Best of 2008

I have no words.

I don't know how great Slumdog millionaire really is, but I seriously doubt there's any movie better than this one in 2008.

BEST MOVIE 2008

Everytime you look up filmmaker in a dictionary, Fernando Eimbcke's picture should be in there.

I am speechless.

Every single second of film blows your mind.

*Review coming soon*

Hands down, the funniest movie of the year.
Top 10 Best of 2008.

EXTREMELY HILARIOUS!!

Whoever thinks this is Dangerous Minds in French is out of his fuckin mind.

And whoever thinks these students are scary and unrealistic... is lucky to have been in such a nice school.

A masterpiece.

Entertaining, funny, touching and moving, but also tense, raw, cruel and heartbreaking.

Mind-blowing!

It is THAT extraordinary.

Believe the buzz!!

*Review coming soon*

Unlike most of the times I love a film which is hated by almost everyone, I can see where does the hate come from: ignorance.

Gringos (I'm sorry for the word but they don't have a word to call themselves) are used to evil virus who ends humanity movies and demand a movie using a similar plotline to respond to every single cliché and gimmick all the other evil virus who ends humanity movies have.

I'm sorry to disappoint you, gringos, but this is not that kind of movie: this is real. The way Meirelles (a filmmaker in the whole meaning of the word) portrays human beings (and the way Saramago did when he wrote the book) and their choices, flaws and fears, is absolutely real.

I'm getting sick of every single "OMFG! Julianne Moore could've done this or that to save those poor people! Boo-hoo!" post out there. SICK!

This is not an action-popcorn-horror-evil virus flick!

True film lovers around the globe: do not get fooled by all the moronic reviews talking about plot holes and crap!

This is (and I'm using this word from the bottom of my heart) a masterpiece.

*Full -no yelling- review coming soon*

One of the most painful stories of free spirit I've ever seen. It makes your soul soar every frame from start to finish, thanks to some of the best performances in contemporary mexican cinema and an extraordinary music score.

Beautiful!

I cried.
A lot.

People were surprised, in the wrong way, when they realized how the new Wong Kar-Wai experience wasn't "as good" as they expected and they blamed it on the language. What they didn't realize was that the new language and the new actors gave WKW a whole new spectrum of abilities and things to talk about in a whole different context, without losing his usual gimmicks that we all love to death. WKW has always been simple, subtle and poetic, creating his poetry and his urban tales of loneliness and dispare in the most unlikely, yet familiar, of places and plots.

I think a definitely helpful new element that came with the language were the actors. I've never seen in my entire life such a hypnotizing cast that, from the mesmerizing and gorgeous Norah Jones to the heartbreaking David Strathairn and including the beautiful and over-the-top (yet, wonderful) Rachel Weisz and the sexy Natalie Portman. Jude Law is great as an insecure, compelling lead but he isn't as memorable as the rest of the cast.

The soundtrack, the cinematography (by somebody else instead of Christopher Doyle, for a change) and the art direction help the movie but the beauty of WKW's lost souls and delicious road trip are more than enough to create a stunning, depressing, intense view on human pain.

Gorgeous!

"He turned down a blow job from his ex-girlfriend... mid-blowjob. You know how hard that is for a man? It's called blue balls. He's like Gandhi! But better - he likes puppets!"

I really want to write a fantastic review about this, so, I will take my time... but, damn! I have to start writing all these reviews already!

Jason Segel is by far one of the best actors I've had the pleasure to see. His whole body of work amazes me: between SLC: Punk!, Freaks & Geeks and this, he shows a fantastic range like no other Apatow Pack member yet.

:)

*Review coming soon*

It took me a while to see this one because I wasn't sure what to expect. I was excited about it and I bought it as soon as I found it but I kept waiting and waiting for the "right moment" to see it. I wish I hadn't wait.

