Back Ten Top Ten

It's that time of year--my friend Jesse Walker is announcing his top ten film list. Not for 2018, but for every year before that ending with an 8.  So his first list is the best of 2008:

1. I Am So Proud of You
2. The Dark Knight
3. WALL•E
4. Burn After Reading
5. The Wrestler
6. Wendy and Lucy
7. Man on Wire
8. The Class
9. The Order of Myths
10. The Headless Woman

I'm a big fan of "I Am So Proud Of You," and Don Hertzfeldt in general, but this is a short, and I don't put shorts on my movie lists.

Heath Ledger is memorable in The Dark Knight, but I don't particularly care for Christopher Nolan's Batman movies. Don't understand the fuss.  Why?  Because they're better than the previous series?

WALL-E is good, maybe good enough for the top ten list.

I didn't like Burn After Reading when I first saw it, but it's grown on me.  I guess once you understand it's going nowhere, it's easier to enjoy it for the quirkiness and weird performances.  Especially good are a couple of scene with David Rasche and J.K. Simmons as CIA bigwigs.

The Wrestler probably makes my top ten. (I vaguely know the writer, Robert Siegel, who attended the University of Michigan--also the alma mater of Jesse and me.)

Wendy And Lucy might sneak onto my top ten list.  Certainly Kelly Reichardt's best.

Man On Wire deserves to be here.

I found The Class highly annoying, and haven't seen #9 or #10.

11. The Baader Meinhof Complex
12. Bronson
13. The Wire 5
14. Mock Up On Mu
15. In Bruges
16. Lies
17. Civilization
18. A Matter of Loaf and Death
19. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
20. The Facts in the Case of Mister Hollow

I thought #11 was okay, and might put #15 in my top ten.  #13 is a TV show, so shouldn't be here (and, by the way, as almost everyone admits, season 5 is the worst season of The Wire).  I'm a little shocked, but I don't believe I've seen any of the others.

Other films that would (or could) make my top ten:

Encounters At The End Of The World

Happy-Go-Lucky

Iron Man (the most significant film of the century so far, commercially speaking)

Let The Right One In

My Winnipeg

Slumdog Millionaire  (Jesse didn't go for this Oscar winner, but I thought it was a lot of fun)

Tell No One

Trailer Park Boys: The Movie (I'd never even heard of the TV show, so this one was a real surprise)

Other films I liked:  Bolt, Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay (the best of the series), Hancock, Synecdoche New York (didn't like it at first, but has grown on me), Paranoid Park, Hamlet 2 (didn't like it at first, but has grown on me), Be Kind Rewind, The Bank Job, The House Bunny, The Visitor, Frozen River, Role Models, Anita O'Day: The Life Of A Jazz Singer, Frost/Nixon, Wanted

Other film of note: Seven Pounds, Dear Zachary, Leatherheads, Rambo IV, Smart People, Funny Games, Milk, Four Christmases, Meet The Spartans, First Sunday, Semi-Pro, Rocknrolla, Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, Strange Wilderness, OSS 117, Horton Hears A Who, Rachel Getting Married, I've Loved You So Long, The Dukes, Waltz With Bashir, Cadillac Records, Diminished Capacity, Journey To The Center Of The Earth,  Indiana Jones And The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Kung Fu Panda, Mama Mia!, Madagascar 2, Quantum of Solace, Cassandra's Dream, Cloverfield, Fool's Gold, Charlie Bartlett, Funny Games, Stop-Loss, Prom Night, Street Kings, 88 Minutes, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Baby Mama, Deception, Redbelt, Speed Racer, What Happens In Vegas,

Sex And The City, You Don't Mess With The Zohan, The Happening, The Incredible Hulk, Get Smart, The Love Guru, Garden Party, Meet Dave, Step Brothers, The X-Files: I Want To Believe, The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor, Swing Vote, Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, The Rocker, Death Race, The Boy In The Striped Pajamas, Towelhead, The Women, Ghost Town, Eagle Eye, Blindness, Flash Of Genius, How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, Religulous, Body Of Lies, W., Passengers, Zack And Miri Make A Porno, Soul Men, Twilight, Milk, Cadillac Records, Nobel Son, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Gran Torino, Doubt, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Last Chance Harvey, Marley And Me, Revolutionary Road,Valkyrie, Defiance, Prom Night