Here is another of my best and worst lists. As usual, there are items that came out before 2008 on the list, but I did make some effort to include only movies that are relatively new. The vast majority of my movie watching is done at home. I only saw three movies in the theater in 2008, so I tend to be catching up on older movies more often than seeing the current hot movies.
1. Millennium Actress (2001) - Before watching this, I had a list of my top ten favorite movies. Now I have a top eleven list. I don't know what to remove, but Millennium Actress is now one of my favorite movies. A documentary filmmaker is investigating the life of a famous actress. Her life's story is told through flashback and reality blurs with her cinematic history. All of Satoshi Kon's films are wonderful, but this is my favorite.
2. In Bruges (2008) - Martin McDonagh's first full-length film is excellent. Two hitmen hide out in Bruges, Belgium after a job. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are the hitmen who deal with their time in Bruges in very different ways. Bonus points for excellent use of a dwarf! I hope it wins the Oscar for Best Screenplay tomorrow night.
3. The Dark Knight/Iron Man (2008) - I still haven't decided which of these I like better, so I'll put them both at number three. Iron Man is more fun and Robert Downey, Jr. is perfect as Tony Stark. The Dark Knight is chock full of excellent performances and dark comic goodness.
4. Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer (2006) - Patrick Süskind wrote the novel, one of my favorites. I was ready to hate the movie if it strayed too far from the book. I was pleasantly surprised to find the movie just as wonderfully twisted and fascinating as the book. It appears that no one in America went to see this movie in the theaters. It made $2 million in the U.S.A., but $135 million worldwide. Take a tip from the world and rent this movie.
5. This Is England (2006) - I am instantly interested in any film set in England. Unfortunately, they aren't all this good. Shaun is a troubled 12-year-old who stumbles his way into a gang of skinheads. Hilarious hijinks ensue. According to the picture, they are all about peace.
The worst movie I saw for the first time in 2008 was a Steven Seagal abomination called Flight of Fury, but the most disappointing was Leatherheads (2008). George Clooney is one of my favorite big-time-Hollywood actors. I typically love screwball comedies. I figured this would at least be a fun watch and it had a possibility of being great. But it wasn't. The parts just didn't gel into a fun movie for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment