Movies Of The Year: 2008 (Part Two)

Finally, here is my end of the year list for 2008. This list is for comparative purposes, so I've included (and italicized) all those films from earlier years that made it to US theatres for the first time in 2008. My actual 2008 list (to be found at The Big List) will only include those films that imdb lists as 2008 films. That list will continue to be updated as I catch up with films I still haven't seen (Milk, Synecdoche New York) and get to films that haven't been released here yet (Three Monkeys, Red Cliff). Next week, I hope to have a third Movies Of the Year 2008 post that will actually include some comments on some of these movies (a novel concept around here lately, I know). That said, here's the list:

1. WALL-E
2. Sita Sings The Blues
3. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
4. Still Life
5. Waltz With Bashir
6. Flight Of The Red Balloon
7. Sparrow
8. Ashes Of Time Redux
9. Happy Go Lucky
10. Paranoid Park
11. Mad Detective
12. Rachel Getting Married
13. My Blueberry Nights
14. Chop Shop
15. Cloverfield
16. The Equation Of Love And Death
17. In Bruges
18. Let The Right One In
19. Che
20. Wonderful Town
21. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
22. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
23. Boarding Gate
24. The Fall
25. Hellboy II


26. Slumdog Millionaire
27. Iron Man
28. Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
29. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
30. Roman Polanski: Wanted & Desired
31. The Happening
32. The Dark Knight
33. Speed Racer
34. Redbelt
35. Gonzo: The Life And Work Of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
36. Recount
37. Encounters At the End Of The World
38. Good Cats
39. Sukiyaki Western Django
40. The Rest Is Silence
41. Pineapple Express
42. Man On Wire
43. Zack And Miri Make A Porno
44. Tropic Thunder
45. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day
46. Kung Fu Panda
47. Baby Mama
48. Australia
49. Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist
50. The Forbidden Kingdom
51. Gran Torino
52. Burn After Reading
53. The Order Of Myths
54. Of Time And The City
55. Snow Angels
56. W.
57. Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood
58. Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
59. Frost/Nixon
60. Valkyrie
61. Mongol
62. The Incredible Hulk
63. Quantum Of Solace
64. The Mummy 3

Movies Of the Year Award Nominations: 2008

Kicking off The End Of Cinema's 2008 Year-End festivities (the latest year-end on the internet!), here are the nominees for our annual awards. The winners will be reveal at the end of the month, along with my annual Oscar predictions. As always, only films I've seen that have an imdb date of 2008 are eligible, regardless of when they happened to get released at a theatre near me.

Best Picture:

1. Ashes Of Time Redux
2. Sita Sings The Blues
3. Sparrow
4. WALL-E
5. Waltz With Bashir

Best Director:

1. Wong Kar-wai, Ashes Of Time Redux
2. Nina Paley, Sita Sings The Blues
3. Johnnie To, Sparrow
4. Andrew Stanton, WALL-E
5. Ari Folman, Waltz With Bashir

Actor:

1. Benicio Del Toro, Che
2. Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
3. Colin Ferrell, In Bruges
4. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Redbelt
5. Ben Burtt, WALL-E

Actress:

1. Frances McDormand, Burn After Reading
2. Xun Zhou, The Equation Of Love And Death
2. Sally Hawkins, Happy Go Lucky
4. Lina Leandersson, Let The Right One In
5. Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married

Supporting Actor:

1. Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
2. Eddie Marsan, Happy Go Lucky
3. Bill irwin, Rachel Getting Married
4. Robert Downey Jr, Tropic Thunder
5. Javier Bardem, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Supporting Actress:

1. Brigitte Lin, Ashes Of Time Redux
2. Gwynneth Paltrow, Iron Man
3. Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
4. Kelly Lin, Sparrow
5. Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Original Screenplay:

