The End is Nigh
With the end of another year approaching, Top 10 lists are starting to fly. I won’t be doing my own until the month is over because there are still about a dozen movies I want to see.
I’ve watched 132 of the 674 films that were (or will be) released in the United States in 2008 and there are an additional 40 to 50 that I considered seeing at one time or another. About half of those I think I might regret missing.
Inspired in part by SpoutBlog’s Karina Longworth, I’ve made a list of those films after the jump that didn’t make the cut for me this year but that I might have a chance to track down before it’s too late. Since I won’t be able to see them all, I’d like you fine people to suggest which ones you think deserve a look. There is also the full list of movies released in US theaters in 2008 so feel free to toss out your own selection of missed films and we can all compare notes.
- The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela
- August Evening
- Battle in Seattle
- The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
- Body of War
- The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
- Cassandra’s Dream
- City of Men
- The Counterfeiters
- Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
- The Edge of Heaven
- Elite Squad
- Flash of Genius
- Flight of the Red Balloon
- Jellyfish
- The Pool
- Religulous
- Sangre de Mi Sangre
- Silent Light
- Standard Operating Procedure
- Stranded: I’ve Come From a Plane That Crashed On the Mountains
- Surfwise
- Taxi to the Darkside
- Tuya’s Marriage
- XXY
Here’s the full list of 2008 movie releases according to Variety’s Anne Thompson
Able Danger
Adam Resurrected
The Air I Breathe
Alexandra
Alice Neel
Alice’s House
Allah Made Me Funny
All in This Tea
All of Us
The Alphabet Killer
The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela
American Zombie
America the Beautiful
American Teen
An American Carol
Amexicano
Anamorph
Anita O’Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer
Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild
Antarctica
Appaloosa
Asian Stories
August
August Evening
Australia
Azur and Asmar
Bab’Aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul
Babylon A.D.
Baby Mama
The Babysitters
Bachna Ae Haseeno
Backseat
Back to Normandy
Ballast
Bangkok Dangerous
The Bank Job
Battle For Haditha
Battle in Seattle
Beaufort
Beautiful Losers
The Beautiful Truth
Beauty in Trouble
Bedtime Stories
Beer For My Horses
Before the Rains
Be Kind Rewind
Ben X
The Bet Collector
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Beyond Belief
Beyond the Call
Bigger, Stronger, Faster
The Black Balloon
Blind Mountain
Blindness
Blindsight
Bloodline
A Bloody Aria
Boarding Gate
Body of Lies
Body of War
B.O.H.I.C.A.
Bolt
Bomb It
Bonneville
Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
Bottle Shock
Boy A
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Bra Boys
Breakfast with Scot
Brideshead Revisited
The Brothers Bloom
Build a Ship, Sail to Sadness
Burn After Reading
The Business of Being Born
Bustin’ Down the Door
Cadillac Records
Call + Response
Callback: The Unmaking of Bloodstain
Canary
Captain Abu Raed
Caramel
Cassandra’s Dream
Changeling
Chaos Theory
Chapter 27
Charlie Bartlett
Che
Chicago 10
The Children of Huang Shi
Choke
Chop Shop
Choose Connor
Chris & Don: A Love Story
A Christmas Tale
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Ciao
Circulation
City of Ember
City of Men
CJ7
The Class
Cloverfield
College
College Road Trip
Constantine’s Sword
The Cool School
The Counterfeiters
Cover
Creature Feature
CSNY: Deja Vu
Cthulhu
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun
Dare Not Walk Alone
Dark Matter
The Dark Knight
Dark Streets
David & Fatima
Days and Clouds
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Day Zero
Deal
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Death Defying Acts
Death Note
Death Race
Deception
Defiance
Definitely, Maybe
Delgo
Derek
The Dhamma Brothers
Diminished Capacity
Dinner with the President
Disaster Movie
Disfigured
Doc
Doomsday
The Doorman
Dostana
Doubt
Dreams with Sharp Teeth
Drillbit Taylor
The Duchess
The Duchess of Langeais
The Dukes
Dust
Dying To Live
Eagle Eye
Eden
Eden Lake
Edgar Allan Poe’s House of Usher
The Edge of Heaven
Eight Miles High
88 Minutes
Elegy
The Elephant King
Elite Squad
Elsa & Fred
Encounters at the End of the World
The End of America
Everybody Wants to Be Italian
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Expired
The Express
Extra Ordinary Barry
The Eye
Ezra
Fade
Faded Memories
The Fall
Falling
Fashion
The Favor
Fear(s) of the Dark
Felon
Fengming: A Chinese Memoir
Fighting For Life
Filth and Wisdom
Finding Amanda
Fireproof
The First Basket
The First Saturday in May
First Sunday
Fix
Flashbacks of a Fool
Flash of Genius
Flash Point
Flawless
Flight of the Red Balloon
FLOW: For Love of Water
Fly Me to the Moon
Fool’s Gold
The Foot Fist Way
The Forbidden Kingdom
Forever
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Forgiveness
Four Christmases
A Four Letter Word
Four Minutes
La France
Fraude
Fraulein
Freebird
Frontier(s)
Frontrunners
Frost/Nixon
Frownland
Frozen River
Fugitive Pieces
Full Battle Rattle
Full Grown Men
Funky Forest: The First Contact
Funny Games
Garden Party
Gardens of the Night
The Gay Bed & Breakfast of Terror
George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead
Ghost Town
A Girl Cut in Two
Girls Rock!
