MOVIE REVIEWS- 2008 in review: Digging for diamonds
Special to THE HOOK
As I write this, I'm suffering from extreme epic fatigue. Each year, the major studios and independent distributors cram as much product as they can into "Award Season," which coincides with a year-end box office bonanza for a few commercial releases.
For critics, this means being force-fed two or three heavily hyped films a day, some of which we might have appreciated more in leaner times. A diamond shines brighter in a pile of dung than it does in a pile of diamonds.
Perhaps some critics and award voters actually have such short memories that the last ten movies they see become their top ten. For me, Milk and The Reader managed to stand out from the clutter, but I would have been more impressed with Frost/Nixon in May, The Wrestler in July, and Revolutionary Road in September. (Australia and Valkyrie would have been disappointments in any month.)
Each year, a few decent films fall by the wayside because their distributors roll the dice at awards time in hopes of getting enough nominations and Ten Best listings to raise their profile. When that doesn't happen, the films, which might have had a decent run against less "prestige" competition, go directly to video. Even nominations don't always help when everything else in the marketplace has them too.
This seemed like a pretty decent year as it went along, with just enough good to near-great films each month to keep me from sending that letter of resignation I always keep handy; but when it came time to compile the year-end list, I was surprised at how little enthusiasm I had for most of my favorites. Perhaps if there'd been time to watch some of them again– but the year-end logjam doesn't let us see everything once, let alone twice, plus there's the fatigue factor.
Although reviewing is a subjective art form, there's always a certain amount of objectivity involved too. That's supposed to go by the wayside for this column, which is just about what gave me the most pleasure, dammit! But sometimes I listen to the other voices in my head.
I had no trouble ranking Iron Man ahead of The Dark Knight, which faltered significantly in its last half-hour, but without time to re-watch Leatherheads– for which I was almost alone in my admiration– I let the prevailing wisdom push it from my Top Ten to Second Ten. I still clung to a few others that aren't on everybody's lists, letting my taste for dark comedy place Burn after Reading and In Bruges near the top of my list.
My choices for Best Actress and Best Director have to be modified for at least one of the critics' groups I belong to, because we can vote for only one person for one film in each slot, and it was their double whammies that propelled Kate Winslet and Clint Eastwood to the top (although Winslet's a close second for The Reader anyway).
Some of these titles will be unfamiliar to you because they haven't opened here yet, others because they came and went quickly or bypassed us entirely. All are worth seeking out.
Top Ten:
1. Milk
2. The Reader
3. Burn after Reading
4. In Bruges
5. American Teen
6. Slumdog Millionaire
7. Vicki Cristina Barcelona
8. Iron Man
9. Revolutionary Road
10. The Wackness
Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically):
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Edge of Heaven
Frost/Nixon
Gran Torino
Leatherheads
Son of Rambow
Tropic Thunder
Wanted
Best Foreign-Language Film: The Edge of Heaven
Runners-up: Jellyfish, Priceless
Best Documentary Feature: American Teen
Runners-up: Body of War, Up the Yangtze
Best Animated Film: WALL•E
Runners-up: Kung Fu Panda, Bolt
Best Cult Film: Repo! The Genetic Opera
Runners-up: The Signal, Zombie Strippers
Best Director: Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino & Changeling
Runners-up: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire; Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road
Best Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader & Revolutionary Road
Runners-up: Meryl Streep, Doubt; Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Best Actor: Sean Penn, Milk
Runners-up: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler; Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, Vicki Cristina Barcelona
Runners-up: Viola Davis, Doubt; Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Runners-up: Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder; Josh Brolin, Milk
Best Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Runners-up: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Burn after Reading; Woody Allen, Vicki Cristina Barcelona
Best Adapted Screenplay: David Hare, The Reader
Runners-up: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire; Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon
Breakout Actor, Senior Division: Richard Jenkins, The Visitor and Burn after Reading
Breakout Actress, Senior Division: Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Breakout Actor, Junior Division: Brandon Walters, Australia
Runners-up: David Kross, The Reader; Andrew Garfield, Boy A
Breakout Actress, Junior Division: Summer Bishil, Towelhead
Runner-up: India Ennenga, The Women
Rediscovery: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Runner-up: Barry Manilow on soundtracks of Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, and a song in Rachel Getting Married
Name-checked: Bob Fosse in High School Musical 3: Senior Year and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Runner-up: Dermot Mulroney in Burn after Reading and The Other End of the Line
Onward and Upward: Shia LaBeouf, Eagle Eye and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Backward Step: Michael Cera, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
ROFLMAO: Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Hamlet 2, Tropic Thunder
Pleasant Surprises: Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, Sex Drive, Get Smart, Twilight
Unpleasant Surprises: Mamma Mia!, Speed Racer, Hancock, Miracle at St. Anna
Remake This!: The Women, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Prom Night
Worst. Bond. Ever.: Quantum of Solace
Best Soundtrack from a Bad Movie: My Blueberry Nights
Best Cinematography in a Bad Movie: The Fall
The Day I Least Want to Relive: August 18, when screenings of Hounddog and Towelhead taught me more about adolescent female sexuality than I ever wanted to know
And the next time you envy the great job I have, remember I had to sit through the following:
Bottom Ten:
1. The Love Guru
2. Max Payne
3. Cover
4. Disaster Movie
5. Fool's Gold
6. Bottle Shock
7. Meet Dave
8. The Ruins
9. Meet the Spartans
10. Hell Ride
Dishonorable Mention (listed alphabetically):
Babylon A.D.
Bangkok Dangerous
88 Minutes
Elegy
Four Christmases
The Last Mistress
Made of Honor
My Blueberry Nights
Synecdoche, New York
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
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