Monday, August 17, 2009

Movies I saw in theaters in 2008

I decided to move these off the sidebar to help clean things up a bit.

Slumdog Millionaire 3.5/4
Bollywood meets Regis (sort of)! A cleverly crafted boy meets girl story with the Bollywood touch.

Taxi Driver 4/4
Still holds up, even if I saw a crappy print. "You lookin' at me?"

The Big Lebowski 4/4
Crazed fun. The 2 Busby Berkeley dream sequences just knocked me out, dude.

Vicki Christina Barcelona 3/4
Beautiful people, well-crafted, but I don't buy that artists are so special that they should live by different rules

Lawrence of Arabia 4/4
The first half is the best first half of any movie; the post-intermission part is merely great

Encounters at the End of the World 3.5/4
Werner Herzog visits McMurdo Bay, Antarctica -- what more do you need?

Mongol 3.5/4
Another stunner, about the rise of Genghis Khan. Not a life for the faint hearted, that's for sure

The Fall 3.5/4
Visually stunning, trippy period piece about a suicidal actor at the end of the silent movie era

The Visitor 3.5/4
College prof disengaged from life finds squatters in his in-town apartment; they slowly warm to each other. Very warm.

Iron Man 3/4
Well done superhero stuff

Young@Heart 4/4
See my separate post

The Band's Visit 3/4
Egyptian police band gets off at wrong stop in Israel; warm-hearted look at the universality of people being people

In Bruges 4/4
Honor code amongst hit men extraordinarily well done and acted. True to itself through and through. I came away learning that there are two kinds of people in the world, those who think Bruges is a fockin' fairyland and those for whom hell is fockin' Bruges. Uh, don't bring the kiddies.

Persepolis 4/4
Wonderful, wonderful animated film about a young lady's life during and after the Iranian revolution of the 70s and her eventual escape to study in France.

There Will Be Blood 4/4
Strong, violent study of an oilman's rise to wealth and how his unchecked ambition builds an empire and destroys his soul.

No comments: