The Picks for Best Flicks in 2008

Thank you, one and all, for coming to my little blog and reading up on my nerd-like moments. Movies have always been a furious passion of mine, what i like to call the last lingering effect of my youthful ADD days where I still get a little "too excited" when I talk about them. I am passionate about movies, especially ones that make this very list because I consider these elite class of film that anybody can enjoy. If you are a movie goer, who looks to find a good flick to watch, but never knows whats good anymore, maybe youll find something here, that catches your eye and if you like it as well...that is all i ever ask for is that I was able to tell someone a good choice of film to pass the time. In a time like now, where many of us stay home and are forced to save money, movies ARE the escape. They are free, they are endless and they can move us to so many different emotions. Enjoy, and feel free to come again...

10 - THE VISITOR


The Visitor sounds like a bad title for a cheesy, teen horror flick; thankfully that isn't the case. Casual, going-through-the-motions college Professor Walter Vale is a teacher traveling to New York for an academic conference he has to attend for his university. He pops up at his rarely and never used apartment in the city only to find that a couple have taken the vacancy, however silent and unbeknown. He's startled, shaken, but at the same time human as he welcomes the couple back to stay until they can find a place. The couple stays in secret due to the boyfriend, Tarek, not having an official green card to remain in the country. He plays a form of percussion, hand-drums to the sound of african music that catches Walter's inner passion. He befriends Tarek, learning to the drum skill, only long enough though before immigration catches him and tosses him into a holding cell. It is here where Walter, an everyday, college Professor that looks and acts much like a man that hates what he does, lets loose of his hold on life and unleashes the inner passion that begs to break free in all of us. A performance from Richard Jenkins that defies explanation, he's the actor you say "where have i seen him in before" but excells here as Walter perfectly. A very heart warming, and moving picture, The Visitor is a fine watch for any casual movie goer.

9 - REDBELT


A personal favorite of mine in 2008, REDBELT tells the tale of a martial arts instructor Mike Terry, who runs a karate class to teach the ultimate lesson in fighting...to protect yourself from harms way at all costs. A line he uses "there is always an escape, you must find it" from any situation. He follows a passionate moral and value in his teachings, never allowing himself to become thrusted into the Hollywood tirany of MMA competition fighting or any other sort. He remains loyal to his code, no matter how broke him and his wife go down in the process. It is only when he comes to the defense of a Hollywood hotshot who gets into a bar fight that his skills become aware to the public eye and before Mike even realizes it, he is caught up in the limelight of Hollywood attention. Chiwetel Ejiofor (another one of those "where have i seen him before" actors) drives REDBELT to the brink of absolute entertainment! He puts the movie into overdrive with one of the best peformances of the year, surely to go un noticed by most award shows. Nevertheless, the acting, the good message story telling and fine direction from acclaimed director David Mamet (Ronin, Wag the Dog) makes REDBELT a movie I would wish more people to go see.

8 - TROPIC THUNDER


I find myself saying this two years in a row now, but TT is quite possibly the funniest comedy I seen in quite awhile. Like SuperBaD last year, TT is a surprise on the list because I dont fancy comedies that much in the process of time with movies (you can only laugh at the same joke so much argument). But TT has more than a few positives going its way. A tremendous cast that amazingly was on-point for each character, even down to the hard-to-believe its Tom Cruise fat suit character! Downey Jr., is every bit as wonderful and profound to watch in TT as Heath Ledger's joker was in DK, just from a comedy's persepective instead. Stiller was actually FUNNY in a comedy, Jack Black found his range as a jokster again from playing in serious roles for awhile (the forgetable King Kong), and the list is on going with this star studden cast. The story, a parody on hollywood actors, may be taken a bit extreme, but a number of laughs and good times are in store when you watch this one...especially with friends!

7 - REVOLUTIONARY ROAD


A disturbing look into white suburbia in 1950s America. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet play the seemingly happy married couple Frank and April Wheeler. Behind closed doors and at home, they are quite not. Portraying an image to Franks fellow employees and to each of their out going friends, they are the IT couple. At home, April despises her life and begs for something different and away from the place they live, even if it means working in another country so her husband can pursue...well....whatever dreams he has of finding a dream. That's how pathetic April's life has become. Frank, on the other hand is content with remaining in his uneventful life until....well he doesn't know but he doesn't care either. The two conflicting feelings clash in several uneasy to watch marriage fights. Acted profoundly by both actors, the arguments and screaming feel real and emotionally draining. A sad dramatic tale to say the least, you feel the downer mood throughout the picture, you know it won't end happily ever after. The scene stealer of the show belongs to up and coming actor Michael Shannon who plays a character who is supposedly "sick" because he has the tendency to see through people's bullshit and tell things exactly as they are. By pointing out people's flaws and insecurities, it makes a situation uncomfortable to others yet he is "sick" for telling it how it is. A comical portrayal of how life imitates art, that to be so honest and straight forward you must be a sick individual.

6 - MILK



The most surprising flick to make it on my list I would have to say was MILK. Not because it's story centers around the first Homosexual to take a public office position in American history, but that controversial films are made like this all the time during the award season and they tend to all look and come out with the same recycled Oscar feel to it! MILK was definitely done with a different approach (don't ask me what that is, when you watch movies like these enough, you catch it okay, lol). Sean Penn, not one of my favorite actors even though he is highly respected, plays Harvey Milk to AMAZING ability. Quite possibly the best Sean Penn acting I have ever seen, and that includes Dead Man Walking and Mystic River, two movies i love very much! MILK's story is simple, the rise of the first gay man to be elected into public office, during the time Gay Rights were being faught for and faced with much scrutiny and unfortunate acts of unlawful results. A hard movie to watch, yes maybe so, but wonderful when looked at in a broader scope, seeing how far America has come to accept Homosexuals now as well as minorities in a world where not to long ago, it was White or nothing! It may be a movie about a Homosexual becoming accepted, but you can easily feel the same animosity that coloreds, spanish and indian people had to endure when they too had to go through the acceptance in white america.

5 - THE WRESTLER



The Wrestler is a one man show, and that one man is Mickey Rourke. Think of The Wrestler as a one man wrecking crew! The story is nothing too outlandish, nothing that hasn't been used before...just a lot darker. A washed up athlete, still trying to cling to the glory days of when he used to rule his sport and fans flocked to scream and chant his name. Sound familiar right, only 100 movies can go like this, but usually they are watered down with either a Disney feel-good ending, mediocre acting or some other Hollywood ingrediant you can come up with. What makes the Wrestler's story different, is that it's very dark in its telling of the story and Mickey Rourke! It's Rocky meets Million Dollar Baby minus the boxing add Mickey Rourke equals one of the best sports movies in our time! That is if you're one of those that consider wrestling a sport, but that is another topic for another time. Rourke plays "The Ram", his wrestling alias, a man whose better days are behind him, yet despite doctors warnings he continues to wrestle. This is the story of a man battered down in life, whose off the mat activities include finding solitude in the arms of an overaged stripper (played beautifully by Marissa Tomei), trying to patch up what went wrong with his daughter who despises him and playing with the neighbor kids who make him feel he is still popular in the new generation, when is anything but. Rourke has been in and out of small Hollywood films the past few years, including Sin City and Man on Fire, but you have NEVER seen him quite in this form. It isn't hard to find the similarities b/w Rourke's career path and The Ram's. Both go out with one last big bang, and deservingly so, with the incredible story that is The Wrestler!

4 - GRAN TORINO



It has been 4 years since we last seen Clint Eastwood on the silver screen (Million Dollar Baby 2004) and if rumors are true, this is his final act in front of the camera. In Gran Torino, he does the job in front and behind (directing, as usual) and does both to only Eastwood standards...perfection! Eastwood plays Walter, a Vietnam war yet who just buried his wife and now has to cope with living alone in a neighborhood where Hmong people have slowly began inhabiting over the years. He is alone and he wouldn't have it any other way. He is a man who carries much hurt and pain through his past, yet washes it away with beer, bigotry and roaring at every person that tries to welcome themselves into his life. Even a priest, whose sole purpose is to fullfill Walter's deceast wife's wish to make him go to confession. It isn't until a neighborhood Hmong Thao is forced by his cousin's Gang to try and steal Walter's vintage Gran Torino (a classic sports car) that Walter is forced to come out of his shell. The kid ashames his family by doing the deed and so must work for Walter to work off his actions. Walter wants nothing to do with the kid, but finally finds work for the boy. In the process, he helps the kid become a man, teaches him manly things to do, how to ask a girl out, work for a living, so forth. When he notices the cousin's gang keep popping up to bring the kid in, is when Walter realizes old habits die hard and must step in to help Thao. It is a crucial turning point in the movie that sends Gran Torino in a direction you don't see coming and the finale' is something to watch! Eastwood plays Walter with such aggression and sadness, two polar opposite traits to convey into one character only someone of Eastwood's magnitude can sell on screen. If this is infact his final performance in front of the camera, he went out the only way Dirty Harry knows how...making our day!!!

These next 3 movies were the hardest movies to rank from 3 to 2 to 1.
I found a perfect reason to put all of them at #1 and found no reason to put either
of the 3 as low as #3. They are fantasically, amazing moving pictures that are each
completely different than the other, which in part made it so difficult to rank.

3 - WALLE



If you scroll down the page on my blog, there is a much lengthier discussion about how and why I adore this little robot so much. I will briefly touch on it once more, as I can talk about WaaaaLLLLLLeeeEEEEeeeee for hours (lol). This Disney story encompasses so much heart and emotion, it pains me whenever I hear someone call it a "kids flick." So much goes on in Walle that I think a lot of people may have missed or not given it proper attention due to the fact it is a Disney animated movie. If you are one of those people, you are doing an injustice to yourself by not watching Walle with an open mind....but more importantly an open heart. The biggest, heart warming story of the year, Walle displays the central human emotion we of ALL AGES carry...that is the want to be loved, and that deep down inside none of us want to be alone! From the hardest, coldest person in the world you know to the sweetest good person that exists in your life, inside we all don't want to be left alone and we all want someone to love. Walle may be sold as a kids flick, and it can be one for kids, but it has so much for teens, adults and people of all ages that if you blink your eye and miss it, you will be missing one of the GREATEST MOVIES of all time! Period!

2 - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE



It's the little movie that shook the world! Slumdog crept up on Hollywood in the last couple of weeks of 2008 and now its damn near impossible not to hear someone say it's one of the best movies they've seen. And it IS!!! I wrote a discussion earlier this year talking about 2 undeniable classics being released in one year (Walle, Dark Knight), Slumdog makes it 3 and only in the process of time will 2008 be greatly appreciated. A great year in movies. Slumdog Millionaire follows the tale of a young adult Jamal on the India version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, with flashbacks going on between each question showing how he learned the answer throughout his troubled young life. To say anymore of the story gives away many surprises and unbelievable emotional chills the film sends down your spine, but it's an amazing story shot and directed wonderfully by upcoming flashy director Danny Boyle (Transpotting, 28 Years Later) who uses the new technique of handheld camera-directing to great lengths throughout the many sequences in the movie! I've always admitted I am a sucker for "good" love stories, not the chick flick easy female grab kind. It's why I stand alone saying TITANIC is still one of the greatest movies of all time, because i am a sucker for a hell of a strong "real" love story. Slumdog's isn't nearly as epic and hallowing as TITANIC's to say the least, but the one it does intail b/w Latika and Jamal, when those last 30 minutes of the film roll...it's just a great fantastic 3rd act to a movie that already solidified itself as classic potential and didn't lose it like many films tend to do by its final act!

#1

THE DARK KNIGHT

The Dark Knight! I just couldn't put another movie above this film. I even watched it recently, after seeing all these newer films in such short time and didn't want the mistake of making one #1 due to the fact I saw it last (such as how much I adored Slumdog). The Dark Knight is just an epic, monumental, no not even monumental describes it, COLOSSAL achievement in filmmaking, story telling, groundbreaking scenes and a singular awe struck performance that shakes the very core of "define acting." I'm not even going to mention Heath Ledger because everybody already knows what he brought to the Joker! Every scene of DK you felt you were in a crime-drama of extraordinary proportions, it was already fitting of a classic tale, then add that to every scene you watched The Joker in, and it was like a roaring tiger unleashed inside a movie theater, you couldn't see where it was or where it was going, but it made your heart race and excellerated your emotions with every moment. When I watched DK lastly, i realized just how many great scenes were in the movie. The opening scene with the Joker and the mobsters, depicting how their true colors are. The dinner scene and how his mannerisms were just so spot on, uncanny. The interrogation moment where the Joker and Batman pretty much layout the entire theme b/w the two characters as a whole to the audience. And of course, one of the most amazing action sequences in any movie, the Batpod and truck scene. I still get chills when I see Ledger's Joker get up and walk gingerly towards the Batpod shooting aimlessly at on going cars, screaming and mumbling HIT ME numerous times. The movie can NOT be second to none, not in 2008...one of the greatest years I've got to experience in movies!!!

The Always Enjoyable Honorable Mentions: iron man, frost/nixon, the reader, body of lies