25 In 25: My Favorite Films of the First Quarter Century - 2008

2008 was a year in my cinema-going life that will be impossible to forget.  This was the year that I got see my very first film on a true IMAX screen. 

I recall walking in with my then-girlfriend and getting dizzy from the scale of the theatre.  The angle of the seats.  The size of the screen.  I was overwhelmed, but in a good way.  And after the film was over, I was speechless.  That rarely happens to me after a film. We walked out in utter silence… and I can see on my partner’s face that she was equally as amazed.  The power of cinema on its grandest scale.

As far as the films of 2008, Disney/Pixar had WALL-E.  Danny Boyle finally strikes Oscar with Slumdog Millionaire… And David Fincher gets a make-up nomination (Benjamin Button) for being snubbed the previous year for Zodiac.  The comic book movie boom truly began with Robert Downey Jr. for his portrayal of Tony Stark in Iron Man.  Ponyo swam into our world in one of Miyazaki’s most divisive films.  Ben Stiller and his troupe throw 100 mph in the phenomenally smart and excruciatingly funny Tropic Thunder… a comedy that wouldn’t get made today.  Tom Hardy gave us a scary turn into thief/prisoner Bronson in Nicholas Winding Refn’s visceral Biopic.   Finally, one of my favorite horror films that almost took the modern favorite spot on today’s list was also released in 2008.   This Swedish film by Tomas Alfredson is beautiful and haunting and gory and very sad.  Let the Right One In might be one of the best “vampire” films ever made.    

If the opening paragraph didn’t give it away, my favorite film back in 2008 graced IMAX screens around the world and the late Heath Ledger gave a performance that might never be topped in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. 

While still being a film based on a comic book character, Nolan decided to take it in a different direction.  Batman Begins does the origin story, but in Nola’s world but still uses Gotham as a prop… and visually, Gotham looks more like Burton’s than what Nolan gives us in The Dark Knight (TDK). 

With TDK, Nolan and his crew took Batman into the real world.  Chicago stands in for Gotham this time, and you can feel the city is falling into mayhem from the opening shot.  Not only did they ground the backdrop, but they also grounded Batman/Bruce Wayne.  The character work Nolan did was the star of the show.  The dichotomy of the character is on full display and portrayed with such precision by Christian Bale.  He knows he’s doing good in the city, but at what cost?  And on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, Ledger gives a Joker without a north star, zero moral compass, and a serious compunction for chaos… and he’s damned good at it.  He’s so good at it, he has the general public second guessing authority and each other while also questioning if their morals are compromised!!!  It’s simply the sheer genius of Nolan’s filmmaking on full display, along with a score by Hans Zimmer AND James Newton Howard and cinematography by long time collaborator, Wally Pfister.

I’d like to believe that my “in hindsight” selection for favorite of the 2008 launched by love of independent cinema.  While I know it’s not, it surely launched my love affair with Martin McDonagh.  And of course I am talking about In Bruges.

Talk about a film delving deeply into the psyche of humanity and letting us bathe in it!!  McDonagh puts Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson through the wringer of emotion from the second the film begins.  And once in Bruges?  Those feelings only build.  On an assignment, Ray, who is fairly new to the “business,” shoots a priest but inadvertently kills an altar boy.  Obviously, this weighs on Ray.    Ken has reconciled his career path and finds a sense of peace in Bruges.  After being ordered to kill Ray by their boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes, amazing as always), Ken is forced to look inside himself to find empathy.  How does it turn out?      You’ll have to watch to find out. 

Both films chosen here deal with real-life issues, no matter how fantastical the setting.  And thus begins my journey down the deeper thematic rabbit hole of film.