It is usually easy for me to acknowledge when a movie is good, and when a movie is bad, and it's rare that I like the latter in spite of itself. I am not someone who is super into guilty pleasure films-I don't like them, I don't really understand the appeal. I don't watch a lot of reality television or some of the shows on MTV or Disney Channel that Millennials dote upon nostalgically as if the world began-and-ended with
Boy Meets World or
iCarly. But something happens in 2008 that I cannot deny, and that for some reason a specific film franchise got its claws into me in a way no other franchise really has that is clearly not of quality. While I have a penchant for the
Pirates of the Caribbean or
Harry Potter movies, there's more artistic merit in select entries in these series that even their critics would acknowledge. But in 2008, I was going through a rough time (just a year removed from college), navigating the toughest breakup of my life & feeling really lost...and as a result the
Twilight movies/books came to call for me in a way that I can't quite explain. I'm aware they're bad, I'm aware they are not great films, and I'm aware that liking them incurs some judgment (correctly). But these are my ballots, and even after revisiting them, the
Twilight films, particularly the first one, are such a part of my cinematic DNA (and the one guilty pleasure I still totally go after) that you're going to see them on this list. We're revisiting the films of 2008 (see below for my Oscar contests) in categories even I question a little bit, but we all have our weak points, and I'm not going to hide my love for them just to save face-these are honestly who would be on "my ballot" of favorite films of these years, and so I have to confess my "Team Edward" bonafides.
A Christmas Tale
The Class
The Dark Knight
In Bruges
Milk
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Tropic Thunder
Twilight
WALL-E
Gold: I'm going to start with WALL-E as the Best Picture, which is also potentially my favorite Pixar film, period. A gorgeous ode to environmentalism, love, & our role in the world, it is the high-water mark of Pixar's first(?) renaissance.
Silver: The Dark Knight is the best comic book movie. There, I said it, and I don't care if that sometimes makes me feel like a fanboy-a terrific cast, a brilliantly executed script (except the last twenty minutes), and a dark twist on the Batman motif (that would inform dozens of lesser movies in the years that followed).
Bronze: I told you I have a soft spot for it. I'm aware that In Bruges or Milk should get this spot, but if we're just going with the movies I genuinely love the most, this would be Twilight.
Arnaud Desplechin (A Christmas Tale)
Martin McDonagh (In Bruges)
Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight)
Andrew Stanton (WALL-E)
Gus van Sant (Milk)
Gold: I'm going to flip the script a bit here & give it to Nolan. I feel like this is the film that combines both his best intentions (the ticking clock narrative, the complex lead hero, the brilliant villain) without indulging his worse tendencies (an overlong story, underwritten female characters). As a result, you get a truly compelling popcorn flick.
Silver: Close behind him is Stanton. WALL-E is a moving film, one that only works if it connects with both the children in the audience & the adults on the same level. Stanton's sturdy hand makes sure that it doesn't get lost in the second half, and doesn't forget the danger of WALL-E's story (that this overrun earth could become reality).
Bronze: Martin McDonagh, like Chris Nolan, is occasionally his film's own worst enemy. This isn't the case for In Bruges, though, which is brilliant, laugh-out-loud funny with a quick, bleak noir element to it as the film unfolds (certainly his best movie).
Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road)
Colin Farrell (In Bruges)
Jonathan Krisch (Revanche)
Robert Pattinson (Twilight)
Sean Penn (Milk)
Gold: Colin Farrell is, in general, an underrated & underused actor. Initially dismissed as a pretty boy who couldn't lead a film, his latter career has shown depth & range, and he brings a humanity to this hapless gun-for-hire that I don't know if any other actor could've pulled off.
Silver: Sean Penn since 2008 has been unable to capture some of the magic he had during his heyday (in many ways actors like Christian Bale have taken that mojo from him). But 2008 proved why he was considered "best of his generation" at one point, fully embodying the cheerful, tragic tale of Harvey Milk.
Bronze: Leonardo DiCaprio wasn't quite at the height of the "give Leo an Oscar" phase which kind of derailed him for me a bit in terms of loving what he was bringing to the screen (it became too bait-y). This is him better used-he is so good at playing weaker men (I mean that as a compliment-it's a tough role to balance), ones brought down by circumstance & bad decisions.
Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)
Melissa Leo (Frozen River)
Kristin Scott Thomas (I've Love You So Long)
Kate Winslet (The Reader)
Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road)
Gold: This is a slight shift from what I would've said at the time (though not from my OVP-check out links at the bottom of the page), but I'm going to give this to Melissa Leo, who does a remarkable job of playing a woman whose life was in a standstill, and then feels the rush of purpose that comes with working for a higher cause.
Silver: Of the Winslets, I favor The Reader ever so slightly. The movie is romantic but only from behind, and she does a great job of humanizing a bitter character, someone that other people might have played for easier sympathy points.
Bronze: Close behind her, though, is her work in Revolutionary Road (I'm breaking Oscar rules here & nominating her twice), as she continues her 2000's streak of playing complicated women in broken relationships, giving each one their own specific shading.
Josh Brolin (Milk)
Robert Downey, Jr. (Tropic Thunder)
Ralph Fiennes (In Bruges)
Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
Brad Pitt (Burn After Reading)
Gold: In a homerun year for this category (this is the last time I would argue that my Supporting Actor lineup is the best acting slate of the four), Heath Ledger gives a performance-for-the-ages as the Joker, a villain without origin, only adding to his mystique because we don't know where he's come from to get to this state of madness.
Silver: Ralph Fiennes' comedic chops in the years since (with movies like Grand Budapest Hotel) have been well-documented, but in 2004 you'd be forgiven for not knowing he had this kind of blunt, foul-mouthed crime boss in him. A riot.
Bronze: Milk gives Josh Brolin his best work-to-date as Dan White, a man who is not just the villain of the story, but a character that is totally at-a-loss as to why he's the villain. Brolin gives a human face to homophobia & prejudice by picking the guy-next-door, the guy who you not only don't suspect of being the bad guy, but who doesn't see the hatred lurking beneath his surface himself.
Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Viola Davis (Doubt)
Catherine Deneuve (A Christmas Tale)
Ursula Strauss (Revanche)
Debra Winger (Rachel Getting Married)
Gold: Few actors have done more with a supporting nomination at the Oscars in recent memory than Viola Davis. While she's become an acting icon in the years since, this performance, as a mother who knows just enough to make her motives unclear, still stands out as the best work of her career.
Silver: Penelope Cruz at the height of her renaissance, she plays Maria Elena as a live wire, someone full of chaotic energy, but also as someone who is thinking, plotting...you might see what emotions she's feeling, but you can't tell her next move. A multi-dimensional scene-stealer.
Bronze: Deneuve gets handed a brilliant late-career role in A Christmas Tale (a matriarch battling cancer), but the woman who was the face of French cinema in the 1960's doesn't play roles the way that are most conventional, giving a sublime restraint & coolness to her Junon.
A Christmas Tale
The Class
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Gold: Arnaud Desplechin goes into one of the most familiar tropes in cinema (the unhappy family at Christmas), and turns it on its head. Every plot point you expect to go one way rolls into something original, but never where it feels like you're on a roller coaster-an elegant, brilliant story of what binds us.
Silver: The movie became the prototype for all comic books afterward for a reason. Littered with terrific lines (most of which went to Heath Ledger), a story that doesn't feel repetitive from its predecessor, but like its its own tale, The Dark Knight is splendid (even if reality got a bit in the way of the final act of the movie).
Bronze: Feeling almost improvisational, The Class, which won the Palme d'Or in 2008, gives us a new look at the inspirational teacher," feeling like it challenges the viewer while also showing us a human figure in Francois Begaudeau's educator.
Burn After Reading
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Milk
WALL-E
Gold: "In fucking Bruges"...my best friend & I could not stop quoting this film for months after we saw it...rarely has profanity felt so well-used by a screenwriter, making every line pop with black comedy & wit.
Silver: Few writers in recent memory have better balanced mainstream Hollywood sensibility with a fresh, true sense of queer celebration as Dustin Lance Black does with Milk, a movie that rises above the confines of biopic cliche to feel fresh, and part of a current (rather than past) solidarity movement.
Bronze: No writer more consistently astonishes me with his storytelling prowess than Mike Leigh, whose look at the human experience, and frequently the unfairness of people being emotional have's and have not's, is on full display with his deceptively complicated Happy-Go-Lucky.
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E
Waltz with Bashir
Gold: I mean, obviously if I'm giving it the Best Picture trophy, WALL-E is getting this one as well. Pixar's long reputation in the years since (and some of its unearned Oscar wins) are in part due to this movie just being transcendently good...probably the best animated film of the aughts?
