Film Junk’s Top 10 Movies of 2008
The end of another year is upon us, and here at Film Junk, we spent huge chunk of that year watching and discussing movies. Is there really anything more to life? I can safely say that for myself personally, I saw more movies in 2008 than I ever have before. This is significant because for the first time, our top 10 lists won’t have any disclaimers about major movies that we didn’t get a chance to see.
Below you will find our Top 10 Movies of 2008, both combined and individual. The method of choosing our combined list wasn’t very scientific — if a movie was chosen by all 3 of us, it ranked higher than if it was chosen by just 2 of us. Individual rankings also factored in, as did honourable mentions. For further discussion on this list, check out Episode #200 of the Film Junk Podcast.
What were your top 10 movies of 2008?
Film Junk
1. The Wrestler
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Let The Right One In
4. Man on Wire
5. The Dark Knight
6. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
7. Snow Angels
8. Wall-E
9. Be Kind Rewind
10. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Jay
1. The Wrestler
2. Let The Right One In
3. The English Surgeon
4. Man on Wire
5. The Dark Knight
6. Slumdog Millionaire
7. Encounters at the End of the World
8. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
9. Snow Angels
10. Mister Lonely
Honourable Mentions: Young @ Heart, Standard Operating Procedure, The Ruins, Doomsday, Cloverfield, Wall-E, Be Kind Rewind, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Gran Torino
Greg
1. The Wrestler
2. Wall-E
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. It Might Get Loud
5. Man on Wire
6. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
7. Let The Right One In
8. Hellboy II
9. JCVD
10. Be Kind Rewind
Honourable Mentions: Pineapple Express, The Dark Knight, Bigger, Stronger, Faster
Sean
1. The Wrestler
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. The Dark Knight
4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
5. Snow Angels
6. Slumdog Millionaire
7. Milk
8. Be Kind Rewind
9. Let The Right One In
10.Bigger, Stronger, Faster
Honourable Mentions: The Burning Plain, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Man on Wire, Son of Rambow, Young @ Heart, Changeling, Rachel Getting Married
Comments (33)
NO love for Rachel Getting Married? Sean gets half a point for putting it in his honorable mentions, but c’mon guys.
I’m pretty surprised to see so much Slumdog on your lists.
Posted by Andrew James on December 30th, 2008I didn’t see it so I can’t say if it would’ve made my list. Just not interested enough to make the drive. Maybe I’ll download it.
Posted by Jay C. on December 30th, 2008Why are you surprised about Slumdog? It’s been showing up on quite a few Year End lists. Unless you just mean that you didn’t personally think it was Top 10-worthy.
Posted by Sean on December 30th, 2008Jay,
Thanks very much for thinking so highly of “The English Surgeon”!
Best,
Geoffrey Smith
Posted by Geoffrey Smith on December 30th, 2008Director
2007 festival releases in “–” where they’d be otherwise.
Still have not seen Doubt, Revolutionary Road, Milk, Wendy & Lucy, Frost/Nixon and a few others I really wanted to.
1. The Wrestler
2. Synecdoche New York
3. Man On Wire
4. Rachel Getting Married
5. Let the Right One In
6. Speed Racer
– Paranoid Park
7. Burn After Reading
8. The Dark Knight
9. Son Of Rambow
– 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
10. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
11. JCVD
12. Bigger Stronger Faster*
13. WALL-E
14. Kung Fu Panda
15. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
16. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
17. Cloverfield
18. Role Models
19. Step Brothers
20. Iron Man
best thing i saw in all of 2008, period, just might be The Staircase
Posted by Goon on December 30th, 2008Well I’ll certainly have to check out The Wrestler. I just watched that one about Antartica and was kind of underwhelmed by it. I guess I expected Hertzog to either be really crazy with it or do something more interesting in the end it felt kind of like a Discovery Channel doc that lost it’s focus. That said atleast it wasn’t 2 hours of penguins. That said the bit about the lone penguin going back inland was definitely a good bit.
Posted by Ian on December 30th, 2008I drove an hour and half to see the Wrestler…completely worth it…glad to see you guys agree.
Posted by Bob The Slob on December 31st, 2008Great lists! Thanks for putting up the individual and collective lists. It was a lot of fun hearing this on the live cast.
I don’t do top tens per se, partly because there is just so many great films and also I didn’t see everything. My favourite films of 2008 were (alphabetically):
Ashes of Time Redux
Continental, un film sans fusil / Continental, a Film Without Guns
JCVD
Let the Right One In / Låt den rätte komma in
Man on Wire
My Blueberry Nights
Rachel Getting Married
Son of Rambow
Twilight
Up the Yangtze
Ha. That just so happens to be ten films.
Posted by Shannon the Movie Moxie on December 31st, 2008Shannon the Movie Moxie, I completely forgot about My Blueberry Nights being released in 2008. I visited your blogs to see if I could find a review, because I’m curious why you enjoyed it when it generally got panned by everyone. I couldn’t find one.
