Top 10 Movies of 2008

From Ann Abeyta, AKA Gariana, AKA Gets On My Nerves:

Well, it’s that time again. It’s been an incredible year for me as I started a podcast called The Popcorn Mafia. We have met with enormous yet humbling success, the pinnacle of which was being nominated for two podcasting awards and being invited this week to cover The Sundance Film Festival as press.

We couldn't have done any of it without the support of our friends. Especially ones like Suzy who have loaned their considerable talent to come on the show and chat with us about films. When it came time to post my Top Ten of the Year I took some heat because I told people they would have to come to Suzy’s site to read it. In fact I knew the only one that wouldn’t give me shit about it would be my co-host Grae Drake. That’s because she gets it. She does the show with me every week and she gets that it’s a huge honor and a large part of our success that somebody like Suzy would even agree to do our show. The reason I wouldn’t consider posting it on our site is simple, Suzy believed in me doing this before anybody else did.

So, set your Netflix to stun. Thanks for having me back, Suzy.

(This is some serious sucking up, Abeyta. What do you want?)

1. Synecdoche, New York – Man! What an absolute mind fuck this one was. It’s like the dollar menu at Taco Bell, beautiful and sad and filled with so much mystery. Pure unfiltered Charlie Kaufman.

2. The Dark Knight – This was a smaller independent film that you may not have heard of yet. I know it’s pretentious to put this kind of stuff on your top ten list, but as I get older being a film geek gets harder & harder. You have seen it all and generally you are never going to be affected by it as powerfully as that first time you saw it. You become like a junkie and end up having to go farther and farther just to get the same high. The next thing you know you are arguing with a guy in un-ironic horn rim glasses about Fellini’s real masterpiece being La Strada. So, I had always promised myself when I started doing this I would try to keep the smaller films that weren’t accessible to everybody off my top ten unless they really blew me away. It’s dark & moody, but don’t let that keep you from it because the acting is incredible. You might have to dig a little, but this one is worth it.

3. The Fall – Gorgeous. That’s the only word I can think of to describe this film. Strangely, it’s also the only word that describes Lee Pace, (Pushing Daisies star) who is beyond brilliant in this movie and I would stand in the freezing rain for hours just to have him lick my baby… and I don’t even know what that means. I also don’t have a baby, which would make the whole thing even more tragic and awkward than you are imagining. Standing in the rain holding up a stolen baby for him to lick. p.s - Our review of this film was one of my favorite shows that we did this year. Go to our website and listen to Guys in Hammer Pants vs Guys in Leather Fedoras (6-2-2008)

4. Happy Go Lucky – I saw this way late in its run. I caught a late show and I have never been in a theater where that few people (5) were laughing that hard. Ever. All of us were wiping tears away and were all absolutely enraptured by Sally Hawkins (Golden Globe bitches!) and Eddie Marson. Side note: that Eddie didn’t get nominated for a Golden Globe I consider proof that God does not exist. See how easy that was, Bill Maher?

5. The Reader - This is the film that Kate Winslet was in this year that everybody should be talking about. Here’s the strange part. Last year I had the movie Once on my top ten list. A beautiful film that sparked a huge debate between the lovely comedian Suzy Soro and myself about pedophilia. (I have no memory of this conversation and fear she made it up) I made a comment about having to ignore pedophilia laws in order to truly and completely enjoy the film. Suzy, being an expert on pedophilia, (This part is true) patiently informed me that Oncewas a May/December romance and that I should quit getting people’s hopes up. So, after seeing The Reader I got all excited because I would get to use those jokes again this year! All I would have to do was change Ireland to Germany and presto! Get your pick-axe out kids because today we are mining comedy gold! Then halfway through writing it, it dawns on me… it’s a damn May/December romance again! Foiled once (no pun intended) more! I guess I will never get to use these jokes unless Larry Clark does another film. Do not miss this film it’s incredible.

6. The Wrestler – Welcome home Mickey. (I think he and Madonna changed faces).

7. Wall*e – Wow! Pixar just crushes it yet again. The first 45 minutes is some of the best film making I have ever seen. I don’t know how they got the brutally accurate comment on Americans and American society past the studio heads. I do however know this, I am glad they did and it was overdue. It had none of the lacerating wit of Idiocracy, but managed to pack all of the same punch while being ham-stringed by being a children’s film with the rating to match. This film would be a remarkable achievement under any circumstances, but to think they pulled all that off just makes me shake my head with wonder. (I hated this movie so much there are no words).

8. Slumdog Millionaire – The kind of film that makes you wish you had one of those MIB mind blank thingies just so you could watch it again for the first time. Who would have thought blinding children and watching them sleep in trash could be so uplifting!

9. Let The Right One In – “It’s the greatest Swedish vampire film I have ever seen! - Mike C.” On our Halloween special Marc Heuck called this shot like he was the Babe Ruth of Film Geeks. We had a bunch of e-mail questions for him and one of my favorite’s was the simplest, “What’s your favorite modern/newer horror film.” Marc just quietly hung his head down and pointed towards Sweden.

10. Waltz With Bashir – Here’s an easy sell, “An animated documentary into the horrors of the 1982 Lebanon war.” Why don’t you just take a flying/running/jumping kick directly into my uterus? I would rather do math recreationally than sit through an hour and a half of that. What’s the poster tagline? “Finally a film for everybody that doesn’t have to re-new their driver’s license!” “Already had your teeth cleaned? Then Waltz With Bashir is for you!” The distance and artistic freedom caused by choosing to animate this allows director Ari Folman to go to places few directors have been. I have never seen anything like it and the only thing that I have even seen come close to matching the power of it is Graveyard of the Fireflies.

Honorable Mention:
Iron Man
Milk
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Frost/Nixon
Man On Wire
The Wackness
Burn After Reading
American Teen
Young At Heart