2008 Films in Review

[grahams]

Another great year for film..  Trying to pick my favorites this year might have even been harder than in 2007.

To reinforce my tradition of not placing importance of one film over another in each category, I decided to alphabetize the lists this year.  

• Top 10 Films of 2008 (in Alphabetical Order):
  
  • In Bruges
    
  • Let the Right One In
    
  • Milk
    
  • Slumdog Millionaire
    
  • The Bank Job
    
  • The Dark Knight
    
  • The Reader
    
  • The Visitor
    
  • Time Crimes
    
  • WALL-E
    
• Bottom 4 films of 2008:
  
  • Cloverfield
    
  • Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
    
  • Speed Racer
    
  • Waltz With Bashir
    
• Best Remake/Reworking: Be Kind Rewind
  
• Most Unnecessary Remake/Reworking: The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) - I admittedly haven't seen it, but that's just because I consider it to be so unnecessary...
  
• Best Director: Christopher Nolan in The Dark Knight
  
• Best Actress: Kate Winslet in The Reader
  
• Best Actor: Richard Jenkins in The Visitor
  
• Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams in Doubt
  
• Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
  
• Best Ensemble: Doubt
  
• Best Original Screenplay: In Bruges
  
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Frost/Nixon
  
• Best Cinematography: Milk
  
• Best Soundtrack: Slumdog Millionaire
  
• Most Alarming Cinematic Trend: Repeating last year, "Remakes going 3 or 4 levels deep..."
  
• Most Memorable Lines:
  
  • Let the Right One In:
    
    • Oskar: How old are you? 
      
    • Eli: Twelve... more or less. 
      
    • Eli: What about you? 
      
    • Oskar: Twelve years, eight months and nine days. What do you mean, "more or less"? 
      
    • Oskar: When's your birthday? 
      
    • Eli: I don't know. 
      
  • The Dark Knight:
    
    • Salvatore Maroni: From one professional to another, if you're trying to scare somebody, pick a better spot. From this height, the fall wouldn't kill me. 
      
    • Batman: I'm counting on it. 
      
• Best Documentary (tie):
  
  • Encounters at the End of the World
    
  • Man on Wire
• Least shitty Darren Aronofsky film of all time: The Wrestler
  
• Best use of Special Effects in a lame movie: Speed Racer
  
• Best Interviews in a Documentary: Encounters at the End of the World
  
• Films I feel guilty for missing:
  
  • Frozen River
  • Rachael Getting Married
    
• Films I don't feel guilty for missing:
  
  • Day of the Dead (2008)
    
  • The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)