The Best Movies of 2008

  

Honorable Mention: Appaloosa (Ed Harris), Body of Lies (Ridley Scott), Changeling (Clint Eastwood), Elegy (Isabel Coixet), Funny Games (Michael Haneke), Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood), In Bruges (Martin McDonagh), Iron Man (Jon Favreau), Man on Wire (James Marsh), The Reader (Stephen Daldry), Shine a Light (Martin Scorsese), Tropic Thunder (Ben Stiller), Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Woody Allen), The Visitor (Tom McCarthy), W. (Oliver Stone), WALL-E (Andrew Stanton)

 

 

     1.  The Wrestler

 

Darren Aronofsky’s devastating The Wrestler, starring the weary, ravaged Mickey Rourke in a colossal performance of emotional maturity and depth, is an uncompromising look at loneliness and redemption. Filmed in a naturalistic, gritty style that calls to mind vintage 1970s Martin Scorsese films (namely Mean Streets and Taxi Driver), Aronofsky examines the bruised and battered soul of Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson (Rourke), a washed-up professional wrestler in New Jersey. But The Wrestler is as much about wrestling as Raging Bull is about boxing (although we are treated to the fascinating backstage pyrotechnics of these somewhat-stylized matches); the film instead focuses on Randy’s struggle to find human contact with anyone outside the ring, including his estranged daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), and his favorite dancer at a local strip club, Cassidy (Marisa Tomei). In a finale that is heartbreaking and poignant, Bruce Springsteen performs his original song The Wrestler as a coda to both Rourke and Randy, tortured souls drenched in loneliness. The Wrestler is the best film of the year.

 

 

     2.   Milk

 

For a film with such depressing subject matter, Milk is ironically one of the most uplifting and life-affirming films of the year. Sean Penn stars in a powerhouse performance as Harvey Milk, who became the first openly gay elected official in the United States when he was elected to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors in 1977. In 1978, disgruntled former Supervisor Dan White (Josh Brolin, brooding and brilliant) assassinated Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. But as directed by genius auteur Gus Van Sant, Milk is almost avant-garde in its approach to depicting the life and times of Harvey Milk, elevating itself above ordinary biopic status into a haunting story of looming fatality for a man who initially claims he has accomplished ‘nothing.’ But Milk is hopeful, and it’s that drive for basic human rights that makes Van Sant’s film a loving celebration rather than a dreary memorial. Milk also has the best ensemble cast of the year, with terrific supporting performances from Brolin, Emile Hirsch, James Franco, and Diego Luna. Although my favorite film of the year showcases a leading contender for Best Actor, my personal vote for Best Actor goes to Penn, who deserves every accolade he has received for Milk. He is the best American actor working today, and he gives the best performance of the year in Milk.

 

 

3. Slumdog Millionaire

 

Slumdog Millionaire is a joyful, powerful film from director Danny Boyle that seems destined to win this year's Best Picture Oscar, and the movie deserves the award. This inspiring ode to the power of love is a picture that captures the spirit of the Obama generation, following the two past winners, the nihilistic and existential No Country for Old Men and The Departed, which resulted from the Bush years. Alive with dazzling camerawork, a kinetic soundtrack with original music from A.R. Rahman, and starring a cast of unknown actors who are no less than outstanding, Slumdog Millionaire is a cultural landmark.

 

 

 

4. Revolutionary Road

 

Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road is one of the most brutally honest motion pictures to come around in a long time. The film, based on Richard Yates’ 1961 novel, isn’t simply an incendiary indictment on suburbia – it’s a film that aims to make you feel downright uncomfortable. Perhaps most unsettling is the way Mendes presents two idealistic young lovers who feel an extraordinary amount of “special-ness” about them. They joke about the ridiculousness of a society that demands that one must settle down and resign from life, even as they buy into that same society. Suburbanites could certainly take a cue from Revolutionary Road. Why do husbands and wives kill each other, and, more often, themselves? Why are truth-tellers deemed insane and unfit for society? Why do people, believing they are destined for extraordinary things, watch themselves disappear into nothing as they shut down and take part in a lifestyle built on false happiness? Those are truths we don’t want to face.

 

 

 

5. The Dark Knight

 

Christopher Nolan’s masterful The Dark Knight is more along the lines of Michael Mann’s masterful crime drama Heat than any typical superhero movie. The performances are extraordinary from top to bottom, from Gary Oldman’s underplayed and effective Commissioner Gordon to Aaron Eckhart’s dangerously charming Harvey Dent. Undoubtedly, Heath Ledger’s deranged, Clockwork Orange-esque portrayal of The Joker is the film's highlight - doused in white clown make-up and licking his scars, the late Ledger deserves the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. But most impressive is Nolan's directorial vision, lending the Batman world a haunting authenticity that transcends it's themes beyond the world of Gotham City, and into our own. Aided by an urgent and moody score from James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer, The Dark Knight becomes something greater on subsequent viewings - not just the best crime epic since Martin Scorsese's The Departed, but a startling examination of fear and terror in the 21st century.

