December 29, 2008

arrow The Beehive Rewind: Favorite Film of 2008

On Sunday, Bee film critics Donald Munro and Rick Bentley published their annual list of top 10 films. In 2008, they went with critical/commercial faves "Milk," "Dark Knight," "Frost/Nixon," "Slumdog Millionaire," "Wall-E" and "Iron Man," as well as four others I'd never heard of ("The Visitor," "Frozen River," "Young@Heart" and "The Fall").

But that's what critics are supposed to do: shine the light on films that don't have characters named Batman and Iron Man. In this segment of Beehive Rewind, we go a different route (sometimes) by answering what our favorite film of the year was. As usual, we start the discussion in the hopes that you finish it.

Here's a list of our favorite films of 2008:

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Will Albritton: The movie I most want to see again is "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," Judd Apatow and co.'s latest gross-out comedy that includes more male nudity than in "Milk," a series of jokes at the expense of "CSI: Miami," a hilarious breakout performance from Russell Brand and a puppet-musical subplot involving "Dracula." Runners-up: "Iron Man" and "Mamma Mia: The Sing-Along Version." (But I agree with Donald, "Milk" is the "best" film that I saw this year.)


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Heather McLane: "Sex and the City." What can I say? Estrogen + copious amounts of vodka in my system = target audience for this movie. Loved the show, adored the movie. Watching it felt like catching up with old friends (I know. I just made myself gag, too -- I've always been more of a Miranda than a Carrie, I guess.)


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Delton Lowery, Sports Buzz: I think right now the movie I liked most from this year was "Tropic Thunder": Ben Stiller and Jack Black were good -- although Black does go a little over the top here and there -- but Robert Downey Jr. was just absolutely hilarious. "Huh? What you talkin' about you people?" Not really a close second, because "Tropic Thunder" was awesome, but next would be "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist." Really nice teenage angst film, but there was one gross-out scene I could've done without.


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Felicia Matlosz: This is a tough one. "Favorite" isn't a word I'd use at this point. I haven't yet seen most of the expected Oscar contenders. And what I have seen this year is mostly middling or entertaining with a mean streak (like "Tropic Thunder" and its cool turns by Robert Downey Jr. and, incredibly, Tom Cruise). So I'm going with "Slumdog Millionaire." It's like a Charles Dickens tale filmed in modern-day Mumbai, India. You'll be caught up in the story of a one-time street orphan who finds himself as a young man competing on "So You Want to be a Millionaire." Told in flashbacks, we find out how he got there. There are images of disturbing, large-scale poverty; moments of humor; moral and dramatic conflicts (with some violence); suspense and -- above all -- a love story. Throw in director Danny Boyle's hip pacing and stellar eye plus a sizzling soundtrack, and you've got a movie -- with no big name stars -- that most of Hollywood doesn't dare make anymore.


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Kathy Mahan: I have to go with the only movie I saw more than once (three times actually): "Twilight." I loved Robert Pattinson -- and his chemistry with Kristen Stewart. I'm so hooked on the story that I'm sure I will buy the DVD and line up in the future to see the sequels.


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Bethany Clough, Business Blog: "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day." I'm in love with this movie. It had a wonderful love story that was surprisingly funny (which means even men might like it). It stars a frumpy Frances McDormand passing herself off as a social secretary. She is as talented in this movie as she is in all her others. Plus, I had so much fun drooling over the gorgeous 1930s clothes and music in the film, which takes place in 1939 London.


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Bill Haines, Bee There: I only saw one movie in all of 2008. I have this allergic reaction to theaters, rude people and overpriced food so I don't get out much. Anyway, my girlfriend tricked me into seeing an Angelina Jolie movie: "Changeling," about one of the rare Canadians who wasn't polite, and in fact murdered young boys in the Los Angeles area and the LAPD's efforts to convince a young mother that an impostor boy was in fact her missing son. The movie was based on the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders of 1928-30, with which I became fascinated. I thought it was amusing that people are living in the still standing home where the events took place, and were unaware as to what happened there, until the movie came out and people started showing up to take pictures.


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Lisa Boyles, Opinion Talk: Most of my movie theater experiences these days are centered around kid movies, like "Horton Hears a Who" (meh) and "Wall-E." But I actually got to see a grown-up movie in a theater with my dad while visiting him in Georgia. We saw "Burn After Reading" and it was so funny that I was literally crying, laughing so hard at the end.


