Out of Focus

OOF Year-in-Review 2008: Top 10 Films of the Year

Nothing like a non-self-imposed deadline to get those Top 10 lists agoing. Somehow, I never even wound-up publishing my list for 2007, and I figure, it’s a little late now, even for me. And while 2008 is not yet complete and there are a slew of films I still plan to see over the holidays (I’m currently trying to program my annual Christmas day and weekend movie marathon, but the online sites don’t yet have all the theater schedules updated), I’m fairly confident that the 10 films I’ll mention below (and more over the next several days) will remain my choices as the best of 2008.

The process of these lists and their importance is regularly discussed, debated and derided, year-in and year-out. Everyone who considers oneself a critic, reviewer, blogger, cinephile or all-of-the-above spends plenty of time dismissing the process before tossing his/her own choices into the morass of opinions. We all know that such lists are purely subjective, and we all wholeheartedly believe that our subjective ideas are objectively truer than anyone else’s. And we’re all happy that everyone else is simply wrong.

I couldn’t have been happier to be participate in this year’s indieWIRE Critics’ Poll. On the list are several opinions I wholeheartedly respect even as I may disagree with them. To me, like every year, 2008 was anything but a poor one for film. That’s not to say that there were more or less great films this year than previous ones; just that when I truly think about the year in cinema, it is still not difficult for me to identify plenty of titles that not only have stuck with me, but were also tremendous movie-watching experiences. Culling the number of exceptional titles down to a list of 10 was as difficult as ever, and there are plenty of films that didn’t make my list, yet the experiences of seeing each of them are ones I still treasure.

While I did add a comment to my indieWIRE poll ballot, every choice I made comes with a specific reason behind its inclusion, and it is in this space now that I would like to further explain. I'll write about the near misses and other categories on the ballot some other time, but for now, you can find detail on the top 10 after the jump; click below to go directly to any individual title:

Top 10 Films of 2008

1. Synecdoche, New York
   
2. A Christmas Tale
   
3. Wendy and Lucy
   
4. Hunger
   
5. WALL*E
   
6. My Father, My Lord
   
7. In the City of Sylvia
   
8. The Secret of the Grain
   
9. Waltz With Bashir
   
10. Happy-Go-Lucky

2006 IN REVIEW PART III: THE REAL WORST

(Ahhh ... a lost classic ... an unfinished post ... but it contains my Bottom 10 of 2006, so for posterity's sake ...)

Unlike Oscar, this year I HAVEN'T seen most of the films that received the dubious dishonor of one (or several) Razzie Nominations. Even so, I'm a Razzie voter, and I know in my heart that had some of my worst films actually been listed (as opposed to needing a write-in vote) on the main ballot, they would be up there. But ... that's not what happened. Even so, I'm going to list my Bottom 10 movies of the year and also share with you my Razzies nominating ballot. While it is definitely hard to argue with many of the Razzie nominees, there still are a few films that I wish could be expunged from the collective memory of our society.

1. The Black Dahlia
2. The Nativity Story
3. Let's Go to Prison
4. Crank
5. Poseidon
6. The Night Listener
7. How to Eat Fried Worms
8. Miami Vice
9. The Da Vinci Code

OSCAR OUTRAGE? NOT SO MUCH, BUT MAYBE I'VE JUST BECOME SUPER-CYNICAL

The film industry takes a brief break from Sundance obsession to reflect once more, and for the final time, on the previous year. That's right ... awards season officially entered its third trimester this morning with the Academy Award nominations, and now all we can do is sit and wait what comes out when the envelopes finally break their water.

I'll have more thoughts later when I can process more, but my most immediate reaction is one of ... meh. I just heard the people on NBC claiming shock at the lack of Best Picture and Director nominations for Dreamgirls, and I'm personally shocked at their shock. Big deal, it won the Golden Globe. Ever since nomination voting for the Oscars closed before the Globe awards have been announced, they have often been less of a true bellweather.

