"The Bank Job" -- don't let the fact that action hero Jason Statham is in this movie deter you. Great bank heist caper and terrific drama and based on an actual bank heist in the UK in the 70's.
"Shelter" -- romantic. period. Even everyone who's not gay and enjoys a good romance story will like this one.
"Iron Man" -- go for the chemistry between Downey Jr & Paltrow, stay for the fun and the action!
"Kung Fu Panda" - adults will enjoy this one, too. One of Jack Black's best.
"The Dark Knight" -- saw it twice -- better in the IMAX form. Heath Ledger's performance creeped me out twice and got me to cry twice.
"Eagle Eye" -- OK, Shia LeBeouf is a cutie. Much better here than in "indy". Nice flashy, compact, Hitchcock-esque story. A nice rainy weekend escapist rental.
"W" -- hands down, the most frightening movie of 2008! Oh, wait, some of that actually happened in the real world. Yeesh!
I loved Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Not only was it fun to see Ford, Lucas, Spielberg and the others up to old tricks, but it was nice to see a move that was only two hours long for a change. Long movies + my ass in a chair = ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
Best movie I saw this year was Throne of Blood, Kurosawa's 1957 reworking of Macbeth. Standing by to finally watch Rashoman to finish off Kurosawa's jidai-geki catalogue and then move on to his other films.
I saw more movies in '08 than I have in years. Iron Man was a great 'origin' chapter that got the important things right, but the action didn't exactly blow this old-school Marvel zombie away (tough for any action flick to follow Transformers). Kung Fu Panda was very cool and Madagascar 2 was funny (but forgettable). Hancock was the most fun I had in a theater this year. Dark Knight kept me on the edge of my seat, and Wall-E was excellent. Tropic Thunder was the biggest surprise, pleasantly exceeding very low expectations.
Just saw Tales of Desperaux today. Good cast and it looks great -- more like it was filmed in the kingdom of Bruno the Questionable than in the typical animated castle setting. Can't wait to get it on Blu-Ray.
Hellboy II is in the on-deck circle. I wonder if I'll catch that and pick up Incredible Hulk on a rental before the clock runs out for 2008. Did they release any non-super hero/non-animated flicks at all this year?
Iron Man, and, from the ridiculous to the sublime, Boy A and The Visitor.
Worst? I still can't believe I sat through all of Speed Racer. And while not the worst-ever movie that I've ever seen, I just saw Burn After Reading. Really: why do folks think the Coen brothers are so darn good?
Have to agree about the Dark Knight, hugely overrated. The last third of the film is comical, there is no motivation or tension in the so-called prisoners' dilemma standoff (which doesn't accurately portray the prisoners dilemma anyway).
Ledger was good, Bale was passable, but the script was woefull
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly came out in May, 2007.
Sorry, couldn't help myself.
slumdog millionaire was a very good movie.
I did see "Gone Baby Gone" with Casey Afleck( AFFLACK!?)
I'm not sure when it came out. But I did enjoy it.
I'm very interested in "Milk".
I'd go with:
Kung-Fu Panda
Persepolis
Burn After Reading
The Fall
Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa
Encounters at the End of the World
Redacted
Vantage Point
The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas
I.O.U.S.A.
But largely, 2008 movies sucked just like the year sucked. I have a feeling 2009 is going to be better in a great many ways.
The best movie was “Wall-E”. There is nothing more basic in life or story telling then the desire to love and to be loved in return. A computer image processed by dozens of hands given a life, uniqueness and beauty is an accomplishment of artistic creation that is life affirming to me. People can work together as a group and create a loving image. It just blows me away to see it. And I saw it on the big screen three times, and I never see a movie on its original run more than once.
Also it had the best dialouge of the year with only two words needed, Walle and Evea.
i'd say it deserves number one... i certainly didn't see a better movie this year. somebody complained that it was a cliche, but i don't buy it. how, exactly? what movies can you list that slumdog millionaire lifts elements from? violent, yes; gratuitously violent, no. those poor kids had a really rough time. the game show was an ingenious plot device for the non-linear timeline, IMHO. The acting was great and the cinematography was incredible. iron man was fun, but let's get real, it was not one of the best pictures of the year!
1 Iron Man
2 Hell Boy
3 Get Smart
4 Vantage Point
5 Dark Knight
so my list isn't going to be very current. If not for Netflix, I probably wouldn't even see one new movie. My list, in no particular order:
The Lives of Others
This is England
Persepolis
Lars and the Real Girl
Grace is Gone
Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride
God Grew Tired of Us
Days of Glory
Noteworthy (oldies but goodies):
Arrested Development, the complete series
Before the Devil knows you're Dead
Brothers
Dirty Pretty Things
Death at a Funeral
Most Overrated:
There will be Blood
No Country for Old Men
Comedies never get into people's top 10 lists but I have to say that two of my favorite movies this year were "Get Smart" (c'mon, it was funny, loosen up) and "Tropic Thunder" (big comedy balls on that movie)
I would also add in no particular order:
Vantage Point
Iron Man
Into the Wild (may have been '07 but I saw it this year on DVD)
The Dark Knight
And am I the only one who can't say "The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons" without affecting an over-the-top Mary Poppinsesque british accent?
My favorite this year was the (literally) revolutionary "COMING SOON" by Sir Tijn Po.
You can see it here for free: http://www.comingsoon.cz
Or on Google Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1524...
Definitely worth a viewing or two!
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Gone Baby Gone, Persepolis, and Taxi to the Dark Side are all 2007 movies
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