2008: The
Year in Film
By: Danny Baldwin
Every
year, I find myself opening this piece by reflecting on how bad the
state of film is, almost without exception. That’s probably because I
have a tendency to remember all the bad movies I’ve seen when scrolling
down my screening log, trying to compose my lists. When I look back now,
2007 and 2006 (which I originally condemned) seem like great years for
film.
I’m
tempted to dismiss 2008 in the same way as I have past years, despite
the above admission. But I’ll resist the urge. There’s no reason to
engage in such a practice because even though I disliked the majority of
movies this year, there were plenty of good ones and soon enough they'll
be the only ones I remember from 2008. After all, I saw well over
250 theatrical releases; quite a few were bound to be bad because it’s
easier to make a bad movie than a good one.
One
thing’s for sure: November and December were great months for film even
if the rest seem mediocre now. The 2008 Oscar Season was sweeter than
ever, with tons of hits and few misses. For at least the final 50 days
of the year, it felt great to be a regular moviegoer.
Looking over my list of the best films of the year, I realize that most
all of them use simple, old-fashioned storytelling techniques to express
richer, more complex themes. 2008 represented a welcome return to the
basics for Hollywood. But before we get to the good stuff, let’s unclog
our arteries and cleanse the bad from our systems…
The
Bottom 10
(Presented in reverse-preferential order.)
Dishonorable Mention:
Burn After Reading, Mamma Mia!, DOOMSDAY, W., Where in the World is
Osama bin Laden?.
10.
RocknRolla – I don’t remember much about the schizophrenic story of
this Guy Ritchie flash-fest. Likewise, I see no reason to talk a lot
about it. It’s a mish-mosh of self-indulgence, useless eye-candy,
incomprehensible plot-points, and good actors wasting their time in bad
roles – more than enough reason for it to be on this list. The movie
will either bore you to death or numb your mind to a point at which you
wish you were dead.
9. The
Spirit – Frank Miller approached this adaptation of a Will Eisner
comic by very literally adapting it—sometimes frame-for-frame—and the
results are just as soulless and monotonous as hundreds of pretty, but
empty panels. Fans of the source tell me Eisner’s snarky sense of humor
is what makes The Spirit come alive, but you wouldn’t know it
from watching this movie. It’s a mess made up of the hyper-stylization
of Miller’s previous film, Sin City (which he wisely allowed
Robert Rodriguez to co-direct), the franticness of a two-year-old, and
some of the most pathetic attempts at physical comedy you’ll ever see.
That Miller screwed up so profoundly with a badass Samuel Jackson and a
glammmed-up group of vixens including Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes,
and Paz Vega at his side makes the failure of The Spirit seem all
the more monumental.
8.
Teeth – Mitchell Lichtenstein’s first feature tries to use the campy
humor of a girl employing a rare case of vagina dentata as a
protective-mechanism to find a larger story about teenage angst. It
never succeeds, but Lichtenstein pretends it does by bombarding the
viewer with equal amounts of unfunny, cringe-inducing vagina-chompage
and avant-garde, self-indulgent attempts to explore a non-existent
grander picture. Jess Weixler turns in a good lead performance—unlike
Lichetenstein, she clearly understood the real humor and emotion behind
the film—but her work is the only positive in this rotten, occasionally
offensive dud.
7.
Strange Wilderness – To make an intended-comedy starring Steve Zahn,
Jonah Hill, Justin Long, Jeff Garlin, and (yes, you’re reading this
right) Ernest Borgnine without a single decent laugh was already a sin
for co-writer/director Fred Wolf. That he made Strange Wilderness
so crude and downright unbearable is just an added reason to count it as
one of the worst of 2008.
6.
College – Hey there, high-schooler! Yeah, you – the one who bought a
ticket for Babylon A.D. and then snuck in to see this R-rated
“comedy”. It’s a good thing you saw College because as the movie
taught you, you have a lot to look forward to if you pursue your
education beyond the twelfth grade. Just like the 17-year-olds who
discover themselves on a frat-filled college-tour in the movie, you’ll
be able to productively use your time at university to become an
alcoholic and swear like a sailor and get ostracized by upper-classmen
and pretend like you have a shot at dating a D-grade-movie-extra bimbo!
And guess what? Only you and your drunken friends will actually find any
of said antics funny. Doesn’t that sound just peachy? If so, then
mission accomplished: College taught you well.
5.