 

 

 

6. Synecdoche, New York

 

Charlie Kaufman’s brilliant Synecdoche, New York is a film about the decay and deterioration of the human body; an existential examination of how time and space destroys any meaningful relationship we have. Synecdoche, New York is a devastating spiral of man’s frustration with his meaninglessness, targeted towards creating an insurmountable artistic masterpiece that somehow conquers death. The film is about a man desperately making stabs at creating lasting bonds. Synecdoche, New York may be about all of these things, and it may be about none of these things. The film has so many ideas, all of them profound, that a review is almost perfunctory. Here’s another synopsis that doesn’t begin to do justice to the film: self-obsessed, neurotic theatre director Caden Cotard (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) is so concerned with his own Freudian plight that he only fully realizes his own insignificance when he constructs a life-size replica of New York City as the set for his latest play. Eventually, life and art become mirrors of each other, and merge such that Cotard may only exist in the reality of his production. The play never gets an audience, but maybe that’s because every potential audience member becomes an actor in the play. Seventeen years pass, and Cotard barely notices.

 

 

 

7. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

 

The latest film from auteur filmmaker David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, is a transformative experience – a tragic lament on the inevitability of losing love, and the understanding of time as experienced backward. Although the subject matter is strangely magical for Fincher, his directorial bleakness still enshrouds the movie – after all, this is a story about dwindling youth and the harsh nature of time. His visual potency is alive in Benjamin Button, which is extraordinary in scope and imagery. As Benjamin Button, Brad Pitt gives a hauntingly understated performance, and supporting players Cate Blanchett and Taraji P. Henson are no less than incredible.

 

 

8. Frost/ Nixon

 

Frost/ Nixon wouldn't be interesting if it were merely a political film. In the best film of his long career, director Ron Howard is wise to direct this fascinating drama, based on Peter Morgan's outstanding stage play, as a multifaceted character study of two desperate men who are both, in their own way, underdogs. Disgraced President Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) and British talk show host David Frost (Michael Sheen) battle ideas, politics, and moralities in this stunning docudrama.

 

 

 

  1. Rachel Getting Married

 

Rachel Getting Married, starring Anne Hathaway as a recovering drug addict attending her sister’s wedding, is one of the best films of the year. Director Jonathan Demme masterfully uses handheld camerawork to immerse the audience in the wedding with a realism that is involving and unique, evoking the best work of Robert Altman. Rachel Getting Married is a film that stands out for it’s striking honesty. There is not a false moment in the movie, not a frame that does not shine with completely genuine performances. This movie proves Roger Ebert’s theory true that “a film is not about what it is about, but how it is about it.” The performances from Hathaway, Bill Irwin, Rosemarie DeWitt, Tunde Adebimpe, and Debra Winger are so thoughtful, understated, and poignant that I fear they may be forgotten at the Academy Awards. Demme's meditative and fascinating film creates an environment balanced between sensory images and dramatic tension.

 

 

10.                Doubt

 

A new, more liberal age is dawning on the Catholic Church in 1964 New York City, and Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) finds the foundation in which she has based her life and faith begin to crumble. Attempting to pinpoint the source of evil, Aloysius targets Father Brendan Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who may or may not have molested an African-American altar boy. Based on the brilliant play by John Patrick Shanley, Doubt is a great companion piece to last year's No Country for Old Men and Zodiac - all three films are about disillusioned protagonists struggling to identify a faceless evil in a chaotic and crumbling society. Streep is outstanding, but Hoffman is even better, in a role that requires elements of both loving kindness and creepy mistrust. Doubt is a hauntingly ambiguous allegory for our uncertainty in society's institutions.

 

Previous Top  Ten Lists 2001-2007

 

The Top Ten Films of 2007

 

  1. No Country for Old Men
  2. There Will Be Blood
  3. I’m Not There
  4. Into the Wild
  5. Zodiac
  6. Michael Clayton
  7. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
  8. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
  9. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
  10. American Gangster

 

The Top Ten Films of 2006

 

  1. The Departed
  2. The Good Shepherd
  3. Children of Men
  4. Letters from Iwo Jima
  5. Babel
  6. Little Children
  7. United 93
  8. The Queen
  9. The Last King of Scotland
  10. Little Miss Sunshine

 

The Top Ten Films of 2005

 

  1. Brokeback Mountain
  2. Munich
  3. Capote
  4. Syriana
  5. Crash
  6. Walk the Line
  7. Match Point
  8. Sin City
  9. Good Night, and Good Luck
  10. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

 

The Top Ten Films of 2004

 

  1. The Aviator
  2. Million Dollar Baby
  3. Sideways
  4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  5. Collateral
  6. Ray
  7. Kill Bill Volume 2
  8. Before Sunset
  9. Finding Neverland
  10. Hotel Rwanda

 

The Top Ten Films of 2003

 

  1. Mystic River
  2. Lost in Translation
  3. 21 Grams
  4. American Splendor
  5. House of Sand and Fog
  6. Monster
  7. Matchstick Men
  8. Shattered Glass
  9. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
  10. The Fog of War

 

The Top Ten Films of 2002

 

  1. Gangs of New York
  2. Minority Report
  3. Adaptation
  4. About Schmidt
  5. City of God
  6. Far From Heaven
  7. The Quiet American
  8. The Pianist
  9. Road to Perdition
  10. 25th Hour

 

The Top Ten Films of 2001

 

  1. The Royal Tenenbaums
  2. Black Hawk Down
  3. Memento
  4. Ghost World
  5. Gosford Park
  6. A Beautiful Mind
  7. In the Bedroom
  8. The Pledge
  9. Ocean’s Eleven
  10. The Man Who Wasn’t There

 

                                        

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