My best films and albums of 2008 will come later as I don't think I'm done with all of the films I want to see that were released in the US during this calendar year and I'm going back through any albums that have a chance in hell of making it (sorry, Death Cab For Cutie you didn't make the cut seeing that you released a just above mediocre album.....so instead here are my top 10 films I have seen for the first time in 2008.
1. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson) Drainage.
2. Dance Party USA (Aaron Katz) One of the most honest and emotionally rewarding film about teenagers. I'm tired of having to defend this, but yes kids talk like this.
3. In the City of Sylvia (Jose Luis Guerin) The most cinematic film of the year.
4. Quiet City (Aaron Katz) The DIY Before Sunrise.
5. Made in USA (Jean-Luc Godard) Contains the two things Godard did not do enough of in his heyday 1. color 2. 2.35 Plus as a bonus has Jean-Pierre Leaud and Anna Karina in the leads.
6. Taking Off (Milos Forman)
I wish I would have gone seen this and Loves of a Blonde during the Forman retrospectives that played in Chicago and Columbus earlier this year.
7. Movie Movie - The Baxter's Beauties Segment (Stanley Donen)
8. Make Way For Tomorrow (Leo McCarey) Very similar to Tokyo Story- Older couple feel like a burden to their children. Came out 20 years before the Ozu film and the far superior one. I guess it pays to have the "Classic of World Cinema" reputation.
9. Sunflower (Zhang Yang)- The New York Times summed it up perfectly: "Douglas Sirk without the throw pillows"
10. Eureka (Shinji Aoyama) At 4 hours, I felt like I was on the trip with them.
Runners Up: Shadow of A Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock) and A Christmas Tale (Annaud Desplachin)
Thursday, January 1, 2009
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