Breathing Life into the Dream Factory: Lee's Best Movies of 2008

2007 was the most ambitious and rewarding movie year I've probably experienced, so it almost goes without saying that I entered 2008 with the same anticipation. If it was a let down in comparison, then at least I can say that the best movies of the year were consistent thematically. They each, in their own way, showed that dreams carry with them a heavy price, as they eventually come to an end, be it due to age or lack of inspiration or just because the world is changing. It's a stunning and appropriate outlook in these dark ecomomic times, but most of these pictures, whether it was subtly or loudly, worked to reassure that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. The hard part will be getting there. So, as we dive into the last movie year of the decade, it'll be interesting to see how the movies transition as the world continues to do the same. See you there.

-LEE


Honorable Mention (in alphebetical order): Baghead, Boarding Gate, Doubt, Get Smart, Happy Go Lucky, Max Payne, Quantum of Solace, Rachel Getting Married, Rambo, Rock N Rolla, Rogue, Role Models, Speed Racer, Step Brothers, The Strangers, Stuck, Sukiyaki Western Django, Wall-E, and The X-Files: I Want to Believe.


The Next Ten

20) Flight of the Red Balloon (Le Voyage du ballon) (dir. Hsiao-hsien Hou)
19) U2 3D (dir. Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington)
18) Iron Man (dir. Jon Favreau)
17) Redbelt (dir. David Mamet)
16) Hancock (dir. Peter Berg)
15) Gran Torino (dir. Clint Eastwood)
14) Man on Wire (dir. James Marsh)
13) In Bruges (dir. Martin McDonagh)
12) Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (dir. Jon Knautz)
11) Hellboy II:The Golden Army (dir. Guillermo del Toro)


The Top Ten



10) Tropic Thunder (dir. Ben Stiller)

Hands down the funniest movie of the year, Ben Stiller's savage satire is the best jab on Hollywood since Robert Altman's The Player. Backed by a dynamite cast that includes a scene stealing performance by Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder is living proof that being an actor is a dangerous profession in more ways than one.



9) Encounters at the End of the World (dir. Werner Herzog)

Nobody makes documentaties like Werner Herzog. Who else could make a movie about a community of people living and working in Antarctica that's this interesting, weird and hilarious? The picture is visually stunning, but what truly resonates are the interviews (particularly with a penguin expert) and Herzog's almost deadpan voiceovers. This is one of his best and most entertaining movies.



8) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (dir. Steven Spielberg)

I had a difficult time talking to people about the first Indiana Jones movie in almost 20 years. Most of them wrote it off as "goofy" or "cheesy," convincing me that I did not see the same movie they did. What I got was a movie with memorable dialogue, classically staged action sequences, and a performance by Harrison Ford that tops his work in the pervious entries. Crystal Skull sticks with me even deeper after each viewing. It's a profound examination of dealing with age and, like the movies before it, an allegory on the way religion is used for one's own agenda.



7) Be Kind Rewind (dir. Michel Gondry)

A movie that understands the importance of art and those who embrace it. Even the title suggests a personal attachment and a desire to share one's creation with others. But it's when a whole community of people come together to make something special that Michel Gondry's latest truly takes shape, leading up to a final shot that is bittersweet for all the right reasons.



6) Shotgun Stories (dir. Jeff Nichols)

The debut feature from Jeff Nichols (brother of Lucero front man, Ben Nichols) is soaked in a lonely atmosphere that hangs over the characters who inhabit it. There's never any question of where the picture is going, but Nichols' characters have such authenticity to them, it hardly matters. Were the movie not so subtle, it could be mistaken for a western, due to the central feud between two sets of brothers, which erupts into violence but develops into something much bigger. Memorable for many reasons, the picture's greatest asset is Michael Shannon, an actor who greatness increases with each role.



5) The Dark Knight (dir. Christopher Nolan)

What could I possibly say about this movie that hasn't been covered already? The first time I saw it, I admired the hell out of it, and each time I went back, I found it getting under my skin more and more. The movie really bothered me; not in a bad way, but because it made sense. I was not watching a "superhero" movie, but a realistic vision of a world without hope or possibly even redemption. The material is bleak, to be sure, but the package it's wrapped in is fast paced, expertly acted, and often exciting. I don't know if there will ever be another in the genre like it.



4) Reprise (dir. Joachim Trier)

I'm a sucker for coming-of-age stories, but most of the time they're done without much spark or originality. Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier's debut is a welcome exception, a meticulously written portrait of two friends who, after taking separate paths, have to deal with the pressures of success, relationships, and realizing they're not children anymore. The visual compositions are effective and melancholy, especially when dealing with a desperate attempt to recreate a love that is long gone. Reprise is sad, joyous, and beautifully somber.



3) The Wrestler (dir. Darren Aronofsky)

To call it a comeback is putting it lightly. Mickey Rourke's presence in The Wrestler is magical, a shot at redemption in more ways than one. Every scene of Aronofsky's latest seeps with loss and regret as Rourke's Randy the Ram, a wrestler far past his expiration date, fights to keep himself in a quickly dimming spotlight. The movie is shot with frightening authenticity, so there's never a moment where we doubt Randy's pain, internal or external. It's a testmanent of love; not just finding it for oneself, but from and through others. The finale is easily my favourite movie moment of 2008.



2) My Winnipeg (dir. Guy Maddin)

Guy Maddin is one the strangest and most unique filmmakers around (see his silent film Brand Upon the Brain if you don't believe me), and his latest is at once his most personal creation yet. A mixture of fact and occasionally mind blowing fiction, My Winnipeg is Maddin's tribute to his childhood home, a place full of people and landmarks that are truly larger than life. The whole movie is staged as if it is coming from a child's perspective, which gives it a dreamlike quality. But the movie also has a shadow of sadness cast over it, for eventually things change and not always for the better. The wonderful thing about Maddin's movie is that no matter how different the places we embrace become, we still have the memories. They are ours, and no one can change that.



1) Synecdoche, New York (dir. Charlie Kaufman)

I believe that Charlie Kaufman is the best screenwriter of my lifetime. His movies speak to me in ways I never thought possible, as they invoke so many different types of feelings at once I often don't know how to respond to them initially. All of his scripts so far have given a glimpse into his mysterious soul, but none of them have taken us as deep as his directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York. The movie is a journey; a journey for self satifaction, for acceptance, for the creation of something that will remind people how to love, to hate, to fear, to hurt. It's Kaufman's great examination of life and everything that comes with it. The first time I saw it I was awestruck and devastated and I couldn't shake a single frame of it out of my head. The second time I didn't want it to let go of me, as I further found myself becoming a part of it. Kaufman's world is strangely inviting and complex, a place that is hard to understand but somehow, impossible not to embrace. Synecdoche, New York is a meditation on what it means to live, grow old, die, and maybe, just maybe, find a reason the whole thing was worthwhile.


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