10. The Duchess [My review] 9. Pineapple Express 8. WALL∙E 7. Lakeview Terrace [My review] 6. Gone Baby Gone [My review] 5. No Country for Old Men [My review] 4. City of Ember [My review] 3. Speed Racer [My review] 2. Appaloosa [My review]
The Top 10 Films of 2008
As chosen by Rich
Period costume dramas rarely hold much appeal for me, but The Duchess is a cut above your run-of-the-mill Jane Austen chick flick (not that there aren't good examples of those; I'm just not interested in them). Neither am I normally much of a fan of Keira Knightley, but with each film she makes that opinion seems to be slightly eroded. Here she completely carries this film on her slender shoulders and pulls it off completely successfully. The film it's most reminiscent of is Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette except without the anachronistic music, and it shares that film's compulsive watchability without delving into soap opera melodramatics. Using real English manor house locales as opposed to sets further enhances the authenticity and makes it look more expensive that its probably limited budget.
I've been slow to board the Judd Apatow bandwagon - I enjoyed The 40 Year Old Virgin and Superbad, but didn't think they represented a shining new wave of comedy, and I thought Knocked Up was overlong and overrated - but, finally, I can agree with the consensus on Pineapple Express. It's action-comedy of the highest order, with a particularly great turn from the sometimes wooden James Franco. As with any comedy that clearly relies on a degree of improvisation, there is the odd scene that strains for laughs or goes on too long, but these are few and far between, especially when the story properly gets underway. Commendably for a relatively low-budget comedy, it also contains some of the best action scenes of the year.
Pixar showed once again that they're really the primary driving force of originality in the American film industry with another envelope-pushing tour de force. It's a film of two halves, really: the Earth-set opening and the space-bound adventure. The former is certainly stronger, and is perhaps the best 30-40 minutes of film this year. The second half, while not by any means poor, does not quite sustain the same level of understated genius. Nevertheless it's still filled with innovation, wonderful characters (love the cleaning robot, Mo) and spectacular highlights (the zero-gravity fire extinguisher dance). Strangely, though, a second viewing slightly lowered my opinion of the film, meaning that I can't quite place it up there with Pixar's very best.
A fairly simple premise proved to be a perfect set-up for a near-masterclass in inexorably building suspense. Samuel L. Jackson is allowed one of his rare opportunities to properly unleash and he grabs it with both hands, delivering one of the best performances of the year. (Patrick Wilson and Kelly Washington are both also excellent in their less showy protagonist roles.) Sadly the film made little impact on release and Jackson's awards-worthy performance has been overlooked. For me that has been the trend of the year - many of the films I've particularly enjoyed in 2008 made little impact on their release and so have already been generally forgotten. Lakeview Terrace is a fine example of a tense, well-made thriller that deserves to be remembered.
Those dead eyes and permanently blank expression mean that Ben Affleck's various acting efforts have mostly failed to light up the screen, but behind the camera it turns out to be an entirely different story. Ben Affleck the director has a bright career ahead of him if Gone Baby Gone is anything to go by. Based on a book by Dennis "Mystic River" Lehane, this has clear echoes of the earlier Clint Eastwood effort but Gone Baby Gone is probably the better film, shorn of the distractingly grandstanding performances and concentrating on the twisty tale of a missing child. Some grumbles about the ending aside, this is a fascinating and authentic detective story.
It feels bizarre to put No Country on a list of 2008's best films, it having already won the Best Picture Oscar way back in February (the DVD can already be found in bargain bins for less than �4!). But it was released on UK screens in January, so qualifies for this list. The Coens' sparse thriller is, like Lakeview Terrace only to an even better extent, an exercise in suspense, transforming a simple plot into something hugely gripping and cinematic. It wasn't the Coens' only visit to cinemas this year either; they also gave us the broad comedy Burn After Reading. No Country is clearly for me the better film, and while they are rather different they do share at least one thing in common: abrupt and arguably unsatisfying endings. Upon watching No Country again on DVD, the negative impact of the unexpected conclusion was lessened, although I still feel that the first half of the film is more compelling.
This film caught my attention as soon as I heard of it; its industrial, post-apocalyptic theme sounded extremely interesting and precisely up my alley. The fact that it was being directed by Gil Kenan, who debuted with Monster House, meant that it was receiving a good amount of coverage before its release. Then it came out and received surprisingly poor reviews, completely disappearing from the radar soon after. The reviews even made me hesitate to see it. Eventually, see it I did, and it delivered exactly the type of experience I had been hoping for since those first rumblings appeared on the radar. All the negative reviewers must have been watching a different film, as what I saw was a wonderfully entertaining adventure story packed with imagination and flair. A great ensemble cast (including Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Toby Jones and Martin Landau) add a touch of class.
The Wachowski brothers' return to directing duties after completing the Matrix sequels was, for me, hugely exhilarating and supremely entertaining. And, of course, it completely flopped. That came as no surprise, really; the audience that the filmmakers intended to appeal to is difficult to identify. It's too long and convoluted for a kids' film, but too colourful and downright cheerful for cynical grown-ups. So it proved to be a questionable financial gamble but one I'm definitely thankful for. There's never been anything quite like Speed Racer, and, with its poor box office, probably never will be again, which is just one of the reasons I loved it. Faults can be picked, but the only one with any credence for me is the slightly excessive length - and even then, I can't really identify many scenes that deserved to get the chop. Walking in, I was uncertain that it would be for me, but I emerged as one of the select group of viewers who just got it. I thought it may be something to do with the IMAX effect, but having now watched it on DVD too, I can safely say that Speed Racer is a blast.
Basically, Appaloosa is a Western buddy movie. Therefore, you could say that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of its progenitors, but unlike the revolutionary Newman/Redford team-up, Appaloosa does not try to reinvent the genre at all. It's as straight a western as any that have been made recently, and is a fine entry in the beleaguered (yet enduring) genre. Any good buddy movie must be powered by a lively duo at its centre, and on that count Appaloosa certainly scores: Ed Harris, who also directs the film, and Viggo Mortensen play off each other brilliantly, the latter in particular again displaying his obvious, but little-noticed, talent. Other westerns recently have received more attention - last year's The Assassination of Jesse James wowed the arthouse crowd, and 3:10 to Yuma made a decent box office splash - but for me this little gem is the best Western since Open Range.
Honourable Mentions: Body of Lies,
Australia,
[REC],
Cloverfield,
The Mist, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Wanted, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, The Orphanage. Text copyright Filmverdict 2009. Any film stills are copyright of their respective owners.
Most Overrated Film: Juno
Worst Film: 10,000 B.C.