2008 Movie Wrap Up

In advance of the Oscar nominations I thought I'd share a few thoughts about 2008's slate of movies.

In thinking about the forthcoming Oscar noms it is strange that there was nothing huge this year that would make for typical Oscar fodder, big films such as Titanic, The English Patient, Braveheart or Shindler's List. I suppose those who produced the big-budget period picture Australia were hoping a late-year release might generate Oscar buzz. No one, apparently, went to see it.

So this years best movies are, in my opinion, all over the board. Still having not seen a couple of flicks on many critics' top ten lists (The Wrestler, Happy-Go-Lucky and Revolutionary Road among them), I will endeavor to offer one of my own:
  • Frost/Nixon
  • Slumdog Millionaire
  • In Bruges
  • Doubt
  • Gran Torino
  • Changeling
  • The Dark Knight
  • Man on Wire
  • The Bank Job
  • Iron Man

Regarding Wall-E: although it failed to move me personally, I was impressed with the animation and particularly the storytelling in this Disney/Pixar release, and recognize that as an artistic achievement it is easily considered among the year's best.

For my worst of 2008, I present my bottom five:

  • Step Brothers
  • Fly Me To the Moon / Space Chimps (tie)
  • Blindness
  • Burn After Reading
  • Rachel Getting Married

Comments

Chuck said…
You know, we watched space chimps on friday. It wasnt that bad...of course, nothing is too terribly bad when you see it on video. My tolerance level goes way up when I havent shelled out $40.00.

Oh wait a minute...it was really, really bad. But the third act was somewhat better than the first.
5:24 PM
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