Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Film Year In Review--2008

Another year, another annual film roundup. There were a fair amount of decent films out there, but not too many really good ones.

As always, I will discuss only feature films released theatrically, or available for the first time in America theatrically, in 2008. I'll give out some awards, note some trends, and at the end, list my top ten. If you disagree, you can always leave a comment.

Overall, 2008--moneywise, anyway--was the year of superheroes, cartoons and chick flicks. Yeah, it always is (for the first two, certainly), but more than ever this year. Of the top twelve films, five were superhero films of one sort of another (including the top four), four were animated and three were chick flicks (Twilight being a teen chick flick). I've never seen such total domination.

It was also a year when I disagreed with the critics even more than usual, as you'll perhaps notice by what follows.


Special Awards And Private Thoughts

Good Sport Award: In 2008, beautiful and charming Elizabeth Banks got to be the love interest to a smart-ass loser, a chubby loser, a spaceship and George W. Bush.

Most Pro-American Film: Harold And Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay--really captures the open spirit of America.

Will Smith Saves The World (Again) Award: He goes from bad superhero to good superhero in Hancock, and then (spoiler, I guess, though the film was spoiled a long time ago) kills himself to save a bunch of others in Seven Pounds. Will Smith is one of the most likable stars around, but you can overdo it.

Umberto D Award For Melodrama With A Dog: Tie--Wendy and Lucy and Marley & Me

Most Memorable Moment: Let The Right One In, the pool

New Hottie Award: Tie--Rebecca Hall from Frost/Nixon and Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Freida Pinto from Slumdog Millionaire.

Best Ending: After a climactic moment, Burn After Reading has about ten more scenes to go. Instead, they cut to J.K. Simmons who wraps it up with a few funny lines.

Most Infuriating Film: Dear Zachary. You need to see it to know why.

Macbeth Award For Most Ambition: Charlie Kaufman tries to take on the entirety of life in Synecdoche, New York. Some fine moments, even if it doesn't work.

Worst Documentary Of The Decade: Maybe the century. I just can't see anything coming out that'll be worse than Ben Stein's Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which manages to be dishonest in ways not even Michael Moore imagined.

Franco Still Dead Award: I've never been a fan of James Franco. To his credit, he stretched beyond pretty boy roles in 2008--he was an out-of-it drug dealer in Pineapple Express, and Harvey Milk's lover in Milk. But I still don't think he did much of a job.

You WANT Credit For This Award?: George Clooney lost a fight to get a writing credit for his film Leatherheads. Why? I saw the films about 9 months ago, but I can still remember every ridiculous story beat. It's the early days of pro football and George Clooney is trying to save his team. He makes an offer to a big college star (John Krasinski), but he brings nothing to the table, so why does anyone care? Later, he and love interest Renee Zellweger escape from a police raid. It's not clear why they need to, and even less clear why they keep on escaping after they seem to have gotten away. Next, Clooney and Krasinski have an unmotivated fistfight over Zellweger. Late in the film, we meet the newly named Commissioner of Football, a character we don't care about doing stuff that makes no difference to us. He calls in the main characters for a big meeting to resolve a dispute we don't care about, which is then settled by a pointless and unnecessary strategem by Clooney. But at least before then, we get to see the commissioner demand a retraction from the press, so apparently he's also been named Commissioner of Newspapers. Finally, it all comes down to the big game, where--I swear--there is nothing riding on the outcome and we don't care who wins.

Biggest Good Movie To Bad Title Ratio: Slumdog Millionaire.

Most Indelible Characters: Both from the same movie, Happy-Go-Lucky. Sally Hawkins plays, as it were, the title character, while Eddie Marsan is the angry, bigoted driving instructor. Needless to say, neither are nominated for Oscars.

Holy Fool Watch: Perhaps my least favorite character type is the holy fool--the crazy person who speaks the truth. In fact, he's been driven crazy because he knows the truth. This is a literary conceit that might work in a novel, or maybe a play, but is always annoying in a movie. (In real life, a crazy person is not your go-to go for piercing insights.) Former examples--Mark Wahlberg in I Heart Huckabees and Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton. This year's example, Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road. Needless to say, he's received an Oscar nomination.

Biggest Anti-Climax (or I see more dead people): From M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening. Here's the plot: plants (we're led to believe), responding to overcrowding, make humans kill themselves. After there's a lot of death in the Northeast of America, it stops. Then....it happens again in Europe? Why wouldn't it?

I Want To Like It, Honest: Two films about 50s music which I love, Cadillac Records (why use real names of artists but not call it Chess Records?) and The Dukes, just don't cut it. The Dukes especially promises to be about an old bunch of doo-wop singers getting back together, but instead it's all about a crime they pull.

Least Romantic Love Scene: Zack And Miri Make a Porno. In a huge miscalculation (though I'll give him credit for trying), Kevin Smith has two people realize they've always loved each other when they have sex for the first time while appearing in a porno.

Parody Award: Late in his career, John Wayne had a huge hit when he parodied himself in True Grit. Now it looks like Clint Eastwood has his biggest hit ever when he parodies his old character (which I never liked that much to begin with) in Gran Torino.


Comeback Award: Guess it has to go to Mickey Rourke, who really is quite good in The Wrestler.

Don't Bring 'Em Back Award: Rambo IV, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, Get Smart

Romance Can Be Boring At Any Age Award: Last Chance Harvey

Let's Go To The Tape: What do you do when you base your film on something that not only happened, but happened for all to see. It's one thing for Oliver Stone to commit to film his fever dreams about George W. Bush's personal life. But Frost/Nixon shows what allegedy happened in TV interviews and we sort of know it didn't work that way. (Actually, Oliver Stone did the same thing with The Doors on Ed Sullivan.) It's the kind of thing that can work onstage, but in the more realistic setting offered on film, it's weird to see things that didn't quite happen.

Most Pointless Film: A tie. 1) Smart People. What a good idea, make a film about people who are intelligent and articulate. Now if they only had a story where they did anything you'd care about. 2) Funny Games. Michael Haneke does a close remake of his film where two psychopaths torture a bourgeois family.

Unexpectedly Gruesome Award: Paranoid Park. You've been warned.

Unofficial Remake Award: No, not Benjamin Button and Forrest Gump. In Thomas McCarthy's first film, The Station Agent, a quiet guy withdraws after the closest person to him dies. He moves and is slowly drawn out of his shell by the new people he meets, an unusual groups of friends with problems of their own. This also describes his second film, The Visitor.

Double Dip Of Woody: Woody Allen usually releases one film a year, but his 2007 product, Cassandra's Dream, was such a stinker (despite a stellar cast) that it was dumped in January 2008. On the other hand, Vicky Cristina Barcelona was one of his biggest hits, even though, like most of his stuff lately, it seemed more like an outline for a film than a film.

Bigger Isn't Better Award: A good comedy is usually light on its feet. Tropic Thunder lumbered around, twice as big as it needed to be. The premise was okay, and with a lighter touch (and maybe half the budget and a smaller cast) it could have really worked.


Trends

Surprisingly Violent Comedies: Burn After Reading, Pineapple Express

Protagonists Named Harvey: Milk, Last Chance Harvey

Innovative Stage Directors Stuck In A Bad Marriage With Catherine Keener: Hamlet 2, Synecdoche New York

Do-It-Yourself Filmmaking: Be Kind Rewind, Son Of Rambow

Huge Flops From Popular Comedians: Meet Dave, The Love Guru

Films From Popular Comedians That Should Have Been Huge Flops: You Don't Mess With The Zohan, Four Christmases

Environmental Allegories (replacing anti-Iraq War movies?): The Happening, The Day The Earth Stood Still

British Capers: The Bank Job, Rocknrolla, In Bruges


Rankings

Bad Comedy: Meet The Spartans, First Sunday, Semi-Pro, You Don't Mess With The Zohan, The Love Guru (though not as bad as everyone said--if he'd called it Austin Powers 4 it would have made $100 million), Vicky Cristina Barcelona (it is a comedy, isn't it?), How To Lose Friends & Alienate People (had high hopes till I saw they were dumping it), Zack And Miri Make A Porno, Four Christmases

Passable Comedy: Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (rare case where an American gets to do a British accent--almost always other way around), Baby Mama, Get Smart, Step Brothers, Pineapple Express, Meet Dave (barely passable, but I was in a good mood), Tropic Thunder, Hamlet 2 (the big song should have been better)

Good Comedy: Strange Wilderness, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, OSS 117, Kung Fu Panda, House Bunny, Burn After Reading (though it should have been better), Ghost Town

Not As Bad As Feared: Valkyrie (how could it be?), Definitely, Maybe, 21, Hancock, Wanted, Kabluey, Transsiberean, Sixty Six, Hellboy 2, Bottle Shock (still a wasted opportunity), RocknRolla, Doubt, Revolutionary Road

Not As Good As Expected: Cloverfield (good idea, dumb characters), Be Kind, Rewind, Horton Hears A Who, Reprise, Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist (has last year's big star Michael Cera peaked?), Religulous, Rachel Getting Married, What Just Happened, Synecdoche, New York (good in small doses), The Dukes, I've Loved You So Long (could have saved a lot of time if she just admitted her problem at the start), The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (looks great, though), Gran Torino, Milk (surprisingly uninvolving), Waltz With Bashir

Big Disappointment: Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (as noted by South Park), Cadillac Records, Quantum Of Solace

No Fun: Rambo 4, Charlie Bartlett, Leatherheads (great idea for a film--someone should do it some day), Redbelt (Mamet continues his streak), Smart People, Diminished Capacity (can't go a whole year without a mentally damaged protagonist), The Happening, Eagle Eye, Journey To The Center Of The Earth, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, Seven Pounds (though it's not as bad as what the critics said), Funny Games, Last Chance Harvey, Cassandra's Dream, Marley & Me, W.

Fun (in the sense of it being an enjoyable movie, even if it's about misery): The Visitor, Wall-E (though I thought the stuff on the ship was a letdown), The Dark Knight (I still got a lot of problems with it--too long, confused story, muddled message, some weak action sequences), Anita O'Day: The Life Of A Jazz Singer, Frost/Nixon, The Wrestler


Bubbling Under The Top Ten:

Harold And Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay--Call it dumb drug humor, it was high-spirited and fun. And it had more insight into George W. Bush than Oliver Stone.

In Bruges--Martin McDonagh brings to the screen the first full-length example of his patented mix of wit and mayhem. I predict he'll do even better if he makes another.

The Bank Job--A solid policier based on a real story (though I'm guessing most of it's made up).

Paranoid Park--people preferred Milk, but I've always liked my Gus Van Sant straight.

The Visitor--quiet, but affecting, much like The Station Agent (see above).

Frozen River--I felt cold watching it.

Role Models--Didn't expect to laugh so much.

Wendy And Lucy--I wasn't sure if I even liked it when it ended, but it's stayed with me.


Top Ten (In Alphabetical Order)

Bolt--There were higher profile animated films, but this one was the most solidly entertaining.

Encounters At The End Of The World--It may be at the end of the world, but the beauty that Werner Herzog found in Antarctica is otherworldly.

Happy-Go-Lucky--No one makes films like Mike Leigh. Maybe not his best, but good enough.

Iron Man--Finally, they do a superhero film right.

Let The Right One In--If you see one Swedish teenage vampire film this year, make it this one. Spooky, but beautiful.

Man On Wire--Years before they were destroyed, one man (with help) did a crazy, lovely thing with the twin towers. Wouldn't if be great if they could be remembered for that?

My Winnipeg--I'm becoming a believer in Guy Maddin. I'm not sure how much of this documentary about his hometown is real, but it's a haunting vision.

Slumdog Millionaire--A crowdpleasing fairy tale, and what's wrong with that? (Though the questions are too easy.)

Tell No One--Since Hollywood has stopped making Hitchcockian thrillers, it's good to see one coming out of France.

Trailer Park Boys: The Movie--the surprise of the year. I had no knowledge of this Canadian cult TV show about Nova Scotia trailer trash, so I wasn't prepared for how delightful the travails of Ricky, Julian and Bubbles would be.

16 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, one of your top ten is an Oscar nominee. How'd you let that happen?

10:08 PM, January 26, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I know you revel in being a contrarian, but "Dark Knight" is a perfect motion picture, period. I don't know what the heck you're talking about. I dare anybody making giant franchise action movies to construct a motion picture posing big questions and tossing around huge themes, filled with crackerjack acting and stunning set pieces. "Iron Man" was huge fun, really beautifully made, but c'mon. It's no "Dark Knight".

Also, I think you should see "Quantum" again. I didn't particularly like it the first time around either, but then I found out what it was about, saw it again, and loved it. (I missed a couple of lines of dialogue heading into the climax and was a bit lost first time 'round, you see....).

Unlike most comedies, "Tropic Thunder" made me laugh from beginning to end, so I have to give it the kudos. I wanted to love "Hamlet 2" more than I did; some screamingly funny moments, but long sections of bleh.

Finally, I guess there was something wrong with the print of "Burn After Reading" that I saw, because my version was an unwatchable piece of crap for which the Coens should have their license taken away. So it must've been a technical glitch. I am so f**king sick of their cleverer-than-thou misanthropy. They and Alexander Payne can just get into the same canoe, and --- well, you know.

G'night!

10:55 PM, January 26, 2009  
Blogger LAGuy said...

To Anon: I don't know how it got past me.

To Richard: Maybe I'll check out Quantum again, but not for a while.

11:41 PM, January 26, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Americans loved Dark Knight, except for the ones who vote on the Oscars.

1:01 AM, January 27, 2009  
Blogger Jesse said...

I saw very few movies in the theater last year, missing even some films (like Synecdoche, New York) that I made an extra effort to set aside some time to see. I haven't seen any of the pictures on your top 10 list, though I'll rectify that as the DVDs come out and climb up my Netlix queue.

I did see a handful of new releases, though. Whatever top 10 list I make a decade from now will surely include The Dark Knight, Wall-E, and Burn After Reading.

6:40 AM, January 27, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought I've Loved You So Long had a lot of power.

Both that film and Let The Right One In don't work in English as titles, since they're just literal translations of songs or nursery rhymes.

8:22 AM, January 27, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great re-cap. I love the awards. Highlights -- "Naturally, they didn't get nominated for Oscars," and "Naturally, they did." (paraphrase).

Two quibbles: I thought "Slumdog Millionaire" was a great title. It has a nice rhythm; arounses intrigue; and ultimately describes the movie well. Also, the questions that would be easy for us (e.g., who is on the $100 bill) would be difficult for someone from India. I have no idea who is on their bills.

8:48 AM, January 27, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You missed quite a few this year (ok, some were a good idea to miss). Don't your decisions on what not to see bias these results?

10:30 AM, January 27, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

For what its worth, I'm right with you on Dark Knight and Iron Man. Dark Knight was impressive, and the Joker character is something that stays with you ("Let's put a smile on that face" is something I can say in a gravelly voice whenever I want to freak my kids out). DK became even more memorable because of Heath Ledger's tragic death. But I agree the final message is a bit muddled (why do we have to think Batman killed the dirty cop - why not say the Joker or one of his minions did it, and as long as we are going to lie, why not say the Joker killed Dent as well?)

Iron Man, on the other hand, got the superhero genre perfect - best translation to screen since Spiderman 1 & 2, imho. I bought the DK DVD, but I had to have Iron Man.

On the comic side, I liked Get Smart and Tropic Thunder more than you seem to have. Get Smart was not a translation of the TV show to the big screen, and once I got over that, I thought it was terrifically funny and expertly timed. Tropic Thinder is the best thing I've seen Ben Stiller in for a long time (maybe best since "Mary") - if it wasn't for the over the top language (which I thought was over done for no particular purpose), I'd own that film too.

10:51 AM, January 27, 2009  
Blogger LAGuy said...

"You missed quite a few this year (ok, some were a good idea to miss). Don't your decisions on what not to see bias these results?"

I used to list the main films of the year I missed, but I stopped when people complained this made my roundup incomplete.

It's true, there were many major released I didn't see. I guess it's because I'm not a film critic who gets paid to see movies. As long as I'm paying (though I do get to see some free) I will pick things I think I'll like, or at least look interesting. Nevertheless, I think I see enough films the have something worthwhile to say at the end of the year.

11:54 AM, January 27, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Richard wrote:

.... "Dark Knight" is a perfect motion picture, period. I don't know what the heck you're talking about. I dare anybody making giant franchise action movies to construct a motion picture posing big questions and tossing around huge themes, filled with crackerjack acting and stunning set pieces.

I'm with LAGuy on this one. What "big questions" and "huge themes" are you referring to?

The Joker giving the bombs to the people on the ferry and the prisoners was clever. But it was outweighed by the fact that this movie has decided to go the route of the first Batman movie franchise: cram multiple supervillians into one movie -- presumably to sell more action figures -- even when they are irrelevant to the plot.

Thus we had Scarecrow (a terrified nerd who compensates by terrifying others), Two-Face (a man whose life has been shattered and is driven to madness as a result), and a filled-with-doubt Bruce Wayne who decides to abandon his secret. Any of these could have made a great movie, but they all get crammed into the already over-full movie about Batman versus the Joker.

The movie is recognized as great not because it was the best movie ever (it wasn't even the best Batman movie ever), but because the Joker was killed by the Olsen Twins. That's a plot twist nobody could have planned.

In the superhero genre -- which is the the genre with the largest overall fractionn of awful movies -- it was clearly inferior to the first X-Men, the first Michael Keaton Batman, probably Batman Begins, and the first and probably the second Spider-Man.

2:10 PM, January 27, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And Iron Man, of course.

2:11 PM, January 27, 2009  
Blogger Cara King said...

LAGuy, I agree with your daring view that Iron Man was better than Dark Knight (IMHO Heath Ledger was brilliant, as were some of the action sequences, but it had lots of weaknesses, like a disjointed plot, the smirking presence of who-cares-if-she-dies--or-lives Rachel Dawes, and a little too much monotone from the usually wonderful Bale)...

...but did you really think Bolt was better than Wall-E??? Even admitting that the ship bits weren't as good as the planet bits, Wall-E was still easily the best film I saw last year (and I saw sixty of them, though admittedly I missed quite a few on your top ten list...)

2:32 PM, January 27, 2009  
Blogger VermontGuy said...

FWIW - Dark Knight is a terrific movie. When I watched it in the theater it almost didn't pass the "butt" test, but repeated viewings on DVD have confirmed my view that comic book movies don't come much better than this.

Oh, and not better than the first X-Men? Please. The second X-Men was far superior to the first and even it doesn't hold a candle to DK. The first Batman (with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson) and Spiderman 2, I wholeheartedly concur.

Iron Man is also a very good movie but it suffers from being another "origin" movie and from the lack of a compelling villain (sorry, but Jeff Bridges in a big iron suit didn't do it for me).

I didn't see most of the other movies listed but I do have two bones to pick: 1)It's not fair to pick as one of your 10 best (Let the Right One In) a movie that I have no opportunity to see yet and 2) by coincidence, I saw Charlie Bartlett last night and I would put it on the "passable" list, if not on the "better than expected". I thought it was definitely "fun".

Finally, no movie with Eddie Murphy (that's not animated) deserves to be included in a "passable" list and while I'd agree that Gran Torino didn't deserve a Best Picture nod, I think Eastwood certainly deserved a nomination for Best Actor.

3:46 PM, January 27, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree that Dark Knight isn't that great. It's fun, but too long and not as deep as it wants to be.

My word verfication is "foress" as in can't see the foress for the trees.

12:28 PM, January 28, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What about Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones, she got to do a British accent.

12:05 AM, January 30, 2009  

Post a Comment

<< Home

web page hit counter