Everyone’s got their end of year lists, and RT’s editors are no exception. Below, we pick the best — or, more specifically, our favorite — films of 2008, from the controversial Twilight to audience favorites like The Dark Knight. Chime in below and tell us what you loved last year!
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Sequels can be tricky to pull off right, but Hellboy 2 doesn’t disappoint in the least. If the first Hellboy film was a representation of creator Mike Mignola’s vision, Hellboy 2 is much more Guillermo Del Toro’s piece. There’s more magic this time around, and more wonder. Hellboy was a big secret from the public in the first movie, but now he’s out on the streets, interacting with both the mundane world and a vast (yet hidden) faerie world. This leads to some serious existential questions for Hellboy, and Del Toro manages to weave those questions into an exciting fantasy adventure yarn. But don’t think its all doom and gloom; watching the Devil’s son and his half-fish best friend sing Barry Manilow may be worth the price of admission alone.
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I’m not ashamed to admit that I loved this movie. No, it’s not perfect. Yes, it lost something in the translation from the comic to the screen (Weavers!? What the…?). But so what? The movie is just too much fun to make me want to quibble over those kinds of details. James McAvoy deftly plays out a societal revenge fantasy a lot of us may have, Angelina Jolie can do sexy & dangerous in her sleep at this point, and it’s always a treat to see Morgan Freeman play a bad guy. This is movie that knows what it is; an over-the-top action flick, and that’s always appealing to me.
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It’s undeniable: Twilight was 2008’s little engine that could, surprising just about everybody with the ferocity of its fan base. Sure, it wasn’t the best film of the year, or even the best film of the year about vampires (see my other entry), but there was something irresistible about getting wrapped up in the Twilight phenomenon — its love story, the spot-on teenage angst, Robert Pattinson’s hair…vampire wire-fu notwithstanding, Edward and Bella leapt from the pages of Stephenie Meyer’s utterly addictive novels to capture the essence of Twilight, which is all the fans wanted anyhow. If only there was a cinematic event worth obsessing over like this every year. (Go Team Edward!)
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Although 2008 was the year for blood-suckers in American pop culture — Twilight, True Blood, Sarah Palin — the best and most surprising vampire story of the year was a foreign film that boasted no stars and came from the land best known for exporting Bergman and ABBA. The atmospheric, hauntingly beautiful Let the Right One In tells the story of a bullied young Swedish boy named Oskar who falls in love with his new neighbor, Eli; the catch is, Eli happens to be a lethal, 200-year-old vampire girl who needs Oskar’s friendship as much as he needs hers. Director Tomas Alfredson does a tremendous job adapting this handsome, tense, and sometimes morbidly funny film from its source novel. Make every effort to see it in theaters while you still can.
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Let’s just say 2008 was a very good year for Robert Downey, Jr. Everyone knew the man could act, and in two of the year’s finest mainstream pictures — Iron Man and Tropic Thunder — Downey’s performances took the proceedings to another level. His intelligence and loopy sense of humor went a long way toward making Iron Man one of the year’s funnest movies — thrilling in spots, with enough backstory to please fanboys, and some thoughtful political comment on the ethics of crafting the machinery of war. It’s further proof — if any were needed — that comic book movies have entered a peak era of sophistication.
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Like the French New Wave films that inspired it, Reprise is visceral and sad, sometimes at once. Insightfully written and crisply directed by Joachim Trier, this Norwegian import documents the lives of a group of twentysomethings — two of whom are on the cusp of literary prominence. While focusing on the thrill of youth, the excitement of artistic recognition, and the fragility of mental health, this is hardly a piece of hipster ennui. Stylistically daring, with a killer soundtrack and a keen eye for the complexities of friendship, this is one of the year’s most exciting discoveries.
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In Bruges is for those of us who like our humour jet black. The story is driven almost entirely by the personal journey of hit men Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), and the affection and empathy their characters generate, despite their chosen profession, is both charming and disarming. The script is witty and profane – two of my favourites; and the surrounding cast is golden (special mentions for Ralph Fiennes’ Harry and the take-no-prisoners inn-keeper). In this crazy world there is something deeply satisfying to me about a movie that clicks into place like a piece of well-assembled Ikea furniture. There is also something deeply satisfying about Colin Farrell in a great role.
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Sidney Lumet doesn’t always deliver a masterpiece but when he does, they invariably haunt you for years. This is one of his masterpieces. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead shines bright and unpleasant lights upon the weak and murky fleshy bits of humanity. This is a thriller that will have you biologically affected for the full two-hours and you’ll probably need a lie-down afterwards too. In fact I am feeling a little clammy just writing about it now. Ethan Hawke and Albert Finney give fine performances but Philip Seymour Hoffman blows it out of the water. I believe this film to be a peer of that other great, ‘people suck’ flick, Chinatown. (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead was released in Australia in 2008.)
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People have been falling over themselves to proclaim The Dark Knight an epic crime saga or the best superhero movie ever as means of legitimizing it. But how about we recognize Bat’s odyssey for what it also is: an action movie. The heaviest, most human-driven one since Terminator 2: Judgement Day. They both even open the same way, with a wall of fire slowly crashing down off the screen (T2‘s red, The Dark Knight‘s blue). Ah, pure poetry for cinepyros.
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It’s not easy to get broad slapstick (like Jack Black’s electrocution) and tender moments (Mos Def and Melonie Diaz examining lip hair) to inhabit the same living space, but Michel Gondry gets it just about right. Gondry is defiantly sentimental in Be Kind, Rewind, a true believer in movies becoming instruments uniting downtrodden souls. I can see Be Kind, Rewind‘s carefree pacing and high concept alienating audiences, but et tu, critics (who barely kept this movie above Rotten)? Gondry’s wounded innocence and fascination with play things and cinematic tricks is something worthy for the recommendation shelf, nothing to sweep beneath the welcome mat.
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Is Tropic Thunder funnier if you’re a film geek who follows the behind-the-scenes machinations of the Hollywood studio elite? Yes, but it isn’t necessary. The Stiller-directed sendup of all that is bloated and wrong in Tinseltown stands on its own as a very funny action movie, thanks in no small part to mesmerizing turns from Robert Downey Jr. (in blackface) and Tom Cruise (in a bald cap and fat suit). Ultimately, Thunder is probably only as funny as it thinks it is, but that’s still enough to provide one of the higher laugh ratios of the year and unlike quite a few of the year’s biggest films (coughDark Knightcough) it isn’t 30 minutes too long.
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Like a lot of documentary subjects, Philippe Petit is insane perhaps clinically so but unlike most, his story is just as jaw-droppingly surreal as it is beautifully uplifting. Why in the world would anyone spend months planning an act that culminates in a solo high-wire walk between two of the tallest buildings on the planet? A few reasons, really, but perhaps the main one is boundless, audacious optimism and especially given what would happen to those buildings less than three decades after Petit’s feat, the power of that optimism is a stunning, stirring sight to behold. Does James Marsh’s documentary deserve its Magnolia Films-appointed status as Rotten Tomatoes’ best-reviewed film of all time? Assuredly not, but it is one of the best ways you could spend 90 minutes this year.
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Tropic Thunder was the most fun I had watching a movie this year. From the brilliant faux trailers at the beginning, to the overblown action sequences, to the spot-on showbiz caricatures (Ben Stiller’s meathead action star, Jack Black’s chemically-influenced comedian, Robert Downey, Jr.’s extreme ‘method’ actor, and Tom Cruise showing his comedic chops as a prickly studio exec), I never felt a lull throughout the movie, and I never went more than a few minutes without erupting in laughter.
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There was no more unique a film as WALL-E in 2008. Combining the pleasant charm of a classic silent film, the flawless animation expected of Pixar, a positive underlying message of hope, and a simple love story (between robots!), there simply was no film better executed this year. With Pixar long established as the leader in animated film, WALL-E exceeded my considerable expectations. It only makes me wonder what they could possibly come up with to top this.
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Of the puddle of smaller indies, this one stood out from the fold. About a handful of Bostonians (led by a New Kid on the Block, Joey McIntyre) who put on a play in a pub, On Broadway is quietly and pragmatically about the risk of being creative, the importance of culture and the joy of beer. It’ll play you like a fiddle.
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Gabrielle Snow (Ludivine Sagnier) is forced to trade love for “appropriate” companionship and loses majorly in the bargain. No one ever comes out and says society’s arbitrary rules are tearing her apart; instead (because French Master Claude Chabrol likes to be a snarky bastard) a magician puts her in a sawing box.
