TOP TEN FAVORITE FILMS OF 2008

Tentative Top 10

1. The Dark Knight
2. Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Wall-E
5. Burn After Reading
6. Iron Man
7. Milk
8. Frost/Nixon
9. Tropic Thunder
10. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

To See: Doubt, The Wrestler, Gran Torino, and Revolutionary Road (after I'm done with the book)

Buscemi wrote:
As for Shyamalan as director, expect Asian stereotypes (strangely enough, Shyamalan is South Asian so such a thing may be unlikely) and cliche supernatural elements to clash with bad twist after twist. By the end, it will look like Uwe Boll doing Speed Racer.

Hell, I bet Uwe Boll doing Speed Racer would be better than the Wachowski's doing Speed Racer.

My Top 10 for 2008:

1. Dark Knight (Would have been #1 in most years)
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Wall-E
4. Wanted
5. Iron Man
6. Burn After Reading
7. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
8. Tropic Thunder
9. Vicky Christina Barcelona
10. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Films that would have made the list had I seen them in the theater instead of at home:

In Bruges
The Bank Job

Films still on the To See list:

Gran Torino
Benjamin Button
Milk
The Wrestler
Frost/Nixon

Nice to have some decent movies to see this January (Otherwise known as Bad Horror Movie Month) unlike last year where it was pretty much Cloverfield and that piece of crap, There Will Be Blood

hmm, I actually liked There Will Be Blood better than No Country. Y didnt you like it Keyser?

While Lewis' performance was exemplary, that movie could not have been more painful to watch, and by the time it got to the end, I was just praying to be put out of my misery.

Keyser Soze wrote:While Lewis' performance was exemplary, that movie could not have been more painful to watch, and by the time it got to the end, I was just praying to be put out of my misery.

Totally unrelated but that's exactly how I felt about W.

Keyser Soze wrote:While Lewis' performance was exemplary, that movie could not have been more painful to watch, and by the time it got to the end, I was just praying to be put out of my misery.

Somone Agrees With Me! i couldnt agree more it was so boring but Lewis was great.

Just catching up on this thread.

To respond, I thought The Happening was brilliant. I loved absolutely everything about it. Shyamalan is a genius and one of the few true auteurs out and despite Lady in The Water which was absolutely atrocious, I have loved everything he has done. I can understand whole-heartedly anyone who has any kind of problem with this movie, but I personally found it to be exactly what I expected and so much more.

My top 10 (which admittedly is really commercialized as of yet), until I see the Oscar bait:

10. Iron Man
9. Hancock
8. Zack and Miri Make a Porno
7. 21
6. Quantum of Solace
5. The Dark Knight
4. Burn After Reading
3. Tropic Thunder
2. Seven Pounds
1. Wall-E

I have only seen two films released since November and only one makes the top 10. In my later years I found it difficult to remember everything I've seen and what was worthy of being considered for top 10. Films I still haven't seen but might make the list (The Wrestler, Ben Button, Defiance, Frost/Nixon, Qantum of Solace)

1. Iron Man
2. The Dark Knight
3. Wanted
4. Fogetting Sarah Marshall
5. WallE
6. Burn After Reading
7. Tropic Thunder
8. Gran Torino
9. Vantage Point
10. 21

I don't understand all the like for Vantage Point. I found the film xenophobic and the plotline ripped off Rashomon and not in a fun way like Hoodwinked.

Tentative Top 10 considering I haven't seen many films I want to yet.

(in no particular order)
Son of Rambow (This could still remain #1, loved it)
The Dark Knight
In Bruges
Iron Man
Redbelt
Wall-E
The Orphanage
(probably won't make the cut if a few movie are any good in the next few months)
The Incredible Hulk
The Fall

(movies I need to see)
Gran Torino, Let The Right One In, Defiance, Synedoche, Slumdog, Doubt, Ben Button, Burn After Reading, etc. Many more that I cannot think of off hand.

Donte77 wrote:Tentative Top 10 considering I haven't seen many films I want to yet.

