“@ari: I couldn’t help but notice the movies that were technically 2008, but didn’t get a theatrical release the same year here in U.S. (Love Exposure was released just last year). Just a heads up. And 2001 was the best year of the aughts”
Ah, but, as you know, the US ain’t the whole world. And I don’t even live in the U.S. Standardized rankings generally make use of initial release date wherever that might be. What complicates things is that some count first public screenings…
“Pretty much, yeah. I thought John Dahl’s You Kill Me handled roughly the same thing far better.”
Huh, I thought You Kill Me opened well but was fairly dreadful (and I was rooting for John Dahl). Okay, it was of the same “existential crisis of hit man” ilk but You Kill Me was so farcically plotted/characterized and generally poorly written. Say what you will but Martin McDonagh can write.
I enjoyed the films of 2008, none more than Synecdoche New York.
Waltz with Bashir was pretty close behind though.
Yeah, I’ll just go on the record and disagree with Richard Roeper in saying In Bruges was pretty mediocre. I might be the only person on the planet that feels this way but whatever. Colin Ferrell still can’t act and he still isn’t funny.
I will take The Guard though. Gleeson never fails.
2007
No Country for Old Men
Michael Clayton
Zodiac
There Will Be Blood
The Betrayal
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Margot at the Wedding
Secret Sunshine
The Diving Bell and Butterfly
The Savages
Control
The Brave One
Starting Out in the Evening
Kurt Cobain: About a Son
The Orphanage
Trumbo
Away From Her
12
Sicko
The Bourne Ultimatum
PS – I’m counting Paranoid Park and Shotgun Stories as 2008.
For me, what makes 2007 so strong are those first three films – No Country, Zodiac, and Michael Clayton. I love those movies so much – and equally. The only other year where I have that many films that I feel that strongly about is 2009, where there are actually five that I think are masterpieces – The White Ribbon, Antichrist, Where the Wild Things Are, Still Walking and City of Life and Death.
In terms of quality, not quantity, these two years are tops for me. This is not to speak badly on other years, as there are great movies from most years this decade. But these two stand out above the rest.
As for 2009:
Where the Wild Things Are
Antichrist
The White Ribbon
City of Life and Death
Still Walking
A Single Man
35 Shots of Rum
The Baader Meinhof Complex
Three Monkeys
Up in the Air
Bad Lieutenant, The: Port of Call New Orleans
Disgrace
Downloading Nancy
Summer Hours
Funny People
It Might Get Loud
Julia
The House of the Devil
Two Lovers
The Road
Somers Town
Taxidermia
Tetro
Ari, I didn’t know you don’t live here in America.
^He moved to Canada when Bush became president.
(shhh, don’t tell him Bush isn’t president anymore)
^ Good guess. I moved in 1999 with a few countries scattered in between.
@ari: well, it’s always good to see another Love Exposure fan.
Fuck it. 2008 is probably the weakest year of the aughts. A lot of movies were either uninteresting or crap. Now I realize why I had a hard time making a Top 10 list from this year…
Movies I enjoyed from 2008:
Sell Out!
Our Beloved Month of August
Still Walking
24 city
Idiots and Angels
Me and Orson Welles
Iron Man
Gomorra
Slumdog Millionaire
The Wrestler
Waltz with Bashir
Gran Torino
The Dark Knight
WALL-E
SANTINO se te olvido Un Prophète.
In retrospect, it doesn’t seem like an especially bad year:
Two Lovers
Wendy and Lucy
Gran Torino
Changling
The Hurt Locker
Frozen River
The Wrestler
Hunger
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Milk
Ponyo
Doubt
Red Cliff
The Lucky Ones
Rachel Getting Married
Synecdoche, New York
Gomorrah
Che
The Chaser
Happy-Go-Lucky
Three Monkeys
Redbelt
I’ve Loved You So Long
Revanche
Adam Resurrected
Flame and Citron
Still Walking
Lorna’s Silence
There are worse years.
Ponyo
Hurt Locker
Waltz with Bashir
Hunger
Happy Go Lucky
Let the Right One In
My Winnepeg
I Have Loved You For So Long
Gomorrah
Two Lovers
A Christmas Tale
The first 30 minutes of Wall-E
I’d take that over say, 1998 for example.
Jonas Silgalis
2008 was a good year.
Best film of the year – “Goodbye Solo”.
And great films like IL Divo, Pandora’s Box, Zift, Lemon Tree, The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner, Burn After Reading, The Wrestler, Revolutionary Road, Gran Torino, The Dark Knight, In Bruges, Let the Right One In.