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Mike Oz: With apologies to "Milk" -- which I saw over the weekend and loved -- my favorite movie of 2008 was "The Dark Knight." It was action-packed, had great acting (namely Heath Ledger) and, like "Iron Man" before it, it was able to be a comic book movie that played well to both fans and non-fans of the series.

Craig Kohlruss, Bee There: I'm kinda lame and lazy so I don't see a whole lot of movies anymore. In fact I think I saw only two movies this year: "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which I was very disappointed in, and "The Dark Knight." My favorite, most influential movie of all time is "Raiders of the Lost Ark" so to see such a poor sequel that included a scene (what? 2-3 seconds) done in Fresno nearly robbed me of any faith I had left in movie-making today. It was restored with "The Dark Knight." I was thoroughly entertained and kept on the edge of my seat with artfully done performances by Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart and intense special effects. "The Dark Knight" was a good movie and I might even see it again, but the real take-home lesson here is: I need to get out more.

2:18 PM | | Comments (9)



Comments:

Will, never heard of Frozen River?? Filmworks screened it last month! You need to visit fresnofilmworks.org more often, my friend.

Top film of 2008 for me? Gotta be "Slumdog Millionaire" right now. But I still haven't seen Ben Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, Rev Road.

Surprised "Iron Man" made it on the Bee's Top 10! And didn't Donald and Rick used to have their own separate top 10 lists instead of collaborating on one? Or am I just crazy?

Posted by: Bryan Harley at December 29, 2008 2:47 PM

*****

The Fall & The Wackness still battling out and I have yet to see many of these other contenders recently released....

Posted by: brodiemash at December 29, 2008 2:48 PM

*****

My movie watching fell off a bit in 2008, so I'm going to go with the last two movies I saw, because they're on my mind.

* "Burn After Reading," totally made me laugh, which is what it was going for, I think. But maybe not. You've got to love a movie where all the characters are losers/idiots/smileballs/bitches/straight-up weirdos.

* "Sukiyaki Western Django" was released in 2007 apparently, but is just making its way to the U.S. Is that right? Anyway, I just saw it and ... it's about cowboy samurai. A dude cuts a bullet in half with a sword. There's a gatlin gun. It's not for everyone, but if you like that sort of thing ...

Posted by: Famous at December 29, 2008 3:06 PM

*****

Hmmm.... I'd have to go with Iron Man, The Dark Knight and Sex in the City.... I loved all 3 for completely different reasons...

Oh and the non 2008 movie I discovered in 2008?? Revolver by Guy Ritchie... each time I watch that film I discover more about what the movie is about.

Posted by: Renee N at December 29, 2008 3:17 PM

*****

@bryan: you're right. you're crazy. saw slumdog last night. it was cute. (well, as cute as a film about the evils of poverty and globalization can be.) but you should see milk.

@brodie: go see milk. better than most biopics ... more of a historical drama.

@famous: i wanna see burn after reading.

@renee: oh, i love this idea about the non-2008 discovery. I'll have to get back to you with mine.

Posted by: will at December 29, 2008 3:40 PM

*****

Best Pictures I have seen so far....may not be on alot of lists...necessarily...

DARK KNIGHT
QUANTUM OF SOLACE
WANTED
CADILLAC RECORDS
WALL-E
IRON MAN
THE VISITOR

THE WORST....
THE LOVE GURU
MAMMA MIA (DIDNT SEE IT BUT WILL NEVER...IE, CRAP)
THE HAPPENING...ITS THE WIND
I AM STILL TRYING TO FORGET SARAH MARSHALL
AND THE KINGS OF THE WORST....THE STEP BROTHERS

Posted by: George (Duke) at December 29, 2008 7:10 PM

*****

@george: thanks for commenting. im wondering what your beef with mamma mia is. you say it's crap, you say you've never seen it, and you say you never will.

are you a fan of musicals and offended by the notion of stringing a plot together around established pop songs?

i mean, i first had that same impression after my initial viewing of moulin rouge. now i see it as a brilliant piece of art. i gave mamma mia a chance, and i found it to be very fun.

now, if youre just not a fan of musicals and you think you'll score manly points by protesting too much about your disdain for them ... well, my commenting friend using the handle of a low-level british royal, you certainly are reading the wrong blog.

Posted by: will at December 29, 2008 9:26 PM

*****

Burn After Reading gets my vote for best of the year. Brad Pitt is hilarious...especially when he does his little dancing moves...a must see.

Posted by: Jamie at December 30, 2008 9:50 AM

*****

@jamie: i love me some brad pitt dancin

Posted by: will at December 30, 2008 1:36 PM

*****

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