Top 15 of 2008

"The Diving Bell and The Butterfly" is nothing like any movie I have seen before: it is tender, unindulgent, raw and considering the circumstances, it's a movie that makes you want to live. The audience practically inhabit the being of Jean Dominique Bauby, a survivor of locked-in syndrome as he live day by day and persevere through writing an extremely personal memoir with the blink of his eyelash. With the help of his best selling book, Julian Schnabel took artistic liberty without being disrespectful. The effect was remarkable: he was able to break the glass and allow the audience full empathy to the protagonist right from the very first shot. I vividly remember reading this book and I knew there were chapters that would truly shine and Schnabel did not disappoint as even if they were predictable for me, the gravity of the situation was never tarnished. This movie at it's core is a celebration of life. It can't get any more liminal than this. An absolutely perfect film.

I simply had to re-review this. Okay, here's a statement: you know that a film is so good that it trickles on down to the Ipod generation and that it becomes so goddamn popular that it creates its own backlash. I think "Juno" is it. It's amazingness is on the same size as "Titanic" that I believe, every single damn film Ellen Page will be in where she'll be playing a quick witted teen, critics will be pulling the "she's doing the Juno". And I'm not surpised. Full of heart and a pleasant twist at the end that doesn't pave the way to a pedestrian ending, "Juno" pulls all the stops to be liked.

By far, this has got to be one of the more uncomfortable and intense movie experiences I have had in a long time. The movie feels so real as if it was a documentary, and the emotions are so raw and realistic that one cannot help but be carried away and fascinated on how brave this film is. The title of the movie basically refers to the pregnancy bound to be terminated (it's the anti-Juno in more ways than one). Set in 1980's Romania, one cannot help but be eeriely transported to a place so rancid and unpleasant, that one can't help but squirm in one's seat. I was kind of unhappy about the characterization of Laura Vasiliu's character as this uber-naive pregnant girl that I felt that she's giving pregnant women bound for abortion injustice (then again, maybe that was the whole point so that the auds would project sympathy to the protagonist instead). This is a well acted film, focus on every scene Vlad Ivanov is in and that dreadful dinner scene. Brilliant.

This is damn good. A movie that unravels like a detective novel, Affleck proves himself as a director able to balance intelligence with grade A thrills. If I was nitpicking, I would say Freeman is horribly cast (for some reason, he doesn't have the same gravitas as he used to have... I mean, how many movies has he played as God?) and that the movie had a lot of false endings (am I complaining of too much of a good thing here?). I will definitely be rewatching this one. Kudos to Amy Ryan, however, I think she didn't really have enough screen time to acquire that much awards buzz.

"Iron Man" reminds us how coming book movies are supposed to be before all this graphic-novel-movie seriousness. It is fun, loud, clever without sacrificing an ounce of seriousness anyone can invest in a movie like this. A comic book inspired by Howard Hughes, Iron Man was respectably translated onto the big screen with a modern update refering to the war in the Middle East. It may be a movie with a message, but it doesn't preach (of course, what might be the key demographic of the loud noises might already have enough at home). The more I watch Downey Jr., the more I love him. He's really good here, able to balance his usual schtick with some serious bad-assness. For some reason, on that final fight scene on the motorway, it reminded me of "Transformers", although it also reminded me on what "Transformers" lacked -- character. Anyhow, I am still in awe of that twist at the end (which makes this movie stand out even more from your other comic book based film) and of course, stay after the credits.