Favorite Films of 2008 Pt. 2

I apologize for taking long with this second part. I appreciated the kind words. (<--- I even wrote that like a week ago, I'm awful). I am both lazy and an opponent of all things dutiful, where making a first part and not making a second part required my making a second part, thus making it a duty, thus making me not want to do it. I also felt compelled to wait to see The Wrestler, and....you'll see. Also I flat out just skipped reviewing Frost/Nixon. This is me finishing. Ok, bye. Jeeze.

10. The Dark Knight - Christopher Nolan

Did you expect it to be higher? Tsk tsk. This is the best comic book film ever; anyone who has said that was correct. On a serious side, there were a lot of issues this movie covered: perspectives on sanity, commitment, true nature of good and bad. Blah blah. On a less serious side, movie was just balls-to-the-walls ridic. Anything that gets a billion people to see a decent movie that's 2 and a half hours long is alright with me. Oh, and Heath Ledger was in it. 

9. Silent Light - Carlos Reygadas

I would like to host a gathering of great opening film scenes, allowing them to mingle with each other and discuss the times. Apocalypse Now would be the raging pyromaniac; Once Upon a Time in the West would walk around carefully and with apprehension; Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs plotting something in a booth. In the corner would be Silent Light, a newcomer and far from being the dashing Raiders of the Lost Ark, and upon standing, would reduce the room to silence and awe.

8. Milk - Gus van Sant

An exceptional biopic. That sentence won't come out of my mouth until I see Che, and then it won't come out for another few years. The biopic is such a ruined genre that doesn't have to be: who invented the cookie cutter for it? Milk joyfully steps out of bounds of tradition and makes a character, not a caricature. I watched The Life and Times of Harvey Milk shortly after this and having seen the man himself, Sean Penn deserves every ounce of praise, and Gus van Sant deserves enough to say he was true to the man.

7. Wall-E - Andrew Stanton

Wasn't it just cute? I thought it was. But no, really, it was more than that. Lots of metaphor for our current status of consumerism that I'm pretty sure went over most people's heads that actually live like those people confined to chairs. Sad. I don't know what else to say, Pixar is still batting .100 (ah, a baseball allusion, I hate baseball) and has yet to make a film that doesn't waste my time. Oh yeah, I never did see Cars. That looked bad. Oh well.

6. Frost/Nixon - Ron Howard

-oops, Laziness. sorry?

5. Happy-Go-Lucky - Mike Leigh

Sally Hawkins is the best, and I can't believe the Academy shut her out. Eddie Marsan ^, also great. Lots of good stuff. I want to finish. I'm doing this out of order. Sorry.

4. Slumdog Millionaire - Danny Boyle

It took making a fairly mainstream movie for Danny Boyle to finally get the attention he's been deserving for the longest time. As mainstream and typical as the premise is, Boyle's execution is anything but. The spirit that dwells in the main character, though portrayed by three actors, is both universal and true. Blah blah blah Best Picture blah blah blah.

3. Synecdoche, New York - Charlie Kaufman

"All-encompassing" is what comes to mind. The 8 1/2 of our generation. The complete and total explanation for all things creative and all things life. But is that explanation really complete or total? Of course not. Breaking down creativity and life to something simple is wrong and the work of someone who knows little about either. Somewhere in space and time, Ben Lyons is saying the film is "difficult to understand" while he stumbles around looking for symbolism and thinking it may just be a dream. And somewhere in space and time, I am sitting and laughing at him while I enjoy the summer day.

The Wrestler - Darren Aronofsky

I had to throw this in here. Had to. Was compelled to. Would have been wrong if I did not. Didn't have a choice. Incredible and heartbreaking. Randy "The Ram" is up there in my favorite characters. It was the little things in it that got to me: the Nintendo scene with the little kid and the wrestling game he was in; every time someone called him Robin, his real name, and the sting it seemed to leave; the fact that the stripper and him both hide behind fake names and lose their identity in it. Ugh. Blew me out of the water. See it, please. 

2. Doubt - John Patrick Shanley

An acting feast. MMMMMM. I felt so full yet so empty after seeing Doubt. Empty in a great way, empty like "yeah man, I have doubts too, fuck, I'm not sure about anything anymore, jeeze". Like that. Gorgeous as well (thanks Roger Deakins!). "Look at that...you broke my lightbuld". If I could, I would give my own awards to everyone in this. Hoffman, Streep, Adams, Davis. All of them. They win. World Series champs.

1. Man on Wire - James Marsh

A story about a dude who tightrope walks between the Twin Towers. A glorified fictional adaptation by McG? No. A brilliant documentary that serves as a crime thriller, only my favorite genre in the history of movies? Game, set and match. This is beyond brilliantly executed. Philippe Petit is the greatest man. He just loves to walk on ropes. That's it. The interviews with him are so full of passion and memory. The scenes of the event itself are reenacted so well, so well. The tension that builds is so huge, even knowing he eventually succeeds. This was my favorite movie of the year because I didn't feel like I was watching anything: I truly felt apart of the caper itself. 

Phew, I'm done!