Like my pal Julie D. over at Happy Catholic, I've decided to post my top movies from 2008. This list is made up of films that I saw in 2008 - not just films released in 2008. This is why something like No Country for Old Men is listed, yes that is right, I didn't see the Best Picture from 2007 until well into 2008. I'm a busy guy and things get pushed back on the schedule.

I advise checking out each of the following (with caution if you're sensitive). Looking at the list I have below, it would appear I have a thing for brooding, violent movies.



I was pleasantly surprised by this film. To be completely honest, I thought I was in for yet another low-budget, low talent, Christian film with too much agenda and not enough good writing. This film thankfully manages to avoid the heavy handed sermonizing it could have displayed and relies on its characters to deliver the message - just like a movie should.

Eduardo Verástegui and Tammy Blanchard (Stealing Harvard) star in this story about a former soccer player Jose (Verástegui) who comes to the aid of Nina (Blanchard) who is newly unemployed and pregnant. The script by writer director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde and Patrick Million and Leo Severino does a very good job of developing the relationship between these two characters and giving them a reason to fall in love. The relationship at the center of the film drives much of the film's success and makes this something I highly recommend.




This is one of the better documentaries I've seen in recent years. I know its strange to say that about a movie about geeks fighting for the world record score in Donkey Kong. Many may consider this to be a frivolous movie about frivolous people. In some ways this is true, again, at it's core its just about losers attaching their self identity to their ability to score fantastically high scores on a 1980's arcade game. The arguments, conniving and shed tears in this movie are anchored in human stupidity - then again so are most things we strive after. All of this drama is perfectly captured. This odd, real life story is strangely compelling and is absolutely worth checking out.




Director Sidney Lumet (Network, Fail-Safe) masterfully commands this film about a pair of brothers who have their lives ruined after they fatally screw up robbing their parent's jewelry store. He gives us an intimate film with little intrusion, just pure character and performance. Lumet dips into a distracting editing sequence to indicate flashbacks and time shifts. These jolts break in and unfortunately remind us we're watching fiction. Other than this awkward choice, Lumet is dead-on with his delivery. He also does wonders with his cast, including Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Albert Finney and Ethan Hawke. Finney, as a distraught father coming to terms with the monsters he has created in his own family is incredible.




Chiwetel Ejiofor (American Gangster) is very impressive as Mike Terry, a committed mixed-martial arts instructor who is forced to battle his ideals when financial ruin pushes him towards selling himself out to prize fighting. Ejiofor establishes himself as a very sharp and engaging lead actor in this role. Not only is the role obviously very physical, he sells the idea that he’s a top competitor quite easily, but he is also asked to present a man who is very controlled yet approachable. Terry is a good man who seems liberated by the inner control he finds in jujitsu. His small school is a labor of love not profit. When things turn sour for him and the pressures build, Terry’s ideals are challenged. Ejiofor presents this internal conflict with a leveled performance. Written and directed by David Mamet, this is a guys film for guys in a huge way.




Easily the funnest movie of the year. This bloated, loud McMovie has everything you need in mindless entertainment. There's flashing lights, loud noises, a cool soundtrack and a guy in a metal suit starting things on fire. Jon Favreau pieces together a great mixture of superhero stupidness and sharp minded snarkiness in this big screen adapatation of my childhood favorite. Robert Downey Jr., still stinging from lingering drug issues and time in the hoosegow, pulls off a remarkable charismatic performance as Tony Stark, a wisecracking millionaire industrialist turned hero.




