2008: Ray Takes A Look Back

Every half-assed movie site and film critic has been posting their annual lists of the "Best" and "Worst" films of 2008. Such lists are fun, but the moviegoing experience is so subjective that lists like these are generally impossible to tabulate. I mean, can we really compare IRON MAN to THE WRESTLER or DOUBT without looking ridiculous? However, I feel compelled to at least give it a quick try for the sake of posterity. BEST of 2008: 1. THE WRESTLER - Gritty, devastating, and impossibly sad. 2. MILK - Sean Penn's brilliant performance secures a sensitive period piece. 3. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN - One of the greatest vampire movies I have ever seen ... and astonishingly beautiful. 4. THE DARK KNIGHT - Though flawed, it is a complex meditation on the duality of evil and justice. 5. WALL-E - The last act of this film on the spaceship sinks this a bit in my opinion ... but those first 45 minutes are some of the best film this year. 6. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - A bit overrated, but one of the best directorial efforts of the year. 7. IRON MAN- The first rock 'n roll superhero movie. Robert Downey Jr. kicks all sorts of ass in this role. 8. THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON- Very cold and mechanical film, yet Fincher composes beautifully ... and the message is a strong one. 9. TROPIC THUNDER - Just flat out hilarious in spots. The first time in two years that I actually laughed out loud in the theater. Lazy script keeps it from being higher. 10. PINEAPPLE EXPRESS - Franco is brilliant, and for most of the running time the film maintains its delicate balance. A gory finale ruins it. And ... The Worst of 2008: 1. INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL- Given the talent and money involved, this film is an atrocity. It singlehandedly tainted Spielberg's previously-glowing record. The CGI psychic greaser monkeys ... the waterfalls ... the CGI prairie dogs ... the fucking flying nuclear-resistant refrigerator ... how did this thing get past the "hey, I've got an idea" stage? Note to Lucas: Make an art film or drop fucking dead. Seriously. Oh, and stop involving Jett in any of your creative endeavors anymore. 2. SUPERHERO MOVIE - This was actually released to the public? Note to filmmakers: simply re-enacting famous scenes from other movies is not actual parody. 3. HANCOCK - DISASTROUS mid-movie twist and bizarre late-movie tone destroys the promise of this misguided film. 4. THE SPIRIT - Amateurish beyond belief. Worst directing job of the year. 5. SPEED RACER- A magnificent failure. It literally burned my retinas while watching the smear of neon colors ... but at least the Wachowski siblings tried something radical. 6. THE LOVE GURU- Fuck you Mike Myers. Your three accent repertoire and constant mugging were never missed. Go away. 7. STEP BROTHERS - Pointless, unless you're the studio mogul cashing the box office. Basically they put out the home movies of Ferrell and Reilly clowning around ... and it sucks. 8. SEX AND THE CITY - Completely vapid in every single way. And what it says about women ... ugh. Oh, did I mention it's 2.5 fucking hours long? 9. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL - A molestation of an overrated classic. The final act makes no sense at all. Terrible CGI as well. 10. THE HAPPENING- "Messiah" Night Shyamalan attempts to make houseplants and wind scary. He fails utterly. And Mark Wahlberg destroys the promise of his early career with this, his worst performance. WHEW ... well that felt great. Rather than focus on lists like these, I prefer to look back at the moments I treasured and despised in 2008: THINGS I LOVED in 2008: - I LOVED the first time Robert Downey Jr. flies in IRON MAN. It's realistic, funny, and has just enough swagger to make the scene a classic. - Speaking of IRON MAN, how about that trailered scene when Iron Man dodges the missile, looks at his assailant, launches his own missile, and then walks away as the enemy blows up??? That has my vote for favorite special effects scene of the year. - LOVED the first appearance of Heath Ledger's Joker in the conference room in THE DARK KNIGHT. Scary and unpredictable. Do you REALLY want to see him make that pencil disappear?? - LOVED the long tracking shot behind Mickey Rourke in THE WRESTLERas he descends into the bowels of the grocery store to work in the deli. Sad, true-to-life, and poignant. Best continuous shot of the year. - Speaking of THE WRESTLER, the final shot Aronofsky uses to end the film rescues the entire film from being maudlin