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Glass: A Portrait in Twelve Parts
God and Gays: Bridging the Gap
The Go-Getter
Gomorrah
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson
Good
Good Dick
Graduation
The Grand
Gran Torino
Grizzly Park
The Grocer’s Son
The Guitar
Gunnin’ For That #1 Spot
Hair Extensions
Hania
Hank and Mike
Hamlet 2
The Hammer
Hancock
Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour
The Happening
Happy-Go-Lucky
Harold
Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
Hats Off
The Haunting of Molly Hartley
Heartbeat Detector (La Question Humaine)
Heavy Metal in Baghdad
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Hell Ride
Henry May Long
Henry Poole Is Here
Herbert
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
Holding Trevor
Hollywood Chinese
Homo Erectus
Horton Hears a Who
The Hottie and the Nottie
Hounddog
House
The House Bunny
The House of Adam
House of the Sleeping Beauties
How About You
How She Move
How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
How to Rob a Bank
Humboldt County
Hunger
I Can’t Think Straight
I For India
Igor
Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust
In Bruges
Indestructible
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
In Search of a Midnight Kiss
In Search of Paradise
Insidious
Internal Behaviors
In the City of Sylvia
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
I.O.U.S.A.
Irina Palm
Iron Man
I Served the King of England
Iska’s Journey
I’ve Loved You So Long
Jack and Jill Vs. the World
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
Jar City
JCVD
Jellyfish
A Jihad For Love
Jodhaa Akbar
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Jumper
Just Add Water
Just Buried
Just Sex and Nothing Else
Kabluey
Kenny
Kicking It
The Killing of John Lennon
Kiss the Bride
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
Kung Fu Panda
Lake City
Lakeview Terrace
Last Chance Harvey
The Last Mistress
Last Stop For Paul
Late Bloomer
Leatherheads
La Leon
Let Them Chirp Awhile
Let the Right One In
Liberty Kid
The Life Before Her Eyes
Little Big Top
Little Chenier
The Little Red Truck
Live and Become
Loins of Punjab Presents
London to Brighton
The Longshots
The Lost
Lost in Beijing
Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, The Mistress and the Tangerine
Lou Reed’s Berlin
Love and Honor
Love Comes Lately
The Love Guru
Love Songs
Lower Learning
The Lucky Ones
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Mad Detective
Made of Honor
Mad Money
Mamma Mia!
A Man Named Pearl
Man On Wire
Marley & Me
Married Life
The Matador
Mattie Fresno and the Holoflux Universe
Max Payne
Meet Bill
Meet Dave
Meet the Spartans
The Memory Thief
Men in the Nude
Mentor
The Midnight Meat Train
Military Intelligence and You
Milk
Miracle at St. Anna
Mirrors
Miss Conception
Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day
Mister Foe
Mister Lonely
Momma’s Man
Mongol
Morning Light
Moscow, Belgium
Mother of Tears
Moving Midway
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
My Best Friend’s Girl
My Blueberry Nights
My Brother Is an Only Child
My Father, My Lord
My Mexican Shivah
My Name Is Albert Ayler
My Name Is Bruce
My Winnipeg
Nana
National Lampoon Presents Electric Apricot: Quest For Festeroo
The Neighbor
Never Back Down
News From Home/News From House
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
Nights and Weekends
Nights in Rodanthe
Nim’s Island
$9.99
Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom
Noah’s Ark
Nobel Son
Noise
No Regret
Note By Note: The Making of Steinway L1037
Nothing But the Truth
Nothing Like the Holidays
Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie
Obscene
One Bad Cat
One Day You’ll Understand
One Missed Call
On the Rumba River
Operation Filmmaker
The Order of Myths
Orthodox Stance
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Other End of the Line
Otto; Or, Up with Dead People
Over Her Dead Body
Paraguayan Hammock
Paranoid Park
Partition
Passengers
Passing Poston
Pathology
Patti Smith: Dream of Life
Penelope
Pineapple Express
Ping Pong Playa
The Pink Conspiracy
The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything: A Veggietales Movie
P.J.
Planet B-Boy
Playing with Lior
The Pleasure of Being Robbed
A Plumm Summer
The Poet
Polar Opposites
The Pool
Postal
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
A Previous Engagement
Priceless
Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind
Prom Night
The Promotion
Proud American
Punisher War Zone
Quantum of Solace
Quarantine
Quid Pro Quo
Quilombo Country
Rachel Getting Married
Rambo
Reach For Me
The Reader
Re-Cycle
Red
Redbelt
Red Roses and Petrol
Red 71
The Reflecting Pool
Refusenik
Religulous
Remember the Daze
Repo! The Genetic Opera
Reprise
Retrieval
Revolutionary Road
RFK Must Die
Richard Serra: Thinking on Your Feet
Righteous Kill
Ripple Effect
Roadside Romeo
The Rocker
Rocknrolla
Role Models
The Romace of Astrea and Celadon
Roman De Gare
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Rome & Jewel
Romulus, My Father
The Ruins
Run Fat Boy Run
Run For Your Life
Running with Arnold
Ryan and Sean’s Not So Excellent Adventure
Sangre de Mi Sangre
Santouri (The Music Man)
Savage Grace
Save Me
Saving Marriage
Saw V
Scott Walker: 30th Century Man
Secrecy
A Secret
The Secret of the Grain
The Secret Life of Bees
The Secrets
Semi-Pro
Seven Pounds
Sex and Death 101
Sex and the City
Sex Drive
Shelter
Shine a Light
Shoot Down
Shoot on Sight
Short Order
Shotgun Stories
Shrooms
Shutter
The Signal
The Silence Before Bach
Silence of the Sea
Silent Light
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
Sixty Six
Sleepwalking
Slumdog Millionaire
Smart People
Smother
Snow Angels
Solar Flare
Son of Rambow
Soul Men
The Soviet Story
Space Chimps
Special
Speed Racer
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Spiral
The Spirit
Splinter
Sputnik Mania
Stages
Stalags
Standard Operating Procedure
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
State Legislature
Stealing America: Vote By Vote
Step Brothers
Step Up 2: The Streets
Still Life
The Stone Angel
Stop-Loss
Stranded: I’ve Come From a Plane That Crashed On the Mountains
The Strangers
Strange Wilderness
Street Kings
Stuck
Sukiyaki Western Django
Summer Love
Summer Palace
Sunday
Sunflower
Superhero Movie
Super High Me
Surfer, Dude
Surfwise
Swimming in Auschwitz
Swing Vote
Synecdoche, New York
Take
The Take
Take Out
Taking Father Home
The Tale of Despereaux
Talento de Barrio
Taxi to the Darkside
Teeth
Tehilim
Tell No One
Ten Nights of Dreams
Tennessee
10,000 B.C.
Theater of War
Then She Found Me
Timecrimes
Times and Winds
Tired of Kissing Frogs
‘Tis Autumn: The Search For Jackie Paris
To the Limit
Towards Darkness
Towelhead
The Tracey Fragments
Trailer Park Boys
Traitor
Transporter 3
Transsiberian
Tre
The Tree of Life
Tropic Thunder
Trouble the Water
Tru Loved
Trumbo
The Truth of Nanking
Trying to Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon
Turn the River
Tuya’s Marriage
Twilight
21
27 Dresses
Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns
Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys
Ugly Me
Under the Same Moon
The Unforeseen
The Universe of Keith Haring
The Unknown Woman
Unsettled
Unspooled
Untraceable
Up the Yangtze
The Urn
U2 3D
Valkyrie
Vantage Point
A Very British Gangster
Very Young Girls
Vice
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Violent Kind
Virtual JFK
The Visitor
Vivere
W.
