We're reaching the half way point in '08. My list of films that I'd consider for a top films list is pretty sparse: Young At Heart, The Visitor, The Band's Visit (maybe my favorite so far this year), and maybe Days of Darkness which is yet to open in the US. That's it. By this time last year I had about 10 films worth listing, including Once, Waitress, Away from Her, After the Wedding, and The Lives of Others.

Of course spring is the time when they dump their dross into the multiplexes, but even the art houses have been pretty mediocre this year.

I don't think it's the writers' strike, because the stuff coming out this year was already in the can by that time. I beginning to think of this year as a bit of a drag.

Cloverfield, Redbelt, Roman de gare, The Visitor, Wall*E—not a bad start if you ask me.

See the titles in my signature here, and I'm finding a few gems here and there. But I had to go looking for them... they weren't necessarily in theaters.

Alas, Cloverfield is the only film anybody has mentioned so far in this thread that I have seen ... and I'm not sure it would make my own list. (Well, there is U2 3D as well, but it's a concert film and thus in its own category; whether you like it will probably depend on whether you're a fan of the band, etc.)

The one film EVERYbody has mentioned so far is The Visitor, which I've kind of been dreading, but I guess I'll have to at least check it out.

Darrel Manson wrote:
: . . . maybe Days of Darkness which is yet to open in the US.

Y'know, I THINK this film might have played Vancouver theatres already. But if it did, I missed it. Oh well, the DVD comes out next week ...

Nathaniel wrote:
: . . . Wall*E . . .

You've seen it already?

I sat next to Greg. Afterwards he turned to me and said, "I think I'm going to be in the minority on this one."

What, no Iron Man?

Jeffrey: So your list is to be regarded as best films you've seen in 2008, rather than 2008 releases? Heading South is from 2005. All the others on your list have been released theatrically this year in the U.S., I think.

The best film I've seen is Silent Light, but it's not been released theatrically, so, looking over what has been released this year...

Films I've liked: Cassandra's Dream (2007, but not in D.C. until 2008), Be Kind Rewind, Meet the Browns, Speed Racer, The Business of Being Born

Best Actress: Evan Rachel Wood, The Life Before Her Eyes, Catinca Untaru, The Fall

Best Actor: Colin Farrell, Cassandra's Dream

Best Director: The Wachowskis for Speed Racer, Tarsem Singh for The Fall

I suppose I could add some festival films: Captain Abu Raed and Noodle

Tell No One opens next month, but it's really a couple years old, already out on DVD in Europe and UK I think.

Christian wrote:
: Jeffrey: So your list is to be regarded as best films you've seen in 2008, rather than 2008 releases? Heading South is from 2005. All the others on your list have been released theatrically this year in the U.S., I think.

FWIW, Munyurangabo also played a variety of festivals in 2007, but I don't think it has had a "release" anywhere yet -- by which I mean a solid week of screenings multiple times a day, etc.

: The best film I've seen is Silent Light, but it's not been released theatrically . . .

This, too, is a film that played festivals in 2007. And by my standards, it least, it HAS had a theatrical "release", inasmuch as it played for at least a solid week with multiple showings per day at a theatre here in Vancouver, and presumably in other arthouse theatres in other cities too.

: Films I've liked: Cassandra's Dream (2007, but not in D.C. until 2008) . . .

This film just may be the first Woody Allen movie that has NEVER played in Vancouver theatres ... and now it's out on DVD ... so while I currently have no idea whether I would like it or not, I do find myself wondering if it should "count" for the purposes of compiling my own list ...

: . . . Be Kind Rewind, Meet the Browns, Speed Racer, The Business of Being Born

Yay, there are two titles in that list that I have actually seen! But none of the other films that you mention. Sigh, I don't get out like I used to ... although a number of the films you mention haven't gotten here either ...

I mean, those are the best films I've seen in '08, and, with trembling delight, I'll now add WALL-E to that list.



Greg Wright would disagree. He went in to see it without any particular enthusiasm for the band, and came out a fan.

I think this has been a typical year: a lot of junk at the multiplexes, with a few diamonds in the rough. Not a lot of films at the arthouses that I've been interested in, but I've enjoyed the ones I've seen.

I would put In Bruges, The Bank Job, The Visitor, Flight of the Red Balloon, Speed Racer, Redbelt, Be Kind Rewind, and Planet B-Boy at the top of my list so far. Iron Man, Shine a Light, U23D, and Cloverfield were quite enjoyable as well.

I am waiting ever-so-patiently for Wall-E. Only a few more days...

The Visitor and Flight of the Red Balloon are the only two that will for sure be on my end of the year list so far, but U23D and Cassandra's Dream will end up on it too.

Crow reminds me about Shine a Light, which should be on my list. It gets my vote for best cinematography, although Hou's film is a close runner-up in that category.

I agree with Darrel that this has not been a stellar year thus far.

This year's theatrical releases (that I've seen) with notable achievements: How She Move, U2 3D, 4 Months, The Counterfeiters, Horton, CJ7, Snow Angels, Young @ Heart, The Visitor, Forbidden Kingdom, S.O.P., Graduation, The Fall, Surfwise, War Inc., Lord Save Us From Your Followers, Reprise, Mongol, WALL-E.

Of this group, though, relatively few I thoroughly enjoyed: Snow Angels, Young @ Heart, The Visitor, Forbidden Kingdom, Surfwise, War Inc., Lord Save Us, Reprise

And only two that I think will stick in my mind as really excellent films of their type: Surfwise and War Inc.

Oops! Signficant omission: Iron Man in all three categories.

Greg Wright wrote:
: And only two that I think will stick in my mind . . .
: Oops! Signficant omission . . .

Sticks in your mind, eh?

Ha! Very little actually sticks in my mind. I actually have to go through lists of what I've seen to jog my memory!

I haven't noticed it being a notably good year for movies overall... although I recently blogged that for family entertainment 2008 has been an improvement on recent years.

I wish Snow Angels would hurry up and make it to DVD. I missed it during my season of frantic writing to meet a deadline. I'm interviewing David Gordon Green on Friday and I feel bad that I've missed it.

Wish I'd liked Snow Angels more than I did. Tonally, it was problematic, but showed that Green does have a nose for screen comedy -- if only given the right vehicle for it. I think The Pineapple Express probably is that vehicle, and therefore, if Jeffrey's interview is about that film, Snow Angels would be well worth his while, messy though it is.

I had forgotten about that one. It's on my list, too.

I haven't seen a lot of films so far this year, but have been very fortunate with what I have seen. The first two are pretty much guaranteed to end up on my year end list. Each of the first three I chose to see twice in the theatre, which is pretty rare for me.

1 Silent Light
2 In Bruges
3 U2 3D
4 Redbelt
5 The Visitor
6 Son of Rambow (goes weak when it gets too plotty, but initially a superb film)
7 Bella (uneven, but what I liked, I liked)
8 Ben X
9 The Band's Visit

Actually, that's a pretty nice little list for June.