Silver: Real talk though-I absolutely loved Kung Fu Panda and all of the subsequent films in the franchise. Jack Black brings so much joy in the role he was born-to-play, Po having a sweetness & zaniness that emanates from the screen, just weird and laugh-out-loud funny to appeal to parents & kids.
Bronze: Few films from 2008 rely more strongly on a personal style than the documentary-like Waltz with Bashir. While I struggled with the cohesion of the plot, as an animated journey it's gorgeous & has some great motifs (specifically the scenes on the beach) that clearly inspired a future generation of animators-for-adults.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Twilight
WALL-E
Gold: Few films can sport a properly rich, classic score without it feeling indulgent or like it doesn't fit the film. But Nico Muhly's work in The Reader fits like a glove, mysterious & reserved, lush in just the right parts but always feeling a bit like a memory (just like the story).
Silver: Another film where time seems to flit too fast, the score of Benjamin Button does more than any actor in the film to try and patch up the holes in the film's script with drops of romance in its piano-driven music.
Bronze: Carter Burwell would have to wait another decade before Oscar took notice, but it was here that I paid attention. His Twilight score is arguably the most recognizable piece-of-music in this bunch, elegantly backdropping not just this movie, but every one that would succeed it.
"Decode," from Twilight
"Down to Earth," from WALL-E
"Gran Torino," from Gran Torino
"Spotlight," from Twilight
"The Wrestler," from The Wrestler
Gold: Few mysteries remain so jaw-dropping to me as to how Bruce Springsteen, iconic music legend, could write a song as good as "The Wrestler," a film the Academy noticed elsewhere, and still couldn't get nominated for a tune that perfectly fits the theme & motif of his movie.
Silver: There are a lot of things to say about Clint Eastwood's politics in his films, particularly in the wake of Gran Torino, but I cannot deny that Jamie Cullum's ode is heartfelt, slow, & wonderful.
Bronze: How do you single out just one of the songs from the Twilight soundtrack, one of those rare albums that totally encapsulates the entire teen angst of the movie (while also reflecting the source material). I'll probably go with "Decode," if only because Paramore is the official band of Twilight.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E
Gold: Christopher Nolan's sound work in later films was, well, not up-to-snuff with what his earlier work was (you can hear the dialogue in his Batman movies). This plays to great effect in underlining the Joker's performance, his dialogue somewhat louder than the muffled background sound, underlining the chills you get looking at the people not paying attention to him.
Silver: WALL-E has virtually no proper dialogue in its first half, playing off of the technical effects & score to great result. This means that some of the organic sounds are more difficult to distinguish, but this attention-to-detail also means that when people start talking in the second half, it has the same added uniqueness for the audience that it does for WALL-E.
Bronze: Part of good sound mixing is knowing when to draw back. Benjamin Button uses silence and quieter noises to great outcome. Think of the earlier scenes with Brad Pitt & Tilda Swinton, where the aural design is so crisp you feel you can almost hear the weather.
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Iron Man
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
WALL-E
Gold: WALL-E is potentially the gold standard of Pixar movies, but it is certainly the gold standard when it comes to one of Oscar's favorite places to put Pixar, in Sound Editing. A space odyssey with style & personality...truly a perfect movie to listen to.
Silver: The Dark Knight's sound work is splendid-the way that the chase sequences are orchestrated where you hear a great drop just before the roar of a car or bike...the sound team knows that the best action sequences can feel like a roller coaster, and they lean into that with gusto.
Bronze: The Iron Man sound work is all about that suit. Clicks & bolts from every angle of the screen as Tony Stark (and Jarvis) learn how to handle their newfound superpowers. There's a reason this movie started the most successful franchise of all-time.
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road
The Spiderwick Chronicles
WALL-E
Gold: WALL-E has two worlds that it creates from scratch. First, we have a destructed, compact Earth, bereft of garbage, and then you have the lido deck indulgence of the humans that left it behind. This movie gifts us with detail befitting both arenas.
Silver: Milk comes alive at the corners, not just in highlighting the side stories of these brave young men & women who stood up for their rights, but in the way it makes the campaign buildings & homes of these men full of papers & busy, real lives.
