Since it is Oscars season and I don’t go to many theaters, I thought I’d ask if there are any movies actually worth seeing this year. So, are there?
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
Vertigo?
Oh, you want new movies. Sorry, got nuthin’.
…that you like or prefer.
This past year had WALL-E and The Dark Knight…both of which were terrific.
I’ve not seen Slumdog Millionaire, but I’ve no doubt others that have seen it loved it.
Iron Man was decent fun, and awesome graphics….a comix geek like me loved it. Even if you hate BatMan, I recommend ‘Dark Knight’ if, for nothing else, for Heath Ledger’s performance—he didn’t just chew on the scenery, he tore through the movie like a tornado and took no prisoners (figuratively).
you can probably discern my prefences by now… ;-)~
Usually I don’t go to the theater very often either…the past couple weeks have been an anomaly though. I’ve seen Push, Taken, and Gran Torino just in the last 2 weeks.
I thought they were all decent. Taken started fast, and got a little slow. Push started slow and got really good at the end. I think I laughed more during Gran Torino (which has a serious plot) than I have during most comedies, just because of Clint Eastwood’s character’s bluntness, but I also teared up at the end.
My favorite movie in the last year though is definitely The Dark Knight. I generally like comic book movies, and this was no exception. I went into it a little skeptical about Heath Ledger’s performance…even then talk about a posthumous Academy Award was prevalent, and I thought it was probably just a bunch of sentimental crap. Boy was I wrong. He was spectacular. Made the movie.
The next movie I want to see is The Wrestler. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it, and from sources I normally wouldn’t expect to hear them from. That’s a recipe for success in my book.
If you liked Gran Torino, then you would probably like the Charles Bronson movies depicting a vigilante with a handgun. These Bronson movies probably boosted the NRA and spurred the liberalization of gun laws.
Good guys and bad guys with villans taken down in end, bang, bang. Although minorities were always cast as the villans, these movies mever helped to draw attention to impoverished environments that breed criminals, and they never have anything to say about the roots of crime, especially its economic roots.
So I am personally ambivalent about these kinds of movies, because they lack depth and understanding. This one also makes me wonder if Clint Eastwood is not going the way of Charton Heston, a once wannabe liberal who went over to the extreme right. On the other hand, it is possible that Eastwood just wanted to recreate another version of Mr. NoName from the spaghetti westerns or Dirty Harry. Will likely see it eventually anyway, when it comes on DVD.
Gran Torino was really good, and Coraline in 3-D was amazing and dark and creepy and spellbinding.
Ooh, I forgot to mention in my post that Gran Torino was filmed in the Detroit area. While that may not mean much to most people here, it definitely made me want to see it more. I’m glad Mr. Eastwood brought some much needed dollars into the local economy.
Yeah, in Cleveland we still brag about A Christmas Story… 🙂
Ugh, all I get to see are kid’s movies.
Hotel for Dogs was pretty cute.
the dark knight is completely overrated
the secret life of bees was better
See my Oscar predictions post for some rec’s, but here are some excellent films NOT nominated that you won’t want to miss:
Gran Torino. Best dialog of any film this year. Humor and pathos and some great acting. Clint Eastwood is also good in this.
Frost/Nixon. This is so much better than it should be, given the subject and limited scope. This is amazingly interesting and suspenseful. Don’t miss this.
The International. “Inspired by” the banking monster BCCI (the Bank of Credit and Commerce known more informally as the Bank of Crooks and Criminals, International), this thriller is interesting. It devolves into an action movie at the end, although the shootout in the Guggenheim is kind of inspired. Definitely not a tired old retread. Worth a look.
Confessions of a Shopaholic. Wow – this was so much better than you’d think it was. Although definitely a “chick flick” it gets kudos for excellent writing – rivaling that other great film re fashion, The Devil Wears Prada. What makes both films succeed are compelling heroines and simple stories exceedingly well told.
I also liked “He’s just not that into you.” It wasn’t quite as predictable as you’d think, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I was entertained.
And of course, do not miss the Oscars. Hugh will not disappoint. Soon, the whole world will know of his giant talent. I can’t wait.
I have a question about this subject for anybody who’s still up.
