I know the surge of great Oscar worthies hasn't happened yet, but just wondering what everyones favorite movie is from 08 ?

I think I'd actually have to go with Wall-E.
Not normally the kind of thing I'd watch, but it was really good. Batman would be second on my list.

Overall though, sort of a dissapointing year so far, at least compared to 2007. Hopefully there's some good stuff on the way.

I am excited for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", "Synedoche, New York", and the new Bond movie though.

i'm waiting for the new bond and "burn after reading"

i think that's it...

I'm still waiting for The Road, and Burn After Reading.

Wall-E and The Dark Knight.

And I'm really looking forward to Burn After Reading. I keep watching the trailer over and over, and it cracks me up every single time (watching Brad Pitt get punched in the face by John Malkovitch is hilarious)

I have to disagree about 2007, though - I think 2008 is already looking better, half way through. Outside of No Country, Into the Wild, and Juno, I really wasn't enamored with last year's crop of films. And then 2008 comes along, and two of my favorite films are released within 3 weeks of each other. And with Curious Case, Burn After Reading, The Road, Revolutionary Road, and Quantum of Solace...man, this year looks GOOD!

The Dark Knight

I'm looking forward to The Changeling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and the sequel to Borat.

I guess both 2007 and 2008 have their upsides. I just haven't seen much so far this year that I've enjoyed, and my mind keeps flashing back to a crop of great movies last year. 2007 was actually one of my favorite years for a while now. No Country, There Will be Blood, Children of Men (January 5th release date), Once, The Lives of Others (technically 06 but won an 07 Oscar), Juno, Ratatouile, 3:10 to Yuma, Hot Fuzz, Eastern Promises, Persepolis, Superbad, Into the Wild, Sweeney Todd, Knocked Up, Atonement. I just think it was a hell of a year and it'll be a hard one to follow. But then again we might just have different tastes in film.

I agree there were many good films, but for me there just weren't that many stand-outs, whereas in 2006 there were several - Borat, Casino Royale, Children of Men (it was completed in and is considered a 2006 film), The Departed, V for Vendetta (just a personal favorite), and, especially, Pan's Labyrinth. I think I tend to judge a year more by the number of films I LOVE as opposed to the number of films I thought were good.

But you know, looking back at the number of solid, quality films in 2007, and the year actually does look quite impressive. That list you gave makes a good argument!

2008's been kind of slow, but we do have some pretty damn good looking films coming up- Blindness, Burn After Reading (hopefully), Benjamin Button and The Road. Has anyone seen the pics from this yet- they NAILED the feeling and imagery of the book perfectly. Here's hoping to two perfect Cormac McCarthy adaptations in a row.

And this year, I guess In Bruges and Dark Knight top my list so far. I had some tongue-in-cheek fun with Rambo at the movies, and I liked Hellboy 2, but nothing has blown me away yet. Hoping Pineapple Express and the new Woody Allen film are good too.

I'm really looking forward to The Road. I read the book thought it was really good, then when I heard they were making a movie for it I was a bit hesitant. But then I heard John f'ing Hillcoat was directing it and I knew it was going to be awesome. Then these pictures come out and are amazing looking. I'm really really glad they went with zero CGI (or so they say at least). Viggo Mortesen is definitely perfect for The Father too. I really want to see either him or Daniel Day-Lewis tackle Jean Valjean, in like a 10 part mini-series of Les Miserables. That would rock.

It's been a little slow so far, but I would say most definitely David Gordon Green's Snow Angels for me. That one would stack up to some of the best films made this decade in my opinion.

I've heard some really mixed reactions about Blindness, which is a bummer considering how much potential it seems to have. But maybe that's just a side effect of such a limited number of screenings - magnification of opinion and all.

I also heard from a friend who went to a preview screening that Tropic Thunder is hilarious. That and Pineapple Express have me excited.

And I haven't read The Road (just heard that it's good), but mentioning Cormac McCarthy and Viggo Mortensen in the same sentence just gets my blood a'racin!

Other than the obligatory Curious Case of Benjamin Button...

1)Choke (The first film adaptation of a Chuck Palahniuk novel since Fight Club! I am excited beyond reason.)

2)Milk

and recently I've developed an interest in:

3) Australia. Baz Luhrmann's first project since Moulin Rouge, which happens to be one of my favorite movies.

Not a movie...but...the Beijing Opening Ceremony was phenomenal. I have never seen anything like that in my life.

Amazing short called "I Love Sarah Jane", it's a short from Sundance you can buy for 2 bucks on Itunes. It's a Zombie/love story and it's intense.

Brain, where did you see Choke? I didn't think it was out yet. The book is outstanding but not an obvious one to adapt so I can't wait to see how they pulled it off. I wish they would do Rant.

Oh I thought this discussion was more geared towards what films we are excited to see the most. I don't think Choke has played anywhere in the US other than the LA film festival. I have seen the trailers for Choke though

Rant has such potential, but what I would really love to see is a film adaptation of Invisible Monsters finally carried out. Chuck's best work, in my opinion, and one of my favorite novels of all time. Its the kind I just sit in bed and read every sentence aloud to myself.

By the way, what part of Cali are you living in, RED?

I saw "Choke" last night, and it was damn good. Harsh, hilarious, and heartbreaking...like any good Palahniuk book.

Clark Gregg wrote, directed, and acted the shizz out of that story.

Rockwell and Huston were amazing.

Red...there have been sneak peeks of "Choke" at the Fox lot (Pico and Motor, Century City) the last two weeks or so...I don't know if they're done though...

I'm excited for "Towelhead" (mmm mmm good, Alan Ball), "Hamlet 2," whatever the Charlie Kaufman NY flick is called, "Pineapple," "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" (I love Kevin Smith, don't hate), "St. Anna," "Traitor," the Bill Maher religion movie, the new Guy Ritchie...ooh, the Dubya flick, "Cross Over," "Benjamin Button...""Burn After Reading."

I probably won't have time to see many of them, though...boo.

I'm totally jealous, Jayimess.

I totally forgot about Charlie Kaufman's film! Is that being released in 2008"? Whoa. Its sounds like I've got a lot more things to be excited about this year than I thought.

I was just about to ask what everyone thought about Kevin Smith's new film. Apparently he just won his MPAA appeal to get it dropped from NC-17 to R, which means some of us might actually get a chance to see it.

It's one of those random perks of USC, dude. They screened "Tropic Thunder" in June or something.

Anyway, Choke was fantastic.

I think "Schododenburg" or whatever it's called comes out in November, early November. I'm stoked.

I saw the teaser for "Zack and Miri" and it looked pretty lame, but I've read the production blogs and I can't believe Seth Rogen would do the flick when he was that hot if it wasn't worthwhile.

And I'm totally a Kevin Smith fanboy. With a uterus.

quote:

Originally posted by karen:
Not a movie...but...the Beijing Opening Ceremony was phenomenal. I have never seen anything like that in my life.

****!!!! I WAS WORKING!!! Are they rebroadcasting it?!?