Blindness – Acclaimed Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles proved
that he was more talented than the exploitative and criminally-overrated
City of God led me to believe with The Constant Gardener,
2005’s densely-layered and superiorly acted political drama. This year,
he made a futuristic parable about a quarantined group of people
infected with a viral blindness. Cast off from the rest of the world and
thrust into inhumane conditions by their government, they succumb to all
of the typical Lord of the Flies traps, which Meirelles captures
in the most graphic detail he possibly can. This all sounds like the
set-up for a great film, but Blindness comes off as an utterly
ridiculous one. There isn’t a thought behind Meirelles’ premise; by the
end of the movie it seems as though he just plain likes putting
rape and other violence on the screen. Julianne Moore stars as the token
wife who is miraculously immune to the virus but sneaks into the
quarantined area to be with her husband (Mark Ruffalo), leading the
blind in ways that are every bit as frustrating to the viewer as they
should be but for none of the right reasons.
4.
Hunger – Just as Meirelles is overly infatuated with the violence in
Blindness, videographer-turned-filmmaker Steve McQueen seems to
have made Hunger simply because he thinks the look of flesh
rotting of malnutrition looks cool. This stylized interpretation of
Irish Republican Bobby Sands’ fatal commitment to the 1981 IRA Hunger
Stike is grueling all right, but only because it represents a filmmaker
putting his audience through hell for no reason. Michael Fassbender of
300-fame delivers a strong lead performance, but one wishes
McQueen would’ve given him more to do than pretend to suffer for 96
minutes-worth of tightly-framed long-takes that show little more than a
man’s decomposing body.
3.
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay – Another
hour-and-45-minute commercial for weed, this time with the titular duo
engaging in even more bathroom humor and taking the time to denigrate
the sitting President. I consider it the most dangerous film of the year
for anyone under 18 (perhaps 25 if they’ve already bonded with the
reefer).
2.
Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans – Aaron Seltzer and
Jason Friedman are likely cashing in big-time by making the worst spoofs
to ever reach cinema-screens, but perhaps they should take their
earnings and go on a permanent vacation. The team’s two pictures this
year were too silly for me to claim they contained anything offensive,
but I was certainly offended by the fact that hardworking Americans were
ripped off by buying tickets for such trash. There’s nothing even
remotely funny in either picture and, as such, they were both insults to
the exhibitors forced to show them and the people who chose to endure
them.
1.
Postal – Part of me doesn’t want to give Uwe Boll the recognition
entailed in deeming Postal the worst film of the year, but I’ve
decided to be honest and allow him what he will surely see as an honor.
In an age full of films criticizing the Bush Administration in its final
days, this was the only one of the bunch that stood as a clear and
unapologetic F-you to America, reason enough to condemn it. The opening
scene parodies the 9/11 attacks—yes, it allows the terrorists who took
over the first flight to hit the World Trade Center an amiable cameo
before they plunge to their deaths—and it only gets worse from there.
After that, the movie suggests George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden are
working together. Oh, and it also trivializes all Americans—liberal and
conservative—as vile scum. Postal is a self-proclaimed “satire,”
but last time I checked, satires have feature some remnant of truth to
be funny. Boll is off in la-la land, convinced he has made a video-game
adaptation (yes, the movie is based off of a video-game) with
actual substance when in reality he has only embarrassed himself further
by alienating even the small group of moviegoers that still watches his
films for their “so bad it’s good”-entertainment-value. Whether we
should all sign the popular anti-Boll Internet petition or just ignore
the guy is up for debate. All I know is that Boll has made what is
easily the worst film I’ve ever seen, much as I hate to afford him the
credit.
The Top
10
(Presented in reverse-preferential order.)
Honorable
Mention:
Cloverfield, Changeling, Live and Become, The Reader, Snow Angels.
10.
Frost/Nixon – Ron Howard’s dramatic telling of the famous interviews
may be more workmanlike than it is complex, but it’s nonetheless one of
the most compelling films of the year. With mainstream media attention
focused on political mind-games more than ever before, the heated verbal
contention between David Frost and Richard Nixon feels contemporary and
relevant. (The movie isn’t political, despite Howard’s shameful attempts
to link Nixon to Bush when discussing it, most notably at a Q&A with
FoxNews’ Chris Wallace.) Anchored by a dynamic, nuanced Frank Langella
performance that far transcends an impersonation of Nixon and
also-strong work from Michael Sheen as Frost, the picture is vigorously
entertaining.
9.