I enjoyed the movie, but if it hadn’t been directed by Wong Kar-Wai, I don’t think I would have sat through the whole thing. I certainly wouldn’t recommend this movie to anyone except to maybe the forlorn. There’s a certain comfort in knowing there are other aimless people out there. Aimless people with whom you’ll never cross paths.
Posted by Reed Farrington on December 31st, 2008I didn’t review My Blueberry Nights, at least not yet Reed. It might just sound like be burbling with glee. I love Wong Kar-Wai films and I actually think this one is pretty accessable. The visual style, the use of colour and layering are all divine.
I also think it’s a road movie, with a female protagonist. Which is something you rarely see.
What were your top films Reed?
Posted by Shannon the Movie Moxie on December 31st, 2008Shannon, because I end up falling asleep in theaters due to a low tolerance for sitting still, I refrain from seeing movies in the year they are released. Also I don’t buy the DVDs right away when they are released. I have not seen any of the Top 10 Film Junk Movies as selected by Sean, Jay and Greg. I haven’t even seen The Dark Knight, yet. And I love the character of Batman!
I tend to see the latest Asian films because the bootlegs are easily available for cheap. You’re probably familiar with the Pacific Mall.
I liked that you listed films as your favourites rather than in a best of 2008 list. I also appreciate your listing of all the films shown in Toronto with statistics of how many you watched. Watching upwards of 340 films a year seems doable for 2009. Sounds like a New Year’s resolution to me although the outlay of $5000.00 or so seems daunting.
Right now, I’m looking at the list you compiled for the movies released in Toronto in 2008. I also searched for a list of foreign films released in 2008. I’m not going to use the word “favourite” since I didn’t see many 2008 films. So here’s an alphabetical list of the 2008 movies I saw and enjoyed:
CJ7
Good, the Bad, the Weird, The
Gran Torino
Happening, The
My Blueberry Nights
BTW, I walked out of a showing of Cloverfield in Jay’s basement.
Posted by Reed Farrington on January 1st, 2009Cloverfield….ugh!
Posted by Tomas on January 1st, 2009I’m really surprised about all the love for Man on Wire. Don’t get me wrong — it was good — but pretty far from “best of the year” in my opinion. Then again, you know what they say about opinions.. (they help form top 10 lists!)
Going to watch The Wrestler and Gran Torino tonight. I think I’ll need to sit through both of those before even thinking about putting together a top 10.
Posted by Jim Squires on January 1st, 2009Wow, interesting list Reed. The Happening? Really? Wow. I’ve liked all of Shyamalan’s work except that one. Didn’t hate it though.
I can’t believe I missed CJ7 or The Good, The Bad, The Weird!
That kinda sucks you don’t really see stuff in the theatre. I love going to the theatre!
Jim - I’m one of those that loved Man on Wire. I found it so beautiful, from not only the story it told but how it told the story. It also very adeptly captured the energy of what it is like to work on such a huge project with a group people and how it creates & changes relationships.
Posted by Shannon the Movie Moxie on January 1st, 2009I just saw The Wrestler and its pretty fucking great! Everything that was hokey is completely pulled through by Mickey Rourke. I can not believe how convincing he was. PRAISE DESERVED! MORE NEEDED TOO.
Posted by Henrik on January 1st, 2009Oh shoot, Reed….”The Happening”? lol
Posted by Tomas on January 1st, 2009Wow, that was bad!
I really liked The Happening too, but The Wrestler is better!
Posted by Henrik on January 1st, 2009My, my. Now that Henrik has praised The Wrestler to high heaven after initially expressing doubts, I’m inclined to think I’ll love it, too. (I mean, it should be enough that Jay, Sean and Greg all loved the film, but I really don’t think I share the same view with any of them. Haha.)
Henrik, if you happen to catch Gran Torino, please let me know what you think of that film.
As for The Happening, I admit Mark Wahlberg’s acting seemed out of place, but after watching the behind-the-scenes extras, I understood why he acted that way or at least why Shyamalan didn’t fire him and hire another actor. Haha. IMO, The Happening is one of the few movies where the deleted scenes are worth watching. I thought it was cool that nature was the enemy. As an allergy sufferer, I can relate to the theme.
Posted by Reed Farrington on January 2nd, 2009Wahlberg has the Dirk Diggler stigma all about him. I’m afraid it will follow him into the “Max Payne” world.
Posted by Tomas on January 2nd, 2009I think the aging is more than a novelty. Despite what a different (reversed!) situation the character lives in, you find yourself relating to him at any given age he happens to be. his mom says something like “we’re all headed in the same direction” and i think that’s one of the major points, that there is a relativity in time that transcends the physical. and on the cg and makeup…that’s really of less importance to me, after the plot and characterization. for what it’s worth, i think blanchett did really well in the hospital scenes. i think maybe knowing that it’s her playing older can create an initial suspicion that leads to a more critical opinion of the performance. i will agree with greg about their chemistry, it didn’t seem quite strong enough to drive this lifelong love. but actually, i would have to see it again to really verify that, because i can’t recall enough instances to strengthen that opinion for me.
i’m curious, did none of you see revolutionary road? i admit i didn’t listen to this whole podcast, but i noticed it wasn’t mentioned on any of the top 10 lists, and am wondering if it’s playing anywhere near you guys. personally, it would be in my top 3.
