Kevin's Watch

So here we are at the end of the year. What were the best movies this year? We actually had a bumper crop of good ones, but I think there was one that stood above the others. It didn't feature a huge budget, the effects were kinda suspect, and there were virtually no stars in it.

Rambo. I sat here thinking about all the movies I've seen this year, and Rambo is the only one that has really stuck with me. It's a very simple morality tale that's short on dialog, but it's so unflinchingly, masterfully written and directed that it doesn't really matter.

Stallone knocked one out of the park with his shockingly good Rocky Balboa (and in the process turned me into a huge fan of the first film), and he followed it up with a true tour de force with a return to the John Rambo character.

Yeah, Heath Ledger did a great job in The Dark Knight, but the film, though good, doesn't really rate as "best". Sure, Robert Downey, Jr. was fantastic in Iron Man and Tropic Thunder, but was either of them "the best"? I think all three of those films were in my top 10 of the year, but just can't hold a candle to the grittiness of Rambo.

I'll probably be publically ridiculed for this, but I think Wall-E was my favorite of 2008. It had heart, it had intelligence, and had lots of artsy moments for me to hop up and down about, and I'm still singing its praises well after I have seen it.

I didn't think 2008's offerings were near as strong as 2007's. I watched a slew of movies last year, including the re-release of Blade Runner on the big screen. It's hard to pick anything, after being spoiled by No Country for Old Men, and the top-grossing movies this year was a pretty depressing list (Iron Man was good, but I don't think I could watch it twice, never mind the fact that Hancock and Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull are in the top-5).

That said, I think my two favorites aren't even out yet: Grand Tornio and The Wrestler. Clint Eastwood's proven an excellent director, and I'm excited to see his next project after watching Letters from Iwo Jima. The Wrestler is directed by Darren Aronofsky, maker of Requiem for a Dream and Pi, and supposedly has a stellar performance by Mickey Rourke.

As for me, I'd say Rambo is a solid movie, though whether or not it goes beyond "good" depends on your take on video game-style violence.

I am really looking forward to Gran Torino.

Wall-e

-jay

Cail wrote:Stallone knocked one out of the park with his shockingly good Rocky Balboa

Wow did I not like RB! After watching nothing but flashback-clips of the first movie for an hour, I fast-forwarded to the fight.

Cail wrote:(and in the process turned me into a huge fan of the first film)

I agree with this! Always loved the movie.

And yeah, Wall-e was cool!

Now that the year is nearly over, and the Christmas choices appear bleak, I'm thinking Wall-e was one of the best movies, too--even though I was the most vocal person here against it (really, I was complaining only about the hyperbole surrounding it, not the movie itself).

But my January pick still stands: Rambo. I agree with Cail, best of the year. I liked it so much, I got on DVD, and then when I got a Blu-ray player, I bought it again.

Dark Knight was much more enjoyable at home, on Blu-ray. It included the IMAX footage for wide city shots . . . these were amazing. It annoyed some people because the aspect ratio would change, but for me those shots were pure cinematic glory. Suddenly, my entire TV was full (no black bars) and the picture was literally the best I've ever seen. It makes me wish I'd made the trip to see this one on IMAX.

So, after Rambo and TDK, in no particular order:

Horton Hears a Who
Wall-e
Tropic Thunder

And now I'm scratching my head trying to think of another movie I enjoyed this year. Not just "the best," but anything at all good. Iron Man was ok. I have no desire to ever watch it again.

Does anyone know about Benjamin Button? We're thinking of making that our Christmas movie.

Tropic Thunder was good, but I felt that it didn't go far enough. I thought Step Brothers was the funniest film I've seen in years, and Role Models was pretty good as well.

But I'm not even a little ashamed to say that I have Rambo on Blu-Ray, DVD, and on my iPod.

I forgot about Step Brothers! It was hilarious. The nutsack drum scene was the best nutsack scene since Something about Mary.

Malik23 wrote:I forgot about Step Brothers! It was hilarious. The nutsack drum scene was the best nutsack scene since Something about Mary.

Malik, that's one of the most disturbing things you have ever said, and you have singlehandedly put me off from wanting to see this film

It's (probably) a prosthetic nutsack, if that helps.

I heard it was a stunt double.

I forgot to add Kung Fu Panda. That was a great movie.

Probably the best film I saw in 2008 was the Russian film Cargo 200. Brilliant, pitch-black comedy thriller. Very bleak. Excellent.

This may be my nerdocity firing in to overdrive, but I believe the best movie of '08 was Iron Man. The casting was perfect and I feel it was just overall a great movie.

I've thought about this thread for the past few days, trying to come up with what I think are the best movies of this year. The problem is, 2008 has been an off year for film, and looking back over what I saw, I can't think of anything that I really, truly liked. Iron Man seemed great when I first saw it, as did Dark Knight, but now that I've seen them a second time, they're both just blah. I thought Rocky Balboa was a good ending to the series, but only if one ignores the existence of Rocky III, IV and V.

Stallone knocked one out of the park with his shockingly good Rocky Balboa (and in the process turned me into a huge fan of the first film),

How can you not be a fan of the first film?

Frost/Nixon was the best in my book, then Wall-E, and yeah, DK was great, but not quite Oscar material (I saw it twice and still loved it just as much the second time, amazing). I didn't see the new Rambo, don't really want too. Kung Fu Panda was surprisingly awesome, Slumdog was really good, Reader was good, Revolutionary Road began in confusion and ended in cinematic greatness, Doubt was very, very good, BB opened well but ended horribly, Wrestler is near perfect as far as quality goes, but a tad boring. Milk is the only "top" film I've got to see yet.

Kate Winslet in The Reader was amazing, Then comes Wall-e which I adored.

I'll go for rambo too. Any movie that sees Sly blow up an entire forest with a claymore has to be worth the admission price.

I was pretty unenthused by most of the movies I saw in 2008.

Dark Knight was a bit spectacular in some ways but with all the hype..... i just expected more. I enjoyed the first one much more.

Kung Fu Panda was fun. I liked Spiderwick Chronicles (i like that kind of stuff). Sweeney Todd was good also ( I loved the dark gothicy feel of the movie and of course Mr Depp *drool*). I liked In Bruges (for the emotional connection I have with the place more than anything), but no one movie sort of stuck out as being the BEST for me.... and compared to previous years, I thought that the offerings were a bit poor.