5. The Wrestler - Mickey Rourke gives the lead performance of the year in a movie that feels so accurate to its subject matter, that I almost felt like watching professional wrestling again. Then I remembered that pro wrestling isn't as thoughtful as Darren Aronofsky's film and I thought better of it. Plus, the wrestling stuff is just window dressing for a quiet drama about a broken man trying to redeem himself for all the crappy things he did while trying to get to the top, even if that man might not have it in him to properly make amends. I saw this again recently to make sure I didn't overrate it from my early morning TIFF screening with a probably-still-drunk Aronofsky introducing it, and I'm pleased to say that it does. Go see it if you like gritty character studies, and don't worry if you don't like wrestling.
4. Rachel Getting Married - I hadn't really thought about it until now, but there's parallels between this film and the one ahead of it. Both are low-fi character studies with heavily flawed protagonists seeking small measures of redemption, but keep fucking it up due to the flaws that made them so fucked up in the first place. The Wrestler was easily the more viscerally appealing of the two, but Rachel Getting Married was the better of the two. Jonathan Demme's film had the most depth of any film in 2008, accomplishing the rare feat of being a movie about family dysfunction that still imbued a deep, true sense of family, rather than a collection of damaged characters. It's as warm as it is tortured, making for the best/worst wedding you'd ever want to attend.
3. Slumdog Millionaire - I feel an extra pull to Slumdog Millionaire, having been one the first people to see it when Danny Boyle presented it at TIFF, just a week after it debuted at Telluride. It was the highlight of the festival for me, where I helped contribute to its People's Choice Award. There's been a bit of a backlash against the film, as is always the case with anything popular, largely by people who want it to be something it's not. Slumdog Millionaire is a modern-day fable, grounded in realism, but not married to it. It's not a perfect film, but rather one that eschews the crushing cynicism usually found in North American fare, and it's that sense of optimism in the face of despair that audiences have responded to. Boyle accomplishes this with the visual flair and sensualism that he's become renowned for, which allows him to indulge in optimism without devolving into schmaltz. The result is an energetic rush of a film that reinforced why I love going to movies.
![Let the Right One In [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51GYpLBd1CL._SL120_.jpg)
![Forgetting Sarah Marshall [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xRGz4S8AL._SL120_.jpg)
![The Visitor [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51OPxbEnwGL._SL120_.jpg)
![Iron Man (Ultimate Two-Disc Edition + BD Live) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51hso1X0GJL._SL120_.jpg)
![The Wrestler [Theatrical Release]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51akrGNzLXL._SL120_.jpg)
![Slumdog Millionaire [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51s6y0y84tL._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - Jordan Richardson
Cool stuff. I thought 2008 was actually a much better year than 2007 for film. Lots of tremendous stuff out there to see.
My Top Films of the Year (in no particular order):
Let the Right One In
Revolutionary Road
Frozen River
The Wrestler
Happy-Go-Lucky
Doubt
Slumdog Millionaire
Gran Torino
WALL-E
Frost/Nixon
I've yet to see Milk, In Bruges, Rachel Getting Married, and several others too, so the list could change too.
Also, wasn't as big a fan of the "superhero" movies as everyone else was. I thought The Dark Knight was average, same with Iron Man.
2 - andre
Where is twilight?
3 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
I guess I didn't give The Wrestler much of a chance...It is rather boring in the beginning.
Wall-E was one of the best movies I have ever seen and even though I agree about Pixar("UP" is coming soon...Yay), I thought they had some competition with Sony's release in '07. "Surf's Up" was freakin awesome! If they make another one like that then we will have two companies producing great animated movies that are for everyone.
TDK was very good but I think the hype ruined something for me...I can't put my finger on it. Really, I did like it but towards the end it got a little drawn out. I guess when it comes to "Comic Book" movies I'd rather see them animated. Imho, this movie doesn't touch the Spawn Animated Series that HBO/Macfarlane put out quite sometime ago but,again, that's my opinion.
Your list is fairly accurate though I would've included "Eagle Eye". I thought that movie was gonna suck but it turned out great.
4 - Jordan Richardson
"Surf's Up" was freakin awesome!
Really? I hadn't bothered to see that one because I thought it looked bloody awful.
5 - Andy Sayers
I found Surf's Up to be merely average. I'm all penguined out.
6 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Well, Jordan, it's tough to say if the animation is as good as Pixar's ( I think it comes pretty damn close) but the script & voice over cast make up for whatever it lacks in that department. It was funny, a little bit touching and it presented a huge point in the same fashion as Wall-E. But, I can't take anything away from Wall-E because that film was brilliant, original & very creative. Still, Surf's Up has to,easily, be in my top 10 for Animated movies.
You should check it out...
7 - Andy Sayers
@Jordan:
Just as you didn't care for TDK and Iron Man, I disagree with Happy-Go-Lucky and Revolutionary Road, both of which I actively disliked. Diff'rent strokes, I suppose.
I'm about to watch Frozen River, so I'll see if it would've contended had I saw it in time.
8 - Cster-sama
I haven't seen most of those movies. I'll check them out in the new year.
9 - Brovky
wer da hell is the dark knight??!!
10 - Andy
You have to keep reading Brovky. Like maybe all the way to number one.