Category: Movies

Favourite films of 2008…wait, what?

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Memo to the author of this blog: it is March. Most people did this 3 months ago.

[ed: Bite me. I’ve been busy.]

I can’t keep waiting until I watch all the reportedly great movies from 2008 that I’ve not yet seen. I’ll just have to go ahead and pick my ten favourite films of last year now. The Wrestler be damned. Here you go, the top ten in alphabetical order:

  • The Brothers Bloom
  • The Dark Knight
  • Forgetting Sarah Marshall
  • Let The Right One In
  • Lion’s Den
  • Man On Wire
  • Milk
  • Slumdog Millionaire
  • Wall-E
  • Waltz With Bashir

A few like Cloverfield, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, It Might Get Loud and Pineapple Express just missed the list. And apparently all five I saw at Hot Docs were made in 2007, so none qualified for this list, though The Last Continent or Stranded: I’ve Come From A Plane That Crashed In The Mountains might have.

By the way, I don’t think Lion’s Den has made wide release yet, and I’m not sure it ever will, so keep your eyes peeled.

And, of course, a few films really disappointed me:

  • The Happening
  • Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay
  • Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
  • Quantam Of Solace
  • Tropic Thunder

Yeah, that’s right, Tropic Thunder. Maybe it was all the people talking it up, but my god did I ever dislike that movie. If you took Danny McBride out of it I’m not sure I would’ve laughed even once. And Tom Cruise…christ, that shtick was annoying. I’ll be entirely happy never to watch that again.

So…what did I miss?

"I slappa da bass."

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On Saturday Nellie wanted to see I Love You, Man (imdb | rotten tomatoes) and I needed a laugh after a long day at work, so to the AMC at Yonge & Dundas we went. Nellie has an alarming affection for both Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, and I like them both (in a pretty different way though) and love Rashida Jones. Besides, it just looked funny in the trailers, and funny was what I wanted.

Happily, we both really liked it. It was kind of in the vein of Knocked Up, I guess, except that it never lapsed into relationship cliche. The relationship between Rudd and Jones didn’t feel Hollywood, it felt pretty real. Other characters, like Segel’s and the hilarious asshole played by Jon Favreau, were sillier, but always funny. Rudd actually played it pretty straight, except for one scene (from which this post takes its title) that had me almost crying and I’m pretty sure was just Paul Rudd being Paul Rudd. Lots of other laughs through the whole movie too.

Side note: Rush featured very prominently in this film (they were actually in it). We also saw the trailer for Adventureland (imdb) and a character in the trailer has a funny bit involving “Spirit Of The Radio”…is Rush the official band of 2009? Does Geddy Lee have incriminating video of one or more studio heads? Weird.

"Please Oskar…Be me, for a little while."

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I heard a ton of buzz last year about Let The Right One In (imdb | rotten tomatoes), a Swedish movie about coming of age and, uh, vampires. I heard it referred to as the best (read: least ridiculous) vampire movie many had seen, and it was a sweet story about kids to boot, and it was also done with style. Given the near-unanimous praise it garnered (it rates a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes) there was more than a bit of outrage when it wasn’t even nominated for the best foreign language Oscar.

Even considering all the hype between the release date and when I finally watched it this morning, and the high expectations that come with it, I really liked this film. I saw one review on RT comparing it to Guillermo Del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone, and I can definitely see that. It was horror, but not in the way we’ve come to know it in North America, full of laughable cliches, improbable setups and over-the-top violence. It was tension and fantasy in mundane, dreary and dreary circumstances…you know, life.

It was certainly the most unusual vampire movie I’ve seen. It was beautifully shot. It was creepy and touching and almost cute sometimes. Highly recommended.

Evaluations

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The new Neko Case album is excellent. The new Alela Diane album is fantastic. The new Dan Auerbach album is pretty good, but the song “Heartbroken, In Disrepair” is kickass. Listen.

Watchmen (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was ok but not great. I didn’t read the comic so I can’t judge how well they translated the story, but I do know they forgot one cardinal rule: make it fit the medium. 2h43m was just too long…it’s hard to sustain interest and excitement over nearly three hours with a story that dense and jumpy.

