Best Movies of 2008

My first article/blog entry for Fortress Ameritrash! Hopefully not my last either. Besides board games and video games (Xbox360, PSP), I also happen to be an avid movie-lover. I love going to see movies in the theatre and make a strong effort to go at least once a week. One of the great joys of seeing a great movie is recommending it after to people you know will love it and having them come back to either thank you profusely or throw hot coffee on your face.

I've written articles on the best movies for each year since 1995. I figure this will be a fun way to start on this site. Overall 2008 was actually a very good year for movies. I saw 30 bad movies and 38 good ones in theatres. Of those 38, 6 or 7 were truly outstanding masterpieces. Before getting to the good stuff, let's give a quick shout out to the worst of the year.

I always like pointing out the movie of the year that I really didn't like but everyone else did. This year it was Hellboy II: The Golden Army. I was a huge fan of the director but this movie really did not speak to me at all. My expectations may have a been a little high and I had not even seen the first one.

Other movies of 2008 that I really did not care for:

• Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - what a massive disappointment
• Synecdoche, New York - I have had it with this guy's movies I think
• The Incredible Hulk - Started off strong and then got pretty awful
• The Forbidden Kingdom - I don't understand how this got good reviews
• Twilight - Even with a crush on Kristen Stewart, I still hated it.
• Death Race - omg
• The Ruins - terrible
• Vantage Point - the audience was audibly groaning after watching the same scenes over and over
• Hancock - awful
• The House Bunny - what was I thinking?

The WORST of 2008 would have to belong to this sorry group:

• The Day the Earth Stood Still - YUCK
• The Happening - I wanted to poke my eyes out
• Mirrors - Even with the stomach-wrenching bathtub scene, it was still stupid
• The Clone Wars - I felt offended watching this movie
• Saw V - Enough is enough
• Deception - Hugh Jackman, how could you?
• Shutter - WORST MOVIE OF 2008, congrats

Whew, glad that is out fo the way. Okay now before getting to the top ten, I just want to hand out a few honourable mentions to some movies that I could not find room for in the top ten but were each outstanding in their own right:

Honourable mentions

• The Counterfeiters - You'd think you'd seen enough concentration camp movies after a while but this was really good
• Iron Man - absolutely amazing. I can't believe this did not make my top ten
• Milk - Really good.
• Happy-Go-Lucky - Fantastic.
• Frost/Nixon - Amazing that a television interview can get your heart pumping as much as an action movie
• The Visitor - FANTASTIC. I was floored by how great this movie was
• Mongol - I can't wait for the next two installments of this.
• Rachel Getting Married - WOW. I did not expect to like this as much as I did
• Forgetting Sarah Marshall - My favourite comedy of the year. And some really nice moments too.
• Ghost Town - Disturbingly touching movie
• Gran Torino - AMAZING. You have to see this.
• In Bruges - What a fantastic surprise. Very VERY dark humour but still hilarious. The girl is smoking hot.
• Definitely, Maybe - I think my crush on Isla Fisher may have influenced my enjoyment of this movie
• Splinter - I love low-budget horror flicks that leave the viewer's imagination to do its worst. Great movie.
• Reader - I was moved emotionally in every which way watching this movie. It was incredible.

Really a great year for movies and we have not even arrived at my favourite ten movies yet! Okay so here are what I consider to be the best ten movies of 2008:

Top Ten Movies of 2008

10. Slumdog Millionaire

The Oscar favourite. Not mine but I did find it to be excellent. My aunt and others I know walked out during the movie (it is hard seeing children abused). The movie itself is visually amazing, emotionally powerful and highly entertaining.

It is very much like a modern-day fairy tale I find. Very unforgettable.

9. The Dark Knight

An amazingly rich thriller that will still be memorable years down the road. I believe this to be the deepest comic-book movie ever made, certainly the darkest.

It is so much more than just a Batman movie. It is so much more than just a comic-book movie. It is so much more than just a summer blockbuster. This movie and Wall-E are going to be the best two mainstream movies of the year. After the awful summer of movies we had last year (2007), it is a welcome relief.

A combination of great, great action sequences with a thoughtful and engaging story that NEVER slows down. Huge accomplishment for both Nolan and Ledger alike. And heck, the rest of cast was pretty picture-perfect as well.

Most definately recommended.

8. Up the Yangtze

With incredible visuals, Up the Yangtze is an amazingly honest documentary about modern China and the changes affecting it.

In what is easily the most honest documentary I have ever seen, this movie simply presents stories and tragedy and never bores you with statistics. The Yangtze river is stuff of legend and is now transformed beyond recognition. The Canadian filmmaker Yung Cheng has made a witty yet profoundingly disturbing documentary about his grandfather's homeland. Another public blow to the image of China in a time when the country is right in the world's spotlight.

I was worried this would be simply a movie on the environmental impact of the construction of the dam, and was amazed that the movie doesn't even touch on that aspect at ALL. It is completely a film covering the CULTURAL impact of this dam's construction. It is simply an erasure of history and is tragic beyond words.

I think one of the film's strongest remarks is one that left most of the other theatre-goers confused: the movie doesn't even pretend to know where China is going with its economic boom and expansion. This is a raw strength of the movie in how it plunges you into the unknown. You may quite possibly leave the theatre wondering what the point of the film was, but there doesn't really have to be one.