Nimród Antal's debut is a fantastic piece of film. Taking place in the Budapest subways, this film follows a group of ticket inspectors headed by the mopey Bulcsú (Sándor Csányi). The group patrol the dank subway fighting with patrons and grumbling about their awful stations in life. Bulcsú has given up on life and literally lives in the tunnels below ground. His quiet misery is disturbed by two people, Szofi (Eszter Balla), the meek daughter of a drunken train conductor who meanders into the subway always dressed up like a pink bear and a mysterious hooded figure who is pushing patrons in front of the trains. A gang of fighting misfits, a girl in a pink bear suit and a hooded murderer? It may sound like yet another quirky independent flick with goofy characters and clever camera work...well, okay it is just that but its a very inventive quirky independent flick with goofy characters and clever camera work.




Despite the violence and immoral behavior, this is a sharp, well crafted story. Hitmen Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are sent to hide in Bruges, Belgium following the accidental killing of a boy during a recent job. Ray is a simple, impulsive guy who can't stand being stranded in the old town. Ken is older, wiser and more patient and mentors the twitchy Ray. The two wait to get orders from their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes). While lying low, Ray falls for local girl/thief Chloë (Clémence Poésy) and befriends a Jimmy (Jordan Prentice), a bitter dwarf who's in town shooting a movie.

The script written by Martin McDonagh is one of the most clever, inventive I've seen since Rian Johnson's high school film noir Brick. McDonagh blends sharp dialog with symbolism and well delivered twists. Farrell is given a lively, multidimensional character in Ray and he runs with the role. This is easily the best performance of his career. Likewise, Fiennes and Gleeson have plenty to work with and both provide memorable performances. McDonagh's direction and writing is top notch and results in one of the more impressive films I've seen in a long time.




Will Smith is precisely the right guy to lead this film. He engenders interest and sympathy as Robert Neville, a military scientist who is apparently the last man on earth after a cure for cancer goes sour and either kills the population or turns them into raging zombies. Smith's charisma carries the first half of the film where he is alone in the world with his dog. As the story picks up and the zombies are introduced his natural talent handling scenes where he is in peril is displayed.

Director Francis Lawrence (the man responsible for the unwatchable Constantine), manages the first half of the film well and sets up the destruction of mankind in effective flashbacks. Once the other characters are introduced the film stumbles a little. Overall, this is a well paced film based on a great concept. The ending is really where the film shines. Christians in particular will find great meaning in the final moments of the story.




I absolutely loved this film. It is a rare film that contains unflinching looks into the evil of man, brutal violence and stark sexual behavior and doesn't come across as gratutious. Writer/Director Christian Alvart starts with what's now a pedestrian concept, a small time cop visits a deranged serial killer in prison to get clues on an unsolved mystery. Alvart surpriseningly develops a moving story from this preposterous beginning that ends with a gripping climax.

While Alvart avoids displaying much gore, his subject matter is still very rough. This film explores evil and how it builds in men. This is not for the squimish.




Yeah, I saw this one late.

Even with its stuttering resolution, this is a remarkable piece of cinema. It is clearly deserving of all of the awards and praised it has received. Every aspect of the film is well managed snd shows a dedication to intricate filmmaking that is a pleasure to witness. The story revolves around three men. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a gruff welder, who stumbles across the results of a drug deal gone bad in the desert. From this he discovers and keeps a case containing two million dollars. He takes it home to his simple wife Carla (Kelly MacDonald). It isn’t long before the menacing killer Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem, in an Oscar winning performance) arrives in the area, looking to get the lost loot. Chigurh, with a devil’s smile and a patient, yet frightening, tone tracks down Moss across Texas. He gives the feeling of being supernatural, a symbol more than a man, more on that in a bit. As Chigurh pursues Moss, the killer…well, kills. He leaves a trail of dead hotel clerks, criminals and random people on the road. On this trail, old, crusty sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) struggles to make sense out of the nonsensical deaths caused by Chigurh’s efforts. This may not seem like a foundation for a great film. In many cases, the story itself is rather mundane. Where this movie strikes its cord is in character and in the choices made by the Coens.


So there you go, another year wasted staring at flashing lights on a screen. At least sometimes its worth the time. Happy New Year and have a great 2009.

Labels: list, movie recommendations