MOVIES | Top ten of 2008
Courtesy Disney/Pixar Animation
I saw over 200 films in 2008, and narrowing a list down to the top ten films is tough. In 2002, I bought a blank book and started writing down every film I saw, making it easier to create a top-ten list each year. Going through my book brought back a lot of memories of films that I hardly remember anything about. For instance, how did the French film Roman de Gare end? I don’t recall. Does that mean it’s forgettable? Not exactly, but the ones that jumped out are denoted with a little star—if anyone asked me about one of those movies, I could tell him or her what I enjoyed about it or why it worked.
As I started putting my list together, I saw a theme develop: loneliness. While watching movies with a packed audience is still as much fun as it was when I was a kid, it has also grown to be a very solitary experience for me. Of the 200+ films I saw in 2008, some I saw in my living room, some I saw at the Sundance Film Festival, but mostly, I saw them in local theaters. While I wish I could have watched some of these in a packed theater, sometimes I’m glad to cherish them alone, think about them, and keep my opinion a secret—until now.
There are a few important 2008 films that I have not seen (including Gran Torino, A Christmas Tale, The Class, Che, and Gomorrah) but I feel that this list represents the best of what I saw in 2008. These films have been in my head for days, weeks, and months. So as I let go of 2008, I’m looking forward to seeing what movies will appear in the Twin Cities and all over the world in 2009. My notebook and pen are in hand, and my eyes are ready for another 400+ hours of enjoyment.
1. Wall-E (Andrew Stanton) Visually stunning animation. Often hilarious, with a poignant story that packs an incredible emotional punch.
2. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson) This Swedish coming-of-age vampire film brings fresh blood to vampire lore and is cementing its place as an original, iconic horror classic.
3. The Edge of Heaven (Fatih Akin) Delivering the best closing shot in any film this year, Akin’s flawless multi-layered story of six intersecting lives in Germany and Turkey gives us a complex drama that no American film could touch.
4. Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle) Boyle’s best film since Trainspotting is a genuine crowd-pleaser and deserves credit for turning a bland game-show premise into a dizzy narrative spectacle of beauty, intrigue, and suspense.
5. Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh) Sally Hawkins dances, drives, and charms everyone around her except Eddie Marsan, making for the most unlikely on-screen chemistry in perhaps the most uplifting film of the year.
6. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan) From its jaw-dropping opening scene (on IMAX, no less), no film this year brought filmgoers more adventure and discussion than this haunting masterpiece.
7. Anvil! The Story of Anvil (Sacha Gervasi) Opening this spring (no Minneapolis date has been announced as of yet), this compelling, amusing, and heartbreaking documentary follows a Canadian heavy-metal band searching for success across the globe with disastrous and incredible results.
8. Milk (Gus Van Sant) Van Sant’s impressive biopic has became more relevant than ever following California’s Proposition 8 law banning same-sex marriages in California. Sean Penn’s astute performance as the legendary politician and gay rights activist is truly inspirational.
9. Revanche (Goetz Spielmann) Opening this spring (no Minneapolis date as of yet), this Austrian film follows a female prostitute and her boyfriend trying to escape their unfulfilling lives, but not before getting mixed up in a botched bank-robbery that intersects with the lives of a police officer and his lonely wife in unexpected and moving fashion. Spielmann’s film could get a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination.
10. Wendy & Lucy (Kelly Reichardt) Opening at Landmark’s Lagoon Cinema on February 6, Reichardt’s follow-up to 2006’s Old Joy is another simple story of Wendy (played beautifully by Michelle Williams) losing Lucy (her dog) in a small Oregon town on the way to find work in Alaska. Williams’s portrayal of Wendy captures the malaise of 21st-century America.
Honorable Mention: Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, Christopher Bell’s Bigger, Stronger, Faster*, Steve McQueen’s Hunger, Azazel Jacobs’s Momma’s Man, Hong-jin Na’s The Chaser, and Jay Roach’s made-for-HBO film Recount.
Biggest Disappointments: Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna and Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche N.Y.