Easily one of the best films of the year and I strongly recommend it. I was amazed at the access the filmmaker got and could thus film amazing moments of pure honesty and empathy.

7. Waltz with Bashir

Probably the most effective history lesson I have ever received. An amazingly original way to tell a story with really cool animation so that you are completely mesmerized. I honestly don't think this firm would have worked using any medium other than animation. It is certainly the most unique documentary I have ever seen. I know of many people that have trouble attaching that label to this movie.

It could also be one of the most revealing war movies of all time. Very powerful and emotional. I was speechless after the movie.

6. WALL-E

Probably the most charming movie I've seen since Toy Story. Definately Pixar's best work since that series as well, and that's not just because of the stunning visuals (it definitely far exceeds Finding Nemo on many levels and I LOVED that movie). There are many who feel that if animated movies were not excluded from being nominated for Best Picture, that this firm would not only have been nominated but would have beat Slumdog Millionaire.

What I really love about this movie is that, unlike Pixar movies as of late, this one doesn't pander at all to a younger audience. It's simply a fully-accessible movie that would appeal to ANYONE. I think that only the Wizard of Oz's Tin Man might not enjoy this film.

I'm still in total disbelief that a story told through the eyes of a small, faceless, garbage robot somehow touches both on the full broad range of emotions AND existential subject matter. Remarkable that the best love story of 2008 is not only an animated motion picture but is not about humans either.

I do think that this endlessly entertaining film could be Pixar's masterpiece. It is simply chock full of humour, emotion and smart (oh, so smart) storytelling all compacted into a perfect little (although not so little) motion picture.

MUST be seen.

5. The Class

WOW. Now here is a film that caught me completely by surprise. I am still amazed I rank it higher than WALL-E. I still cannot tell if this is a documentary, docudrama or drama. It, in a nutshell, is looking at the current education system of France through the interactions of a single teacher and his students in a city high school. What it ends being is a highly intelligent, high energy piece of film.

My fiancée recently took some French courses and said that the ethnic and racial resentments that spill over into classroom discussions were perfectly captured in this firm. Now imagine you're dealing with children and the parents decide to get involved as well. This film made me so glad I never became a teacher. I simply don't have the right stuff for that. That first guy that is breaking down in the teacher's lounge at the beginning of the film? Yeah, that's me.

I was amazed at how realistic so much of it was. In staying with that same scene, there was a huge amount of fuss over the coffee machine and the cost of running it. I worked in an elementary school all of 2 weeks and visited one other around that time and I can vouch that the coffee machine discussions take an obscene amount of precedence among the staff. Amazing.

This film is probably the most successful on-screen adaptation of the student/teacher relationship. The actor playing the teacher certainly can't hide the fact that he used to teach. He's entirely too natural. Luckily this gives the film a great deal more authenticity.

What I find most compelling is the film avoids having any clichés at all. I was expecting a small laundry list of events to come up or certain lines to be said out loud but none of these surfaced. Absolutely amazing.

4. The Wrestler

GAH! I still cannot believe I don't have this as my number one movie of the year. I cannot believe I'm putting it as 4^th best. I saw it twice in theatres and would see it again in a second flat (and not just for Marisa Tomei).

I am getting more and more appreciative when I see an artist perform what I believe to be his career-making performance. Not the one that breaks them into this industry necessarily but the one people talk about when speaking of the actor decades from now. This amazing drama is very much that performance for Mickey Rourke. I was glued to my seat and moved every which way by this film.

Ken B really needs to see this movie. As does everyone else. Outstanding.

3. Let the Right One In

There's a discussion thread on this one! I brought my best friend, Scot, to this movie without telling him it is a vampire movie because I knew he wouldn't want to see it. He ended up loving this movie as did I. It's like what Twilight wants to be if it wasn't totally retarded.

Hmmm.. maybe this is an even better love story than WALL-E, now that I think about it. I'll have to mull that over.

I cannot even remember the last time I liked a vampire movie. In fact, I am not sure I ever did like one. But this movie has some of the best storytelling ever. It pulls you along for the ride and it is almost impossible to predict what happens next. I absolutely adored this one from start to finish. An American remake is already in the works and I can safely say there is no way they will be able to recapture the magic of this Swedish movie.

It sickens me to think of how this movie will be labeled a horror and because of that very few people will see this.  The whole notion of being a vampire has to be one of the most tragic things ever unless you simply view the vampires as animals. Humanize one, humanize a young one and you have a deeply tragic situation.

An absolutely amazing piece of filmwork.

2. Man on Wire

Not only the best documentary of 2008, but the best documentary of all time. I also think this could be considered one of the best movies of all time. I do not know how one captures this much suspense in a documentary but there you have it. An absolutely insane story from a must-be insane man.

There is just so much to say about this movie that I feel should not be said. It is a film that you will not just see, but experience.

1. Amal

The best movie of 2008 so far, Amal is an amazingly rich story that makes you question what one would define as ‘success.'

Good luck trying to predict anything that is going to happen in this film. The entire thing is filmed in Delhi and is a great work into how sometimes the poorest of men are the richest.

Most definately recommended. Not to be missed.

And there are my favourite movies of 2008. If you end up renting or seeing any of these based on this article, let me know how you liked them!