and sentimental. It's a poetic and perfect shot. - Leonardo DiCaprio's breakdown scene near the end of REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. He unleashes the demons in the best scene of his career. Mesmerizing. - The first 45 minutes of WALL-E. Some of Pixar's most beautiful work ever. Stunning. - The appearance of the bug-things from the beast in CLOVERFIELD. After drawing you in via camcorder footage, these bugs take you completely by surprise. - Speaking of CLOVERFIELD, I loved that exploding girl moment. My theater went nuts for it. - The pick up scene at the beginning of MILK. Penn has never seemed this charming and sweet ... I almost believed he could pick up someone like James Franco. - The Simple Jack moments from TROPIC THUNDER. While I'm not a fan of Ben Stiller, seeing him leap around swatting at butterflies with a mallet top my list of funniest 2008 moments. - Speaking of TROPIC THUNDER, the discussion about going "full retard" is an instant classic. - I fell in love with LET THE RIGHT ONE IN when that vampire leaps down from above onto an unsuspecting victim. It's parasitic and brilliantly done. - I loved the subtitle solution used for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. Awesome! - I loved the action sequences in WANTED. Very stylized, but lots of fun. - James Bond and villain tumbling down through a glass window as we follow behind them in QUANTUM OF SOLACE. A harrowing stunt/effects shot that totally wowed me. - I really loved the sequence showing Hayden Christensen using his powers to enjoy life around the world in JUMPER. It's a disappointing film, but a cool moment nonetheless. - I loved the tension of the attempt on Hitler's life in VALKYRIE. If only they had used accents or subtitles ... something's off about the film. - The gleeful, perverse violence of RAMBO, one of the bloodiest Hollywood releases in a long, long time. - Tom Cruise'sbrilliant turn as Les Grossman in TROPIC THUNDER. He dominates the screen whenever he's on it. - Matthew McConahey' s few perfect scenes in TROPIC THUNDER. His lament about his retarded son is hilarious. And some of the THINGS I HATED in 2008: - Every last frame of INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. Apologists can say whatever they want, but this film is absolutely, astonishingly bad. If I had to boil it down to one scene, though, it would be the refrigerator scene. At this point, I looked over at my buddy KC and we just stared at each other in open-mouthed shock. From there, the film was dead to me. - The twist in HANCOCK. It makes no sense, felt tacked on, and completely destroyed the rest of the film. When it happened, you could literally feel the mood shift in the theater. - Wahlberg talking to a plant in THE HAPPENING. I have no idea how anyone managed to get this scene on film and then distributed across the country. - The spaceship subplot in WALL-E. After 45 minutes of pure cinematic bliss, Pixar took the film on a right turn into outer space. Unfortunately, this involves unappealing and boring fat humans lounging around, and a very rushed, "madcap" adventure on the ship that lacks much of the energy and vision of the earlier segments. - Vampires sparkle in TWILIGHT. And play baseball. Yeah, it looks as bad as it sounds. - The rushed, cheapo endings to THE INCREDIBLE HULK and IRON MAN. If you're going to make a superhero movie, then you'd better pull out all the stops. Both movies featured a dramatic confrontational build up, only to deflate it with halfheartedness. - The barely-used plot device in TROPIC THUNDER. So .. they're going to film actors in the jungle to make a guerrilla-style war movie. So, where are the cameras? And where does this plot device go after it's introduced? It might be quibbling, but this device sets up the entire film ... and it makes no sense at all. It detracts from the experience. - Keanu and company hiding under a bridge that miraculously escapes destruction from a swarm of mechanical locusts at the end of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. This scene will destroy brain cells instantly. - The first racing scene in SPEED RACER, when it became pathetically clear that this film was made for attention-deficit problem children addicted to video games. I still have no idea how Speed wins the final race ... it makes no sense visually or dynamically. - When Drillbit loses a digit in a brutal, bloody fight in DRILLBIT TAYLOR. This is a comedy??? With little kids???? Ruined it for me much in the same manner as the shift in HANCOCK. Well, that's my recap. Tell me what you loved and hated in 2008!