Donte,

The actual point of the thread was to rate the Top 10 movies you saw in 2008. Any of those listed as ones that you still have yet to see would go on your list of movies seen in 2009. For this list, you can list movies that were released in 2007 that you didn't see until 2008

Well I watch a lot of movies on DVD so I have to stick to 2008 releases or I would have movies from other decades. LOL Otherwise my list would have about 2 newer movies on it and a bunch of other stuff.

Plus he said cinema viewings and I think I watched maybe 4-6 movies in the theater this year.

That's all we've been ranking in our lists are movies we saw in the theater. That's why I had to leave In Bruges and The Bank Job off of my list

I'm getting The Fall this week Donte and I hope it lives up to the trailer which really lured me in.

With all due respect, I don't see why people feel insistent upon putting stipulations on a thread like this. What difference does it make whether someone saw In Bruges in a theater or in the comfort of their own home on DVD. Do those of us who cannot afford to shell out the money to our local theaters on a weekly or even monthly basis not have the right to form an opinion on what films were great enough to include in our own top 10, or is it just that the opinions of those who don't frequent the theater simply do not matter and therefore have no right to post here? We've all come together because of our love for stories that unfold upon a screen. All I'm trying to say here is that it doesn't have to be the "Silver" screen to form any kind of opinion.

I think the stipulations were only put there so people don't have to worry about films they haven't seen yet. So not everyone would say this is my tentative list, i still need to see this this and this. That's why he limited to movies you saw in theaters in 08. Because if you see a movie now, it wouldn't technically count. This way, anyone can just post their current list and be done with it.

Geez - You hit it right on the head. Otherwise, we might be looking at Top 10 lists well into February and March before we all get around to seeing some of this past holiday's releases.

My 2008 Top 10 movies... so far:

1. The Dark Knight - Heath Ledger
2. Wall-E - Pixar
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchet, David Fincher
4. Wanted - THE popcorn-movie of the year, guilty pleasure, Angelina Jolie, Mc Avoy
5. Iron Man - Downey Jr. resurrected
6. The Fall - Catinca Untaru, Tarsem
7. Get Smart
8. Tropic Thunder
9. Vantage Point
10. Kung Fu Panda - Jack Black

Haven't seen yet: A Christmas Tale, Changeling, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, Gomorra, Gran Torino, Milk, Rachel Getting Married, Revolutionary Road, RocknRolla, Slumdog Millionaire, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The Reader, The Wrestler and Waltz with Bashir. I have a lot to see this month

So I went through the year and I saw 21 films in 2008. I have ranked them 1-21. Here is what I came up with.

1. The Dark Knight
2. Tropic Thunder
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
4. Cloverfield
5. Wanted
6. In Bruges
7. Iron Man
8. The Incredible Hulk
9. Madagascar 2
10. Pineapple Express
11. The Express
12. Rambo
13. The Tale of Despereaux
14. Indiana Jones
15. Quantum of Solace
16. Step Brothers
17. Hancock
18. Horton Hears a Who
19. Jumper
20. Semi-Pro
21. Saw V

I don't think any of these films are terrible, I think the worst grade I'd give any of them is a 5/10 in that goes to the last 3. Everything else would be above that. The top 5 are all most likely going to be on my updated top 100.

i'm still gonna make that Best Of 2009 list when i have seen everything i need to see... but, here's my

"Best of What-I-Saw of 2008 in 2008"

Step Brothers
The Dark Knight
Role Models
Burn After Reading
Iron Man
The Strangers
Quantum of Solace
Drillbit Taylor
Prince Caspian
Pineapple Express

Honorable Mention: Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Incredible Hulk, Be Kind Rewind, Semi-Pro, Baby Mama, The Foot Fist Way, The Signal, Encounters at the End of the World, Get Smart

Worst Movies of the Year: Funny Games, Wanted, Hancock, Indiana Jones


my to-see list is HUGE.. i predict (and hope!) that my final top 10 list will look drastically different from this

edit: jeez.. my picks are almost entirely comedy, action, or horror.. do they release dramas exclusively in December nowadays??

