The Filmcake

I love lists. I know as soon as they’re written they’ve lost any utility they may have fleetingly possessed. And I know they’re always inevitably incomplete. But they’re still kinda fun to come up with. So here’s my Top 10 Movies of 2008 (so far). I’ve still got a bunch more to watch. I plan on coming up with a more finalized list (along with Oscar predictions) sometime before the Oscar ceremony. That’ll give me time to see a few more contenders.

Dwight’s Top 10 Movies of 2008
1. A Christmas Tale
2. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
3. Wall-E
4. Man on Wire
5. Paranoid Park
6. The Dark Knight
7. Son of Rambow
8. Chop Shop
9. Milk
10. Trouble the Water

Still haven’t seen: Wendy and Lucy, Ballast, Happy Go-Lucky, Let the Right One In, Synechdoche, NY, My Winnipeg, Waltz With Bashir, Flight of the Red Balloon, Doubt, Revolutionary Road, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire.

Even though this blog is primarily focused on movies, I can’t resist including my music lists. While I did a piss-poor job at listening to music in ’08 (and came to it late at that), I did manage to come up with lists for my best albums and songs of the year.

Dwight’s Top 10 Albums of 2008
1. She & Him – Volume One
2. Fleet Foxes – s/t
3. Frightened Rabbit — The Midnight Organ Fight
4. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
5. Jolie Holland – The Living and the Dead
6. TV on the Radio – Dear Science
7. Conor Oberst — s/t
8. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
9. Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs
10. (3-way tie) Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers — The Confiscation EP, The Decemberists — Always the Bridesmaid Singles, The Mountain Goats — Satanic Messiah EP

Dwight’s Top 10 Songs of 2008
1. “Mexico City/Corrido Por Buddy/Palmyra” – Jolie Holland (OK, it’s 3 songs. But it’s what I consider to be the best 13 minutes of music in ’08.)
2. “Valerie Plame” — The Decemberists
3. “Sentimental Heart” – She & Him
4. “I Will Possess Your Heart” – Death Cab for Cutie
5. “Skinny Love” — Bon Iver
6. “See Fernando” — Jenny Lewis
7. “We Call Upon The Author” — Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
8. “White Winter Hymnal” – Fleet Foxes
9. “Dancing Choose” – TV on the Radio
10. “Head Rolls Off” — Frightened Rabbit

December 8th – December 14th

Milk, Trouble The Water, No End In Sight- Watching these three films, one cannot help but to feel a tremendous amount of hope and anticipation in regards to President-elect Obama’s upcoming administration. One hopes we can step out of the mire of the past and into a more promising future.

While Milk predates the Bush administration, its fight has very contemporary parallels. Prop 6 is reflected in Prop 8. Anita Bryant (Miss Oklahoma 1958) is reflected in a swarm of religious homophobes and bigots. While I’m not sure how much Obama will be able to accomplish on this front, I am confident that he’s on the right side of this issue. I think we can get closer to treating gays and lesbians how they deserve to be treated. Religious dogma doesn’t always have to trump what is right. It’ll be a slow and agonizing fight, but I think the right side will prevail in the end. As for the film, it’s a really good biopic with a bunch of really good performances. Overall, I think Van Sant’s Paranoid Park is a stronger effort, but I certainly can’t dismiss this one. This is a story that needed to be told. And, it’s about time.

Trouble The Water was a forceful slap to the face–a stark reminder of the devastation of Katrina. I had forgotten, and in some cases had never seen, how the storm and the subsequent government reaction had wreaked so much havoc to the people of New Orleans. What a shameful moment that was. Luckily, there are those who persevere in the face of adversity. Kimberly Rivers Roberts and her husband, like Harvey Milk, amazingly manage to turn that adversity into something positive. And Ms. Roberts, under her moniker of Black Cold Madina, sends shivers with her rap of “I’m Amazing.” It’s likely the best rap song I’ve heard all year.

As if Hurricane Katrina weren’t enough to guarantee the Bush Administration it’s rightful place among the worst US presidencies, Dubya also has the grand quagmire of Iraq. No End In Sight plays like an even more maddening episode of Frontline, cataloguing the incompetence of the Bush Administration in going into war and especially in managing the aftermath. How can Obama not be a symbol for hope? You can’t do much worse than his predecessor.

Son of Rambow – As a child of the eighties, I absolutely loved this one. For me, it gets that quirky brand of humor just right. It’s quirk with a purpose, or at least with identifiable nostalgic references. It’s quirk that is more grounded than the quirk of Napoleon Dynamite or Eagle vs. Shark. Son of Rambow also manages to out-Swede Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind. While there were some clever moments in that film, Garth Jennings manages to convey a more genuine love for movies here with the “Sweding” of First Blood. I’m left with a movie that represents why I love movies.