Top movies of 2008

I originally intended this to be a top 10 list, but attempts at compiling such a list proved just as frustrating as trying to rank my all-time favorite movies. How does one weigh, for example, the merits of Vicky Cristina Barcelona vs Iron Man vs The Reader. All were high quality productions which I enjoyed and would gladly watch again, but by what criteria do I judge them against each other? Also, I have not seen every movie released in 2008 (nor would I want to). Not only have I missed obvious titles such as Changeling or Rachel Getting Married, but titles very few have seen like Wendy and Lucy or Waltz with Bashir.

Perhaps it is too soon to throw together a best of '08 list? But consider that not only have Academy members already voted, but votes have already been tabulated and released in the form of the Oscar nominations. (Don't think good movies fall through the cracks?)

So, here's the plan. I'll briefly mention several 2008 movies I considered (in no particular order) and close with the five movies I would have voted for had I been an Academy member.

Iron Man - Definitely a tier above your standard action movie and if it hadn't been for The Dark Knight's release just a month later, more people would be talking about it. The final confrontation was a little weak, but a solid show.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - What can I say? This was a really funny movie with interesting characters. Not your standard throw away comedy with no story.

Doubt - Loved seeing the behind the scenes world of the priests and nuns at a Catholic school. Four Oscar nominations for acting is not a fluke.

Burn After Reading - Even the people who said they didn't really care for this movie, laugh out loud when you remind them of some of the highlights. Brad Pitt and J.K. Simmons steal the show.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona - If it weren't for that damned voice over, this might have cracked my top five.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Enjoyed the ride, but can't forgive the weak final act.

In Bruges - Far from perfect but a lot to love here. Excited about its Oscar nom for screenplay, and happy for Colin Farrell's Golden Globe win.

The Wrestler - I watched the trailer 15 times. The movie was great, but the trailer actually moved me more. Springsteen not getting nominated for Best Original Song was one of the biggest Oscar snubs.

The Reader - I liked it, but nothing really surprised me here. It fills the roll of pretty good movie that boots better movies out of the Best Picture category (I'm talking to you Atonement and The Queen).

WALL*E - Brilliant. First 3/4 are absolutely revolutionary. Final quarter is solid, but drifts toward the more conventional. Don't be surprised to see it win for Best Original Screenplay.

I'm sure there are still others I forgot to mention, but moving on - here are my five "votes" for Best Picture of the Year:

5. Frost/Nixon - Frank Langella is amazing as Richard Nixon. This movie turned an interview with an ex-president into an epic battle for information. I could have watched these two battle it out for hours. Oscar moment - Nixon calls Frost in the middle of the night to rant about how "they" (the underprivileged), appreciate their success more and will rub it in the faces of the rich kids who stood in their way - a conversation Nixon has no memory of the next day.

4. The Visitor - If every film had the same resources to campaign during awards season, I think you would have seen in The Visitor nominated for far more than just its leading actor, Richard Jenkins. People are all too often, too selfish and too absorbed in their own lives to connect with strangers. Walter (Jenkins) takes that leap with Tarek, a Syrian living in NYC, and it changes his life. Think of this as a mellower version of American Beauty.

3. Slumdog Millionaire - This movie is an absolute blast. It is intense and dark at times, balanced by love and light. What started as the underdog movie out of India has avalanched into the absolute front runner for Best Picture. I only wish the characters had a little more polish to them. It's not my number one of the year, but there's no way to root against it.

2. Milk - The Scots had William Wallace, the Indians had Mahatma Gandhi, the gays had Harvey Milk. Seriously, this movie parallels Braveheart in more ways than you could imagine. I know we've seen movies where one man or woman battles against injustice to fight for what is right, but this is one of the best. Not only did Harvey Milk inspire thousands of oppressed people but his is a battle that is still being fought today.

1. The Dark Knight - Few question that this is the best superhero movie ever made. That in itself should make the Academy feel ashamed for leaving it out of the Best Picture race. The best fantasy movie won the top prize just five years ago (LotR - The Return of the King). They have rewarded horror (Silence of the Lambs), thriller (The Departed), western (Unforgiven), and comedy (Annie Hall), but not The Dark Knight. I read once that the Academy Awards honor those achievements that advance the art and science of film making. Yes, TDK was nominated for eight awards, but despite being THE BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE EVER MADE, it was left out of the Best Picture and Best Director races.
The Dark Knight is not only filled with memorable action sequences, it is filled with social commentary, and characters sincerely torn as to what is "right." And, of course, there's Heath Ledger's Joker who might be the best (or worst) movie villain ever (sorry, Darth Vader). But it's much more than that, Batman is the ultimate hero, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice - not dying for a cause, but living for it after all his supporters become his enemies.
I never thought about it until this moment, but the Batman that Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale have created is the Man described in Rudyard Kipling's "If" - "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you..."

Oscar race update

The Producers and Screen Actors Guilds announced their winners this weekend. Slumdog Millionaire took home the top prize for both. It will now be an upset if it doesn't take home the Oscar for best pic. The SAG award is especially telling. Doubt was nominated for four acting awards to Slumdog's one, yet Slumdog was awarded for best cast in a motion picture.

Heath Ledger is still a lock for supporting actor, but the other three categories just got more competitive than they already were. Sean Penn won the SAG after Mickey Rourke won the Golden Globes. Those two and Frank Langella are in a virtual dead heat. Meryl Streep beat out Kate Winslet and company to win for Doubt, though Winslet at the Oscars is nominated for The Reader, not Revolutionary Road as she was at the SAGs.

But by far the closest race is supporting actress. Kate Winslet matched her GG win with a SAG last night for The Reader. She won't be around come Oscar time in this category, and there's no way to know which way the voters plan to swing when they can't vote for Kate in this category.

The Wrestler

The Wrestler is the fourth movie by Darren Aronofsky and there is definitely a theme that threads them all together: loneliness and isolation.  Pi gives us a mathematician isolated by his own genius.  Requiem for a Dream follows a group of friends whose drug problems push them deeper and deeper into the cocoons of their separate addictions.  The Fountain follows Tom on three parallel journeys to find/save his soul mate with no one who can help him.

Now Mickey Rourke stars as professional wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson (don't dare call him by his real name, Robin Razinski).  Many movies deal with a crisis of identity, with a character struggling to find where they fit in the world.  The Wrestler approaches that concept from a different angle.  Randy knows what he is: a wrestler.  But how long will his body let him continue.  He's already 20 years past his prime.  In the ring he is a god, but in real life he is insecure and scared while still trying to wear the worn badge of The Ram.  He is alone.

Frost/Nixon

Saw Frost Nixon last night, and I'm going to have to disagree with Richie. This movie is a serious contender for the top spot this year, and here's why:

1) This is a true event. Unlike Slumdog Millionaire, The Reader and Ben Button, there's a lot less artistic license allowed. And that makes it all the more impressive when you can recreate it impressively on the big screen.

2) As the ending commentary of the movie notes, the power of the close-up is incredible. This entire movie is a close up. These guys entertained you with a movie where you learned the names of all of 8 characters, and go to know fewer than that. At least half of the framing of was just a face, and nothing else. There was more silence in the sound than any movie I think I've ever seen. And despite all of these extreme close-ups, they kept everyone's attention for over two hours!

Quite simply, this movie will give the others a run for their money because it is the year's best achievement in filmmaking. It took the least interesting situation of the five - an interview (though it was politically charged) and turned it into two hours of awesomeness.

Revolutionary Road

With expectations diminished by its lower than expected Oscar nomination tally (three), I went in to Revolutionary Road hoping to enjoy it more because now it could surprise me.

This was not the case.

The acting was top notch.  Kate, Leo, Oscar nominated Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates, everyone.  Ultimately, the story just wasn't that interesting nor could I get emotionally invested despite the great performances.