The Wackness
Waiting In Beijing
A Walk To Beautiful
WALL-E
Waltz with Bashir
Wanted
War Child
War, Inc.
War Made Easy
Water
Water Lillies
We Are Together
We Are Wizards
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
Wendy and Lucy
Were the World Mine
Wetlands Preserved
What Doesn’t Kill You
What Happens in Vegas
What Just Happened?
What We Do Is Secret
When Did You Last See Your Father?
Where God Left His Shoes
Who Does She Think She Is?
Wicked Lake
Witless Protection
The Witnesses
Woman on the Beach
The Women
Wonderful Town
Wonders Are Many
The World Unseen
The Wrestler
The X-Files; I Want to Believe
XXY
Year of the Fish
The Year My Parents Went On Vacation
Yes Man
You Don’t Mess with the Zohan
Young & Restless in China
Young People Fucking
Young Yakuza
Yuvvraaj
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Zombie Strippers
Filed under: Lists
Holy shit…you need to go see these three (ESPECIALLY the last two) right now!
14. Flight of the Red Balloon
19. Silent Light
25. XXY
Ugh, I’ve only seen 80 or so movies this year, so far (I will lift that by another 15 or so this month) but it’s still the fewest I’ve seen since I was in college.
Craig, of the movies on your not-seen list, the one I would most highly recommend is #20. Standard Operating Procedure, which I think is superior to Morris’ The Fog of War.
I also saw Religulous, which is worth looking at but not extraordinary, and Cassandra’s Dream, which I think is pretty terrible.
Edge of Heaven will probably make my top 10.
I’ve seen 13 of the 25 on your list. From them I would recommend as must-sees, in this order:
The Pool
Surfwise
The Betrayal
City of Men
Jellyfish (just to see if you can make any more sense of it than I could)
Flash of Genius can be removed from that list without another thought.
I’ve been wanting to see Silent Light all year, but alas, it never happened. I don’t even want to look through that last for fear of going crazy thinking about how many I missed.
Wow, you’ve seen a lot of movies, even with the ones that are missing. I’m way behind, but so far the following movies should definitely be in my top 10:
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (I know it’s technically 2007, but I didn’t see it until 2008)
The Band’s Visit (see comment after 4-3-2)
Let the Right One In
Man on Wire
Wall-E
TDK – will probably at least make it into the honorable mentions
Tropic Thunder – yes, this one may just make it into either the top 10 or the honorable mentions; one of my most enjoyable movie-going experiences this year
I fully expect Milk and Benjamin Button to make it into the top 10, but we’ll see…
See, I knew I could count on you fine people.
Craig, forget about THE FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON. Unless you’re looking for an awesome cure for insomnia.
I have seen every single solitary film that WOODY ALLEN has ever directed. Except for CASSANDRA’S DREAM. It’s the only motion picture that he’s ever helmed in 30 odd years that NEVER played here.
I checked. Still can’t believe that.
Now that I’m aware that I adore HAYLEY ATWELL and SALLY HAWKINS it does seem rather a shame. But a lot of people think that it’s far from his best work.
IRINA PALM never played here either. But I’m too lazy to rent so…
Every year I see every film that’s nodded for BEST PICTURE and all of the acting nominees. I’ve done that ever since I became a regular cinema patron. Though a lot of the ACADEMY’S choices are mindbogglingly bad, they often direct me to movies that I would ordinarily give a miss to. Quite often they become either favourites or motion pictures that I respect or enjoy to some degree.
So, until I see these (and anything else that the ACADEMY gets behind that may have slipped through the cracks), no formal Top 10s or any kind of celebratory gushing from moi….
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
DOUBT
FROST/NIXON
GRAN TORINO
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
THE WRESTLER
I’m also jazzed for NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH. It looks like my kind of flick.
