In Bruges
This is the film that seemed under the radar for some time this year. However, this film appeared on many critics top 10 films of 2008, and I can see why. Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell played 2 Dublin hit men that are sent by their boss, played by Ralph Fiennes, to Bruges after a job gone awry. In that very city both of them are given hard options as the consequences of their previous job. What made this movie great is it offers dark humor without losing depths of its story and characters. And it certainly shows that hit men have their own conscience and ethics, which led one of the characters made a bold choice at the end. The cast didn’t disappoint, and the overall movie is a great blend of comedy and thriller.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
“My name is Benjamin Button, and I was born under unusual circumstances. While, everyone else was agin', I was gettin' younger... all alone”. This was the opening narration on Benjamin Button’s life that sets up the whole film. The film isn’t just about how a man that aged backwards live his life, but it’s about how he embrace his unfortunate condition and changed that into a life worth living.
Benjamin Button is an achievement of superb storytelling. If you think a story of a man aging backward is interesting enough, you should see the whole movie. The story will move you emotionally. It gave us a deep look at the turning points of a man’s life, in this case Benjamin’s life. It filled with exquisite moments that will leave you touched and amazed. Director David Fincher certainly knows how to work his magic. Along with scriptwriter Eric Roth, he managed to shot scene by scene with such beauty without giving up its heart and cleverly added a sense of surrealism that helps develop the film. Watching Benjamin Button made me believe that everything is possible, even for someone as unfortunate as Benjamin Button. By far this has been one of the most fulfilling experiences I’ve had after watching a film.
The Dark Knight
I’ve written my full review of this a couple of months ago on this blog, so I guess it needs no more preambles. The main thing about the Dark Knight is that it wasn’t treated as just another superhero films. It treated as if the director wanted to make a great film that will make other films wanted to be it. This is the excerpts of what I’ve already written before;
First, and foremost, The Dark Knight is a crime drama. The kind of crime drama that has the same tone as The Departed, or Heat. Secondly, it's not solely focusing on the hero, but rather to the whole cast. This is the main strength of the movie. The cast that consists of Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine have done a superb job in their role.
Christopher Nolan has never failed to deliver a great story to audience with with the perfect execution. He dare to question the morality of the actions that is taken by Batman, Dent, and Gordon, something that is often left out by other superhero movie. This question haunts the movie until the very end. An end that ultimately answer the question, as Batman did the most heroic act no other superhero has ever done.
All that being said, The Dark Knight will not only be the best superhero movie ever, but also possibly one of the best film of the decade. Iron Man, and Spiderman 2 may be the definitive superhero film, but The Dark Knight is not just another superhero film, it's a superhero epic. It's the first Oscar worthy superhero film, it's the Godfather of superhero films, it's the Empire Strikes Back of all Batman films.
Iron Man
As the opening of summer movie, this film has got it all. You can find my full review a couple of months ago here on this blog, so feel free to scroll down and search. Or if you don’t have the will or thinking it’s too much effort to scroll down, I’ll jot down the conclusion for you.
Iron Man is the perfect example of a superhero movie which respect its original material, and turned it into something way much cooler. Anyone who doubt Jon Favreau capability to direct this movie can just get their ass kicked (yes, i got my ass kicked). He made all the right decisions in making the movie. He cast the dead perfect Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Stark is one of the biggest brain in the planet, an alcoholic, and a womanizer at the same time. Downey have had some of those problems in the real life before. That's what made him perfect for the role. He also made Tony Stark character funnier, with his perfect timing of comedic punch lines. Iron Man will satisfy those people who demanded pure summer blockbuster movie, and also the-hard-to-be-pleased fanboys.
Tropic Thunder
These past two or three years finest comedies have been brought by the Apatow gang, however this year’s funniest came from the hands of Ben Stiller and Justin Theroux. This is a bit surprising for me because I don’t think Stiller is capable to star in a film, even directed it, as funny as this. His previous works has been mediocre at best, but he hits a home run with this one. Simply put, Tropic Thunder will make you laugh hard. I mean REAL hard. The cast is just perfect. Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise put in memorable performances. Downey as the Australian actor playing a black dude, and Cruise as the menacing producer. I’d say those two performances deserved a recognition. The fake trailers in the first scenes are a brilliant way to introduce the characters. It started the movie with a bang, and what followed is another set of hilarious scenes in the jungle. However it still has some weaknesses. For instance, Stiller’s performance as an actor is still mediocre, and Jack Black’s character is very hard to be liked. But those weaknesses can be quickly forgotten with the performance of the supporting actors and cameos that gave their best. It’s good to see that a great R rated comedy can come from other source than the usual Apatow gang.
