The 2008 Rank 'Em As You See 'Em Thread
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Slumdog Millionaire Flawless. Slumdog Millionaire is what I hope for every time I see a film.
The Dark Knight I could have done with a stronger female character, and it was a bit too long, but I haven't been this absorbed by a film in a mighty long time. I imagine it'll slide down the list once I get to see the Oscar bait (which, living in Alabama, might take some time), but I doubt it'll move far.
The Wrestler
Rachel Getting Married The best wedding movie I've ever seen. Lumet's script doesn't treat her characters with pity; it points out their flaws and lets them lay there. Also, it deserves an Oscar simply for having an interracial relationship and not once drawing attention to it. Watch this and learn how not to be a moron, Paul Haggis.
Synecdoche, New York All the world's indeed a stage, as Charlie Kaufman proves with his grandest work yet. Hoffman gives one of his best performances as the slowly fading playwright who throws himself into a play about life when his own comes crashing down around him. Some of the scenes still confuse me, but the message is clear. Either Kaufman or Jenny Lumet deserve the Original Screenplay Oscar.
Milk
Happy-Go-Lucky
Let the Right One In I can't imagine how much more I'm going to prefer this to Twilight once I see that film
Revolutionary Road
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Chop Shop
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Man on Wire
Wall*E Modern Times + 2001: A Space Odyssey + Idiocracy + Pixar = the cutest and most enjoyable romantic comedy about robots you'll ever see
Zack And Miri Make a Porno To be fair, I'd have ranked this about 3 1/2 on the first viewing but it really clicked a second time

Frost/Nixon
Encounters at the Edge of the World
The Fall Absolutely stunning cinematography complete with some engrossing fairy tales. The kid's pretty good too. It's astonishingly pretentious, but in a fun way. Sadly, too many of the real-world scenes in the hospital are repetitive and interchangeable and bring the film down.
In Bruges
The Band's Visit
Shotgun Stories
Gran Torino It's cliched, contrived, with such mediocre acting that it's a wonder than Eastwood made it, but it was just so much fun. I've not gotten on with most of Eastwood's work this decade (MDB and Changeling were too melodramatic; Mystic River had great acting but was too detached), so it's pretty much my default second after the masterpiece Letters From Iwo Jima.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Iron Man
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Burn After Reading
Tropic Thunder
Role Models

W.
Rambo
Body of Lies
RocknRolla
Pineapple Express
Ghost Town
Flash of Genius
The Duchess

Charlie Bartlett
Quantum of Solace
Miracle at St. Anna
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
Eagle Eye
Semi-Pro
Lakeview Terrace
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Soul Men
Cloverfield
Righteous Kill
Max Payne
Blindness
Be Kind Rewind
The Other Boleyn Girl
War Inc.

Twilight
My Best Friend's Girl
Wanted
Star Wars: The Clone Wars The only reason that this isn't lower on the list is that it exists only to promote the show. Although that might actually make it worse. Hmmm....
Australia
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Speed Racer
College
Babylon A.D.

An American Carol Calling this a satire is an insult not only to the term but the letters that comprise it. It makes dissenters into demons and ironically ends up making its intended heroes (and its target audience) look like redneck fundamentalist retards who are critically unaware of not only basic political issues, but simple thought processes.
Fireproof Misogynistic, slightly homophobic, unintentionally hilarious, and ineptly acted, directed and written. It twists Christianity from a notion of perseverance into the realm of "insta-miracles" and it openly states that you need to love Christ to love others.
The Happening Granted, the last two offended me, but I knew they would going in. I've always considered Shamy to be a great director but a hack writer, but I could have never anticipated something this bad. An uninteresting Twilight Zone episode stretched to feature length, The Happening is so absurdly stupid that I suspect Shayamalan made this not to add to his filmography, but to be so bad that it made his previous duds look like Unbreakable compared to it.
Last edited by Sanjuro37; 12-30-08 at 04:45 PM.
#104
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Burn After Reading
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Synecdoche, New York

Appaloosa
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
Tropic Thunder
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson
Pineapple Express
Be King Rewind
Vicky Christina Barcelona

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
The X-Files

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Finding Amanda
Semi-Pro

The Happening

#105
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: The 2008 Rank 'Em As You See 'Em Thread
1. The Dark Knight
2. Let the Right One In
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
4. Iron Man
5. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
6. WALL-E
7. Slumdog Millionaire
8. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
9. The Ruins
10. The Strangers
11. Cloverfield
12. Pineapple Express
13. The Incredible Hulk
14. Burn After Reading
15. Tropic Thunder
16. Quantum of Solace
17. The Spiderwick Chronicles
18. Son of Rambow
19. Be Kind, Rewind
20. Wanted
21. Transsiberian
22. The X-Files: I Want to Believe
23. Hancock
24. The Happening
25. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
26. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2. Let the Right One In
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
4. Iron Man
5. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
6. WALL-E
7. Slumdog Millionaire
8. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
9. The Ruins
10. The Strangers
11. Cloverfield
12. Pineapple Express
13. The Incredible Hulk
14. Burn After Reading
15. Tropic Thunder
16. Quantum of Solace
17. The Spiderwick Chronicles
18. Son of Rambow
19. Be Kind, Rewind
20. Wanted
21. Transsiberian
22. The X-Files: I Want to Believe
23. Hancock
24. The Happening
25. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
26. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull