My Year in Film: 2008 (Volume One, Issue One)

As with my Top 10 music list, this is a repost. I've made a few more changes to this one, though. Particularly, I've clarified my thoughts on Gran Torino.


So, without further adieu, my top-ten films of 2008 are:

1. Che – Fantastic. The first half of the film was the best cinema I’ve seen since There Will Be Blood. The second half was a bit of a disappointment (compared to how incredibly perfect the first half was), but I still can’t decide if that’s a bad thing. After all, the first half of the film illustrated the Cuban Revolution and Guevara’s success as a military leader, while the second half is about his failure and eventual execution in Bolivia. For its sheer grandness in scale and vision, Soderbergh deserved a nomination for Best Director. This film should have won Best Picture. Oh wait, it wasn’t even nominated. What the fuck, Oscar?

2. JCVD – The closest “second place” possible. I almost put JCVD first, and maybe it should be. It’s certainly the most entertaining film I’ve seen in a long time – more than any of the “big studio” films that came out this year, certainly. Should have won Best Foreign Film at the Oscars, if not Best Picture, as well. Oh wait, like the film above, it wasn’t even nominated.

3. Vicky Christina Barcelona – Woody Allen’s best film since Small Time Crooks. Better than Match Point. Way better than anything else he’s done this decade (except maybe for Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, which I haven’t seen). Barcelona depends upon the performances of its lead actors. Bardem is fantastic, and Scarlett Johansson is pretty and confused, like her character is supposed to be. Rebecca Hall, who plays Vicky, delivers an even better performance than Johansson. And then there’s Penelope Cruz. OmigodPenelope. What can I say? Beautiful, manic, crazy - an amazing performance.

4. Slumdog Millionaire – So what if it’s derivative? So what if it is basically a bunch of clichés? Danny Boyle pulls it all off without any of the (rather unsurprising) plot points seeming tired. And how ‘bout that Dev Patel? What a guy. The soundtrack was pretty cool too.

5. Waltz With Bashir – Not as amazing as all the reviews led me to believe, but still very affecting. It’s a documentary about the 1982 Lebanon-Israeli war. More specifically, it’s about the director’s experience as an Israeli soldier who witnessed (and it could be argued was complicit in) the Sabra and Shatila massacre of Palestinian refugees. Rather than simply document his travels and interviews on film, the director (Ari Folman) animates the stories that are told. Every time a “character” tells his story, the audience sees the memories interpreted through flash animation. I was constantly reminded that even though I was watching a “documentary” and the people talking were supposedly telling “true stories,” everything was colored by the perspective of the person being interviewed.

6. WALL-E – Ahh! Global Warming! The first half or so, the part that was almost entirely devoid of dialogue, was great. This is a children’s film? Oh yeah.

7. W. – Imperfect, just like its subject. Josh Brolin’s performance was marvelous, though. He didn’t attempt to “play” Bush; he created a character that was informed by Bush’s personality and actions, and then made a new, and yet very similar, person.

8. Gran Torino – I recently re-watched A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More. As I watched Clint Eastwood's seminal performances in these two films, I kept thinking back to his most recent film. Seen in contrast to the "bad boy" persona with which Eastwood established himself in Hollywood, I began to appreciate his characterization in Torino even more. I don’t care what people say about some of the other performances (and many of them were bad – the Priest? Blech.), Gran Torino was just Clint bein’ Clint. Part "The Man With No Name" and part "The Thoughtful Director of Such Films As..." Eastwood married his two personas - the badass and the auteur - into one character. And I'll see a movie like that any day.

9. Milk – Not as great as everyone seems to think. I was actually a little disappointed in Sean Penn’s performance. It was certainly good, and from everything I’ve seen and read a very good impersonation of Harvey Milk, but it just seemed so… routine. Don’t get me wrong, I liked his performance, I just wasn’t wowed. I thought Brolin, who was fantastic, upstaged Penn. What a year Brolin had, huh?

10. Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D – The second most fun I had at the movies all year (behind JCVD). Tyrannosaurs! Lava! Brendan Fraser! God I love 3D movies. Almost as much as I love Brendan Fraser.

Honorable Mention:

Iron Man – Robert Downey, Jr made this film (I mean that in the metaphorical sense, not that he actually directed it or anything).

Tropic Thunder – Robert Downey, Jr also made this film (once again, metaphorical). Also, I think this may be my favorite Matthew McConaughey performance ever. And Tom Cruise was pretty funny, too.

Pineapple Express – What can I say? Made me want to get high. One might say it was highlarious. Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Most Overrated:

The Wrestler – Mickey Rourke gave a good performance, but the film itself is pretty terrible. The camerawork is lazy, it just looks bad, and none of the other performances are inspired or even good. Also, it pisses me off to see Rourke get all the accolades for a really personal, honest, and brave performance when Jean Claude Van Damme did the same fucking thing (and did it better) with JCVD. Too bad there isn’t a big studio pushing Van Damme’s performance, or maybe he’d be winning the Oscar tonight. Props to Marisa Tomei for looking damn good, though.

Burn After Reading – Oh surprise! The Coen brothers made another overrated movie! Pardon me, I’ll be watching Fargo, or O Brother, Where Art Thou?, or Lebowski again, and remembering how good they used to be.

Wish I’d Seen Them Because They’d Probably Be on My List Somewhere:

Man On Wire
Ballast
Revolutionary Road
Synecdoche, New York
Changeling
A Girl Cut In Two

And Finally – The Most Overrated, Ridiculously Popular and Critically Acclaimed, I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-The-Second-Highest-Grossing-Film-In-American-History:

The Dark Knight – Okay, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this movie. I really did. I had fun. But it was A) too long and B) pretty amateurishly directed for an action movie and C) not the best superhero movie of the last decade (*cough* Spider-Man 2 *cough*) and D) was so frustratingly and insanely popular! The one thing that Oscar got right this year was not nominating TDK for Best Picture or Best Director. Yes, Heath Ledger’s performance was phenomenal. But that was the only phenomenal thing about the movie.

So there’ya have it. My quickly-put-together thoughts on the year 2008 in movies. Hopefully now that the writer’s strike is well behind us, we’ll start seeing an upswing in the general quality of movies. Though if the first quarter of 2009 is any measure, that’s too much to ask.

Oh, and before I go:

Best Male Actor – Benicio del Toro OR Jean Claude Van Damme. I can’t choose between the two. Del Toro for his sheer brilliance in recreating Mr Ernesto, and Van Damme for an incredibly personal and moving performance. Too bad neither of them are even nominated.

Best Female Actor – Penelope Fucking Cruz. See my above comments on Vicky Christina Barcelona. And she won an Oscar this year. So - see! I agree with the Academy on one thing!

My Year in Music: 2008 (Volume One, Issue One)

A repost of the top ten list I published on Facebook a while back, but with a couple new additions. McNally - you were right. Justice's studio album was '07, so that's off the list.


Top ten lists always seem sort of arbitrary, especially in the world of music. Every year there are innumerable albums, EPs, and mixtapes released that it is virtually impossible to catalogue all of them. To write a top ten list that somehow "sums up" the world of music for the past year is a Gordian knot, if I've ever seen one.

That being said, I have attempted to make a list that represents the best of several of the popular genres, although my particular interests (cough hip hop cough ) are certainly apparent.

Without further ado:

1. The Roots – Rising Down: Poignant. Interesting. Relevant. A near-perfect album. ?uestlove and Black Thought are certainly on a roll of late. Game Theory was a near-classic, and Rising Down reaches even higher points. Better than Do You Want More?!!!??!. Nearly as good as Things Fall Apart. "Criminal" is one helluva song.

2. Oasis – Dig Out Your Soul: What Eric said, basically. "Waiting for the Rapture" is so fucking rockin.

3. Portishead - Third: Eerie and mysterious and ethereal and haunting. It's impossible to describe this album in anything but synonyms. I've listened to it half a dozen times now and I still don't have any idea what it's about. But the orchestration and instrumentation is incredible. Get back to me in a month and maybe I'll know what the songs are about. "Silence" and "Threads" are perhaps the best opening and closing tracks of any album this year.

4. David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today: I didn't discover this album until after Wheeler and Kasmiskie sung its praises. It's pop music at its very best. "Home" and "Life is Long" are personal favorites, but the best song on the album is certainly "Everything That Happens."

5. B.B. King – One Kind Favor: Certainly not B.B. King's best material ever, but it's pretty damn good. I think it is his most consistent studio album. "See That My Grave is Kept Clean" and the triumvirate of "Blues Before Sunrise," "Midnight Blues," and "Backwater Blues" are reflective, groovy, and oh so bluesy.

6. The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age of the Understatement: Epic. The title track is this year's best single, and also this year's best music video.

7. T.O.B.I.A.S. – Magyver: The West Coast is back. T.O.B.I.A.S. stands for "Takin' Out Bustas in a Second," and his debut album is just like this MC's hyperbolic name: tongue-in-cheek and surprisingly original. Also incredibly well produced for an underground self-published album.

8. TV On the Radio – Dear Science: I'm not familiar enough with TV On the Radio's previous work to give any sort of intelligent blurb about this album. All I can say is that I enjoyed it. A lot.

9. Q-Tip – The Renaissance: After nearly a decade, Tip's back with a new album. Considering how long this was in coming, it should have been an industrious, meticulously crafted effort. But it wasn't. The Renaissance is fresh, interesting, and nearly as fun to listen to as a Tribe album. But Q-Tip alone is no Tribe Called Quest, as much as he'd like to think so. The Renaissance is good, but it's not flawless. There is no strong through-line, and many of the songs sound interchangeable, though with different lyrics. But twelve new Tip tracks are always welcome.

10. Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak: I originally thought that 808s was Kanye's worst album. I was wrong. It's his second worst album (behind Late Registration). But Kanye's second worst album is still pretty damn good, and for every bad song on his new effort, there's a song like "Robocop" and "Heartless." The dude cut the album in like three weeks and it should have been a halfhearted, predictable effort. But it was just the opposite. And as much as I hate the auto-tuner, Kanye uses it better than anyone.

11. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular: God this is a great album. One of the best (if not the best) side ones this year. "Weekend Wars," "The Youth," "Electric Feel," and "Kids" all blend perfectly together. In fact, like 808s, the album is better than the sum of its parts. Each track is so complimentary to the next. It's reminiscent of - but not beholden to - Britpop before its downfall, and yet MGMT is decidedly modern. If Justice, Blur, The Gorillaz, and Radiohead had a wild orgy, MGMT might pop out nine months later. Or something like that.

12. Beck – Modern Guilt: Nothing on this album can compare to the catchiness of "Girl," but Beck continues to make great music, Scientology notwithstanding.

13. The Streets – Everything is Borrowed: A return to form. No Grand Don't Come for Free but way better than Hardest Way.

14. Lil’ Wayne – Tha Carter III: Lil' Wayne only makes the list on the strength of the mixtapes he produced between Tha Carter II and this latest effort. I'm getting really tired of hearing Lil' Wayne on every cookie cutter T Pain, Akon [insert crappy "rapper" here] single. Weezy can be an incredible MC. His flow is wicked. He also makes songs like "A Milli." I may give up on the man if his next album isn't far better.

15. The Cool Kids – The Bake Sale: A good debut. The Cool Kids have perfected a spare, minimalist sound that is at once reminiscent of 80s hip hop and a modern efficiency. What remains to be seen is if they can go anywhere from here.

16. Dizzee Rascal - Maths + English: I only put this last because I'm not very familiar with the Rascal. I haven't heard his first album, which I hear is better than this one. Maths is silly, scatological, and like any good hip hop album, has a track entitled "Suk My Dick."

So, that's it. My top ten(ish) albums of the year. It's certainly not all-encompassing; I hear Vampire Weekend and Lucinda Williams both had great albums, but I never listened to them. Plush finally released Fed in wide-distribution, but I didn't hear that, either. Girl Talk's latest disappointed. T.I. had an album that was alright, but just alright. Snoop was Snoop -- if only "Sensual Seduction" had been that instead of "Sexual Eruption," and if only he had made more songs like that for Ego Trippin'. Nas has further proven his irrelevance, but Illmatic is still fucking awesome.

If anyone is looking for a book to read, I fervently suggest The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. It's the best Science Fiction novel of all time. And the novel's protagonist is one of the best characters ever written. Check it out. Andrew McNally did, and he claims to have loved it. I dunno... you'll have to talk to him about that. But yeah. Great stuff.