14 December 2008

In the Cold, I'm Standing

I'm feverishly working on my culminating lists of 2008 (I can hardly resist), and I've narrowed down my need-to-see list to two (Gomorrah and Still Life), both of which I'll be viewing in the next couple of days. With that in mind, I thought I'd use this opportunity to ask for some final recommendations before I put the final touches on my lists. I'm kicking myself for missing Ballast when it came through town, but the flu kept me out of commission that entire week. This is as good an opportunity as ever to list the 151 films released in 2008 (according to my own designated set of rules which allows for films that made their official premiere in any country during the year or hit US theatres during said time). For argument's sake, I'm considering 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days a 2007 release. I'll be updating this list with new films in italics (though I'll have an official update for every 10 qualifying films).

Alexandra
Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild
The Art of Travel
Baby Mama
The Babysitters
Baghead
The Band's Visit
The Bank Job
Before I Forget
Ben X

Billy the Kid
Blind Mountain
Blindness
Boarding Gate
Boy A
Boystown
Burn After Reading
Changeling
Che
A Christmas Tale

City of Men
The Class
Cloverfield
A Complete History of My Sexual Failures
The Dark Knight
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Derek
Diary of the Dead
Dog Tags
Donkey Punch

Doomsday
Drillbit Taylor
The Edge of Heaven
Eight Miles High
Elegy
Expired
The Fall
Filth and Wisdom
Finding Amanda
Flight of the Red Balloon

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Four Minutes
The Free Will [Video premiere]
Frontier(s)
Frost/Nixon
Frownland
Garden Party
A Girl Cut in Two
Go Go Tales
Gomorrah
The Good Boy [Video premiere]
Goth Cruise

Gran Torino
The Grand
The Grocer's Son
Gutterballs
Hamlet 2
The Happening
Happy-Go-Lucky
Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal [TV premiere]
Help Me Eros
Holding Trevor
The Houseboy

Humboldt County
Hunger
I Dreamt Under the Water
Ice Blues
In Bruges
In Search of a Midnight Kiss
In the Arms of My Enemy [Video premiere]
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Inside [Video premiere]
Irina Palm

I've Loved You So Long
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
Jellyfish
Joy Division [Video premiere]
Julia
Kiss the Bride
The Last Mistress
La León
Let the Right One In
Lost in Beijing

Love Songs
Mamma Mia!
Man on Wire
Married Life
Milk
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Mister Lonely
Mother of Tears
My Blueberry Nights
My Brother Is an Only Child
Nights & Weekends

Noise
O' Horten
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
The Other Boleyn Girl
Otto; or Up with Dead People
Paranoid Park
The Plans of Man [Video premiere]
Pleasure Factory
Polar Opposites
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead

Priceless
Rachel Getting Married
Recount [TV premiere]
Religulous
Reprise
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
The Ruins
Savage Grace
A Secret
The Secret of the Grain

Sex and the City
Shelter
Shelter Me
Shotgun Stories
Shutter
The Signal
Slumdog Millionaire
Snow Angels
Son of Rambow
Step Brothers

Stuck
Summer Hours
Summer Palace
Synecdoche, New York
Taken
Team Picture
Teeth
Tell No One
Then She Found Me
Timecrimes
Times and Winds

Transsiberian
Tropic Thunder
The Unknown Woman
The Untouchable
Up the Yangtze
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Visitor
The Wackness
WALL·E
Waltz with Bashir

Water Lilies
The Wedding Director
Wendy and Lucy
What We Do Is Secret
The Witnesses
Wonderful Town
The Wrestler
XXY
Yeast
Yella
Young@Heart

3 comments:

Blake Williams said...

are those 151 that you've seen this year or just the 151 that you can think of that apply to this year?

FYC: Summer Hours by Assayas (Artifical Eye DVD is out now)

reassurance said...

Funny, I was debating watching that about ten minutes ago, but opted for a visit with my parents instead; I'll get around to it sometime this week.

Those are the 151 (now 152 as I finished Gomorrah) that apply to the requirements I've made to substitute the impossible task of seeing a film as it premieres. A number of the films are technically 2007 titles, and a smaller amount of them won't be "officially" released by their studio until 2009.

I thought it might be fun to revise my Best Of's from each year that I've kept this blog. replacing films that have worsened upon reviewings and reflection (like 2046) with films I didn't get a chance to see during their initial run (like Old Joy). However, in trying to formulate my own rules for what qualifies when, I've decided to hold off on that, and finish off the year 2010 with revised lists of films properly placed in their respective years.

I probably analyze this way more than I should, but thanks for the suggestion Blake!

Anonymous said...

Can't wait for your list! I'm probaly just as excited as you are.

I have seen most of these, but I have ignored the rest that didn't interest me or which you had listed under 'THE BAD'. I always trust your judgement so I avoid them. I still haven't seen Vicky Cristina.., The Secret of the Grain, and some others. I recently watched Milk though which I loved.