Movies of 2008 in review
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008It’s been a pretty poor year overall, I reckon. A lot of movies haven’t clicked just so for me like they did last year and I’ve only got two that stand apart as being movies that I will definitely revisit (and have already since seeing at the cinema).
This list in incomplete at present, so I’ll get around to a modified list probably sometime in early ‘09 but for now here’s the top 10. Catch the movies still to come at the rear…
Top Movies of 2008
The Dark Knight
While my original hyperbolic review has been tempered by the passage of time, I still hold that this is the best movie I’ve seen this year. There are movies that grab you by the short and curlies and take you on a ride, sheer cinematic spectacle, they become part of your cinematic consciousness and an instant thrill fix when you want something to remind you why movies are awesome. The Dark Knight is one of those flicks. Partly aided by the fact that they decided to widen the thematic scope and the literal scope with the IMAX cameras, this movie feels bigger than it has a right to be. I love the effortless way that it builds dread and suspense, making comic book excess feel grounded in reality by making it close to our hearts and fears - people who complain that it’s not light enough for a comic book movie, see the next one on the list and shut up. The tumbler/batpod chase is the tentpole of the movie and is one of my favourite slices of action cinema. The blu-ray is spectacular also and will be a regular on my home cinema.
Iron Man
Instant, easy-access fun, bursting at the seams with style, action, humour and peppy pacing, another gorgeous looking movie that’s just perfect popcorn. Tony Stark is the coolest motherfucker in the history of cinema.
Wall-E
A rare jewel of cinema that happens to be a beautiful love story, a funny satire, a vibrant and bleeding-edge-tech animation, a cute kid’s movie and moral story all in one, and entertains every step of the way. A ballsy opening half hour too, for any movie - not just a “kid’s film”.
The Solid
Burn After Reading
The Coens try to pick up where they left off before last years opus with an absurdist comedy and have mixed results, there’s a blend of humour with shocking violence that’s a bit of an oil and water mix. Pitt and Clooney are stellar in this warped tale of cosmically unintelligent behaviour of the intelligence community. It fits that they wrote this inbetween working on No Country though, the tone is all over the place - it doesn’t know if it’s angry, tongue in cheek or both.
Cloverfield
Interesting take on the monster movie genre, however it lacked ingenuity in the camera work and devolved into a bit of a creature feature down in the subway, bonus points for the bleak ending though.
Choke
I love Sam Rockwell and I loved Fight Club, so how can I not love a marriage of that actor and Palahniuk’s stylings? Well, I can like it, but not love it since it was largely predictable but still offensive and absurdly hilarious to work in fits and starts.
The Average
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
This script should have been sunk to the bottom of the ocean in a lead-lined plutonium-irradiated refrigerator in the face of Darabont’s script (with a little polishing). Elements of this movie work well, the first half is essentially a brilliant continuation of the classic Indy franchise and it devolves into the usual Lucas farcical proceedings - aliens, monkeys, CGI reliance and a complete degeneration of character in the face of crappy story.
The Incredible Hulk
Largely forgettable non-reboot-non-sequel non-starter, Norton plays the weedy Banner behind the green man with laconic, bland aplomb which drags down the relatively okay action scenes. Though Abomination is aptly named, what a load of bollocks - character, concept, design, everything.
Tropic Thunder
Probably the funniest ten minutes of parody I’ve ever seen from the mock trailers until the camera pulled back from the movie-within-a-movie, then a few hits here and there but largely a creaky plot driving a lot of groan-inducing jokes of the typical Stiller fare.
Quantum of Solace
One of the biggest disappointments of the lot, epileptically-edited action, minimal character development, useless characters, horrible cliches drags the Daniel Craig reboot down - the wormy villain, fairly realistic world domination scheme and a few nice moments don’t win this one back from being a pretty average outing overall.
A Clockwork-Orange-like Audiovisual Torture
In Motherfucking Bruges
Two hitmen, a dwarf, a foul-mouthed Ralph Fiennes? How can this fail? Well, it not only spectacularly failed at its attempts at black humour but the whole thing was a complete abortion of pacing, acting and story.
Rambo
What might have been a vacuum-sealed time-capsule of 80s action-movie excess became a preponderous build-up to repetitive action with only one or two money shots.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
One of the most painfully unfunny films I’ve ever seen and dicks aren’t funny, guys, seriously.
Leatherheads
Got switched off after 20 minutes it was so shit. Sorry, George, 30s-era slapstick only works when the Coens are behind the camera.
There were also movies that fell off my list because the reviews were so uniformly terrible: The X-Files, Hancock, Run, Fatboy, Run, Be Kind Rewind, The Happening.
My favourite movies are probably going to shift drastically in the face of the coming flicks: The Wrestler, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Slumdog Millionaire, Synedoche, NY among others, but I may as well get this out there. Not to mention that I’ve missed The Visitor, Towelhead and Wall-E which are films I reckon I’ll love to death.
