The best of the 08 releases as i currently feel about them. The year has only just ended and who knows i may feel differently once i've seen these more than once (or just more for those i have already seen multiple times):
1. Waltz With Bashir - who could have thought in the year of WALL-E i'd find an animated film i'd like more but this had everything. It was shocking and funny. Beautiful and disturbing. Inventive and straightforward. A masterpiece from the dog-chase opening to the real-life photography at the end.
2. WALL-E - the other great animated film couldn't be more different from Waltz With Bashir but was equally inventive. To take an all-but silent character and imbue him with such charm and charisma. The opening 45 minutes is amazing - easily the most beautiful animation i have ever seen. Ben Burtt should get some sort of special Oscar for this and i hope it isn't overlooked in cinematography too. The second half in space is fun and as good as anything Pixar has done... except the first half, and weirdly that is a negative! It feels like a film of two halves. Yes they are a genius half and a great half but it still jars slightly.
3. The Dark Knight - Not popular with at least one person who'll read this but my most watched film of 2008 (4 times in the cinema) was summer tent-pole filmmaking at it's finest. In a year that included the sass of Iron Man, the splendour of Hellboy 2 and the unashamed fun of Incredible Hulk this rose far above them all, never really feeling like a comic-book film. Like WALL-E for animation this was a film that transcended the term "comic-book movie" so that people could say "that was a great film" without having to shoe-horn the relevant term in. Chris Nolan is a stunning filmmaker and was served by a great ensemble on top of its game.
4. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button - A change of pace and style for David Fincher but a fantastic one. Hollywood epic spectacle as done by a man with zero studio sensibilities. Avoids the saccharine of Forrest Gump (they share a writer) and the tendency to revel in its weird world as Tim Burton would have, and anchored by a great ensemble who never stand out from the story because they are serving it rather than themselves.
5. Slumdog Millionaire - a film that truly works. There is no weak point in this film. From performance, to style, to music, to editing, the whole film is one glorious loveable package - like a Frank Capra film for the 21st century. The out-house/signature scene was both the most disgusting and funniest thing i've seen all year. Danny Boyle has never made a film as good.
6. The Wrestler - A riveting central performance from Mickey Rourke is far from all there is to this measured and heart-breaking film that also serves up a wonderful 80s nostalgia for those of us who grew up in the time of Hulk Hogan wrestling. Evan Rachel Wood is also great as Randy "The Ram" Robinson's estranged daughter and Marisa Tomei delivered as usual (though i thought her better in last year's Lumet film Before The Devil Knows You're Dead). Aronofsky has made a surprisingly straight-forward film after the mind-bending Pi, Requiem For a Dream and The Fountain and it is both an interesting and good step for him. I like all those other three for different reasons but The Wrestler was his first where i just embraced the story rather than seeing the technical.
7. Revolutionary Road - depressing sure, and it takes an interesting alternate approach to the characters from the book but a strong cast on gripping form and Sam Mendes getting out the way and letting them and his technical them of costumers and set designers, etc, transport you hook, line and sinker to another time. For me Kate Winslet in this is the performance of the year, but i expect her more showy turn in The Reader will get more Oscar attention as the American Academy has never understood subtlety!
8. The Reader - not that The Reader is bad. David Kross (is that right?) is brilliant as the younger Ralph Fiennes and it is a gripping story delivered almost entirely by the performances rather than the story itself. Daldry's best film easily. Of course it has Oscar written all over it - accents, holocaust-edged, emotion, two acclaimed producers who are no longer with us (Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella). It is very good though for all that.
9. Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Ah, Woody really back on form. Not just "best Woody for a while" this is best since Crimes & Misdemeanors - that's 20 years and spans many excellent films including his great early 90s run. Penelope Cruz has never been so good in English-language. Bardem is a superb lothario. Johansson is as sexy as she's ever been. Rebecca Hall easily holds the film together with a strong performance that forms the centre of the piece amongst all these more famous sex symbols. And you have Patricia Clarkson for good measure. After delivering his worst film ever (Cassandra's Dream) it also came as a relief to see Woody still had such skill and wit in him. Yeah for Woody!
10. Rachel Getting Married - a strange film that has grown on me more and more as i have thought about it. Starting as soon as i left the film it kept replaying in my head and getting better and better. No doubt about it the performances are excellent but i wasn't always sure about the style while watching it, and yet now it has gelled in my head. Still not all that keen on some of the music but the documentary style really works for what the film is trying to show and the scene between Anne Hathaway and Debra Winger is one of may favourites of the year.
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