1. Mike Leigh, Happy Go Lucky
2. Nina Paley, Sita Sings The Blues
3. Kin Chung Chan and Chi Keung Fung, Sparrow
4. Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter, WALL-E
5. Ari Folman, Waltz With Bashir

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Wong Kar-wai, Ashes Of Time Redux
2. Peter Buchman and Benjamen van der Veen, Che
3. Guillermo Del Toro, Hellboy II: The Golden Army
4. John Ajvide Lindqvist, Let The Right One In
5. Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire

Foreign Language Film:

1. Ashes Of Time Redux
2. The Equation Of Love And Death
3. Let the Right One In
4. Sparrow
5. Waltz With Bashir

Documentary Feature:

1. Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
2. Gonzo: the Lufe And Work Of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
3. Man On Wire
4. Waltz With Bashir
5. Roman Polanski: Wanted & Desired

Animated Feature:

1. Kung Fu Panda
2. Sita Sings The Blues
3. Speed Racer
4. WALL-E
5. Waltz With Bashir

Film Editing:

1. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
2. Sparrow
3. Speed Racer
4. WALL-E
5. Waltz With Bashir

Cinematography:

1. Christopher Doyle, Ashes Of Time Redux
2. Steven Soderbergh, Che
3. Siu-keung Cheng, Sparrow
4. Javier Aguirresarobe, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
5. Danielle Feinberg and Jeremy Lasky, WALL-E

Art Direction:

1. Che
2. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
3. Sita Sings The Blues
4. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
5. WALL-E

Costume Design:

1. Ashes Of Time Redux
2. Che
3. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
4. Rachel Getting Married
5. Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Make-Up:

1. Ashes Of Time Redux
2. The Dark Knight
3. Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Sound:

1. Cloverfield
2. Hellboy II
3. Rachel Getting Married
4. Speed Racer
5. WALL-E

Sound Effects Editing:

1. Che
2. Cloverfield
3. Hellboy II
4. Speed Racer
5. WALL-E

Visual Effects:

1. Cloverfield
2. The Dark Knight
3. Hellboy II
4. Iron Man
5. Speed Racer

Original Score:

1. Frankie Chan and Roel A. García, Ashes Of Time Redux
2. A. R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
3. Xavier Jamaux and Fred Avril, Sparrow
4. Thomas Newman, WALL-E
5. Max Richter, Waltz With Bashir

Original Song:

1. "Dracula's Lament", Jason Segal, Forgetting Sarah Marshall
2. "Jai Ho", A. R. Ragman and Gulzar, Slumdog Millionaire
3. "Down To Earth", Peter Gabriel, WALL-E

Soundtrack:

1. Gonzo: the Life And Work Of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
2. Rachel Getting Married
3. Sita Sings The Blues
4. Slumdog Millionaire
5. WALL-E

Movie Roundup: Groundhog Day Edition

I plan to have a formal Best of 2008 List up either tonight or tomorrow, depending on how ambitious I am (and I want to read David Bordwell's essay on Slumdog Millionaire before I make a final decision about it). Until then, here's the roundup of what I've watched in the last few weeks and where they place on their respective years:

Snow Angels: 48, 2007
Gran Torino: 2008
Anchors Aweigh: 16, 1945
Niagara: 20, 1953
Cloverfield: 2008
The Fall: 23, 2006
Che: 2008
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*: 2008
Hellboy II: 2008
Manhatta: 4, 1921
Chop Shop: 10, 2007
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time: 20, 2006
Frost/Nixon: 2008
The Far Horizons: 34, 1955
Slumdog Millionaire: 2008
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days: 5, 2007
The Order Of Myths: 2008
Redbelt: 2008
The Mist: 16, 2007
Vicy Cristina Barcelona: 2008
Kung Fu Panda: 2008
Ladies Of Leisure: 9, 1930

Also, we're getting close to having the next Metro Classics series fully booked. This time we're doing adaptations, with three films from each of three different media in three different genres: action movies, musicals and science fiction movies based on plays, film/television and books.