Yeah that's BS Forrest Gump had lots of happy scenes...it wasn't like Slumdog Millionaire where literally you just watch Shit fall from the sky on a person for TWO hours then he gets a DANCE SEQUENCE!

sort of like slumdog...

except, I don't understand how a kid gets into high school or learns how to sing while living on the street...
were the gum sales enough to pay for master classes?

if i was cynical, i'd say this smacked of government propaganda.

>> ^kymbos:

Inception and Memento are both really good films (I think Inception is a Great film), but largely because they are great ideas, well delivered. His Batman stuff is fine, but it didn't rock my world. Really, it seems pretty formulaic to me.
I think Tarantino's work is so distinctive and ambitious, that he sits above all others. Also, if you go through his films (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, the two Kill Bills (so far, a third has been announced), Grindhouse and then Inglourious Basterds), it's hard to pick a weak spot apart from Grindhouse which was a disaster and an excuse to film the best car chase in modern history. But even that was ambitious if not well executed.
I'm tempted to put Danny Boyle up there, but almost exclusively for Trainspotting which is my favourite film of all time, and Sunshine which I thought was brilliant.
Perhaps Tarantino could be given the nod for best writer/director in the modern era?


Good call on Danny Boyle. I haven't see Sunshine, but 28 Days Later is one of my favourites of all time, Shallow Grave was a great debut and Slumdog Millionaire was beautiful. But yeah, Tarantino, he's inimitable

The Wrestler was the only flick that lived up to its promise, for me.

Though I did like Avatar, Star Trek, Slumdog, and a few of the others mentioned above.

Basterds was okay--loved the bar scene--and it really did keep you wondering how it would end...but it wasn't a film I could watch twice.

"Harvard Beats Yale 29-29" was from 2008, but for a documentary where you know the ending right off the bat, I was honestly on the edge of my seat from about halfway through the film to the very end.

"Food, Inc." is also highly recommended.

I've become too spoiled.

I feel like the best film I saw this year was Up, but that too was somewhat of a disappointment because of all the uber-hype; as for all the Avatars and Star Treks, and Moons, and Slumdog Millionaires - yes, they were very enjoyable, but all either felt like pure entertainment movies with little substance (the former two) or really good films with a couple of unforgivable weaknesses (latter ones)

Haven't seen The Road or The Wrestler yet, though. Also thought Inglorious Basterds was extremely overrated and the only REALLY good thing about it was Cristopher Waltz.

So far for me it's this list, but still some fine releases to see from last year..
1. Mammoth
2. Das Weisse Band

3. The Wrestler
4. Inglorious Basterds
5. Avatar
6. Slumdog Millionaire
7. 35 Rhums
8. Bright Star
9. Ricky
10. Knowing

I love this movie.

Tony Scott did go over board with the MTV style editing in places though.

Very creative use of subtitles though which got emulated in Slumdog Millonaire.

fun

http://www.videosift.com/video/Peanut-Butter-Jelly-Time-Slumdog-Millionaire-Mashup

fun

http://www.videosift.com/video/Peanut-Butter-Jelly-Time-Slumdog-Millionaire-Mashup

fun

http://www.videosift.com/video/Peanut-Butter-Jelly-Time-Slumdog-Millionaire-Mashup

fun

http://www.videosift.com/video/Peanut-Butter-Jelly-Time-Slumdog-Millionaire-Mashup

I thought the best part was when Stiller said that "Slumdog Millionare" looked like it was shot on a cell phone.

>> ^dag:
Monsoon Wedding was better.

I agree, but Monsoon Weddings isn't formulaic and isn't something you can watch and cheer on unlike Slumdog which follows alot of fairly tale conventions and is a great feel good movie of the year.

>> ^budzos:
I love how in 2007 almost nobody could see Danny Boyle's Sunshine in theatres because it only showed up on 50 screens for one weekend, and then in 2008 everyone is totally swinging from his nuts!
FWIW I think Sunshine is one of the best space movies ever!


I did get a chance to see Sunshine in theater, and thought it was quite good. Also own it on dvd now.

Another movie I saw in theater, despite zero advertisement/promos, was Equilibrium, which was awesome. (stars Christian Bale before he was in the batman series... not sure if he was a male-diva at that point in his career. Two thumbs up for any movie where Taye Diggs gets his face cut off )

And yes, I liked MIA's original paper airplanes since long before this movie, and the version they used in the movie (krupo pointed out) was fine too, I just don't like this remix. To each their own opinion.

Leading Performance By a Male Actor
Frost/Nixon - Frank Langella
Hands down, best. Mickey gets runner-up

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
Revolutionary Road - Michael Shannon
Brilliant performance in a meh film

Performance by a leading actress:
Doubt - Meryl Streep
She is awesome with a double helping of awesome sauce

Performance by a supporting actress:
Doubt - Viola Davis
fantastic performance, 2nd place Marisa, but I can't imagine she would want to win another supporting actress oscar, as the last one nearly killed her career


Animated Feature of the Year:
WALL-E
Duh!?

Best Picture:
Slumdog Millionaire
Best Picture out of the 5 nominations, I will agree with others that TDK should have be nominated and I would have thrown my vote at it.

my .02 worth