I notice that nobody has mentioned “Doubt”. Now, I haven’t seen the movie — I wait for DVDs, frankly — but it seemed from what I read and heard about it to be a pretty impressive movie, if one that pressed a little hard to be A SERIOUS MOVIE, YOU HEAR ME, ACADEMY, WE’VE GOT PHILLIP AND MERYL AND THAT’S NOT EVEN TO MENTION THE WRITING AND THE MORAL COMPLEXITY OF THE SUBJECT WHICH IS DEALT WITH HERE WITH A SENSITIVITY YOU CAN’T IMAGINE.
Sorry to go to all caps; my point is, again, that I wondered at the time if this film wasn’t trying just a little bit too hard to win on the “serious film” points. It still sounded well worth seeing.
Did anybody see it? If so, why don’t you mention it as a movie worth seeing? Too bogged down with the consciousness of its own gravitas, as I suspected? Or other failings?
Didn’t see it, but got very much that impression from the trailer “an IMPORTANT movie”. want to see Shopaholic but chose Slumdog because everyone talks about it. I had real problems with Slumdog, should have gone to Shopaholic.
I loved it. It’s great for: character study; peice of historical fiction; good non-Hollywoody ending; all around strong acting.
All of that said, I’m not sure what a Protestant who has no feeling for the culture of the industrialized eastern U.S. would make of this. It would still be agreat movie, but I think there would be a strong temptation to believe it’s made up or exaggerated.
All in all, one of my top films of the year.
Thanks!
Why so serious?
Dark Knight – best picture, bar none.
I saw it, and honestly? I fell asleep in a couple of spots. Granted, it was a late screening – started at 8:30pm on a day I had risen at 5am. But still. It was a lot of talk.
It was a good film, but not as compelling as it should have been. Streep was so good she managed to make everyone else – INCLUDING the fantastic Seymour Hoffman – look uninteresting, which ultimately hurt it, I feel. Seriously – it was my least favorite performance by Hoffman, and I’m a huge fan of his.
I saw the writer here twice, recently. Now I know where the humor comes from. But I have to say – this was better as a play. It didn’t need to become a film. I feel the opposite about Frost/Nixon. It was so amazing I was glad it hadn’t been left as just a play.
Thanks, Lisa!
I also see films primarily on DVD, and the Oscar favorites don’t get released until March.
But some personal favorites, well worth seeing, have been released:
In Bruges – A wicked, wicked story with memorable performances by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleason. Farrell won Best Actor at the Golden Globes, but wasn’t even nominated for the Oscars.
Transsiberian (Emily Mortimer, Woody Harrelson, Ben Kingsley) – An American couple gets caught up in the intrigue of the Beijing to Moscow Transsiberian rail trip. Tense, claustrophobic thriller that hooks-you-on and reels-you-in.
Hellboy 2 – Brilliantly conceived and directed by Guillermo del Toro, who also is tabbed to direct The Hobbit, the Peter Jackson produced effort.
Will start wading through the Oscar bait films next month…
Yes to all of these.
From the comments it looks like it is another year that I don’t miss the new releases. My wife wanted to go to Australia but we’ll need to wait for DVD.
My latest thing is to use the county library. The selection is better because they never move out the older stuff. I can go on-line and see what’s available and reserve it. They will even ship it to my local branch which I can walk to to pick up and return. I can keep it for week.
And it’s already paid for through my highest in the nation property taxes.
But the best thing I’ve seen in the last year were HBO’s Generation Kill and all five seasons of The Wire
I live in Bend, Oregon, and many years ago the Fred Meyer department store foundation donated $100,000 to the Deschutes Co. Library as seed money for a CD and DVD collection. They have some 8,000 DVDs in their collection now, and are ‘religious’ about bringing in multiple copies of all sorts of films. It’s a movie lover’s Nirvana.
Thanks so much to Fred Meyer for their vision and generosity.
I’d like to second that recommendation on the 3-D version of Coraline. This is an animated work that will change your perspective of what is possible in animation. If you watched and enjoyed The Triplets of Belleville, the same “feel” is present. The same creative group also did Tim Burton’s, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and there are also some stylistic similarities.
Worth Seeing:
-Slumdog Millionaire
-The Wrestler
-Doubt
-Benjamin Button
Ah The Wrestler. Too many people I respect cheered about it. And I’m loyal to Mickey Rourke ever since I saw the Pope of Greenwich Village