It's been three months since I first made my 2008 list. I suppose that I plan on updating every three months as I continue to catch up on 2008 releases. I still think that 2008 was a pretty good year and that the best (meaning, of course, my favorites) of 2008 hold up really well against the best of any other year. 2008 was my favorite year of the past decade, but I'm sure that that mostly reflects the fact that it's the first year that I've been serious about movies since before I was married (I suppose here is the appropriate place to laud Abby for her patience and virtue, for allowing me to run off and be alone in the dark and also for sitting through lots of DVDs with me, some worthy, some not so much so. She's a beautiful bride, a marvelous mother, AND she lets me indulge in my selfish hobbies). The previous years suffer in comparison, I think, because I wasn't as aware of what was happening in cinema internationally. I'm sure that there were great films, but I mostly missed them. Foreign films obviously aren't automatically better and most are just as bad as the majority of American films (90% of everything is crud), but being aware of a WORLD of options can only present a movie lover with more of the best from all over instead of being limited to what U.S. production and distribution allows.
This list could change tomorrow, but here's the new list that I made up last night. The order of things isn't too concrete, but this is the order that I came up with nevertheless. As of right now.
1. Still Life
2. The Romance of Astrea and Celadon
3. Wall-E
4. A Christmas Tale
5. Gran Torino
6. La France
7. Appaloosa
8. The Flight of the Red Balloon
9. Funny Games
10. Encounters at the End of the World
And, because I've seen enough movies now to keep on listing without resorting to some movies that were only so-so, here's 11-20, all of which I find worthy, though I may have had some minor reservations about each of them. Again, the order is fluid.
11. Iron Man
12. Happy-Go-Lucky
13. The Fall
14. Tell No One
15. Shotgun Stories
16. Redbelt
17. Burn After Reading
18. Hellboy II
19. Wendy and Lucy
20. Cassandra's Dream
So far, I've seen only roughly 30% of the 100 films featured on the iW Critics Poll '08. I've seen 50% of the top 20 on the list. I suppose I've got at least around 70 more films to see before I can offer up a definitive top ten.
Eventually, too, I'm going to re-watch The Dark Knight and see if I can't stop hating it.
2 comments:
These lists are definitely more trouble than they are worth. I can't wait to see "Tell No One" and "A Christmas Tale". Any word on when they are coming to DVD? I don't think you hate "The Dark Knight" at least your immediate thoughts didn't purvey that. It's not a movie worth hating even if the fans are a little doomsday. I think we can both think of much much worse.
I've been watching all things classic lately and have been loving it. Tara is in Mississippi and the telly has been off most of the time. I hate the damn thing, unless of course it's showing a movie.
I just saw Abby's title to her blog and I wonder if she is summoning her inner Groucho? If so, bravo!
Tell No One was released on DVD a couple of weeks ago.
I have no idea about A Christmas Tale, which is too bad because I really want to see it again on DVD. It doesn't look like it will be out any time soon.
You're right. I don't hate "The Dark Knight, but I did have a strong political/moral reaction to the film that really got in the way of me enjoying it as fully as I wanted to. I still think that parts of it are brilliant (the pencil bit), but other parts also seem sloppily strewn together.
At the time that I saw it, I did grudgingly admit that it was one of the best films that I'd seen so far in 2008, but that's always a dangerous thing to say mid-year. If I had to name the best film of 2009 that I've seen so far, I'd probably have to name Madea Goes to Jail as the best film of 2009.
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