So, without further ado, I present to you the first ten of my twenty favorite films from 2008, along with links to their respective trailers, so click on the titles if you want to see some of what I'm talking about. I'll post the top ten sometime tomorrow (or on Sunday, if I don't have time).
20. "Snow Angels" - This challenging film from director David Gordon Green ("Undertow," "Pineapple Express") explores the lives of people in a small town that's rocked by tragedy. The characters feel so realistic that at times it's difficult to watch, particularly as one of them gets swallowed up by anger and alcoholism. But the darkness of the story is buoyed by the tender first love developing between two high school kids (one of whom is played by Olivia Thurlby, the best friend in "Juno") that brings an overall feeling of hope to the movie rather than despair.
19. "Twilight" - Yeah, I liked this movie (and the book series it's based on) and I'm not ashamed to admit it. While it's not perfect, I thought director Catherine Hardwicke ("Thirteen," "Lords of Dogtown") did an excellent job of bringing the darkly romantic tone of the story to life. And the cinematography is beautiful; the film and it's setting look exactly the way I imagined it when reading.
18. "The Wrestler" - Mickey Rourke deserves the accolades he received for his performance in this heartbreaking film. He plays Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a former superstar wrestler from the '80s who now lives alone in a shabby trailer park while trying to balance his time between wrestling for pitifully small audiences and working at a local supermarket. He also regularly visits a strip club, and gets to know one of the strippers (played by Marisa Tomei, whose character is another wounded soul, and the thus a kindred spirit to his). The heart(break) of the film comes from his attempts to reconcile with his daughter, who has almost nothing but contempt for him for very good reasons. Randy is one of those guys who wants to do good by everyone but seems to be a perpetual screwup; every time he takes a step forward he takes four or five steps back. But the film steps right at every moment, with an ending that feels at first like a tragedy and then, with time and thought, more like a personal success.
17. "Rachel Getting Married" - This feels less like a film and more like director Jonathan Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs") walked into someone's wedding with a camera and just started rolling. Anne Hathaway plays Kym, a former model and recovering drug addict who is given a temporary pass out of rehab to attend her sister Rachel's wedding. Kym's presence opens up all kinds of long buried wounds within her family. The film is full of humor and sadness and anger and love, just like most families are. At times it feels so real it's hard to watch, but I strongly recommend you give this film a try. It'll probably make you feel better about your own family, in any case.
16. "RocknRolla" - If you've never seen one of director Guy Ritchie's blood-soaked comedic gangster films, this is an excellent place to start (he's often referred to as the British Quentin Tarantino). "RocknRolla" ranks alongside "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch" as one of his best. I won't even try to explain the plot, which involves crooked land development deals, a stolen painting, people being eaten by crayfish and an insane heroin addicted rock star named Johnny Quid. But the film does have an excellent cast, headed up by Gerard Butler (King Leonidas in "300") and a pitch-black sense of humor.
15. "Bolt" - Ever since the Disney studios decided to switch over from old school 2-D animation to all 3-D animation in reaction to the popularity of Pixar's films, they've struggled to reach the same level of quality of films like "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles." Their first 3-D film was "Chicken Little," which was very disappointing; their second feature, "Meet the Robinsons," was a lot better but still far from Pixar-level quality. But not anymore; with "Bolt" Disney has finally gotten their groove back. Or maybe I just like it for all the Hollywood in-jokes... and the pigeons. In any case, the story of a dog who doesn't know he's not an actual superhero and rather the star of a popular TV show is infectiously entertaining; a cross between "The Truman Show" and "Toy Story" (Bolt and Buzz Lightyear are almost the same character), with a story that is funny and touching. I'm glad Disney has decided to return to 2-D animation in the future after all, but I'm all for more 3-D movies as good as this one.
14. "City of Ember" - Though it isn't quite as successful a screen adaptation as "Harry Potter" or even "The Golden Compass," this film was unfairly overlooked when it was released last year (do even remember this film coming out in theaters? Yeah, I didn't think so.). Based on the first book in the popular Books of Ember series, "City of Ember" takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where the world has become inhabitable (it's never explained why). In the prologue a group of engineers and architects known as the Builders have built a massive city called Ember deep underground where a certain amount of people will grow up and live with no knowledge of the outside world. The Builders leave instructions for the future residents, explaining how they will leave the city after 200 years have passed, when the world above has hopefully become hospitable again. But over time the instructions are lost and all knowledge about the plan has been forgotten, and as the story proper begins the current residents of Ember are trying to go on living while the city falls apart around them. Two young children, Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow, find the instructions and try to find the way out. The film is exciting and action-packed, and the city of Ember is one of the most beautifully realized worlds put on the screen in a long time... it really feels like a world underground.
13. "Frost/Nixon" - Most stories create suspense by slowly revealing things until we've finally learned something we didn't previously know. But there are other stories that attempt something more difficult; they tell us about something we already know, but build up to the event or truth little by little so that the suspense grows as we wait for it to finally happen. Everybody knows what happened when British television host David Frost interviewed Richard Nixon just after leaving office because of the Watergate scandal: he did something no one thought possible and got the ex-president to not only admit wrongdoing, but to apologize to the American people for letting them down... on national TV. It was an unbelievable moment that could never happen in the times we live in, and maybe that's what makes seeing it happen again in this film so riveting. Or maybe it's because director Ron Howard just knows how to make a good film. He and his actors do such a job of slowly building up to what we know happens, and making it seem like an impossible event for so long, that eventually I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the moment to happen. And I'm pretty sure you will be too.
12. "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" - This is a sweet and intriguing animated film from Japan about a young girl named Makoto who suddenly discovers that she can jump back in time and change the events of her past, thereby changing the future as well. At first she's overjoyed to discover this ability and uses it to fix any problem or embarrassing moment she has. But, like Ashton Kutcher learned in "The Butterfly Effect," messing with time can have drastic consequences, and Makoto's interferences begin to lead to results she didn't anticipate. If you've ever seen one of Hayao Miyazaki's films, like "Spirited Away" or "Kiki's Delivery Service," then you'll know what to expect from this one. I'd also rank it as a great starting point for anyone who's never seen a Japanese animated film (more commonly known as anime) before.
11. "Iron Man" - Robert Downey Jr. is awesome, and it's great the rest of the world finally took notice with this film. He helps take what could have been another lame second or third-tier superhero character (the Fantastic Four? Please!), and turns him into a funny, haunted, fully believable human being. We believe Tony Stark's transformation from billionaire playboy to enlightened crusader for justice. And, as much as I love Christopher Nolan's uber-serious Batman films, it's nice to see a superhero movie with a (non-campy) sense of humor.
Films 10-1 next time!
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