Oscar nominations

I watched the Oscar nomination announcement live Thursday morning with the anxiety of a kid hoping Santa brought him the one thing he REALLY wanted for Christmas.  I don't know why I became so personally invested, but the one thing I really wanted was that best picture nomination for The Dark Knight.  No offense to The Reader, but it was the lump of coal I got instead.  The Dark Knight did receive eight total nominations, though I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or worse.  I'll save my full Dark Knight rant when I post my favorite movies of 2008 in the next few weeks.  Moving on to the other nominations...

Best picture and best director were the same five movies: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, and Slumdog Millionaire.  This is probably a 2 1/2 horse race, with Slumdog in the lead, Button within reach, and Milk trailing and hoping they both crash.

Best actor wasn't too surprising, matching the SAGs exactly: Brad Pitt (Ben Button), Sean Penn (Milk), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), Richard Jenkins (The Visitor), and Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler).  Rourke won the Golden Globe.  Penn and Langella will push him for the Oscar.  Penn's win for Mystic River probably hurts his chances a bit.

Best actress played out about the same way, but with one twist: while the same five women were nominated as for the SAGs, Kate Winslet is nominated for The Reader and not Revolutionary Road.  The Academy does not allow an actor to be nominated twice in the same category so the fact that she didn't vote split herself out of contention leads me to believe she would have been double nominated had it been allowed.  I'm going to call her a lock for the Oscar for three reasons: Kate is really good in The Reader, there's no clear favorite everyone is talking about (like a Charlize Theron in Monster),  and it's her turn, something the Academy all too often takes into account.  Also nominated are Meryl Streep (Doubt), Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married), Melissa Leo (Frozen River), and Angelina Jolie (Changling).

Supporting actor is close to the SAGs with Revolutionary Road's Michael Shannon subbed in for Slumdog's Dev Patel.  The other four are Robert Downey Jr (Tropic Thunder), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt), Josh Brolin (Milk), and, the biggest lock of the season, Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight).

Supporting actress also goes 4 for 5 with the SAGs with Taraji Henson (Ben Button), Viola Davis (Doubt), Amy Adams (Doubt), Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), and Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler) takes the spot vacated by Winslet's promotion to the lead category for The Reader.  I am excited to see Amy Adams here, but I'll likely end up rooting for Tomei (watching Wrestler tomorrow).  This might be the tightest race at the Oscars.

Here is the IMDb link for the complete list of nominees: http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Academy_Awards_USA/2009

Doubt

Doubt opens with Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) delivering a sermon on the bond of shared uncertainty during a public crisis, such as the aftermath of the JFK assassination, and how we should empathize with our neighbor who may be experiencing equally powerful but private feelings of doubt in his or her own life. I can't think of a more blatant way of smacking the viewer with the theme of your movie, but it actually works just fine here. After all, Father Flynn is only human and he can choose his sermon topics as he sees fit.

The thorn in Father Flynn's side is Sister Aloysius played by Meryl Streep who I normally am not a huge fan of (blasphemy, I know), but she is masterful here and much deserving of her impending Oscar nomination. Sister Aloysius believes Father Flynn is up to no good, for no other real reason than she believes it. The story is nearly that simple. The characters are very strong and the performances all top notch. My favorite though is one that will most likely be left out of the Oscar race (though she was Golden Globe nominated) and that is Amy Adams. She shows her range here, breaking from normally more flamboyant performances to play the demure Sister James who makes even other nuns seem like hedonist sinners.

Overall, the story falls just a little flat, but I enjoyed living in this world and wished I could have spent more time with the characters... even Sister Aloysius.

Golden Globes

It was already inching in that direction, but last night Slumdog Millionaire pole vaulted to the top of the Oscar race, taking home four Golden Globes including best director and best dramatic picture.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona won best comedy/musical movie.

Heath Ledger won his expected award for supporting actor.

Sally Hawkins won best actress in a comedy for Happy-Go-Lucky.

Mickey Rourke beat out Sean Penn and Frank Langella for best actor in a drama.

Colin Farrell was somewhat surprising winning best actor in a comedy for In Bruges.

