It's that time of year again. Time for my annual 10 best films of the year list, which I and every other movie geek makes. So let's get too it :
FILMS I HAVE NOT YET SEEN FROM 2008 THAT MIGHT HAVE MADE THIS LIST IF I HAD :
-Repo : The Genetic Opera
-The Wrestler
-Milk
-Che
-Let The Right One In
So keeping in mind I haven't seen those yet, here is my list :
10) WANTED
Yes, the film is stupid, over the top, and completely devoid of any sense of realism or originality (the film rips off my 3 fav films of 1999, "Office Space", "Fight Club", and "The Matrix" in its first 15 minutes alone, lol)..but it's also a geek-boy's escapist fantasy : A dull, scared, depression, stressed cubicle jockey finds out he's a super-powered assassin capable of amazing feats...and gets to make out with Angelina Jolie, lol. Filled with great special effects, unique direction (from the visionary Russian director behind the otherwise incomprehensible "Night Watch" films), and showcasing a great sense of humor and pure fun, this is as good as braindead action movies get, and it's specifically tailored to geek-boys rather than muscle bound meatheads like most action films are. I don't know how much I like the idea of the sequel, already in pre-production, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.
(Available on DVD and Blu)
9) THE RUINS
The year's best horror film was this bleak, dark film about friends in Central America who, while hiking through the jungle, end up quarantined atop a pyramid full of odd weeds....that happen to be sentient, man-eating plants. It may sound silly, but the film is dead serious, and one of the most disturbing, gory, and powerful horror films in years, which for once has characters who are smart and well-developed, that we actually care about. The film finds the right mix of drama, suspense, and gore, without any one over-powering the other two. If you're...
It's that time of year again. Time for my annual 10 best films of the year list, which I and every other movie geek makes. So let's get too it :
FILMS I HAVE NOT YET SEEN FROM 2008 THAT MIGHT HAVE MADE THIS LIST IF I HAD :
-Repo : The Genetic Opera
-The Wrestler
-Milk
-Che
-Let The Right One In
So keeping in mind I haven't seen those yet, here is my list :
10) WANTED
Yes, the film is stupid, over the top, and completely devoid of any sense of realism or originality (the film rips off my 3 fav films of 1999, "Office Space", "Fight Club", and "The Matrix" in its first 15 minutes alone, lol)..but it's also a geek-boy's escapist fantasy : A dull, scared, depression, stressed cubicle jockey finds out he's a super-powered assassin capable of amazing feats...and gets to make out with Angelina Jolie, lol. Filled with great special effects, unique direction (from the visionary Russian director behind the otherwise incomprehensible "Night Watch" films), and showcasing a great sense of humor and pure fun, this is as good as braindead action movies get, and it's specifically tailored to geek-boys rather than muscle bound meatheads like most action films are. I don't know how much I like the idea of the sequel, already in pre-production, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.
(Available on DVD and Blu)
9) THE RUINS
The year's best horror film was this bleak, dark film about friends in Central America who, while hiking through the jungle, end up quarantined atop a pyramid full of odd weeds....that happen to be sentient, man-eating plants. It may sound silly, but the film is dead serious, and one of the most disturbing, gory, and powerful horror films in years, which for once has characters who are smart and well-developed, that we actually care about. The film finds the right mix of drama, suspense, and gore, without any one over-powering the other two. If you're a fan of horror, this was the best 2008 had to offer in the genre, and is a grossly underrated gem.
(Available on DVD and Blu)
8) ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO
The best porn-centered comedy since "Orgazmo" was Kevin Smith's latest film, an incredibly raunchy and potty-mouthed tale of two platonic friends of the opposite sex who decide to make a porno to pay their bills, making the film oddly relevant in the current economic crisis. Beyond the dirtiness and pervasive profanity, the film is also a sweet story about two people who have been in love for years, and probably didn't realize it until the shit hit the fan. So for a film to have as much heart as it does T & A, to be hilarious and yet sweet and charming, almost innocent and old fashioned in its view of low and as throwback to screwball comedies despite it's very up to date subject matter or Youtube and amateur porn and such, it's an odd mix of the salt and the sugar that works perfectly.