Bronze: Revolutionary Road needs to quickly steep you in its own world, and it does that in ways you can't always tell until much later. Look at the soul-sucking rows of typewriters at Frank's office or the way his mistress's home is filled with the softness & femininity that he feels his wife lacks.
Australia
Changeling
The Dark Knight
Let the Right One In
Revolutionary Road
Gold: Wally Pfister crafts exquisite, expressive action sequences, total madcap chases that equal the demeanor of the Joker & Batman's dangerous ballet in The Dark Knight; in a relatively weak year for cinematography, this is the sole film that wants you to notice every darkness (and light peaking through) of the screen.
Silver: Roger Deakins & I are in such a romance, you might assume picking him for Revolutionary Road is a cheat. But while The Dark Knight plays with the nighttime, here Deakins uses some of the skill he brought to Fargo to give us sun-hazed rooms, muted by the curtains (and by the sadness of those they're shielding).
Bronze: No film played more with color in 2008 than Let the Right One In, consistently playing off of the complicated shades of blue & grey (and of course, red) that haunt the movie from within.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road
Sex and the City
Gold: I don't ignore films that feature men in the best costumes, as it takes just as much care to craft character-driving clothes for actors as actresses. This is fully on-display in the way that Danny Glicker gives Milk's men ways of expression, communications about themselves they can't articulate to the outside world.
Silver: Kate Winslet's pale green dress might have been my single favorite article of clothing from a movie in 2008. The movie's focus on "keeping up with the Joneses" (even when Joneses are deeply unhappy) is best reflected in the way that Frank & April are immaculately, stylishly attired in every scene.
Bronze: At first The Duchess feels just like any other period film, a movie where everyone looks great but we've been here before. But as the movie continues Michael O'Connor makes the dresses more outlandish to reflect the chaos of Keira Knightley's titular character, stretching the looks beyond credulity like a Mannerist statue.
The Class
The Dark Knight
In Bruges
Milk
WALL-E
Gold: WALL-E's editors arguably have the toughest task of the bunch-they have to find a way to make a largely silent film motif in the first thirty minutes of the film feel full, encapsulating, and like they've brought life to the movie. That means meticulous (otherwise either parent or child is getting bored), but with this team it sings.
Silver: The best parts of Milk are not the closeups or the most famous moments of Harvey's life, but they are the way that they fill in the gaps of a generation of men denied their rights (and many of them lost in the next decade to AIDS). Think of the way that the editors keep in long shots to establish the mood of Harvey's life without ever having to interject it through exposition.
Bronze: Comedy is all about timing, and that's basically what editing is. The lightning pace of the comic banter & phone conversations between Gleeson, Farrell, & Fiennes is so sharp, using quick-and-forth to add an exclamation point to every joke.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Wrestler
Gold: Two totally unique & ticket-buying creations, Joker and Two-Face feel like they are pulled out of the comic books, but still have enough of Nolan's gritty realism to never feel shiny or too polished. These were Halloween costumes for a decade for a reason.
Silver: Hellboy II does borrow from the previous iterations, but the Angel of Death figure is jaw-dropping & horrifying. Del Toro's work sometimes feels too much, but this fits the story & works well within its confines.
Bronze: The makeup in Benjamin Button has two challenges-one, it has to be period-specific while also covering up the aging (or not so much) of the cast. The second, though, is even more difficult and thankfully just as seamless-working in conjunction with the CGI to help aid the believability of Benjamin's tale.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Gold: If you've read this blog for a while, you'll understand that I struggle with the ethics (and the uncanny valley) of aging/de-aging movie stars. Benjamin Button, though, deserves credit for it not just totally immersing the audience, but for being one of the best films (perhaps because it is about aging) to utilize the tool.
Silver: The Dark Knight is not the CGI smorgasbord that would come in the years that followed, but that actually works better here. The Joker is an impulsive, rudimentary villain-the kind that makes it up as he goes along. The effects here, focused more on metal & speed, are hearty but also character-building as a result.
Bronze: It's not perfect (some of the fight scenes don't live up in the same way years later), but I'm giving Iron Man the bronze over Hellboy mostly because of the way that it controls its flight scenes, giving us something awe-inspiring as a maroon-and-gold man cascades effortlessly across the sky.
Also in 2008: Picture, Director,
Actress,
Actor,
Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Foreign Film,
Animated Feature Film, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Art Direction,
Cinematography,
Costume,
Film Editing, Visual Effects,
Makeup,
Previously in 2008