The Wrestler
If last year we have Daniel Day-Lewis getting out the best of him in a blistering and mind blowing performance in There Will be Blood, this year we have Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. Rourke stars as Randy “The Ram”, a wrestler that reached his peak of fame in 80’s. He was the people’s champ, he’s the god among wrestlers, simply put, he was the best. Now almost 20 years after that, he still wrestles, although in a far smaller stage that before, and he’s dealing with his failure outside his wrestling career. He has an estranged daughter that didn’t want to see him, his body is failing him because of his age, and his career isn’t exactly as successful as before.
Darren Aronofsky shows the loneliness of The Ram’s life by making us felt like Ram. The camera often follows Ram from behind and with each silent moment he walked, we can feel Ram’s sense of self failure. His hope of fixing his messed up life lies on the shoulders of his estranged daughter, Stephanie, and a stripper with a heart of gold named Cassidy. As he tried to establish a relationship with these 2 persons, I grew fond of Ram and, later, even empathize him. The final scene where Ram made a speech on the ring before making his comeback is the most powerful scene. He declared his love of wrestling no matter what his situation is at the time. That, my friend, is your Oscar winning scene right there.
Wall-E
Watching Wall-E is like watching a beautiful silent film. Its power is not in its dialogue, cause there’s a few of them, but it’s in the actions and gestures of the little robot. The animation is, dare I say, the best that Pixar has ever done. With little dialogue it’s hard to achieve the level of emotion that this film has. The most important thing about this film is its morality. It gave a brief prediction of what’s gonna happen if the Earth neglects its environment, and at the same time, it provides hope that even a single insignificant robot can make a huge different to the world. The love story between Wall-E and EVE is also very sweet and romantic. This is the film that children and adults will love. There’s no age barrier to watch this movie. Wall-e is really something extraordinar-e.
Slumdog Millionaire
Danny Boyle is the only director that I believe can direct anything given to him. He’s done junky film in Trainspotting, horror film in 28 Weeks Later, Sci-fi/horror in Sunshine, and even a kid film in Millions. So when I came to know that he’s directing a film with all Indian cast, set in India, I have absolutely no doubt that he’s gonna nail it. And he did it big time. Slumdog Millionaire is a story of a teenager named Jamal who reached the final round of Who wants to be a Millionaire? and is accused of cheating.
The investigation on how he knew all the answer led us to swim through the flash back on his very colorful, if not, unfortunate life. Then we learned that Jamal has gone long way to the show because of his love with Pitka, whom he met when he was young. Within these moments lies great obstacle that Jamal must face with his brother, be it running from Muslim haters, being told to work under abusive employer, or posing as a fake tour guide in Taj Mahal, he survived those with a big heart. And this is what I’ve come to admire in the movie. It’s the sense of pity and joy to know the eventful life of Jamal. The star of this movie is no other than Danny Boyle. He managed to show the beauty of India’s slums. He showed the hard life of Indian people. And he sure showed us one hell of a movie.
Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In)
I’ve always been a fan of anything vampire-y. It’s no secret that I loved Buffy and Angel, but Let the Right One In isn’t your ordinary vampire flick. It’s a blend of an unadulterated love story, horror, and drama, and it sure as hell ain’t Twilight. This is a tale of a 12 year old boy who fell in love with a girl vampire that moved next door. The premise may seem overly plain and straight, but I assure you this movie will engage you in an emotional roller coaster which will also test your heart and brain at the same time. The backdrop of snowy Sweden serves as a perfect set up for the grim atmosphere of the film. The thrill and horror is building up from the beginning, with some of the most effective horror scene I’ve ever seen, and reached its climax at the final scene that took place in the swimming pool.
However, what I really loved from this film is there are so many scenes that are open for our own interpretation. I browsed the web for forums and opinions from fellow viewers that made me watched the movie all over again. I haven’t had this much fun interpreting a film since Donnie Darko. Things like Oskar relationship with his father, Hakkan relationship with Eli, Eli’s gender issue, are some of the things that we could draw up our own interpretation. The main strength of the movie is how the director managed to direct scene by with such intensity and getting out the best of the two kids who are the main characters of this movie. Every scene is poetic in its own way. This is a masterpiece of anything that related to vampirism. This is the movie that will get overlooked just because a more hip and cheesy film like Twilight has more budget and more access to audience around the world.
If I had to pick a favorite, I guess I'm gonna have to go with The Wrestler, or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as the best of this year. Mickey Rourke, in my book, is undoubtedly the best actor of the year. Academy awards, or Golden Globes will probably go for Slumdog Millionaire or Benjamin Button as the best picture, while The Dark Knight will probably not getting any love because of its status of superhero film. Sean Penn will be most likely get the best actor award for his portrayal of Harvey Milk, rather than Rourke. As for the director I'd love to see Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky, David Fincher, and Danny Boyle to compete for the best director award. One other nominee will probably go to Gus Van Sant (Milk), or Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon).
That's it, I'm done for the night. Hope this little post will interest you to pick up some of the movies I mentioned above. Let's see if you have the same thought as me regarding those movies.
until then,
be kind rewind
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