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The National Movie Examiner's Official 2008 Year in Review.
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I see more 3D glasses in our future...
As Montgomery Burns said once in a Simpson's Episode: "It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times..." 2008 ended last week, meanwhile I'm still catching up on a few last films to close out the year. My final Top 10 Movies of 2008 list will be up next Monday. I swear, promise, pledge, and give you my word - by Monday my list will be completed...
But back to the best of times blurst of times - as the National Movie Examiner I had alot of fun this year. As anyone who writes daily about film will attest to it is so much more fun to write about bad movies than pucker up and smooch the booty of the movies you really really love and adore. You don't want to come off too twitterpated by a great film, so you sort of have to reserve yourself. But bad movies you can unleash all unbridled hell upon.
There were many, many more bad movies in 2008 then the really twitter-worthy ones. And it was a whole load of fun raging against these movies. (Speed Racer!) But that's neither here nor there - what is here is my 2008 Year End Review. To format my review I thought up some categories, plopped in my own individual answers for each, and generally tried to recapture last year in film the best I could.... Let's get on with it.
The National Movie Examiner's Official 2008 Year in Review:
Who Had Me At Hello: The first 30 minutes of Wall-E were divine.
Who Ended With A Bang: The last 30 minutes of Rambo. Bloodiest. Minutes. Ever.
Who Needs a Sequel: Iron Man/Wanted
The Most Uncomfortable Moment I Had in The Theater In 2008: While I didn't reach anywhere near the level of discomfort that that guy that Joseph Cialella Jr. shot in the arm during that ill-fated showing of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I did get a bit weirded out at the end of Gran Torino when Clint Eastwood's singing accompanied the final credits of the film. I didn't laugh, but alot of my fellow audience members lost it.
The Most Disturbing Movie I Saw in 2008: Funny Games is pretty much the nastiest, meanest, cruelest gawdamn movie I saw last year - or maybe even any year before it.
The Most Overrated Movie of 2008: Burn After Reading. And I'm a huge Coen fanboy. I didn't hate the flick - just didn't think it was the A-bomb everyone else on the A-list did.
The Most Underrated Movie of 2008: Fernando Meirelles' Blindness.
The Most Underrated Comic Book Movie of 2008: Hellboy 2: The Golden Army - totally eclipsed by the unstoppable Dark Knight juggernaut.
Big Dumb Fun Award: Though I had fun with Doomsday and Wanted, Jason Statham's Death Race stole my fuel-injected heart.
Best Movie That Nobody Saw: In Bruges.
Worst Movie That Everybody Saw: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Documentary of the Year: Though I dug Man on a Wire - Christopher Bell's Bigger, Faster, Stronger kicked my ass North, South, East and West. A-mazing Documentary.
Horror Movie of the Year: Nothing came even close to Juame Balaguero's [REC].
Favorite Movie Poster in 2008:.jpg)
Best Film Trailer I Saw for a Film Released in 2008: This one. And I fully accept my Honorary Red-Blooded American Dips**t Membership for picking a film trailer with both Sylvester Stallone and Drowning Pool's anthem of angst Bodies in it. But this trailer made my nipples pop off, so deal with it.
Most Forgettable Film of 2008: Shouldn't the real response to this be - Hmmmm.... Uh...? (scratching head) Let me think.... But the true answer is X-Files: I Want To Believe. And I even liked the movie.
Best Action Scene of 2008: You really can't beat that Joker semi-truck vs. Batman Batcycle scene in The Dark Knight. Though the first two races in Death Race gave it a run for its money.
Hero: Jamal Malik from Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire.
Villain: Why so serious? Hell yeah it's the Joker. Villain of the decade as far as I'm concerned.
Damsel: Cate Blanchett was positively ethereal in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
What I'd Like to See Less Of in the Future: Frank Miller the Director.
What I'd Like To See More Of in the Future: Martin McDonagh the Director. Writer/Director of In Bruges.
2008 Movie Titles That Sounded Porno: I did a whole list of them HERE.
Best Acting Performance I Saw in 2008: Colin Farrell pretty much reminded me of how simply outstanding he can be as an actor in In Bruges. Seriously. I loved Heath's Joker performance, but Farrell really, really, really wowed me.
What The Hell Were They Thinking?: Georgie and Stevie - why bring Indiana Jones out of his glass collector's case for a movie this impossibly drab?
And that's all folks. My official Top 10 List will be up starting this coming Monday.
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