We got in just under the wire - as of last night we've now seen all of the Oscar-nominated movies (in the big categories anyway). Anyone who says they don't make good movies anymore, wasn't paying attention this year.
I keep changing the order, but I think this is my top ten films of 2008:
1. The Visitor
2. Rachel Getting Married
3. The Reader
4. Happy Go-Lucky
5. Frost-Nixon
6. Doubt
7. Frozen River
8. The Wrestler
9. Milk
10. Starting Out In the Evening
I really enjoyed the likely Oscar winner, Slumdog Millionaire, but it's not even in my top ten. My quibbles were a tacked-on romance, unbelievable torture scene, and no real character development due to the method of storytelling.
Dark Knight was as good a superhero movie as you're going to see, but it's not top 10 either.
So, the Academy did pretty well with it's nominations. The only real stinker nominated for Best Picture/Director/Screenplays is Benjamin Button, which was a vacuous vanity piece for Brad Pitt with no story whatsoever. Kate still refuses to criticize the film because "Brad just gets better and better looking for two straight hours". So, we'll give it the makeup award. I don't get the fuss over either In Bruges or Wall-E, but the other films are all great.
For Best Actor, I think Jenkins' and Langella's performances were deeper, but you can't beat Rourke's comeback story. I can't wait for his acceptance speech. Anne Hathaway shocked me with her amazing performance (we just saw Rachel Getting Married so I may still be skewed), but I thought Streep and Winslet were great too (although being a part of Mamma Mia and Revolutionary Road, respectively, should almost disqualify them from winning for their better movies!).
The worst well-reviewed movies of the year (besides Benjamin Button) were Revolutionary Road (horrible over-acting by DiCaprio and a really over-wrought script) and Gran Torino (Eastwood's one-trick pony has finally been beaten to death - the most painful dialogue of the year, and racist too). So, kudos to the Academy for largely ignoring those two.
2 comments:
dude, i've gotta get out of this village. i haven't seen a single one. not one, either on your list, winner, nominated. ouch. my life needs re-examining. thanks for letting me know what to bother with and what to avoid.
xo
lc
I have to say I haven't see all of your list, but I'm wondering about your judgement. I saw Frost-Nixon and thought the acting was good, but the movie was not top 5 of the year.
As for Doubt, Nicole asked when we left if I thought he did it and I said I didn't care. Not b/c the issue isn't interesting, but b/c the movie didn't make me want to care. I wouldn't even suggest it as a rental for someone.
I really liked Gran Torino and thought Benjamin Button was neat - actually pretty emotional at the end.
Slumdog was the best I saw for sure. Romance was a little tacked on, but I had no problem with the torture - have you not seen 24? The method of storytelling is what makes the movie great!!
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