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist and The Wackness –
Tonally-opposite as they may be, both of these whimsical New York
City-based teenage romances entertained me and invested my emotions. The
first is a Before Sunrise-like walk-and-talker that pins music
nerd Nick (Michael Cera) with record producer’s daughter Norah (Kat
Dennings) as they get to know each other searching the lonely, glowing
streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn for a secret show being held by
indie-rock band Where’s Fluffy. Cera and Dennings have insatiable,
relatable chemistry and the movie’s quirky supporting characters are
endearing. The latter film is less upbeat, but just as involving: Luke
Shapiro (Josh Peck) deals pot during his last summer of high school as
his family breaks down from financial troubles at the beginning of the
Giuliani Administration. His shrink (Ben Kingsley) trades him advice for
weed. But then comes Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby), said shrink’s
step-daughter, and things begin to turn around for Luke in ways that
only the summer allows.
8. Let
the Right One in and Twilight – Between these two engrossing
entertainments, it was a great year for vampires at the cinema. The
first is a chilling, moody Swedish-import that follows a pubescent boy
as he falls in love with the girl next door, not realizing she lives off
blood until he likes her too much to stay away. The experience gets
under your skin and takes chances in ways that American films don’t.
(Ironically, it’s being remade in the U.S. for next year.) The second, a
pop-lit production that raked in the box-office of a Hollywood film but
was made on a quarter of the budget, is just as artistically successful
on its own terms. While fans of the Stephanie Meyer source novel didn’t
get what director Catherine Hardwicke was going for, those of us who
connected with Hardwicke’s campy exploration of teenage romanticism and
eroticism loved the film. Let’s hope new hire Chris Weitz doesn’t screw
the series over by electing for a more serious approach directing the
sequel.
7.
Revolutionary Road – You don’t have to hate American suburbia like
Sam Mendes to connect with the director’s stirring, intimate depiction
of a 1950s family in crisis. When we first get to know Frank and April
Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet) as they bicker on the side
of a Connecticut highway after Frank bashes the production-values of a
play April stars in, the experience feels eerily similar to 1966’s
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. But Frank and April are hardly in
the same verbal war of wits George and Martha fought forty years ago.
They are real people with genuinely distressful, chaotic emotions living
in a world that doesn’t recognize their pain. The supporting characters
the couple interacts with are derivative, but only because they are seen
as caricatures through the eyes of two individuals who have convinced
themselves that the social norms of their time are disgusting because
they cannot find a way to happily exist within them. What follows is
utterly surprising; the audience expects Revolutionary Road to go
in one direction because the set-up feels familiar on the surface, but
it instead moves towards a violent, thought-provoking conclusion that
applies to domestic-life today. Yes, the film may be too
dismissive of suburbia, but it works because the central relationship is
compelling. DiCaprio is as good as he’s ever been and Winslet gives a
performance that should win the Oscar. And oh is the movie gorgeous to
look at: veteran cinematographer Roger Deakins eye-poppingly balances
the pronounced colors of a ‘50s aesthetic with the piercing intensity of
modern camerawork. Some will call Revolutionary Road shameless
Oscar bait, but if all shameless Oscar bait were as good as this then
the term wouldn’t have a negative connotation.
6. Man
on Wire – If you don’t already know going in, you learn very
early on in James Marsh’s Man on Wire that daredevil tightrope
walker Philippe Petit successfully crossed the gap between the Twin
Towers in 1974. But that fact doesn’t destroy any of the suspense the
movie creates. Frankly, the movie’s magic rests not in its end-result,
but in its exploration of Petit’s journey, which is as dense as it is
lyrical. Interspersing documentary interviews with Petit and his
accomplices, Super 8 footage of Petit’s famous stunt, and staged
re-enactments to fill in the gaps, Marsh weaves a tale that grabs the
viewer’s sense of wonder. It’s an experience that audience members are
content to just sit back and marvel over, only to then find themselves
on their edges of their seats, sucked in thinking about Petit’s unique
life-philosophy. Looming in the backdrop is the knowledge of the Towers’
ultimate fate, providing the film an added sense of relevance. Even
those who refuse to watch documentaries will be engrossed by this one.
5.
Slumdog Millionaire – Danny Boyle, one of the great engineers of
modern cinema, packed for India to make one of the most visually
innovative, adrenaline-pumping audience favorites in recent memory.