NSpan, I totally agree with your worst of the year, with the exception of Funny Games, which I was surprised to see there. I mean, Indiana, Hancock, and Wanted were obviously bad (with Wanted being the best of the three, which isn't saying much...), but I figure even if you didn't like Funny Games, it could be appreciated for artistic value, as it definitely wasn't a mindless popcorn film with gaping plot holes, like the other three. As for your top ten, you've reminded me to add Pineapple Express to my list of possibilities. I never saw Burn After Reading, as I kind of hate the Coen Brothers films (with the exception of Millers Crossing).

NSpan,

While I can totally agree wtih you on Indiana Jones and Hancock, and probably would have with Funny Games had I decided to just throw away $10, I would have to disagree with you on Wanted (Just a really enjoyable, mindless thrill ride), but isn't that what makes this such a great site.

I wouldn't have had Prince Caspian (Although it really came in handy in helping me get to sleep on an international flight this past Summer), Drillbit Taylor or Quantum of Solace on my "best of" list.

And Frendo, Wow, Hate the Coen Bros. films? That's a pretty strong sweeping generality. I mean there have been individual films of theirs that I have really disliked (Oh Brother comes to mind), but there are others that I feel are true classics. (Lebowski, Barton Fink, Fargo, No Country)

mfrendo wrote:NSpan, I totally agree with your worst of the year, with the exception of Funny Games, which I was surprised to see there. I mean, Indiana, Hancock, and Wanted were obviously bad (with Wanted being the best of the three, which isn't saying much...), but I figure even if you didn't like Funny Games, it could be appreciated for artistic value, as it definitely wasn't a mindless popcorn film with gaping plot holes, like the other three. As for your top ten, you've reminded me to add Pineapple Express to my list of possibilities. I never saw Burn After Reading, as I kind of hate the Coen Brothers films (with the exception of Millers Crossing).

i thought Funny Games was a slap in the face to anybody who dared sit through it.. it's the biggest "Fuck You" in cinema since Andy Warhol filmed a guy sleeping for 5 hours.. (okay, maybe there's been some since... The Brown Bunny, anyone?).. and, trust me, i WANTED to like it (i'll give even the worst Tim Roth projects a chance).. the last act was just so painfully atrocious (and intentionally so, i believe) that i can't help but place it at the bottom of this year's list.. the movie's "message" was so heavy-handed and obvious and DISDAINFUL--how does someone with that much hate for the moviegoing public get financed to make a mainstream movie in the first place? the only person "in" on this joke is Michael Haneke himself..


Burn After Reading is classic Coen bro's.. in a vague way, it's thematically related to Barton Fink (i won't waste everybody's time by expanding on this at the moment.. but i think the connection can be made).. surprisingly, it would've worked just as well as a 1-hour TV special.. and that's not a bad thing in this case.. it's clever and a lot of fun--but, when it's over, you can happily move on.. i believe that's how the Coens expect most of their work to be treated, despite the seemingly lofty subject matter they sometimes cover..

i believe that six of their first seven movies are absolute masterpieces of modern cinema.. often misunderstood, yes--but the merit is there in each.. Miller's Crossing is probably their most in-depth work.. it's a bit of an exception to their usual low-stakes approach to storytelling..

i'm not sure what happened, but their work from the early 2000s could be stricken from historical records, and i wouldn't give a damn.. (O Brother's unique visual style and use of music might be the one exception to that).. but, after a fun entry to Paris, je'taime (which has the patented Coen Bro. feel of a throwaway, but ends up being one of the film's more memorable segments), i think these guys have hit their stride again with No Country and BAR..

Keyser Soze wrote:I wouldn't have had Prince Caspian (Although it really came in handy in helping me get to sleep on an international flight this past Summer), Drillbit Taylor or Quantum of Solace on my "best of" list.

although i definitely like these three movies--and believe that they are deserving of praise--i don't expect any of them to make the cut once i have caught up on my To-See list