All posts in Movies

2008 Movie Wrap-up

I don’t expect to see anything else this year to break into the top ten, so that leaves us with:

1. The Fountain
2. Brothers Bloom
3. Blade Runner
4. The Dark Knight
5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
6. There Will Be Blood
7. Batman Begins
8. Justice League: New Frontier
9. Moulin Rouge!
10. Ghostbusters

And for the movies that were released in 2008, there’s a list for that as well:

1. Brothers Bloom
2. The Dark Knight
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
4. Justice League: New Frontier
5. Slumdog Millionaire
6. JCVD
7. Zack & Miri Make a Porno
8. Wanted
9. Hancock
10. WALL-E

A Blooming Porno

Brothers Bloom and Zack & Miri topped my list at Fantastic Fest. Brothers Bloom is a perfect movie which I fell head over heels in love with. Rian Johnson has now made two of my favorite all time movies.

Zack & Miri is probably the most consistently funny Kevin Smith movie, if not the most clever or geeky. It isn’t just a good Kevin Smith movie, it is a good *movie* in its own right.

1. The Fountain
2. Brothers Bloom
3. Blade Runner
4. The Dark Knight
5. There Will Be Blood
6. Batman Begins
7. Ghostbusters
8. Barton Fink
9. Old Boy
10. Zack & Miri Make a Porno

Fantastic Fest 2008 Top Ten

A running tally of my Fantastic Fest faves.

1. Brothers Bloom
2. Zack & Miri Make a Porno
3. Not Quite Hollywood
4. JCVD
5. Astropia
6. Repo! – The Genetic Opera
7. Sauna
8. The Good The Bad The Weird
9. The Burrowers
10. The Substitute
11. Fanboys
12. Short Films of Nacho Vigalondo
13. Chocolate
14. Kingz
15. Let the Right One In
16. RocknRolla
17. Eagle Eye
18. The Chaser
19. Tokyo!
20. Role Models
21. Santos
22. Your Name Here
23. Fears of the Dark
24. City of Ember
25. Seventh Moon
26. Terra
27. Deadgirl
28. Alien Raiders

Baby I’ve got to prove it

This guy on the right is Scott. He graciously allowed my friends and I to invade his boat at Marina del Rey. Scott makes movies. It would behoove you to get to know him while he is still an indie filmmaker. See what is up at Sirena Studios.

As you can tell from the pictures, it is impossible for us not to document our activities to the rest of the world via Twitter and digital photos.

That was a good time. Chilling on a boat, drinking beer, talking movies and games.

The Dark Knight

Anyone who doesn’t like this movie is not to be trusted, as they are most likely a cyborg sent from the future to kill you.

1. The Fountain
2. Blade Runner
3. The Dark Knight
4. There Will Be Blood
5. Batman Begins
6. Ghostbusters
7. Barton Fink
8. Old Boy
9. Wanted
10. Hancock

Wanted

2 parts Matrix. 1 part Fight Club. 10 shades of badass.

It ends with an urgent question which I encourage everyone to ask themselves.

1. The Fountain
2. Blade Runner
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Batman Begins
5. Ghostbusters
6. Barton Fink
7. Old Boy
8. Wanted
9. Hancock
10. WALL-E

Hancock

I have not been so surprised by a film since Fight Club. Hancock is about superheroes the way that Fight Club is about punching. This impression should of course be taken with a grain of salt as the film really spoke to me on some other level. Your mileage may vary.

1. The Fountain
2. Blade Runner
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Batman Begins
5. Ghostbusters
6. Barton Fink
7. Old Boy
8. Hancock
9. WALL-E
10. CQ

WALL-E

Perfect! The Macintosh sound clip for WALL-E’s recharge cycle sealed the deal. Even the end credits were amazing.

1. The Fountain
2. Blade Runner
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Batman Begins
5. Ghostbusters
6. Barton Fink
7. Old Boy
8. WALL-E
9. CQ
10. Iron Man

How could I forget?

Someone on the GeeksOn forum reminded me that I had watched CQ a few weeks ago. I failed to meticulously record it here. Anyone who enjoys watching Jeremy Davies do that Jeremy Davies thing should check out “CQ”. He does it for the *whole movie*! Go into it knowing nothing about the movie for maximum potency.

1. The Fountain
2. Blade Runner
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Batman Begins
5. Ghostbusters
6. Barton Fink
7. Old Boy
8. CQ
9. Iron Man
10. The Fall

The Fall

Tarsem’s “The Cell” was a gorgeous but irreparably flawed film. I gave him a second chance with his latest work, “The Fall.” It evoked the delightful and self-aware storytelling of The Princess Bride and combined it with a palette of color and cinematography you might see in an Ang Lee film. The little girl seemed to have wandered in from a Guillermo del Toro movie and was awkwardly wonderful. Apparently, Lee Pace (Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies) is best suited to surreal projects and he really shone here. Now I will definitely have to go back and revisit Pushing Daisies.

1. The Fountain
2. Blade Runner
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Batman Begins
5. Ghostbusters
6. Barton Fink
7. Old Boy
8. Iron Man
9. The Fall
10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull