Jake's 2008 Movie Rundown

So it’s that time of year again [cutting it pretty close too]. Here’s my favorites of the year. It’s largely the same as most other best of lists you’ll read this year, but O’Malley bugs me to write these things and it’s not like it’s hard or anything. I’m trying something a bit different this year. Instead of writing up every fucking thing in every fucking category, I’m just going to present my lists and then go through my 10 favorite things in the movies in 2008. As usual, I am not a film critic so I haven’t seen a bunch of shit that seems to be making people’s lists lie The Reader, Frozen River, or The Visitor. I also missed a couple movies I really wanted to see like Synecdoche, New York. And these are just my opinions. I don’t try to objectively say “this is best.” It’s more of a favorites list. Anyway, here’s the rundown…

Nudity Award
Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler.
Honorable mention to Jason Segel’s hilarious nude scene Forgetting Sarah Marshall: “I’m sorry, what would you like me to wear while you dump me?”

Most Ungodly Depressing
2. Revolutionary Road
1. The Wrestler

Production Design
Donald Graham Burt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Music
James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer, The Dark Knight

Song
“The Wrestler” Bruce Springsteen from [duh] The Wrestler
And is such a perfect song for that movie so here are the lyrics…

Have you ever seen a one trick pony in the field so happy and free
If you've ever seen a one trick pony then you've seen me
Have you ever seen a one legged dog makin' his way down the street
If you've ever seen a one legged dog then you've seen me

(Then you've seen me) I come and stand at every door
(Then you've seen me) I always leave with less than I had before
(Then you've seen me) but I can make you smile when the blood it hits the floor
Tell me friend can you ask for anything more
Tell me can you ask for anything more

Have you ever seen a scarecrow filled with nothing but dust and weeds
If you've ever seen that scarecrow then you've seen me
Have you ever seen a one armed man punchin' at nothing but the breeze
If you've ever seen a one armed man then you've seen me

(Then you've seen me) I come and stand at every door
(Then you've seen me) I always leave with less than I had before
(Then you've seen me) but I can make you smile when the blood it hits the floor
Tell me friend can you ask for anything more
Tell me can you ask for anything more

These thigns that have comforted me I drive away
This place that is my home I cannot stay
My only faith is in the broken bones and bruises I display

Have you ever seen a one legged man tryin' to dance his way free
If you've ever seen a one legged man then you've seen me

Adapted Screenplay
5. Dustin Lance Black, Milk (based on actual events)
4. Eric Roth and Robin Swicord, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (based on a novella by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
3. Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Arthur Marcum, Matthew Holloway, and (uncredited) John August, Iron Man (Tony Stark/Iron Man and other characters created by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber, Don Heck, and Jack Kirby, Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger created by Dennis O’Neill and Luke McDonnel, James Rhodes created by David Michelinie and Bob Layton)
2. Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon (based on his play)
1. Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan, and David S. Goyer, The Dark Knight (Bruce Wayne/Batman, the Joker and other characters created by Bob Kane & Bill Finger)

Original Screenplay
5. Robert D. Siegel, The Wrestler
4. Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Burn After Reading
3. Jim Reardon, Andrew Stanton, and Pete Docter, Wall-E
2. Woody Allen, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
1. Martin McDonagh, In Bruges

Supporting Actress
5. Ahney Her, Gran Torino
4. Kelly MacDonald, Choke
3. Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
2. Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
1. Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Supporting Actor
5. James Franco, Milk
4. Brad Pitt, Burn After Reading
3. Josh Brolin, Milk
2. James Franco, Pineapple Express
1. Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
That’s right, a double dose of Franco.

