The Wrestler

Rating: 8.5

Even though it's a traditional story, The Wrestler feels surprisingly fresh. It's a nice change to realism for director Darren "The Fountain: WTF?" Aronofsky.

Rachel Getting Married

Rating: 7

This one must be a bit of a shock to fans of the Princess Diaries and Bride Wars. Pretty raw.

Tell No One

Rating: 8

It was put perfectly by my Dad: "A thriller done only the way the French can do."

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Rating: 9

If I'd managed to see it in 2008, it probably would have made my 'best of' list.

Be that as it may, Penelope Cruz rules!!!!

Hey! A 2008 Top 10 List! Neat!

Let's get this out of the way so you can feel free to throw shoes: Gran Torino is the worst movie of 2008. There, I said it. It's just one person's opinion, I know it has a good message and all (racism is BAD!) I very much enjoyed Eastwood's Changeling this year, and liked his Iwojima movies before that. But there was just nothing true or original in Gran Torino; no characters or ideas I hadn't seen before dozens of times. That's my beef with it.


Moving on to the best:

10. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

9. The Wackness

8. Encounters at the End of the World

7. Appaloosa

6. Man on Wire (Saw this on dvd so I didn't do a post about it, but it's magnificent! Still kicking self for missing it on the big screen.)

5. Let The Right One In

4. Milk

3. Wall-E

2. The Bank Job

1. Dark Knight

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Rating: 8

Old age make-up in movies is one of my pet peeves. Why is it so hard to get right, with all the wizardry that's available? Why do actors in old age masks always look overly powdery? Benjamin Button is basically a movie of and about old age make-up, but also young age make-up, and it actually succeeds in making 40-year-olds look believably nineteen. Seems like this would be a far trickier achievement than making the young look old, but they do it and it's amazing, so there you go. And, the story is sad and beautiful.