(Should be on DVD around February-ish)
7) HAMLET 2
A failed actor-turned-high school drama teacher writes a sequel to "Hamlet", and the result is delightfully absurd (and to some, offensive). This independent film was a hit at Sundance but failed to make waves at the box office, but don't let that dissuade you from checking this film out. "Hamlet 2" is edgy (songs like "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" and "Raped in the Face") and yet innocent, and takes superficial swipes at religiosity and self-important artists without getting too bogged down in any message to forget it's main job is to be funny as all hell. And this film certainly is. The film will also be especially funny to anyone who has ever written anything or tried to write anything, and anyone who has had a dream they never had a chance of achieving, but kept on going because they were too naive to know it.
(Available on DVD)
6) THE DARK KNIGHT
While I'm still not a fan of Heath Ledger, and think his performance in this film is overrated and still not the best Joker they could have gotten, this is still probably the best film adaptation of the Batman comics and characters that we are likely to see. The film is a contemporary allegory of terrorism and post 9/11 methods of stopping terrorists, deals with questions of morality and whether people are inherently good or evil, civil or insane, and is an otherwise very deep examination of human nature disguised as a comic book action movie. The characters, so familiar after years of comic books, are given more dimensions as director Christopher Nolan continues to try to bring the fantastical elements of the source material into a grounded world with as much realism as a story about a man dressed as a bat fighting a clown can be.
(Available on...oh who am I kidding, everyone on Earth has seen this film already, lol)
5 ) DEFINITELY, MAYBE
Every now and then, a chick flick comes along that I love, and am then made fun of for liking. "13 Going on 30" was one. "The Lake House" was another. And now this. Those of you who have read my blog know that I took the name "April" from this film to use an alias for a girl very important to me, and if you see the film, you'll know why. This film is the charming and delightfully moving story of a man who tells his daughter how she came into this world, specifically how he and her mother got together and fell in love...but he changes the names of the main loves in his life to give his daughter (and the viewer) a layer of mystery as we hear about a man who might have had a kid with either his college sweetheart, an outgoing journalist, or a cute, spunky redhead who is his best friend (guess which one was my fav and named April, lol). The film is a chick flick meant for guys...albeit guys who are pussies and will sit through a chick flick. But as a tale of a man going through life trying to find the girl of his dreams, or trying to find which girl of his dreams is really right for him, this film is especially relatable to a guy like me, a guy who wants to find love but it can't seem to find him at the right time with the right girl. And a film about how even mistakes can lead to good results, and gives the hope that there can second, third , or forth changes when you're too unlucky, badly timed, or dumb to make things work the 1st time.
(Available on DVD)
4) FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL
Far and away the funniest film of the year, and possibly one of the best films ever made about a broken heart, this film came out right when my heart was breaking hard...and it helped. For that it holds a special place in my heart. But even if it hadn't, this film, about a guy who is dumped, goes on vacation to get over it, only to find himself staying at the same resort as his ex, who has her new beau in tow, turned out to be an absolutely gut-bustingly hilarious tale of pain and woe and self-pity and self-delusion, and quasi-stalking...but also of renewal and moving on, and finding the grass is sometimes greener on the other side...and the film features way too much penis, which makes it all the more funny, lol.
(Available on DVD and Blu)
3) THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Director David Fincher (Fight Club) has once again made another masterpiece, this time an incredibly moving saga of a life from birth to death, filled with loves and adventure, happiness and pain, loss and gain. The odd part is that the main character ages backwards : born a baby that looks like an old man, becoming a kid who looks in his 80s, and gradually looking and feeling younger as he gets older. While the film is centered around this gimmick, it is used as a way to really have the film be about LIFE, how fleeting it is, how we need to make every moment count, how the good times are precious and we need to enjoy them, and the bad times build character and shape us to enjoy the good times even more. Filled with great performances and marvels of special effects, this is an epic film with a seemingly narrow scope, but which touches on the very foundation of drama, an examination of life itself. A beautiful and marvelous film.