Actress
5. Rebecca Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
4. Meryl Streep, Doubt
3. Frances McDormand, Burn After Reading
2. Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road
1. Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married

Actor
5. Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road
4. Robert Downey Jr, Iron Man
3. Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
2. Sean Penn, Milk
1. Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Director
5. Darren Aronofsky, The Wrestler
4. Gus Van Sant, Milk
3. Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
2. Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
1. David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Movie – My Top 20. Because Top Ten is for pussies.
20. JCVD
19. Rachel Getting Married
18. Let the Right One In
17. Pineapple Express
16. Tropic Thunder
15. Gran Torino
14. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
13. Rocknrolla
12. Slumdog Millionaire
11. In Bruges
10. Frost/Nixon
9. Burn After Reading
8. Revolutionary Road
7. Man on Wire
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
5. Iron Man
4. The Wrestler
3. Milk
2. The Dark Knight
1. Wall-E

MY 10 FAVORITE THINGS AT THE MOVIES THIS YEAR
10. Guy Ritchie is Back in Action
So about ten years ago a young Londoner burst onto the scene with an awesome gangster movie called Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Snatch followed soon thereafter. Not just the movie, but literally as well: he married Madonna. He admitted that he had a crush on Madonna growing up and then he got to marry her. If you think about it, that’s kind of creepy. Of course I had a huge crush on Kelly Bundy growing up and if I could marry Christina Applegate… well, okay the no-tit thing freaks me out. I know that makes me a shallow horrible human being, but I got to be honest. Of course I think she’s married anyway or something so it’s all very irrelevant. Anyway I’ve strayed horribly off track here. Back on topic. So after his nuptials, his first movie was a remake of Lina Wertmüller’s Swept Away starring… Madonna. It was universally reviled. Later he directed a Kabbalah-based gangster movie called Revolver. No one saw it and of those that did few liked it [I actually liked it for the record]. It was a film directed at a very narrow audience. Meanwhile Madonna had a couple of her more successful albums in recent years. Now I don’t want to throw around words like succubus… but it seems obvious to me that she was draining him of his talent and success. In 2008, they divorced. Guy releases Rocknrolla. It rocks. It rolls. It rages back to the awesome style he became famous for. It’s good to have Guy back. UPDATE: Since I wrote that a few weeks ago, Madonna’s new beau Alex Rodriguez has been exposed for taking steroids. COINCIDENCE?
9. Stallone and Eastwood Go Back to the Well
Sylvester Stallone will always be John Rambo. Clint Eastwood will always be Harry Callahan. In 2008, Stallone played Rambo once more. Eastwood didn’t play Dirty Harry again, but did something even more interesting. But first Stallone. He had success in 2006 by bringing back Rocky Balboa. For John Rambo, he kicked that shit up a notch. As awesome as Rambo was in First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II, [let’s try to forget him helping the Taliban in Rambo III] 2008’s Rambo is crazy violent sublime awesomeness. It’s two hours of Rambo shooting some bad guys. Eastwood takes a different path. It had been rumored that Eastwood’s new film Gran Torino would be a new Dirty Harry movie. Eastwood denied it since he’s almost two decades past the detective’s mandatory retirement age of the San Francisco Police Department. Instead he’s playing the same type of character he got famous playing. The hardass who can take care of business. But instead of the types of Bronson-esque revenge movie you might expect it ends up being much more thoughtful than that. Clint Eastwood has said that it is his last acting role (though he did say that after Million Dollar Baby as well). If it does turn out to be true, than it is the perfect swan song for an amazing career.
8. 1998 Brad Pitt in a 2008 Movie
In 2008 we lost Stan Winston, maybe the greatest visual effects man to work in cinema. He was not involved in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button whatsoever but I just can’t talk about visual effects without mentioning him. But the visual effects in that movies are fucking phenomenal. Brad Pitt’s last scene in that movie is weird to watch. Now Brad Pitt has held up very well in his 40s, but he does look his age. His face has the character of age. His last scene in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button looks like it was ripped strait out of Thelma and Louise. Cate Blanchett’s earlier scenes are just as amazing. We’ve been seeing people made to look older for decades but we can make people look younger now. That’s crazy, man.
7. Someone Tightrope-Walked Between the Towers of the World Trade Center in the 1970s and I’m Only Learning About This NOW?!?!?
There’s very little to say about this that isn’t said right above. It’s an amazing story of personal triumph. There’s not one single mention of the events of September 11th, 2001 in the entire movie. But what the movie is implicitly about is that any asshole can knock something down but true creative accomplishment is a testament to what the human race can really achieve.
6. Trash, Glorious Trash!
Doomsday. Hell Ride. Death Race. Sukiyaki Western Django. None of these movies belong on my list of the year’s best movies. But they are all fucking fun to watch. I love me some artsy movies, but I also dig movies that completely just try to throw as much awesome shit at the screen as possible and see what sticks. I have a friend who hated Doomsday because it felt like several different movies Frankensteined together to him. That’s precisely what I loved about it. 28 Days Later, Excalibur, Mad Max, and a shitload of other moves thrown in a fucking blender and run through a projector. What’s not to love. Yes it’s retarded trash but it’s fucking great. Death Race just about removed everything that made the original [Death Race 2000] so clever and countercultural and guts it in favor of more car crashed and blood and guts. And it fucking works. If plot holes bug you, skip it. If you like seeing shit blow up, see it. Hell Ride = booze, broads, bikes, & bullets. What else do you need? And how exactly do I explain Sukiyaki Western Django? It’s a Japanese Spaghetti Western in English with an all-Japanese cast [except Quentin Tarantino]. Spaghetti Western of course were based on Japanese samurai films which were based on American westerns. So it’s a Japanese reinterpretation of a Italian version of a Japanese story form inspired by American movies. In 2007 Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino tried to make old-fashioned exploitation films in Grindhouse. These films are exactly the types of movies they were imitating.
5. Revolutionary Road: Jack and Rose Part 2…
Titanic is not the greatest movie in the world. It is also not a steaming pile of shit. It’s a very entertaining romance with a fucking awesome boat sinking. That’s it. But it’s also one of the biggest movies ever. That was 12 years ago and in those subsequent twelve years Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet have become two of the best actors of their generation. The Departed, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and a shitload of others. In the past decade they have gone from matinee idols to full-on perennial award contenders. In Revolutionary Road they both show how far they’ve come.
4. Charlie Chaplin in Robot Form
So Wall-E is in my humble opinion the greatest movie of 2008. And one of the most amazing things about it is that nary a word is spoken for the first half of the movie. A couple years I fell in love with the movies of Charlie Chaplin. Buster keaton was a better physical comedian but Chaplin’s movies were greater. They’re so much more than simple slapstick comedy. He a loveable underdog who is often in unfortunate circumstances who makes the best of things and by the of the movie things have worked out for him. Sound familiar? Being influenced by the best is certainly not a new thing for Pixar but I’m so glad that they’re brought back that simple kind of magic to the cinemas. I’m not calling for a silent film renaissance or anything (although that would be kind of cool) but I’m all for a greater Chaplin influence on Hollywood.
3. JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME CAN ACT!!!
Holy shit! I mean holy shit! After Maximum Risk and The Quest and Street Fighter and Sudden Death Jean-Claude Van Damme has turned in an amazing performance in JCVD! He gives that kind of fearless performance that often yields amazing results! He plays of course the role he was born to play: Jean-Claude Van Damme! In the middle of the movie, Van Damme literally rises above the action of the hostage situation gone wrong plot of the movie and details the very real hardships of his life! It’s a truly great moment of a truly great performance from someone who no one expected! As I’m sure you’ve noticed by now the past several sentences have ended with exclamation points! That’s because when it comes to Jean-Claude Van Damme, periods don’t cut it!
2. The Marvel Universe Brought to the Big Screen
Go through the archives and look up my post from 23 May 2008, after I saw Iron Man. That pretty much says it all.
1. The Dark Knight – A New High Water Mark for Comic Book Movies
This goes so far beyond being the best comic book adaptation ever. It’s inspired by Heat, which when pressed to pick a favorite movie is the one I always end up picking. Look at the interrogation scene. If you forget that one guy is dressed as Batman and one guy is dressed in makeup, you have what the movie really is. An epic battle for the soul of a city. And the city is, of course, a microcosm of our world. Bad shit happens. But you need to maintain a code. And that’s what Batman is about. Walking the right path in a world that is ready to give a shit. Proving you’re better than some psychopath’s opinion of humanity. You ever see Adam West tackle issues like that? Didn’t think so.

Anyway the Oscars are tonight. My opinions. For what nominees I think should win, just check the above lists. What I think WILL win (and I totally could be wrong): Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle, Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Heath Ledger, and Penelope Cruz. So we'll see in a few hours how close I came.

See y’all next year…

So yeah…