Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Frost/Nixon My Best Film of the Year




Here are my 20 favorite films of 2008. This is different than the original list which I posted in December, and it is very similar to the list I sent for the Film Comment Reader's Survey. As always, I post without commentary:


1. Frost/Nixon

2. Taxi to the Dark Side (doc)

3. The Edge of Heaven (Germany/Turkey)

4. The Flight of the Red Balloon (France/Taiwan)

5. Slumdog Millionaire (UK)

6. The Wrestler

7. Doubt

8. In Bruges

9. Elegy

10. The Visitor

11. Milk

12. Gran Torino

13. The Dark Knight

14. The Last Mistress (France)

15. Paranoid Park

16. Let the Right One In (Sweden)

17. Tell No One (France)

18. Man on Wire (doc)

19. Vicky Christina Barcelona

20. Takva: Fear of God (Turkey)*

*-Released in Turkey in 2006. Not released theatrically in US, but is available on dvd

3 comments:

Harvey said...

Did you see "Synecdoche, New York" ?

It's the best movie I never want to see again. And I mean that in a good way.

Although I'll probably end up giving it a second spin. It's closer to a dream than any film I can remember, short of Bunuel, without obvious surrealism (save for a house that burns for decades but remains habitable). It's lots of vivid strands you just can't get a solid grip on.

And call me crazy but I liked two violent wanks -- "Burn After Reading" was minor Coens but surprising and merciless. "RocknRolla," too. I'm easy, but Thandie Newton's little dance was one of my favorite cinematic moments of the year.

Anonymous said...

"wanks"? Are you British-born, Harvey? And by "Shepherd", do you actually mean that you tend sheep?

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed "Slumdog" - which I saw on my birthday - but I must concede that those dismissing the film as "poverty porn" have a point. Years ago, I described BLACKHAWK DOWN as "war porn". I just picked up MAN ON WIRE at the library. Saw it in release, but, lol...fell asleep!