Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Final Top Ten of 2008

1. Rachel Getting Married
2. The Wrestler
3. Gran Torino
4. The Dark Knight
5. Revolutionary Road
6. Frozen River
7. Slumdog Millionaire
8. Milk
9. The Reader
10. Benjamin Button

What a weird year. This list has changed since its previous incarnation, and may continue to shift a little. Gomorrah comes out this weekend and will probably enter the mix, but other than that I think we're done. In the last 3 nights I've watched all or parts of Once, There Will Be Blood and Michael Clayton making me long for 2007.

5 comments:

Doctor said...

Anne Hathaway> Marisa Tomei>> Maggie Gyllenhaal. Otherwise, why did Dark Knight fall so far? Was it Bale's hilarious rant on the Terminator set?

I'm in the middle of TWBB again and it's amazing.

Priest said...

i finally saw the wrestler tonight. I'm still mulling it over, but I think it's a B+ for me. I'm interested in how it moved from being a disappointment of sorts in your original review to number 2 of the year? tomei and rourke are both great, and both work in jobs where they play a caricature of their respective sexes. interesting list. rachel left my town, but is coming back this weekend, so i'm hoping to catch it.

Lawyer said...

I have watched TDK a couple of times since, and the third act is killing me. The whole Harvey Two Face piece at the end is just too big of a distraction. Rachel isn't worthy of being my top film, but this year sucks - it has the best screenplay and a great character that I can buy. TDK doesn't hold up against the top 3, and Gran Torino isn't arty, but I haven't thoroughly enjoyed a movie that much in a looooong time.

Lawyer said...

Jinx, Priest. Its not so much that Wrestler rose - I had never ranked it before in my lists. TDK fell for the reasons I stated, and my recollection of the Wrestler has been kind, as I have been able to disregard the weaker daughter scenes and just appreciate the humanity and struggle shown in the film. Penny for your Wrestler thoughts?

The bad thing is that my top 5 films FEEL like what would be 6-10 in a regular or even good year. None of those films come close to TWBB, No Country, or Children of Men, and even Once would be #1 this year (you need to watch that one again, buddy).

Lawyer said...

New list -

1. Rachel Getting Married
2. The Wrestler
3. Gran Torino
4. Dark Knight
5. Revolutionary Road
6. Let the Right One In
7. In Bruges
8. Slumdog
9. Milk
10. Frozen River