Top 10 of 2008

With 58 movies to choose from, you'd think this list would be difficult to write. Considering the fact that a mere 14 fell in the A range and not a one received an A +, it appears that I am not going soft, as I suspected. While 2008 was no 2007, what was good was really, genuinely, easy-to-spot good.

N.B. Having seen neither Wall-E nor Man on Wire, neither appear on this list. That's not a knock against either. I just haven't seen them, which puts them out of the running.

10. Tropic Thunder
"Seven years have lapsed between this and the highly quotable Zoolander. If it takes another seven years to get a parody of this quality, one that is this smart, silly, and fun, we'll wait."

9. Milk
"There's something so sweet and innocent and daring about a man who can look at his life at 40, thinking nothing of it, and decide to do something about that."

8. Waltz with Bashir
"Waltz with Bashir is one of the most beautiful movies about death I have ever seen: death to self, to country, to memory."

7. The Wrestler
"Thanks to a fantastic -- though occasionally too on the nose -- script from Robert D. Seigel, this movie is really the resurrection of Aronofsky. Or, rather, the renaissance of Aronofsky as a director."

6. Let the Right One In
"It's to both Alfredson and Linqvist's credit that the answers don't come easy. Instead we're kept off kilter in a world that happens just outside the boundary of normal, that presses in on all sides without ever quite crossing over."

5. In Bruges
"McDonagh's story of guilt, retribution, and spiritual awakening clinches on a dead priest and a midget filming a dream sequence. It's hilariously sad."

4. Slumdog Millionaire
"Working in tandem with gorgeous, sensual, and richly textured work from cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle and the surprisingly subtle screen adaptation from Simon Beaufoy, Boyle and Tandan have nothing short of magic on their hands."

3. The Dark Knight
"Yes, it's very dark. It's downright bleak. But it is also exactly how it has to be. Nolan executes exactly what he needs to without hesitation or remorse. It's the kind of filmmaking that, despite how dark it is, inspires."

2. Rachel Getting Married
"It's as real as any movie in recent memory and more so, for Jonathan Demme delicately picks up Jenny Lumet's screenplay and weaves colour, texture, and life into her carefully selected words."

1. Entre les murs (The Class)
"In his diverse class (a mix of African, Asian and Middle Eastern immigrants with a few French thrown in), in his role of bringing the kids out, Bégaudeau faces challenges, some of which he meets, some of which he exceeds, and some of which he falls short. It takes courage to recognize this, and afterward you realize that you have witnessed something rare."

Honourable mentions go to Mongol and Iron Man, which were narrowly beat out for a spot on the list. Now, what will 2009 bring?