What I loved so much about this film (but apparently not so many people understood) is how it manages to be cute and fresh even with its "touchy" subject. After all, it's not a film about hermaphroditism but about growing up with a body (or mind, or soul) that sometimes doesn't feel like us at all and it's actually a strong metaphor for adolescence along with a statement about the limits and horizons of sex and sexuality. Between Martin Piroyansky (Alvaro) and Ines Efron (Alex), the performances are so realistic and true that it feels not as if you were part of their lives but as if you were THEM! I specially found myself in Piroyansky's eyes and soul and the character and the actor per se were heartbreaking all the time. Ines Efron's haunting performance ranks as one of the most beautiful character developments of the year but I still stick to Martin Piroyansky and his gorgeous character and performance. The rest of the "grown-up" cast is also magnificent but they are always shadowed by the two teen leads.

Over all, the movie is technically flawless and the oh-so-Blue art direction is as beautiful as the story and screenplay. The music is haunting and subtle and the direction, by Lucia Puenzo, is fantastic. One of those directing jobs you can actually notice by seeing the movie.

It's sad that many people will feel disturbed by the movie because it has, after all, an hermaphrodite character dealing with issues beyond her maturity level (the line "Who are you to tell me what's possible or not?" is simply wonderful) and the people surrounding her coming to terms with what's "normal" and what's not.

The outstanding screenplay with witty dialogues full of sadness and lack of hope along with the two young lead actors (Efron and Piroyansky) and the art direction are the powerful tools this movie has to make an everlasting impression in everybody seeing it.

Shot in HD video in the director's dead grandmother's house, this movie tells a day in the life of a family of 5: the shy son, the pothead daughter, the unemployed dad, the cute, old uncle and the dead mom. On the eve of a special day, they cope with their depressing reality and boring lives.

Jose Angel Bichir's revelation is simply beautiful and inspiring. He carries the entire movie over his shoulders.

It may follow the same plot line as Quemar las naves and maybe even Garden State (you know: dead mother, depressed losers trying to cope with reality and everyday life) but it takes the opposite way from those movies and avoids every single drop of hope and brightness, making us realize nothing's going to change after that beautiful last frame and the whole family will probably kill themselves.

The rythm is extremely slow and it may annoy some people but the last 30 minutes or so are completely worth the wait. The whole movie is subtle and quiet but it speaks a lot about despair and loneliness: two delicious common places in contemporary mexican cinema that we're always oh so happy to go back to.

A truly fantastic debut from a really promising director/screenwriter.

I hope the remake bursts into flames and dies.
This is one of the scariest, most intelligent and most exciting movies ever made!!

*Review coming soon*

I have never in my entire life seen a crazy psychobitch as charming, sexy and hilarious as Penelope Cruz.

I think I'm in love with her as much as I'm in love with this movie: my first Woody Allen experience, can you believe it?

I thought it was going to be good.
I just didn't know it was going to be that good!

HOLY COCK!

One of those movies you're extremely proud to say: "It was as good as they said..." and maybe, even more.

While the whole music score was a little bit over the top, the entire screenplay was beautiful and intense.

Lina Leandersson devours the entire role by actually feeling like a 12 year old that may have lived over a 100 years of experiences and pain. She's hypnotizing and plays her role flawlessly, while Kare Hedebrant is just the cutest, skinniest boy ever. You just feel like hugging him til his eyes explode.

*Review coming soon*

We all know that every word said by any character in this movie is like a knife slashing the receiver's guts and soul, but I think the most beautiful, painful part of this film are all the eyes, the sights, the pain written on the faces of these characters.

Extraordinary cast.
This time, the hype was right.

Best smallest performance of the year? Not Viola Davis but Joseph Foster II that develops such a deep character everytime you look at his face. Awesome.

Strong, powerful, compelling and visually stunning.

It has everything it needs to become a truly magnificent piece of filmmaking but there's something missing through the entire movie.

The screenplay and the great directing by Aaron Fernandez are splendid as the wonderful cinematography and art direction/set decoration and some scenes are truly memorable and breathtaking but the performances (ironically "raved" as "extraordinary" in the poster and official trailer) are gray and kind of lame, specially from Emery Eduardo Granados, the lead role. He doesn't shine one single moment. When working with a non-professional actor you have to be able to create an actor out of him, but here, the more experienced (but equally young) Alan Chavez steals Granados' thunder all the way.

Even with all its flaws, the movie is still excellent and cruel and it deserves to be seen. I may not be perfect but it's definitely SOLID and that's good enough for me.

So many people are forgetting this movie is, obviously, based on a comic book and they don't get tired of calling it "unrealistic" or "unbelievable" or "it defies the rules of Physics", c'mon! Give me a break!

After that display of subjectivity, I must say the movie does feel a little bit like "too much" at some moments but overall is one of those film experiences you usually forgive for being so flawed because all the good stuff is REALLY good ("Across the Universe", "Sin City" and the Jason Statham movies come to mind) and you leave the movie theatre happy, excited and begging for more.

Let's see: sexy Angelina? Checked! awesome lead character you never stop caring about? Checked! Explosions? Checked! Bullets? Checked! More explosions? Double checked! Kick-ass visual effects? Checked! Dizzy action sequences à la Bourne? *barf* Checked!

So, after we all agreed this is a great action flick, let's get down to business: I realized something watching this that may change the course of my life completely (specially regarding death threats from "serious" film lovers)... Ok, here it goes: this movie reminded me a lot of "Fight Club" and, maybe, even "The Matrix". And that's what I loved about it. The lead character (and here I will copy-paste Flixster's synopsis) is a frustrated office worker that learns that he is the son of a professional assassin. And here's the good part: the hypnotic, charming performance by James McAvoy, inspires. Yes, it inspires. It's the average Joe's hero, and what a hero he is! Everything from verbally abuse his obnoxious boss to kick his best friend's ass for fucking his girlfriend to, of course, making out with Angelina Jolie is pitch-perfect what the average Joe who copes with the 9-to-5 hell of being a loser wants in a movie, and the sudden discovery of a new life (a superhero kind of life) is as delicious to the senses and the heart as other loser-becomes-hero movies are. Maybe both Fincher's and the Wachowskis' movies were filled with philosophical juice and some life-changing dialogues/moments but they were, after all, simple: a loser, a less-than-average human being, almost like a machine, wakes up to life and discovers that, after all, he doesn't have to be like everybody else. Simple as that.

There lays the beauty of "Wanted", in its multiple meanings: loser's hero movie, action flick, explosions & bullets extravaganzza. You decide.

Because, after all,
WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE LATELY?

:)

It just DOESN'T STOP! Scene after scene after scene is... a joyride!

But I just wanted to chop Paulie Litt's head off with a kick and pee all over his grave. Could a kid be more ANNOYING? Please, God... make him die a painful, slow death.

*Review coming soon*

Extraordinary!

People usually forget Nickelodeon Movies aren't just bad Rugrats sequels and Steve Oedekerk's male cows getting drunk on milk. Nickelodeon Movies, back in the 90s, gave us amazing "intelligent kids" movies like "Harriet the Spy" and "Snow day", damn! even "Good Burguer" was good! But people think that having the Nickelodeon label means a bad movie. Well, this one proves the opposite.

More than reminding me of "fantasy epics" like Harry Potter and LOTR (why do people ALWAYS put those 2 together?), it reminded me of "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" (another underrated dark masterpiece by Nickelodeon Movies) mostly because it doesn't treat kids like stupid little people that need vomit and farting in their movies to feel entertained, but actual interesting plots with no less than "great" performances and cool visuals (I mean, who doesn't?) and that's exactly what this movie delivers, and how!

If you people really need to compare this with other "fantasy epics", here's the deal: it goes beyond any other fantasy movie simply because it lacks of the pretentious feeling Harry Potter, LOTR, Eragon, Narnia and so many more have. This world, the Spiderwick world full of goblins and fairies, is not hiding behind a wardrobe, or in a dirty old pub in London or a millenium ago in the Middle-Earth or whatever: this is real. The extraordinary screenplay and, why not, the great source from where it all came from (the books) are good enough to create a whole world right there in your backyard, with ACTUAL peril and ACTUAL creatures, not funny magic spells that not everyone is capable of performing or huge battles in front of a gigantic fire eye (I know it sounds as if I hate those movies but I don't, I just think they're not as close-to-you and warm as this one).

Overall, that's why I loved it, but if I have to be specific: the cast is simply mesmerizing. Every single one of the actors does a tremendous job. Ok, maybe Mary-Louise Parker feels a little bit out of place (the woman doesn't know how to do "fantasy acting", you know, believing something's there, like the awful Bonnie Hunt in "Jumanji": out-of-place) but it's awesome to finally see Freddie Highmore in a non-annoying-cry-baby role, stepping out of Haley Joel Osment's shadow for the first time since he came into the picture. His double role, as the rebelious, semi-emo twin and the anal, gay, pacifist twin, shows way more range that his performance in "August Rush", a movie that worked perfectly except for his annoying gimmicks. Sarah Bolger's tremendous talent is not used to the top here but it's great to see her after she disappeared from the face of the Earth after her great role in "In America". The voice cast, lead by Martin Short and Seth Rogen is amazing, and the short appearance by Nick Nolte (who I thought was Kris Kristofferson at first) is scary enough. Joan Plowright and David Strathairn in short but pivotal roles are simply hypnotizing.

Visually stunning and with a music score to remember for many years to come, the movie feels mature, intelligent and exciting the whole time. Even the epilogue, that is usually the most boring part of any movie, is touching and lovely. Too bad the whole movie was shadowed by its distant cousins when it came to critics and box-office but if you try to forget all those other "fantasy epics" for a couple of hours, you'll find yourself truly in love with a fantastic film like this. The characters are so well-written that their family issues and relationships between them are never "useless subplots" but true elements that help us understand them better. Everything fits to perfection, everything is interesting, everything is magical.

Brilliant!

It's a definitely unique movie in the jungle of the mexican movie industry. For no more than 4 years, mexican cinema has evolved to be inspired by the indie way of making movies: the characters are starting to evolve into human beings with flaws and awkwardness and the humour is silent and weird, nothing is obvious or predictable. Before this evolution, mexican filmmaking considered important to raise a warning about social issues and marginality, poor people struggling with reality and depressing scenarios. I think the best examples of how mexican directors care even more about their characters than the way they live or how poor they are, are "Duck Season" (2004) and this one, "Blue Eyelids" (2007)... If Wong Kar-Wai did a movie in Mexico, it would probably look a little bit like this one.

It's as indie as it can possibly get and it's full of moments to prove it: the characters are awkward and boring, the situations are uncomfortable, the humour is subtle and comes from the most unlikely moments of silence and the dialogues are dull and full of brightness. The movie tells the story of Marina and Victor, who probably met in Junior High School but they're now just a couple of strangers who share the most painful of diseases in big cities like Mexico City: loneliness. Marina wins a trip to a beautiful beach and decides she doesn't want to travel by herself but she has no one to call. That's where Victor, a lonely, boring insurance office worker pops into frame and, after deciding they are going to take the trip together, they start an awkward, surreal relationship to "know each other better" before going to the beach.

This movie has been slaughtered by some of the audience and critics who recognize the great moments and the excellent performances and direction but call the screenplay "too unrealistic" and the situations "too dull". The fact that they acknowledge this characteristics from the wonderful script (written by the director's brother) proves my theory on the New-New Mexican Cinema style (New-New because back in the early 90s there was a New Mexican Cinema, this one's different, so it's New-New) and shows how mexican audiences are not ready to fully enjoy an experience like this one. Anyways, it has been loved by everyone; with lots of excuses, but loved nevertheless. The characters are actually more realistic than they look and the whole movie makes you smile and feel in love... and awfully lonely at the same time. Gorgeous art direction and set decoration, along with one of the greatest cinematographies of last year, complete this wonderful piece of cinema that mustn't get lost in translation as loneliness and love are universal codes. Enjoy!

The first 20 minutes or so didn't look like a Del Toro movie, everything felt stiff, forced, as if it were filmed in a hurry.

The introduction (with John Hurt and a big-toothed Hellboy, emphasise on the "boy") had everything to become a memorable moment for the new century (John Hurt tells little Hellboy a bedtime story and we see inside the kid's imagination as he listens to the tale) but the effects/animation was kind of lame and the purpose of the scene flops.

Then, we're back in the BPRD (after some elf trainning in the subway) and we are doomed to cope with Jeffrey Tambor's unfunny character for a while and Hellboy makes a couple of unfunny jokes and Liz is bitchy. By this scene (probably 10 or 15 minutes into the movie), I was pissed and disappointed as it looked like Del Toro's first flop. But then, the whole movie started to make a little bit more sense and by the time the BPRD was fighting the Tooth Fairies, I blinked and the movie became another Del Toro masterpiece. From that moment, right until the very last (freezed) frame, the movie had this unique Del Toro sense of humour, extraordinary visual effects, awesome creatures (not "a shitload of creatures" as some people are barking) and a compelling story. The characters grew up so much from the first movie to this one and this movie is better without taking any credit from the first one, another masterpiece.

Awesome character development, great jokes and fantastic art direction, costume design and make up.

Simply extraordinary.

One of the most painful, most beautiful, most gorgeous, funniest, sexiest love stories ever told on film.

Simply extraordinary!

*Review coming soon*

It's a little bit unrealistic and kind of stiff at some points but the plot was unrealistic enough to warn the audiences this wasn't a very serious movie with a very strong critic towards something.

But even if this isn't the masterpiece some of us expected, it's still a wonderful, exciting and extremely entertaining thriller with amazing cinematography (what can we expect from a mexican movie if it isn't beautiful cinematography?) and a fast-paced screenplay, along with a poweful ending.

It's nice to see a mexican movie that doesn't deal with crime and poverty in the same way most of the 90s mexican movies did. Instead of dividing the movie between "rich" and "poor" (because the characters do that themselves), the director divides everything between "right" and "wrong" and works with ethics and morality providing us with flawed characters that, when scared, are unable to control their instincts and lose their humanity.

The movie tells the story of three thieves that enter a prestigious "forbidden city" where the rich and privileged live surrounded by a wall (The Zone) and, when attempting to mug her, kill an old lady, starting a manhunt where two of them die. The remaining kid (Alan Chavez, in one of two extraordinary performances this year, double-nominated for an Ariel) hides in a boy's basement, where he develops a small relationship with him by realizing they're not different from each other. Unfortunately, the "Board" of neighbors will do ANYTHING to chase down the remaining boy and "make justice".

The best of the entire movie is definitely the ensamble cast that includes the elite of "good actors" in mexican cinema instead of just an "all star" cast of "hotties". From Daniel Gimenez Cacho (one of the best mexican actors ever) to classic old foxes like Blanca Guerra and newcomers like Daniel Tovar, Alan Chavez and Marina de Tavira, including underrated actors like Andres Montiel, Mario Zaragoza and Enrique Arreola, the cast is strong enough to portray a "mini-government", sort of Big-Brother-ish, that won't stop until "their security is total". The metaphor towards the ultimate "Zone" (USA) is subtle but acid.

Don't miss this for anything in the world. A little bit over-exaggerated but exciting enough to keep you on the edge of your seat.

I really don't dare to look at any reviews or IMDB forums before writing this. I just don't want to know if this was a box office flop or if the critics hated it.

I was reluctant towards seeing it because even if I liked The Pursuit of Happyness and Will Smith's new contemporary urban drama career (and enjoyed Tony Goldwin's remake of a Gabriele Muccino movie, The Last Kiss), I didn't know what to expect from this. Would Muccino work wonders with Smith giving him lifetime characters or would this be another pay-it-forward movie with a message and high level of tears and no brain?

I gave it a try.

I liked the fact that the plotline wasn't entirely crystal-clear from the first half of the movie towards the very ending. It wasn't just drawing a plotline and suddenly giving it a twist at the end, but actually building the characters and their backgrounds without being too obvious about it.

What do we know about Ben Thomas? His name, his day job, his everyday journey, his kindness. We know he is hiding something and that he has some mental issues he needs to work on. He is sad, he is broken, he is alone. And for the first time in the whole of the complex, fun, interesting Smith's career, I bought it. He isn't just crying and being all drama-king and stuff. It's not only the screenplay. This time, he is completely immersed in creating poetry with his eyes and his entire body and not just throwing "sad" lines all over the place with touchy music in the background (not that there's anything actually wrong with it) but actually commiting to a story. What I loved the most about his job here is how we finally see a broken Smith. His vulnerability is remarkable, like a thorn blossom. Extraordinary.

