Top 10 Films of 2008, Let's list again, like we did last winter Options

[Rebus]

I'd love to add No Country for Old Men but since it was released in 2007 and I saw it opening night, I can't.
So in no particular order (apart from the outstanding leader of the pack):

Waltz with Bashir
There Will Be Blood
Dark Knight
The Band's Visit
Hellboy II
Tropic Thunder
The Wrestler
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
In Bruges
Mongol

Honourable mentions to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Iron Man, Flight of the Red Balloon, Garbage Warrior, Burn After Reading, Persepolis, Sweeney Todd, and The Something of Boris.

Annoyed I never managed to catch You, The Living.

Looking forward to seeing Frost/Nixon, Doubt, Benjamin Button, Synecdoche, New York.

Good year for movies, fucking woeful year for distribution.

[thirtyhelens]

OK, seeing as how I'm working the next two and a half days and at a party at the cuz's compound on NYE, I'll call my Top 10 (as of 2008's end) now. In alpha order:

Choke, The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Gran Torino, Iron Man, Man On Wire, Milk, Son of Rambow, WALL-E, The Wrestler

Still a lot I haven't seen and want to, though, including Slumdog Millionaire, Let the Right One In, Waltz With Bashir, I've Loved You So Long, Nothing But the Truth, etc. Not to mention Che, which only played here as a roadshow presentation for a week and I missed it; it returns in two parts next month. So I could still switch things up a bit.

ETA: Honorable mentions to Be Kind Rewind and Tropic Thunder, which were oh so close but didn't quite make the cut.

This post has been edited by thirtyhelens: Dec 30 2008, 05:48 AM

[sleeping_pirate]

In no particular order:

The Dark Knight
[Rec]
Tropic Thunder
Wall-E
Kung Fu Panda
Cloverfield
Iron Man
Be Kind Rewind
Juno

[Jessopjessopjess...]

It's interesting that so many people here have relatively mainstream movies (Iron Man, Wall-E, Dark Knight, Tropic Thunder) in their top tens this year. After the clutch of rubbish blockbusters in 2007, could this be good news for the future or a one-off?

[logger]

I think we'll have a lot of people trying to recreate what made this year's films so successful, especially the megahit Dark Knight, which could be good or could backfire completely.

[Sostie]

It's interesting that so many people here have relatively mainstream movies (Iron Man, Wall-E, Dark Knight, Tropic Thunder) in their top tens this year. After the clutch of rubbish blockbusters in 2007, could this be good news for the future or a one-off?

Maybe it was a bad show by the "non-mainstream".

[maian]

I don't necessarily think that it's been a bad year for the non-mainstream, just a very disparate one. Usually you'd get a couple of small, indie films that would accrue all the attention and prestige and get on everyone's Top 10 list. This year, it seems like there have been so many of them that lists will end up being a lot more diverse. You just have to look at the current Oscar race to see that. this time last year, everyone had it pinned down to a fight between No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood, this year there's no real consensus about any of the films, resulting in a surprisingly open and interesting Oscar campaign season.

As for the clutch of really good blockbusters this year, I reckon it's a one-off more than the start of a trend. It just so happened that the films released over the summer this year did not wind up disappointing so many people as the one's released last year did. I doubt we'll see the same thing happen next year.

This post has been edited by maian: Dec 30 2008, 01:22 PM

[Sostie]

I don't necessarily think that it's been a bad year for the non-mainstream,

Neither do I really, I was just playing Devil's Advocate. For every good "mainstream" film (Dark Knight) there was a shit one (that Indy thing)

[sweetbutinsane]

I have edited my list:

1) The Dark Knight
2) Sweeney Todd
3) Wall-E
4) Hancock
5) Drillbit Taylor

It's still not even a top ten! I'll have to go and find five of the films that I wanted to watch this year and buy them on DVD.

[beatoswald]

There Will Be Blood
Summer Hours
Hunger
Shotgun Stories
City of Ember
Waltz With Bashir
Be Kind Rewind
Sweeney Todd
Burn After Reading
Margot at the Wedding

[Kick in the Head]

My top 10 (out of the 50 new films I did see):

1) There Will Be Blood
2) [REC]
3) The Dark Knight
4) WALL-E
5) No Country For Old Men
6) Teeth
7) In Bruges
8) Son of Rambow
9) Burn After Reading
10) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

And the close-but-no-cigars: Cloverfield, Changeling, Pineapple Express, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, Kung-Fu Panda, The Mist, Out of the Blue, Sukiyaki Western Django, Man on Wire, Waltz With Bashir...

Also seeing Gomorrah and Hunger next week, so who knows what might happen?

The joint 'Meh' award for most overrated release goes to Juno, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, and Persepolis.

Joint just plain arse award goes to Rambo and Diary of the Dead.

[whitey]

Iron Man was the only good film that has ever come out in this or any other year.

[Zoe]

I'll pull together a poll of the year's best (including 'Iron Man') later this week.

[whitey]

I may have slightly overstated that thing I said.