Shooting on three different cameras, Boyle and his crew authentically
capture the religious, cultural, and economic woes and developments of
India through the life-story of Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), a
once-dirt-poor contestant on the country’s version of “Who Wants to be a
Millionaire?”. The movie is a huge technical feat—it transitions
seamlessly between styles and tones—but it’s hard to embrace strictly as
an auteur piece for Boyle because his cast makes it a profoundly human
experience. Patel is strikingly charismatic and hits all the right notes
in depicting Jamal’s Dickensian transformation from rags-to-riches and
his relationships with brother Salim, who after years of hardship
becomes a slumlord himself, and lifelong love Latika. What’s more: all
three are played in their youths by real kids from the streets of Mumbai
speaking the native language, adding to the organic feel of the
experience. Slumdog Millionaire takes the viewer to many dark
corners of the world, but at the same time it’s exuberant and hopeful,
spinning an old-fashioned yarn with the awareness, immediacy, and
innovation of a great contemporary motion picture.
4.
Gran Torino – Clint Eastwood’s final foray in front of the camera is
one of his best. He plays Walt Kowalski, an aging Korean War veteran and
lifetime Ford auto-plant worker living in a once-thriving Michigan town
that has succumbed to Hmong-immigrant gang-violence. Walt’s a stubborn
racist who can’t stand his sons’ yuppie families or his new neighbors,
but he’s sympathetic from the start because we can relate to his core
nostalgia for a bygone America. And he only becomes more relatable as
the movie moves, fostering an unlikely friendship with Hmong teenager
Thao and protecting Thao’s family in the face of a neighborhood gang.
The movie tells an old-fashioned story with a sharp sense of
humor—Walt’s audible growl at anything that bothers him is only the tip
of the comedic iceberg—and hits on deeper themes in the process. There
is thought-provoking commentary on the demise of the industry-based U.S.
city, the changing American family, and—as Walt begins to realize he
must act to stop neighborhood gang activity to ensure Thao’s
future—faith’s role in life, death, and vengeance. An involving mixture
of vintage Eastwood ass-kicking, human drama, and food for thought,
Gran Torino is exactly what a mainstream entertainment should be.
3. The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button – David Fincher and an extensive
team of artists pulled off the most realistic integration of
computer-generated imagery and traditional filmmaking to date in
expanding an F. Scott Fitzgerald short-story about a man aging backwards.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is that rare fusion of
narrative and visual poetry that wafts over the viewer as it plays and
finds its way into their conscience in the days after they see it. I’m
tempted to call it dreamlike, but the experience is more substantive and
haunting than that. Benjamin Button’s “curious” biology is not a
gimmick; it’s the vehicle for a story encompassing a great Old Hollywood
romance, a century’s worth of American history, and a unique dissection
of the extensively-explored topic of what it’s like to be different in
society. In the lead role, Brad Pitt works seamlessly with
face-replacement technology to craft a real, sympathetic human—the
film’s simplest and greatest accomplishment. Opposite him, Cate
Blanchett is majestic and wonderful as Benjamin’s lifetime love Daisy.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has so many facets that it’s
almost impossible to talk about in a short blurb like this, but I
assure you it’s a work you must experience. The movie would easily be
the best mega-budget Hollywood production since The Lord of the Rings
if it weren’t for my #1 pick.
2. The
Wrestler – Mickey Rourke makes a comeback for the ages playing Randy
“The Ram” Ramsinski, a down-and-old, 40-something wrestler with a career
and a personal life in turmoil. Randy’s existence has been reduced to
working in a supermarket and wrestling in high school gyms on the
weekends just to get by. He convinces himself that he and a stripper
(Marisa Tomei) have a future together and that he’ll against all odds
mend the fractured relationship he has with his adult daughter (Evan
Rachel Wood). But the only thing Randy knows is how to wrestle, and
Rourke understands this sense of helplessness. The actor remarkably
earns the viewer’s sympathy playing a complete screw-up of a man because
he expresses just how conditioned Randy has become. This fact is
particularly striking in the ring, when Randy’s innate, animalistic
satisfaction in the crowd’s response—meager and pathetic as it is at
this point in his career—is enough to merit puncture-wounds from a
staple-gun and barbed-wire. And never is Randy’s aforementioned
helplessness more painstaking than in the three tragic scenes he shares
with his daughter. He gets back into touch with her at a low-point in
his life, only to impress her and then let her down for the billionth
time. Wood is heartbreaking in the role and deserves an Oscar. Shooting
on 16mm, director Darren Aronofsky and cinematographer Maryse Alberti
capture the intimate authenticity of a DV-shot documentary and the
gritty texture of 35mm in each scene, providing the story and
performances an added sense of realness. All elements fused, The
Wrestler reaches a powerful final-scene crescendo that is as tragic
as it is inevitable.
1. The
Dark Knight – Trying to add to the discussion on the best film of
2008 is likely a more impossible task than making the movie was. While
I’m not about to come up with anything particularly unique here, I must
credit co-writer/director Christopher Nolan for achieving the
unthinkable by helming a $185 million, 155-minute sequel to a superhero
movie that was once all but assured a sequel. As if that wasn’t enough,
he did it with a superhero and a villain who had already waged war in a
terrible previous movie. And he made it one of the most emotionally
complex, politically thoughtful, visually groundbreaking, epically
entertaining, wispily romantic, terrifyingly violent, and downright
moving films of all time. (For a less adjective-filled analysis of the
film, click
here.) This is not just the best
comic-book adaptation to date; it’s a masterpiece unto its own. From
Christian Bale’s full embodiment of the titular Dark Knight of Gotham
City to the late Heath Ledger’s much-discussed, eerie turn as his
nemesis, the picture contains just as many well-written characters and
great performances as it does impressive special effects. In a year with
more than its share of accomplished Hollywood productions, Nolan’s film
best reminded moviegoers that mainstream motion pictures can still be
involving and thoughtful at the same time. I long considered putting a
smaller movie in the top slot of my list to bring it greater attention,
but as I began to reflect on The Dark Knight’s infinite
accomplishments, my decision became clear. Here’s to hoping the upcoming
third entry in Nolan’s saga is every bit as good.
Loose
Ends
Most
Overrated:
Encounters at the End of the World – I love Werner Herzog as much
as the next guy, but where others found the veteran filmmaker’s
documentary exploration of Antarctica a fascinating vehicle for
inquisitive discovery I found it a meandering and distant effort.
Most
Underrated:
The House Bunny – This hilarious, lightweight comedy may not have
allowed me to forgive director Fred Wolf entirely for the monstrosity
that was Strange Wilderness (#6 on the Worst list), but it came
close. The writing is sharp and the lead performance from Anna Farris
serves as yet another example of the actress’ impressive comedic chops.
Most
Overlooked:
Nothing but the Truth – Rod Lurie’s part government-thriller/part
human-drama tragically may never play in theatres beyond unpublicized
Oscar-runs in New York and Los Angeles due to Yari Film Group’s ongoing
bankruptcy. I admittedly have some problems with the movie’s political
pretext, which assumes the never-directly-mentioned Bush Administration
has been knowingly corrupt through story-parallels, robbing the movie of
considerable complexity. But there’s no denying that director Lurie
expertly weaves a story rife with ethical dilemmas and lead Kate
Beckinsale delivers an Oscar-worthy performance. Let’s hope Yari can
work something out and the film finds an audience; it’s a must-see.
25 More
Good Movies That Didn’t Make My List:
Be Kind Rewind, Boy A, Charlie Bartlett, The Class, Flash of Genius,
Get Smart, A Girl Cut in Two, The Hammer, Happy Go-Lucky, Iron Man, Kung
Fu Panda, Last Chance Harvey, Marley and Me, Married Life, Milk, OSS
117: Cairo—Nest of Spies, Rachel Getting Married, Roman de Gare, The
Spiderwick Chronicles, The Strangers, Transsiberian, Vicky Cristina
Barcelona, The Visitor, Waltz with Bashir, Zack & Miri Make a Porno.
If I
Picked the Oscar Nominees (listed in preferential order):
Best
Actor:
Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler, Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino,
Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon, Brad Pitt in The Curious Case
of Benjamin Button, Richard Jenkins in The Visitor.
Best
Actress:
Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road, Anne Hathaway in Rachel
Getting Married, Kate Beckinsale in Nothing but the Truth,
Kristin Scott Thomas in I’ve Loved You So Long, Rebecca Hall in
Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Best
Supporting Actor:
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Josh Brolin in Milk,
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt, Bee Vang in Gran Torino,
Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder.
Best
Supporting Actress:
Evan Rachel Wood in The Wrestler, Viola Davis in Doubt,
Marisa Tomei in The Wreslter, Debra Winger in Rachel Getting
Married, Olivia Thirlby in The Wackness.
Published on:
1.1.2009
Back to
Home
Back to the Exclusives Page