Innis & Gunn oak-aged beer is very tasty indeed.

"I wanted the glory, I wanted the fame. I wanted the pretty girls to come up and say, 'Hi, I see that you're good at Centipede.'"

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Last night I watched The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (imdb | rotten tomatoes), a documentary about…well, Donkey Kong. And it was amazing. That 97% rating on RT isn’t an aberration, folks. This was one of the best films I’ve seen in months.

Even if you didn’t play arcade games in the 80s (I was barely old enough to, though I never played Donkey Kong) you’ll find it entertaining. You’ll be amazed at this group of men who’ve achieved some kind of stasis, not really leaving the early 80s. More than that, though, it’s a great story. Interesting people, humour (intentional or not), douche-y villains and actual suspense. This probably would have made my top ten list in 2007 if I’d seen it in the theatre.

Rent it, or find it on TV. You’ll be glad you did.

"Bonjour, Angleterre."

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

We watched Son Of Rambow (imdb | rotten tomatoes) yesterday. Cute, very funny in places (like any time Didier was on the screen, or when the lead character was told to hide in a bush) but just a bit too saccharine at times. Still, worth renting on a day when you’re in a light mood, if only to see how the religious youth of Britain were shaped by the cultural phenomenon of First Blood.

Still with camp-iconic films from 1982, I watched The Wrath Of Khan yesterday too, for about the shamwowsandth time. Still awesome, even (especially?) the badness. As I twittered yesterday:

There is nothing quite so awesome as the way Ricardo Montalban says “Ahdmeerill?!?”

Except how he turns into Space Ahab at the end.

Final thoughts on the Oscars

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Sunday night’s Oscars were the best I can remember watching. Not in terms of technical execution, but just in that they cut out the annoying parts from years past, and moved the boring categories along quickly.

I’m glad Slumdog Millionaire won. It was fun to pick a movie without knowing much about it, get blown away by it, see it become this huge sensation and then watch it win the big prize.

Not everyone liked it though. NOW magazine’s Susan B. Cole had this to say last week:

Should Slumdog take the best picture Oscar, it will be the most violent film to do so ever. And I include the two Godfather movies and The French Connection when I write that.

Laughable commentary like that (and trust me, it doesn’t stop at movie reviews) is what made me stop reading NOW. Commenters on NOW’s site (including David Topping, the firstie who called Cole out on Torontoist) have suggested that films where the bad guy kills women to make suits out of their skin, where the best supporting actor kills several people with a bolt driver or where several cops shoot each other in the head might retain the title.

Insatiable?

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I picked up three new albums yesterday when my eMusic subscription reset:

  • And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead . The Century Of Self
  • Heartless Bastards . The Mountain
  • LCD Soundsystem . 45:33

I already know the Heartless Bastards album is awesome, and the LCD Soundsystem was a no-brainer (eMusic allows a certain number of downloaded songs, and that single LCDSS song that clocks in at 45 minutes…one download). The big question is the …Trail Of Dead album. Despite their last few not-great releases, they still have enough cred built up from Madonna and Source Tags And Codes that I’ll check them out. It’s running a 72 on Metacritic right now, so I gave it a shot. One or two songs in as I write this, it seems ok so far.

I also watched some movies lately — Quantum of Solace, I’m Not There and Poor Boy’s Game — but I don’t feel like writing about them. Not sure what that means…this blog is basically 50% me writing about movies and 50% me bloviating about politics or hockey or some such. Could it be that I’m all movie-d out? For your sake, I hope not; I don’t imagine you can take much more hockeytics.

"The people have a right to know. Toddy?"

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Nellie’s out for dinner with friends, so I’ve had a quiet night on my own. I watched the newly-released director’s cut of Zodiac, which I like more every time I watch. I’m just amazed at how perfectly Fincher (and his art director) made the film look like the early 70s.

I also find Zodiac much creepier than Seven. Granted, I’ve probably watched Seven more than any other movie that didn’t involve a lightsaber, but I don’t remember ever finding it creepy…just awesome. But Zodiac usually gives me the willies.

If you haven’t seen it, then for pity’s sake, invest the 150 minutes.