And I can't say that I'm all that surprised by the nominations that cause a wee bit of personal outrage, such as Adapted Screenplay for Little Children or all the super-love for Babel. I suppose the only thing I wasn't really expecting was the Best Picture nomination for Little Miss Sunshine, and yet, I can't claim total shock by it either. All it does is keep Little Miss Sunshine in the official race for year's most overrated film with Babel.

Some final (for now) quick thoughts as we wait for the bulk of the nominations:

• OK, one other pleasant surprise? Pan's Labyrinth (my top film of the year) receiving a Best Original Screenplay nomination. I would have been incensed had it not received a Best Foreign Film nod, but it's nice to see it receive some added recognition. However, even more than screenplay, it deserved a Best Director nod for Guillermo del Toro.
  
• I have mixed feelings on the Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for Borat considering that so much of the film was improved and not actually written, even if I suppose the very nature of the creation still deserves applaud.
  
• I suppose it's wrong to say that Little Miss Sunshine was my only Best Picture surprise. I wasn't expecting Letters From Iwo Jima, even though it did receive lots of early critics awards. But that's a pleasant surprise. As far as films that seriously had a chance at the nomination, Letters at least deserved it, and ranks number three of the five for me.
  
• The Best Actress category appears to be by far the strongest and most-competitive cateogry with five tremendous performances that in any other year would be an odds-on favorite to win. With that said, Helen Mirren should be walking home with the award for The Queen this year. Of course, this category also holds a personal disappoint, as I would have loved to see Maggie Gyllenhaal receive notice for Sherrybaby.
  
• OK, one other big surprise (I guess I did have some) is Jackie Earle Haley for Little Children.
  
• I was also somewhat excited by Ryan Gosling's nod for Half Nelson. Gosling has quickly become one of the most talented, if still relatively unknown, actors working today, and his performance in this film was as strong as ever.
  
• I guess the other big surprise (wow, I'm really negating myself, no?) would be no Jack Nicholson but yes Mark Wahlberg for The Departed. Maybe I don't describe that as a shock because that's actually the way it should be, but Oscar getting something right is, often, a surprise.

More TK ....

2006 IN REVIEW PART II: THE TOP 10 -- AND THEN SOME

I actually have a lot of lists and "awards" to bestow this year, but the way I always get myself in trouble is by trying to do everything at once, and then eventually deciding it's too late to do any of it. Sure, everybody is tired of year-end lists, and most people got theirs done at the actual year-end. I'm perfectly content feeling like I have a somewhat comprehensive take on things by now: the day before the Academy announces its Oscar nominations. So there's more to come, but for the time being, I thought I would at least get this up and done.

I know everyone has been complaining about how 2006 was a bad year for film, and maybe overall it was, yet I still found myself with plenty of titles to choose from, and a few that I think will stand the test of time. The hardest thing for me, in fact, wasn't finding enough movies to fill my list, but rather determining any sort of order. Other than my top film of the year, I have a feeling that the rest of my top six or seven is relatively interchangeable, and several of those I include in "Next Best" on a given day could potentially crack that top 10.

So, without further ado: Below is the list; clicking on a title will take you to brief comments on that title (as will simply clicking on the "Continue reading ..."). The only films I included are titles which were released in New York during 2006 and were not nearly 40 years old. (Army of Shadows deserves a special and separate mention). There are also comments (after the jump) about what's missing. Other worthy notables (as well as a few other categories) will be for another post. And now ...

THE BEST FILMS OF 2006

1. Pan's Labyrinth
   
2. The Departed
   
3. Old Joy
   
4. Children of Men
   
5. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
   
6. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
   
7. The Road to Guantanamo
   
8. This Film Is Not Yet Rated
   
9. Borat
   
10. Apocalypto

NEXT BEST (in alphabetical order)

• 49 Up
  
• Fratricide
  
• Half Nelson
  
• The Heart of the Game
  
• Jesus Camp
  
• Lady Vengeance
  
• Letters From Iwo Jima
  
• Marie Antoinette
  
• The Queen
  
• Sherrybaby

WHAT'S NOT ON THE LIST
(but you might think it should be ...)