My Top Five Films from 2008
Looking back, 2008 was a pretty incredible year for movies. However, when the Academy Awards nominations were announced last month, I couldn't help but think, "Ehh...I'm not too impressed." I'm a HUGE fan of the Academy Awards so I don't want to come off as a dude who only watches genre flicks, but the "top" movies of last year weren't very exciting. I cried my little eyes out at the end of Benjamin Button, but I will only rewatch it if it happens to be on television. As much as I love Danny Boyle, I HATED Slumdog Millionaire and hope to NEVER see it again. This usually isn't the case when I don't like a Best Picture winner. I was not a fan of The Departed what-so-ever but I have seen that movie at least ten times. I HATED the end of No Country for Old Men, so I've watched the first 90 minutes a number of times.
To get to the point, I have made a list of my five favorite movies of the year. I realize the Academy hasn't recognized any of them as the best films of the year, but for my money, you couldn't get any better than the masterpieces below.
THE DARK KNIGHT - When I heard Heath Ledger was cast as The Joker, I knew the movie was going to be special. When I saw the photo to the left of Heath as The Joker, I knew this movie was going to be amazing. And when I finally saw the bank heist in the first ten minutes of the movie, I knew this was going to be one of my all time favorites. It's everything you could ever hope for in a Batman movie...hell it's everything you could ever hope for in ANY movie. While many people believe it bit off more than it could chew with Two Face, I felt it was a privilege to watch and hoped the movie would never end. As long as there are super heroes, this film will be the standard.
THE WRESTLER - It's really hard for a film to live or die based on the performance of a single character and it's even harder when you don't have Daniel Day Lewis. Nicholas Cage was going to star in this movie at one point and the thought of that makes me break out into a cold sweat. But that's what makes this movie so wonderful. Mickey Rouke's "resurrection" is so shattering and moving it finally makes people realize he's still in the game even though he starred in Sin City, Domino, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
CLOVERFIELD - It was easily the most intense viral marketing campaign to date and the movie was everything we could have hoped for. Cloverfield scared the SHIT out of me because it did what no other monster movie has ever done...it had a really scary monster. While the first person camera view made me turn green, I couldn't possibly tear my eyes away from the screen. Cloverfield proved you don't need "Mr. President," glass maps, and Will Smith to an epic...just a great story.
WALL-E - I knew this movie was going to be good, I mean, it was made by Pixar. I saw some of the trailers and it looked pretty cute. I heard some buzz that the first half hour or so didn't have any dialogue so that was really cool. But no one told me what this movie was REALLY going to be like. It is the perfect epic, an adventure on the grandest scale but centered on something so simple. WALL-E is more than just a kids film and it's more than just a cute robot, it's the sweetest love story since The Notebook or Titanic. Only Pixar can make the emotional connection between two computer generated robots so haunting and sincere.
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN - Speaking of love stories, this one is for the books. Two 12-year-olds, one of them is a vampire: You can either screw this premise up or make it one of the most bad ass movies ever made, luckily they didn't screw up. As soon as it ended I wanted to see it again and I can't wait to do so forever and ever. If you're not a Lost Boys fan, get ready to watch the best vampire film since Dracula.
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