Lewis Beale’s Best of 2008 Movies
One nice thing that happened in 2008 is I got to know Lewis Beale, a freelance journalist who also teaches journalism at UNC-Wilmington. Lewis specializes in covering movies and his work has been featured in the NY Times, NY Daily News, Newsday, USA Today, and numerous other news outlets. We posted on several of Lewis’ articles this year including here, here, here, and here. Lewis passed along his Best of 2008 Movies list and agreed to let me post it including all his snarky observations (my favorite is Hottest Screen Couple: Wall-E and Eve). Enjoy and feel free to comment.
THE BEST
The Edge of Heaven
WALL-E
Tropic Thunder
The Dark Knight
Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist
Anita O’Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer
Gomorra
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Stranded
Absurdistan
THE WORST
Stop-Loss
Semi-Pro
Alien vs. Predator 2
Bonneville
War, Inc.
The Go-Getter
The Women
OVERRATED
Iron Man
Wendy and Lucy
Doubt
Man On Wire
UNDERRATED
The X-Files: I Want To Believe
Felon
Best Scenes:
The ‘Rock Me Sexy Jesus’ number from ‘Hamlet 2.’
Dewey Cox meets the squabbling Beatles in ‘Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story’
Every scene with uptight driving instructor Eddie Marsan in ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’
The way Heath Ledger’s Joker says ‘hi’ to Aaron Eckhart’s disfigured Harvey Dent in ‘The Dark Knight’
Robert Downey, Jr.’s speech about going the ‘full retard’ in ‘Tropic Thunder’
The teenage gangland wannabes practicing with automatic weapons in their bathing suits in ‘Gomorra’
Best Dialogue: “Some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, negotiated or reasoned with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” — Alfred the butler in ‘The Dark Knight.’
Proof That Right-wing Pundits Have No Sense of Humor: The idiots who criticized ‘Wall-E’ for being socialistic environmental propaganda
Guilty Pleasure: ‘You Don’t Mess With the Zohan’
Best Japanese Spaghetti Western: ‘Sukiyaki Western Django’
Worst Comic Actor (Maybe Ever): Will Ferrell
Baby, Look At Her Now: ‘That ’70s Show’s’ Mila Kunis in ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’
Worst Excuse for a Remake: ‘The Women’
Same As It Ever Was Trophy, aka Been There, Seen That: ‘Pride and Glory’ (corrupt NYC cops, a family torn apart by departmental loyalties, blah, blah, blah)
Motherfucker Award (Year’s most foul-mouthed film): ‘Zack and Miri Make a Porno’
Creepiest Boyfriend: Jason Patric, ‘Expired’
Hottest Screen Couple: WALL-E and EVE
Worst Ending: ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’
Best Villain (No contest): The Joker
Cosmically Stupid, Weirdly Irresistible: ‘Mamma Mia!’
Bitchin’ Babes and Hot Hunks: James Franco, Olga Kurylenko, Kat Dennings, Emmanuelle Chiriqui, Jason Statham, Radha Mitchell, Elizabeth Banks
Cinematic Bravery Award: To Matteo Garrone for directing ‘Gomorra,’ the most unromantic, and scariest, film ever made about Italian organized crime.
Most Moving Film: ‘Stranded,’ the true story of the famous 1972 Andes plane crash. The survivors’ accounts are absolutely incredible.
Best DVD Re-Release: ‘L.A. Confidential.’ Still one of the best films noir ever made.
Enough Already: Movies based on comic books, video games and amusement rides; Movies about the Iraq War; Bloggers obsessed with Oscar season; Anyone who takes the Golden Globes seriously; Films starring dogs; So-called comedies directed by the Coen Brothers; Alien vs. Predator flicks; Documentaries about the excesses of the Bush administration (we know, we know); Vampire love stories pitched to brain dead female teens.
In Need of Career Counseling: Kate Hudson, Eddie Murphy, Tom Cruise
R.I.P.: George Carlin, Paul Newman, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Hayes, Levi Stubbs
Best Books I Read This Year: ‘Tree of Smoke,’ by Denis Johnson; ‘Stoner,’ by John Williams; ‘2666,’ by Roberto Bolaño
Best TV Show: (Tie) ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ ‘The Wire’
Best Supporting Actress: Hanna Schygulla, ‘The Edge of Heaven’
Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, ‘The Dark Knight’
Best Actor: Sean Penn, ‘Milk’
Best Picture: ‘The Dark Knight’