Posted by richard on January 2nd, 2009Jay gets irritated when I seem to give higher importance to the movie reviewers’ opinions in a local community paper than to his opinion. He thinks these people’s opinions are no more valid than his. At the risk of violating copyright issues, let me list the best movies of 2008 that Pulse Magazine chose. Pulse has two reviewers, so I’ll show the two lists:
Reviewer: Will Sloan
10. Encounters at the End of the World
9. Blindness
8. Young@Heart
7. Wall-E
6. JCVD
5. My Blueberry Nights
4. Funny Games
3. Ashes of Time Redux
2. Synecdoche, New York
1. The Dark Knight
Reviewer: Albert Desantis
10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
9. Rachel Getting Married
8. Battle in Seattle
7. Let the Right One In
6. Tropic Thunder
5. Young@Heart
4. In Bruges
3. Wall-E
2. The Dark Knight
1. Slumdog Millionaire
Now note the absence of The Wrestler from both lists!
Posted by Reed Farrington on January 3rd, 2009What is your point Reed? Do you like Pulse Magazine? Do you respect it? Seems to me it’s a pathetic shitrag.
Posted by Henrik on January 3rd, 2009Come on Reed, you only posted these lists because the one guy had two Wong Kar Wai films on his list… one of which technically shouldn’t count because it was a re-release!
I’ve got nothing against Pulse, but I agree with Jay that this paper is no high brow arbiter of culture. The editor is a guy who used to do a radio show at CFBU at the same time we were there.
These lists are actually pretty decent, but I am willing to bet that neither of them saw The Wrestler, because aside from the Toronto Film Festival, it was only released on December 19th and is even now playing at only one theatre in downtown Toronto.
Posted by Sean on January 3rd, 2009Can’t go wrong with The Wrestler.
Posted by Mitch on January 11th, 2009The Wrestler didn’t get nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Drama category. Granted The Pulse reviewers may not have seen The Wrestler, but the Foreign Press did see The Wrestler because Mickey Rourke got nominated and won for Best Actor in a Drama.
My point is that I find it really strange that Sean, Jay and Greg all chose The Wrestler as their favorite film. I’m not saying they’re wrong to do so. I just find it to be a strange coincidence. No wonder they’re so compatible together in the Film Junk Podcast.
I loved Mickey Rourke’s acceptance speech. He was right on to thank the dogs in his life.
Posted by Reed Farrington on January 11th, 2009Well Reed, sometimes there’s more to great filmmaking than what the Oscars and Golden Globes would have you believe. I’m not saying we’re right and they’re wrong, but with this kind of stuff there are certain types of movies that will always get nominated, and certain types of movies that will always get overlooked.
The Wrestler is just way too edgy to be nominated. However, it’s pretty cool that Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture since it was the actually the one choice that falls outside of the typical Oscar-bait crap.
Posted by Sean on January 12th, 2009Just wanted to follow-up and let everyone know that two Pulse Magazine reviewers saw The Wrestler this year and both gave it 5 out of 5 stars. So Sean was right in saying that the reviewers had not seen the film when they compiled their best of 2008 lists. (Refer to comment 21.)
Looks like St. Catharines movie reviewers (and Henrik) are in love with this film. (Yeah, I know it’s sitting at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.) Not sure if it’s still playing somewhere locally.
So why aren’t more people going to see this film? Its box-office take is “only” $23 million. Why aren’t wrestling fans going to see this movie?
Posted by Reed Farrington on March 8th, 2009If you haven’t seen it, Waltz with Bashir, is by far my favorite of 2008 and when you do see it, it will change your list.
Posted by Matt on March 26th, 2009My favorites of 2008(In no particular order)
Cloverfield
Posted by Matt K on May 20th, 2009The Dark Knight
Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk
Wall-E
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
Waltz with Bashir would definitely be on my list. As would Milk which I was surprised to see was left off these lists. Also - no one mentioned valkyrie?? That is also definitely on my list.
Posted by JackieD on June 1st, 2009Hey Jackie, Milk did make my list actually. As for Valkyrie, none of us saw it until just recently, although it probably still wouldn’t have been in anyone’s top 10.
Posted by Sean on June 1st, 2009Really?! The story itself is reason enough not to mention Cruise being “perfectly satisfactory, if not electrifying, in the leading role” (EBERT). Check out this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0×5JHtwd790
Posted by JackieD on June 2nd, 2009Not even one honorable mention for Edward Zwick’s Defiance? Easily a top five film for 2008. Great directing, amazing acting and a touching true story. This film passd under the radar, but is a must see.
Posted by m diggity on July 6th, 2009Leave a Reply