Jim Brunzell III (djguamwins@yahoo.com) writes on film for the Daily Planet and hosts KFAI’s Movie Talk.
workaround
Comments
Excellent list!
Great calls, Jim! What would you have included if you could go to 20? How about “Forever Young,” that touching doc about retirees singing rock and roll?
Colin Covert
Movies
I gotta disagree with picks four and five. “Slumdog Millionaire” looked great, but it’s plot was improbable and melodramatic. If you want a real Indian film that looks great with an improbable and melodramatic plot, I highly recommend “Om Shanti Om,” which stars Shahrukh Kahn and offers us a real glimpse of the great Amitabh Bachchan and not just an anonymous hand of Bachchan as Slumdog Millionaire does.
As for “Happy-Go-Lucky,” it was plotless and skimmed along on the surface for what seemed like hours in the cold, volume-too-low, what-passes-for-a-moviehouse that is the Uptown. Which is too bad, Mike Leigh usually digs deep into conflict and dysfunction.
On the flip side, I loved “Let the Right One In” and “Anvil! The Story of Anvil.”
Revanche
Good list, though I might have bumped up Revanche a few slots. By the time that movie ended, I could finally breathe again. Intense! Jim, did you have a chance to see “The Good, the Bad and the Weird”? If I had a top ten, it would be number one.
Top Ten 2008
Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Gran Torino
Iron Man
Milk
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire
The Visitor
Wall-E
These are alphabetical. I did not see some of the movies that you did. I still definitely want to see The Wrestler.
are you kidding me?
Dark Knight as #6??
Fine job, Jim
Congrats, Jim. Nice list, even if “Slumdog” would have made my worst ten list. Next year I challenge you to see 1,000 films. That’s just under three a day, man!
A respectable list here,
A respectable list here, Jim. The Edge of Heaven won’t find room on mine (and I would argue Chop Shop’s final frame was better!), and I have yet to see Wendy and Lucy. Also, whatever happened to Momma’s Man. It never made it here after MSPIFF?
Momma's Man
It was released in N.Y. & L.A. in late August. I would love to see Lagoon, Film Arts, or the Parkway bring it back. It is worth seeing again.
Oooh—thanks, Jim! I’d
Oooh—thanks, Jim! I’d totally missed that Fatih Akin film—and his “In July” and Head-On” are among my favorite movies. I just added “Edge of Heaven” to my Netflix.
WALL-E has become one of my all-time favorites: who knew a post-apocalyptic film could be so charming, with it’s dear message: “Let’s hold hands,” ... even as we face up to the devastation we have unleashed.
P.S. OMG! I got the captcha math question wrong!!! Just like in 2nd grade! This time surely I can get it right. It’s 1 + 1 =
The Academy?
Oh, this is fun. Do you guys think Wall-E will win a best picture nomination?
My top 5.
Wall-E
Dark Knight
Iron Man
Milk
Slumdog
Movie Talk
As your former co-host and producer on Movie Talk, I give my stamp of approval, particularly for “Slumdog,” despite one reader who believes the plots of Indian films are entirely more believable and less melodramatic (to you, man, I say have ever heard of Bollywood?).
And I must applaud the omission of “Frost/Nixon.” Although by no means is it as overrated as past Academy Award winners (“Crash” immediately comes to mind), it definitely seems to be building way too much steam as the early awards and nominations emerge this week.
But I can’t entirely let you off the hook with “Anvil!” and “Revanche.” Who saw these pics? Surely “The Wrestler,” which appears only as an honorable mention, should displace one of them. “Gran Torino,” once you see it, should probably be another.
documentaries, anyone?
I’m surprised that I’m not seeing any of the great 2008 documentaries on your list, like Werner Herzog’s Encounters at the End of the World or the amazing Man on Wire. Man on Wire is definitely on my list.
Momma's Man
As for “Happy-Go-Lucky,” it was plotless and skimmed along on the surface for what seemed like hours in the cold, volume-too-low, what-passes-for-a-moviehouse that is the Uptown. Which is too bad, Mike Leigh usually digs deep into conflict and dysfunction.
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