I hope that all of you had a Happy Kwanza. Returning to my Favorites of 2008, it is time to take a look at the movies. I am usually on top of what's happening in movies, but this year I saw fewer than I had hoped to see. As a disclaimer, what follows is a brief list of films that I did not see in 2008 that I still want to see:
“Burn After Reading,” “Man on Wire,” “JCVD” (seriously, I heard this was really good. And it stars Jean Claude Van-Damme), “Cadillac Records” (about the greatest record label ever – Chess Records), “The Wrestler,” “Frost-Nixon,” “Milk,” Gran Torino” and “Valkyrie” (my dislike for Cruise can be overcome by my interest in the subject matter.)
OK. On to my favorites and least favorites of what I did see…
I hate to be so mainstream, but I’ve got to say it was a great year for the superhero. If I have to be honest, the two movies that I enjoyed the most this year were “The Dark Knight” and “Iron Man.”
Iron Man has long been my favorite superhero. For many years I have maintained that a well made Iron Man flick would be an intriguing superhero movie. “Iron Man” certainly delivered, largely due to the the performance and personality of Robert Downey, Jr. He had the perfect combination of having fun with the role yet also taking it seriously and committing to the role. For a full review of the film, click here.
“The Dark Knight” arrived on a wave of hype, due to the unfortunate death of Heath Ledger and the fact that it was the next Batman movie. I feel that the film delivered wonderfully and accomplished what it was trying to accomplish with this latest, darker reinvention of the Batman character. Much has been said of Ledger’s mesmerizing performance as The Joker, all of it earned. Sure the movie was a tad long, but the faults are all easily forgiven based on everything the film did right. Kudos to director Christopher Nolan for going old school on the stunts and keeping the CGI down to a minimum. The real thing still looks better than what computers can do. For a full review, click here.
I also enjoyed “Tropic Thunder,” although it had its faults. For a full review, click here.
The superhero flick that did not deliver this year was “The Incredible Hulk.” Terrible.
The worst movie that I saw this year was “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” Yes, Ford is old as dirt. But they could have dealt with that much more deftly than they did. It could have even become an asset had the script and direction been in the right hands. As good as Spielberg can be, nobody can escape badness if they are forced to collaborate with George Lucas. For a full review, click here.
Your turn. Favorite and least favorite flicks of the year?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
You know I thought Dark Knight was overrated, but I enjoyed it OK. It's interesting that Iron Man is your favorite superhero. He's awesome, don't get me wrong -- I just don't hear him named as someone's favorite very often. The movie was very good, I thought.
My three favorite movies of the year were Happy-Go-Lucky, The Wrestler and Man on Wire. Probably in that order.
Not a very strong year for movies, in my humble opinion. I still need/want to see Doubt, Milk, and ... another that escapes me at the moment.
I saw my share of movies this year. I did see both Dark Knight and Ironman - I thought Knight was better but both were good.
My favorite movie of the year? Probably Wanted. And it has nothing to do with Angelina Jolie.
I found it solid on action, different on premise and just a sit-back-and-be-entertained action flick.
I actually saw it twice - once in the theater and another time on a trans-Atlantic in-flight movie of my choice (I love business class).
My wife and I really want to see Gran Turino.
I too thought that Dark Knight was overrated. I thought Batman Begins was a better movie, though I would not be disappointed if Ledger wins the Oscar. Not out of sympathy. I really did think he was that good. I thought Iron man was great though the end was a bit weak.
I want to see Grand Torino and the Wrestler. I did see Frost Nixon the other day and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. It it is a typical for a Ron Howard movie (not much action), it is typical in that it was high a good solid 3 1/2 stars out of 4. I need to go back and look at the original tapes as I am sure much was "enhanced" for the film, but I must say that for a movie about an interview, it did a good job capturing the characters on both sides of the spectrum.
I think I agree that Iron Man and The Dark Knight were my 2 favorite movies of the year.
Other favorites included Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Changeling.
The worst movie had to be The Women.
Movies I still want to see include Tropic Thunder, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire, Doubt, Milk and Frost/Nixon.
I have a new favorite movie for 2008, although I didn't see it until 2009.
I just saw Slumdog Millionaire and loved it.
Post a Comment