Top Ten Films of 2008
Wall street should be burnt down
Spotify started
Obama is elected president ending racism and he is still president to this day
I like this years top ten money makers much more than most years. But, that doesn’t mean it had more things I like. Coming off 2007 it would be impossible to replicate that level of greatness. But this is a great year. Easy top 5 year for me. And it’s rare the top movie of the year is in my personal top ten.
11-25
Adam Resurrected (Directed by Paul Schrader) - Amazon Prime
Gran Torino (Directed by Clint Eastwood)
Hamlet 2 (Directed by Andrew Fleming)
Hunger (Directed by Steve McQueen) - Criterion
Let The Right One In (Directed by Tomas Alfredson) - Hulu
Pineapple Express (Directed by David Gordon Green) - Netflix
Revolutionary Road (Directed by Sam Mendes)
RockNRolla (Directed by Guy Ritchie)
Step Brothers (Directed by Adam McKay)
Sunshine Cleaning (Directed by Christine Jeffs)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Directed by David Fincher) - HBO
The Hurt Locker (Directed by Kathryn Bigelow)
The Wrestler (Directed by Darren Aronofsky)
Tropic Thunder (Directed by Ben Stiller)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Directed by Woody Allen)
top ten
10. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Directed by Nicolas Stoller) - Hulu
A great rom com. More dude-centric than most of them but this is a great mix of the classic rom com formula with dudes going full frontal and making pearl necklace jokes. Mila Kunis is charming, Russell Brand is at his least annoying? maybe? Jonah Hill & Paul Rudd turn in amazing supporting roles. But Jason Segal became a star and rightfully so. He’s likable to almost everyone, and just weird enough not to be boring. I really like that guy and love supporting his movies and shows except for the real big one.
9. Doubt (Directed by John Patrick Shanley) - HBO
Hey, I like acting. Most movies I love are because someone in it, usually more than one, made some choices that fascinated me and got me to stare at them for over an hour. Filmmaking is important and makes movies what they are. But, here is a play that doesn’t try to do anything crazy. Just put the best actors you can find in rooms together being passive aggressive, subtle, and not blinking at each other. Philip Seymour Hoffman once again is the Sun of acting, and Amy Adams is amazing.
8. Bronson (Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn)
Refn can rub people the wrong way. The great critic Adam Nayman while discussing his latest project, the show Too Old To Die Young, said he wonders if he is an idiot. Like, he has a low IQ. I don’t know if that’s true. But, I like to think of him as what would’ve happened if David Byrne was born in Denmark. Simple but style that makes you have to watch. Surround yourself with art and things that look cool and interesting while never really saying anything too complicated and letting much smarter people than you project all of the meaning onto it. Byrne brings joy and Refn brings befuddlement? Not sure. I just came up with this. But Tom Hardy is one of the best actors to ever do it and this was his first big splash. Go watch this and Venom.
7. Wendy and Lucy (Directed by Kelly Reichardt) - Amazon Prime
Maybe the saddest I’ve been in a movie theater when I saw this at Siskel Film Center. It isn’t some manipulative oscar bait movie. It doesn’t have real extreme tragedy. No heads hitting off light poles here. No graphic deaths. No hospital beds or kids getting hurt or kidnapped. Just a woman and her dog trying to get by. It’s heartbreaking and beautiful. Bless Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams forever.
6. Rachel Getting Married (Directed by Jonathan Demme)
Anne Hathaway’s best work is right here. She’s always good, but this is the one. Demme makes a great handheld movie about a woman making her sisters wedding about herself and how badly she wishes she didn’t do that. It’s a wonderful humane movie that I can’t recommend more.
5. Wall E (Directed by Andrew Stanton)
Maybe the best kids movie ever made? Dark and cynical the entire time with just a spark of hope. This feels more and more relevant as we go towards our inevitable ruining of humanity. Maybe we should leave it to the AI and just get out of the way. But, Wall E wouldn’t want that. We have to keep trying. Get out of the lines you feel forced to follow.
4. The Dark Knight (Directed by Christopher Nolan)
A movie that seems to argue the greatest way to disrupt the world is to ignite the people into a divided frenzy and they will tear it all down for you. But, then a boat full of prisoners decides no. We will stand up and not hurt anyone and instead just die ourselves for those rich white people. It’s a tough movie to watch now if you think critically about it. I don’t think Nolan is a great thinker of american policies and ideals. But I do think he cast Heath Ledger as the Joker and made a good movie great. Ledger has become oxygen as far as performances go. He gets taken for granted as just one of the best and now let’s talk about everything else. His work here feels eerie, mesmerizing, and unstoppable. RIP
3. Burn After Reading (Directed by Coen Brothers)
One year after putting out one of the greatest films ever made they do a satire paranoia comedy about how America intelligence can be a shit show. As we know now who runs these things and how we have handled this time, I think this movie is too nice. Brad Pitt gives one of his best two or three performances as a guy named Chad. Clooney, McDormand, Swinton, and Malkovich are so good. It’s a hilarious movie that only gets funnier the farther away we get from a time when this felt unrealistic.
2. Synecdoche, New York (Directed by Charlie Kaufman)
One of the harder movies to recommend. It is a movie within a movie within a movie and all about fearing death and what comes from thinking on our lack of existence too much. It’s another Philip Seymour Hoffman masterclass on acting. He is surrounded by amazing actors like Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest, Catherine Keener, and of course Tom Noonan. RIP Christopher Evan Welch who gives a monologue at a funeral in this that is something I memorized years ago because it meant so much to me. Go watch I’m Thinking of Ending Things on Netflix. Kaufman is so good.
1. In Bruges (Directed by Martin McDonagh) - HBO
One of the funniest movies about accidentally murdering a kid and wanting to kill yourself ever made. Colin Farrell’s best work and made me fall in love with that big eyebrow’d Irish beauty. He’s a great actor that only gets better when you remove the traditional leading man thing off of him. Brendan Gleeson is one of the best and sturdy actors to ever live. Ralph Fiennes puts in one of the best supporting funny performances ever. I’m talking about how funny it is but it wouldn’t work without the deep feeling around each corner. The regret and heartache of mistakes made. I could watch this movie on a loop like the best ones. Give me some more McDonagh scripts please.