What about Rosario Dawson? I've followed her career closely since she became the one and only redeeming element in the movie adaptation of Rent and I've always wanted to see her in front of a big project like this one.

People don't want to be preached about life and death. Movies are not motivational speechers and audiences are not as stupid as it may seem (specially when they line up to see The Fast and the Furious) but sometimes judging a book by its cover before opening it and taking a look makes audiences lose the chance to see an amazing movie once in a while.

Ben Thomas doesn't want you to agree with him, with his way of healing his soul. You can disagree, or even think he isn't doing the right thing as he thinks he is. But his journey towards redemption is poetic, beautiful, perfectly performed by every single actor in the cast and with some extraordinary moments of despair, as if the whole film was surrounded by a blue feeling that reaches the viewer.

4 stars for the filmmaking (excellent, not too full of itself or pretentious, at all) and an extra half for the outstanding cast and the (finally!) revelation of Rosario Damn! I'm a good actress! Dawson to the world.

GIVE IT A TRY.

Wow!

From all the flawed movies with important subject matters that disappoint everyone by not being deep enough and never taking things to the next level in 2 hours of wasted performances and bright moments lost in the haze of dull stuff, this is probably the one that hurts the most.

It is not a bad movie, per se. It's just flawed and soft. The characters, the direction and the whole screenplay feel like a pack of confused puppies running into each other constantly.

Let's see: you have one touchy, painful, cruel real-life subject (stop-loss) and you have some kick-ass, extraordinary young actors (Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and... Ok, let's say it just once: Ryan Phillippe), you add these elements to a well-known, indie director with a heartbreaking, painful first movie and you have yourself a modern masterpiece, right? So... what the fuck went wrong?! Channing Tatum doesn't dive as deep into his guts as he did in A guide to recognizing your saints, but still manages to give us some good acting here and there, and the Man, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, has absolutely NO screentime at all! He starts to hypnotize us in a couple of seconds and right when we're all set and ready to go, bam! Cut! Let's move to the Phillippe subplot! Who on Earth wrote this screenplay?! And who edited it?! Ryan Phillippe has always been a limited actor and even if this role could be counted as his best one yet, he's just not that good.

Still, the movie has brilliant if not extraordinary moments here and there. Tatum's and Gordon-Levitt's characters are haunting and real, their war nightmares ruining their lives feel more wrenching than Phillippe's weird crazy lapsus. The war scenes are cool and they remind me a lot of Jarhead on how contemporary filmmakers manage to portray young, twentysomething soldiers in no-sense wars. The clips Rob Brown's character taped and edited together are sad, exciting and even cute. It shows you how these soldiers we just label as stupid or ignorant rednecks are human beings who don't know anything better than believing in an imaginary war. Maybe the film should've stayed with just that idea and create a human, small-town drama instead of a weird crosscountry chase.

Special mention to Victor Rasuk's lovely character and incredible performance. When the movie started, I was really hooked with this latino-soldier surrounded by so many texans and I was disappointed about the little screentime but then, suddenly, out of the blue, right when I was disappointed the most, BAM! Rasuk tore my heart away with the greatest moment in the film. This guy was a huge indie promise a few years ago and now the promise is coming alive. He needs more and better work, ASAP.

I can't say I didn't like the movie, I even think it is a really good movie, but it's awful how it could've been absolutely BETTER and it just wasn't. Again, the actors, the plot and the director were there, so, what happened? I think it was a matter of commercial value that made this movie turn into another one we didn't want nor expected.

Still, kudos on never taking sides on this touchy subject. The director lets us create our own opinion on what's behind these poor men's minds and souls and the characters speak to whoever wants to hear them. It doesn't matter if you're pro-war (shame on you, though) or you think invading a third-world country for oil is absolutely stupid and retarded, you must realize the young men (and women) risking their lives over there for whatever are real, they bleed, they cry and they need a better movie.

I name it the 35th Best Movie of 2008 simply because of the promise of what could've been a hell of a movie. And you just can't deny the performances are high class.