(In theaters now)
2) CHOKE
Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), "Choke" is about a sex addict, a man so traumatized and in pain by his unusual childhood raised by his deeply disturbed mother than he desperately seeks affection in love through random, meaningless sex, and by purposely choking on food in restaurant to be saved and cared for by whomever is around to perform the Heimlich. This is a dark film about sad, pitiful people...and it is darkly funny and moving. For a film so smutty and filthy and sometimes nihilistic, it has a lot of heart when you realize, behind all the sick and pathological behavior the protagonist exhibits, the film is really about a man searching for love, and going about it in all the wrong ways because he's too damaged to know otherwise. You can see why I relate to this film so much, and often times the films I love most are just the ones I see myself in. "Choke" may not effect you the same way it effected me, but even though I'm not a sex addict (I can't actually get sex enough to be one, lol) I can understand the drive and need for physical affection and validation than can lead a person like this film's protagonist to become mired in such a life of swill. "Choke" is a drama about love and pain disguised as a comedy about sex and anti-social behavior, and it's brilliant.
(On DVD in February)
1) RELIGULOUS
I'm an atheist. I hate religion, and I believe religion is hugely evil, a danger to our lives and to the intellectual growth of the human race. Bill Maher is a comedian and an agnostic, who shares my hatred of religion, and he made this documentary expression his opinion, which is 99% mine. In an age where people in America are highly religious, where George Bushs and Sarah Palins get points for invoking their imaginary friend "god" even though they're both retarded. Where even President-elect Obama, and intelligent man, has to have a piece of shit like Rick Warren perform his Christian voodoo at his inauguration to gain points with the other side of the aisle, it takes balls to make a movie saying Religion will kill us all, Jesus never existed even as a historical figure, and if you believe in this nonsense you are stupid at best or insane at worst. I am glad Bill Maher made this movie, because now I don't have to. He presented his argument in a very funny way, asked intelligent questions of any religious person who would talk to him (and mostly got stupid answers), and opened the door to say it's okay not to believe in imaginary omnipotent super-beings. And if you believe in the bible or any religious work literally, if you accept the word of any other human being when he claims to know the answers to things we have no proof or evidence of, you are stupid.....yes, I'm sure I've offended someone yet again in my blog, lol.
(On DVD and Blu in February)
So that's my list. Not many conventional picks there (only "Benjamin Button" and "Dark Knight" have any Oscar hopes), but he films I respond to tend to say something personal to me. But I hope some of you like these films too.
FILMS I HAVE NOT YET SEEN FROM 2008 THAT MIGHT HAVE MADE THIS LIST IF I HAD :
-Repo : The Genetic Opera
-The Wrestler
-Milk
-Che
-Let The Right One In
So keeping in mind I haven't seen those yet, here is my list :
10) WANTED
Yes, the film is stupid, over the top, and completely devoid of any sense of realism or originality (the film rips off my 3 fav films of 1999, "Office Space", "Fight Club", and "The Matrix" in its first 15 minutes alone, lol)..but it's also a geek-boy's escapist fantasy : A dull, scared, depression, stressed cubicle jockey finds out he's a super-powered assassin capable of amazing feats...and gets to make out with Angelina Jolie, lol. Filled with great special effects, unique direction (from the visionary Russian director behind the otherwise incomprehensible "Night Watch" films), and showcasing a great sense of humor and pure fun, this is as good as braindead action movies get, and it's specifically tailored to geek-boys rather than muscle bound meatheads like most action films are. I don't know how much I like the idea of the sequel, already in pre-production, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.
(Available on DVD and Blu)
9) THE RUINS
The year's best horror film was this bleak, dark film about friends in Central America who, while hiking through the jungle, end up quarantined atop a pyramid full of odd weeds....that happen to be sentient, man-eating plants. It may sound silly, but the film is dead serious, and one of the most disturbing, gory, and powerful horror films in years, which for once has characters who are smart and well-developed, that we actually care about. The film finds the right mix of drama, suspense, and gore, without any one over-powering the other two. If you're...