2008 MOVIES
I saw forty or so movies last year. Here are few of my thoughts.
First, I rank the the top seven in this order, from top to bottom: Slumdog Millionaire, The Secret of the Bees, Happy-Go-Lucky, Frozen River, Iron Man, Kung Fu Panda, Rock'n Rolla. Forgive me if the titles are not exact.
On the better known films: Doubt talked too much about doubt. Milk had its moments but was boring for me in its first half. The Dark Knight also had its moments but it was too long. I saw it a second time and still snoozed a little. W was both interesting and boring. The religious part was scary. A Body of Lies was better than reported. Ghost Town was witty, sad and good. Another movie I found witty was X-Files which tackled taboo subjects and was, I thought, fairly true to the tone of the series. I walked out after the first hour of Hellboy II. I saw Bank Job twice and liked it much better the second time; in fact if you plan to see this movie, you should plan to see it twice. The best anti-war movie I saw was Stop Loss. Young at Heart, The Counterfeiters, and The Visitor are all well worth seeing. I think I've given you enough to go on.
One more movie I want to comment on is A Flash of Genius. I see this as being in the same category as Grizzly Man and Into the Wild in the sense that they are all stories of an obsessed man who destroys himself, but more to the point takes others with him in one way or another. And the others are supposed loves ones. I don't think this theme is explored enough in our society.
First, I rank the the top seven in this order, from top to bottom: Slumdog Millionaire, The Secret of the Bees, Happy-Go-Lucky, Frozen River, Iron Man, Kung Fu Panda, Rock'n Rolla. Forgive me if the titles are not exact.
On the better known films: Doubt talked too much about doubt. Milk had its moments but was boring for me in its first half. The Dark Knight also had its moments but it was too long. I saw it a second time and still snoozed a little. W was both interesting and boring. The religious part was scary. A Body of Lies was better than reported. Ghost Town was witty, sad and good. Another movie I found witty was X-Files which tackled taboo subjects and was, I thought, fairly true to the tone of the series. I walked out after the first hour of Hellboy II. I saw Bank Job twice and liked it much better the second time; in fact if you plan to see this movie, you should plan to see it twice. The best anti-war movie I saw was Stop Loss. Young at Heart, The Counterfeiters, and The Visitor are all well worth seeing. I think I've given you enough to go on.
One more movie I want to comment on is A Flash of Genius. I see this as being in the same category as Grizzly Man and Into the Wild in the sense that they are all stories of an obsessed man who destroys himself, but more to the point takes others with him in one way or another. And the others are supposed loves ones. I don't think this theme is explored enough in our society.