Also…
Even though it got bad notices at TORONTO, I’m going to see THE BROTHERS BLOOM anyway. Regardless of how bad it may be (and I’ll find out…), RACHEL WEISZ, ADRIEN BRODY and MARK RUFFALO in a heist caper just seems too delicious to miss.
Did I mention RACHEL WEISZ…?
Looking forward to all of them.
You never know what you’ve got until the lights come up. That goes for relationships as well as film…
I agree that “Flight of the Red Balloon” is not for cinema patrons with ADD, but for those who are willing to put something into the movie it’s very rewarding. I loved its relaxed, enchanting atmosphere. Hsiao-hsien Hou is a beautiful craftsman.
It won’t make my top ten but there’s a good chance it will end up with an honorable mention.
I am not a fan of THE FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON, but I respect Matthew’s position too, as I have a few close friends, who are big cinema lovers who adored it. But I do like the director a lot.
What is essental here Craig? Easy enough. Three films that will make my Top Ten:
Dear Zachary: A Letter From a Son to His Father
The Pool
The Edge of Heaven.
Thanks for the comprehensive Variety list.
One that I recommended on a past Movies You MIght Have Missed and still recommend now is The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. I think it’s got a great shot at my Top 10 for the year, and is easily one of the most passed over movies in recent time. I saw it heavily hyped on another film board I go to, and wasn’t sure if it lived up to what people had said, but it really did. It’s got some elements of the fantastic, but like a lot of Miyazaki features, the strength is in the relationships built between the characters. Truthfully, I like this even more now than when I saw it a couple of weeks ago, and I loved it then. I still don’t know if it’s the best animated feature of the year (because of Wall-E, which I just adored, and Waltz With Bashir, which I don’t know when I’ll get to see… stupid distributors).. but it’s great and genuinely worth checking out.
“Red Balloon” was one of my honorable mentions last year (saw it at AFI fest), but I think your enjoyment of it really depends on your interest in the director. I find Hou Hsiao-hsien’s work beautiful and subtle. “Cafe Lumiere” is one of the finest films of the decade for me. If you liked that film, you’ll probably enjoy Red Balloon. But it’s understandably not for everyone.
Looking at that list of the 25 and realizing you have limited time to see them, I’d vote for Jellyfish and Dear Zachary with a nod to Silent Light, only because I’ve heard a lot of good about it.
Since I know you don’t have cable and Silent Light still isn’t out on DVD yet, I’d suggest Jellyfish on DVD.
674 films is a lot of movies when you go through the whole list. Whew.
Anybody care to take a guess how many of these I’ve seen so far? I counted, and the number I got surprised me.
Red Balloon is a tough call. Sam has said he’s a fan Hou, but didn’t much care for this effort. Mathew and several others have sung it’s praises.
I haven’t seen a lot of Hou’s work, but I really enjoyed the languid Three Times so I’m inclined to give this one a look.
JB, did it surprise you high or low?
Miranda, I think all of those on your list are definitely on my “movies to see” list, but they simply haven’t been released yet. Have no fear, they will be seen.
Joel, it’s regretable about Silent Light and Zachary too. Ah well.
For me, 130+ and counting is a lot of time in a theater but it’s probably pretty low for anyone who has the nerve to call themselves a movie blogger. I definitely see more new movies now than I used to, but hopefully in 2009 I can turn it up a little.
Michael, I recall now you mentioned that one while I was on vacation and I never responded properly. Thanks for the heads up. I’d never heard of it until you mentioned it.
Thanks for the heads up, Michael. I just added that to my queue.
It was much lower than usual, which is saying something. I feel like I’ve seen significantly more of them than I have, just from reading everyone else’s reactions to them. Living in Arkansas is not good for film buffs.
Craig, here’s my two-cents worth on “Red Balloon” — I loved it, you should see it, you can read my take on it here, if you want.
Jennybee — If you think living in Arkansas is bad for film fans, try living in Alabama.
Rick. Consider yourself the straw that broke the camel’s back. You talked me into it.
I think I’d mentioned to you before JB that’s partly why I started a DVD column to give folks a little behind the curve a chance to catch up.
On on hand, the Internet is a wonderful thing, but before it came along I don’t think any of us worried about what were missing. We simply didn’t know. Ignornance was bliss.