Monday, January 5, 2009

THE EXTENDED LIST

I have so many reviews to finish it's a joke. The last two weeks of 2008 brought on a deluge of new movies, both in the theater and on DVD. I will have lots of new stuff coming up over the next few weeks. I count four more films from 2008 that I have to see before I am ready to call it quits for the year: GRAN TORINO (this weekend), THE WRESTLER (this weekend or next), REVOLUTIONARY ROAD (three more weeks, should be a nice way to cap the year off), and DEFIANCE (two weeks). Here's the complete list of what I've seen this year, from best (favorite) to worst (least favorite), broken up into groups of 10.

Tarsem’s THE FALL (****)
David Fincher’s THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (****)
Danny Boyle’s SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (****)
Thomas Alfredson’s LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (****)
Christopher Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT (****)
Andrew Stanton’s WALL*E (****)
Charlie Kaufman’s SYNECDOCHE, NY (****)
Joel & Ethan Coen’s BURN AFTER READING (****)
James Marsh’s MAN ON WIRE (****)
Jonathan Demme’s RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (****)

David Gordon Green’s SNOW ANGELS (****)
Martin McDonagh’s IN BRUGES (****)
Werner Herzog’s ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD (****)
David Gordon Green’s PINEAPPLE EXPRESS (****)
Ben Stiller’s TROPIC THUNDER (****)
Mike Leigh’s HAPPY-GO-LUCKY (****)
Clint Eastwood’s CHANGELING (****)
Matt Reeves’ CLOVERFIELD (****)
Marc Forster’s QUANTUM OF SOLACE (****)
Martin Scorsese’s SHINE A LIGHT (****)

Stephen Daldry’s THE READER (****)
Alan Ball’s TOWELHEAD (****)
John Patrick Shanley’s DOUBT (****)
Roger Donaldson’s THE BANK JOB (****)
Stephen Walker’s YOUNG @ HEART (****)
Kurt Kuenne's DEAR ZACHARY: A LETTER TO A SON ABOUT HIS FATHER (****)
Kimberly Peirce’s STOP-LOSS (****)
Jay Roach’s RECOUNT (****)
Tom McCarthy’s THE VISITOR (****)
Chris Bell’s BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER (****)

Ridley Scott’s BODY OF LIES (***1/2)
Peter Berg’s HANCOCK (***1/2)
Bryan Singer’s VALKYRIE (***1/2)
Ron Howard’s FROST/NIXON (***1/2)
Gus Van Sant’s MILK (***1/2)
Kevin Smith’s ZACK & MIRI MAKE A PORNO (***1/2)
Gus Van Sant’s PARANOID PARK (***1/2)
Jon Favreau’s IRON MAN (***1/2)
Steven Spielberg’s INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL (***1/2)
Timur Bekmembatov’s WANTED (***1/2)

Adam Brooks’ DEFINITELY, MAYBE (***1/2)
Nanette Burnstein’s AMERICAN TEEN (***1/2)
Woody Allen’s CASSANDRA’S DREAM (***1/2)
Baltasar Kormakur’s JAR CITY (***1/2)
Brad Andersen’s TRANSSIBERIAN (***1/2)
Errol Morris’ STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (***1/2)
Jose Padhilla’s ELITE SQUAD (***1/2)
Olivier Assayas’ BOARDING GATE (***1/2)
Jeffrey Nachmanoff’s TRAITOR (***)
Baz Lurhman’s AUSTRALIA (***)

Oliver Stone’s W (***)
D.J. Caruso’s EAGLE EYE (***)
Bharart Nalluri’s MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY (***)
David Mamet’s REDBELT (***)
Louis Letterier’s THE INCREDIBLE HULK (***)
Michael Patrick King’s SEX AND THE CITY (***)
Ira Sach’s MARRIED LIFE (***)
Guillermo Del Toro’s HELLBOY 2 (***)
Nick Stoller’s FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL (***)
Hammer & Tongs’ SON OF RAMBOW (***)

David Koepp’s GHOST TOWN (***)
Anne Fletcher’s 27 DRESSES (***)
Zak Penn’s THE GRAND (***)
Chris Carter’s THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE (**1/2)
David Wain’s ROLE MODELS (**1/2)
Sly Stallone’s RAMBO (**1/2)
Mark Osbourne’s KUNG FU PANDA (**1/2)
Mitchell Lichenstein’s TEETH (**1/2)
Noam Murro’s SMART PEOPLE (**1/2)
Doug Liman’s JUMPER (**)

Steve Conrad’s THE PROMOTION (**)
Fred Wolf’s THE HOUSE BUNNY (**)
Kent Alterman’s SEMI-PRO (**)
Pete Travis’ VANTAGE POINT (**)
Michael McCullers’ BABY MAMA (**)
Peter Segal’s GET SMART (*1/2)
M. Night Shymalan’s THE HAPPENING (ZERO)

7 comments:

Joel said...

Saw "Gran Torino" Saturday. Really excellent stuff. Hope you like it. The three you have left to review I will be renting next summer.

I have reviews of the remaining four-star gems (the hauntingly resonant "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which was ultimately the best of 2008 and one of the best of the decade, the life-affirming and refreshingly vital "Slumdog Millionaire," the surprisingly realistic and tough "Marley & Me," and the powerful "Gran Torino"...there, I reviewed them already :P). The non-four starrers can wait. Keep watch.

Wayne said...

I've still got quite a few things to see here.

Saw "Frost/Nixon" the other day and very much enjoyed it. I saw the play on Broadway, and felt this was a completely successful adaptation.

I enjoyed "Slumdog", but my girlfriend and I must be the only two people on Earth who think it's the most overrated movie since "Juno"

Actionman said...

Joel -- you're not gonna check out Revolutionary Road or The Wrestler or Defiance? Glad you enjoyed Torino. It seems to be provoking interesting responses around the internet so I'm pretty interested at this point...

Wayne -- I agree with you that Slumdog is on the verge of becoming overrated, but I think it's a helluva lot better than Juno. I found the filmmaking to be so super-charged that I was able to look past the more overtly sentimental aspects of the story.

Wayne said...

Oh, i agree. Way, way, waaaaay better than "Juno."

I"m not doggin' "Slumbog". I think Danny Boyle's direction, the score, and the cinematography were all "A" level work.

Actionman said...

Me too. The film is old-fashioned at it's core, made new and fresh by Boyle's technique.

I take it you've yet to see Button...?

Wayne said...

Yep, still on the list. I've never been this far behind on the must-sees....it's on the list after "Milk" and "The Wrestler"

Actionman said...

Can't wait to see The Wrestler.

Milk was solid.