The highlight, for me, was Kate Winslet winning not one but two Golden Globes for best actress in a drama and best supporting actress. This will hopefully be the year she brings home her first Oscar.

Ten days until Oscar nominations...

Frost/Nixon

Though I suppose it should have been obvious beforehand, I never would have guessed how apt the title of this movie was.  Think Ali/Frazier or, more appropriately, Balboa/Creed, because Frost/Nixon is essentially an underdog boxing movie.

Frank Langella is captivating as Richard Nixon and will give Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke a serious run for their money in the best actor race. He is nearly as mesmerizing as the late Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.  He walks a delicate line, creating a Nixon that invokes pity without letting him off the hook for his crimes.

After his turn as Tony Blair in The Queen and now as the calmly charismatic David Frost, I'd love to see Michael Sheen take on a more emotionally challenging role to test his mettle.

I don't think this movie has enough to go all the way, but it's a good show.

Gran Torino

The preview for Gran Torino didn't overly impress me. The only reason I rushed to see it opening day was its astronomical IMDb rating - 8.4 and currently #142 all-time. Turns out my instinct was right and I should have just waited for the DVD. It's a good show, but it can't even smell the ballpark of great. Eastwood growls and barks for two hours as only he can. The rest of the acting ranges from passable to laughable. The story is descent but the script is weak. I will give props to Ahney Her who plays the daughter of the family next door. It was her film debut and she gives a solid performance.

Not a bad movie, but if anything other than Clint gets nominated I'll be surprised. And I won't lose any sleep if he doesn't.

PGA

Sorry, golf fans, in the movie world that's the Producer's Guild.  And the PGA has me pretty excited with their nomination of The Dark Knight for best picture of the year.  Its top five match exactly what Entertainment Weekly is predicting for the Oscar nominations.  It is also the scenario have I have been wishfully predicting, not because I necessarily agree these are the top five films of the year, but because this is the scenario that most likely gets Dark Knight into the race.

PGA best pic noms:

The Dark Knight

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Frost/Nixon

Milk

Slumdog Millionaire

The Reader

The Reader is yet another example of why I love this time of year for movies. It's not even one of my favorite movies of the year, but I got exactly what I was hoping for - a really well-made, well-acted movie.

The story is of an older Michael, played by Ralph Fiennes, telling of his affair as a young boy with an older woman, play by Kate Winslet. Morality is a central theme, but what impressed me the most was simply looking at the various stages a person's life goes through and how diverse they can be while still coming together to form the whole of that person's experience. It was also interesting to watch how the dynamic of a relationship can change with time. When he encounters her again as an old woman, his affection resembles that of a son to an aging mother.

I'm a big Kate Winslet fan and there is much speculation she could be double nominated this year at the Oscars for her supporting work in The Reader and as the female lead in Revolutionary Road. She already has five nominations to her credit at just 33-years-old and that would push her total to seven. Record holder Meryl Streep had four at 33 and now has 14 total, though she too will likely add to that this year with Doubt.

Guess he hasn't seen Mockingbird?

Stanley Fish for the New York Times makes his list of the 10 Best American Movies of all Time. If you ask me, he's got a little research to do.

http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/the-10-best-american-movies/

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

It's about the journey, not the destination.  So the saying goes.  In Ben Button this is illustrated in life affirming wonder as it hasn't been on screen since Forrest Gump and his box of chocolates fourteen years ago.

It's remarkable how viewing the world through Benjamin's eyes can hold the mirror up to our own thoughts and desires so beautifully.  Perhaps it is precisely because Benjamin's life is quite literally a reflection of the normal human life.  He was born an old man and ages backward, entering the summer of his life as his peers enter their fall.

The acting, special effects, and tone are all spot on and completely engrossing.  The only detraction ties in with my opening.  This seemed a movie without a destination and the end isn't as strong as what proceeds it.  I suppose it was inevitable that it would falter a bit under its own weight.  This is not, in my opinion, the best movie of the year, but it's one hell of a journey.