Heffie is a bad movie fan in 2008

[thehefner]

I tried thinking up a "Heffie's Top Ten Films of 2008!" list, until I realized that I couldn't come up with enough.

Not that it was a bad year, but when you consider that I haven't yet seen THE WRESTLER, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, MISTER LONELY, THE STRANGERS, REPRISE, STUCK, HAPPY GO LUCKY, STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE, THE FALL, IN BRUGES, MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS, REDBELT, MILK, SURFWISE, WENDY AND LUCY, MAN ON WIRE, RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, 4 MONTHS 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS, PARANOID PARK, KUNG-FU PANDA, and SYNEDOCHE, NEW YORK... heck, it's no wonder I can't even crack a list of more than five.

And I'm not even counting THE DARK KNIGHT. That shit's disqualified as a special case.

Crimminy. Maybe I need to do a marathon of whatever's playing in town. Priority films are THE WRESTLER and SYNEDOCHE, NEW YORK, followed by RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, IN BRUGES, and MAN ON WIRE, but most I'll have to wait and Netflix when I get back (and others I've listed haven't even gotten wide release yet!)

Any must-see suggestions, folks?



Edit: here's more as I think of them--[REC], JCVD, TIMECRIMES, OPERATION FILMMAKER, QUANTUM OF SOLACE, ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO, FROST/NIXON

Comments

[shadowlongknife.livejournal.com]

The Strangers is excellent. You've got some on there I can't wait to see, myself.

You and me both, man...

[american-arcane.livejournal.com]

Once upon a time (we'll call it "college", because it was), I averaged at least a movie a weekend--sometimes did two or four in actual theaters and everything. Oscar season would come around and I'd have seen just about every American film up for anything.

This last decade, though... well... there are still things I've been meaning to see for years now that I haven't even gotten around to catching when they roll through my cable package.

Did just see Last Man Standing (1996) again last night. That movie rocks.

[kosher-jenny.livejournal.com]

Watch In Bruges first. Because I said so. Also, it's already out on DVD.

I'm worse off than you are though. When it comes to movies I've seen in the theater this year I saw Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Quantum of Solace, and...uh...I'm pretty sure there was one more? I also want to see Let the Right One In while it's still in the theaters, but it isn't playing anywhere near me.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I would, but it's at home, the Netflix disc waiting for me for the past two months and one more to come.

[swimpenguin.livejournal.com]

I was a huge Milk fan (obviously hah); sadly we won't get to see Wendy and Lucy till next year: it's not out in DC until January 30 at E Street. The Fall was interesting to look at (and I liked the central character relationship; hearing how the director manipulated the little girl kind of lessened that) but it was kind of like the awkward cousin of Pan's Labyrinth-similar themes and conceits, but you couldn't help comparing it to Del Toro's movie the whole time.
I would say check out Were the World Mine, but it just left DC-gay Shakespearean musical-gay kid is cast as Puck in Midsummer Night's Dream and discovers the recipe for the love potion in the play's text; after dousing his straight (supposedly) jock crush with it, he runs amuk dousing everybody in the town with it, turning everybody gay. It was cute, wacky-all very tongue in cheek.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I think I'll throw MILK on the list as well while I'm here, yeah.

And dear lord, WERE THE WORLD MINE sounds like the sort of thing my Mom would rent.

[swimpenguin.livejournal.com]

Poor Dark Knight, does it get it's own padded cell? (I'll be putting up my movie list for the year and I'm sadly pondering too much on where it's going to end up on it)-we all know it was not the second coming of movie greatness, but it was (imo) a damn great movie, even if they did muckle up Two Face (have a new theory on why they did with him what they did.) I'm watching In Bruges sometime this week, and hopefully going to see Slumdog Millionaire Friday.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's not like that (HELLBOY 2, on the other hand... not a bad film, but far from the masterpiece I'd hoped for), it's just impossible to really qualify on a list when you combine my expectations with my standards with my entire Harvey Dent "thing." No way in hell I'm gonna be able to give anything close to an objective opinion like I can with LET THE RIGHT ONE IN and ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD.

[swimpenguin.livejournal.com]

True dat. I did read recently in an interview Nolan gave right before the movie came out that he was aiming to make Harvey once he turns into Two Face as more of a vigilante character (paralleling him more with Batman) instead of turning him into an outright villain. I wondered if he really didn't like the idea of Harvey, the 'White Knight,' the HOPE guy (his Dent of the movie) turning (like he fully does in the comics) into an outright super villain, even if he is one of the most sympathetic villains out there. Then again he does have Harvey threatening to kill a kid, which is pretty fucked up.
Hellboy 2 to me was an eyeball orgy with some great humor-even though I liked it as Del Toro's thing, I missed Mignola's influences.
Let the Right One in is definitely in my top 3 of the year; I should check out Encounters (love anything on Antarctica)-yeah I've never seen a Werner Herzog movie in my life, do have his Nosferatu on my shelf though.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Herzog! Dude, okay, um... start with... here, double-feature of awesomeness: AGUIRRE, WRATH OF GOD and GRIZZLY MAN. Two *very* different films, and both are excellent intros to the awesomeness that is Werner Herzog. Also, his interview with Henry Rollins is great.

[scampster4.livejournal.com]

I just saw Rachel Getting Married last week. I was actually surprised that it was pretty good. Anne plays her really well. It kinda drags in places, but it's still worth seeing. I think I'm the only one who didn't like In Bruges, but it was way too violent and not quite my humor. I'm not sure if you'd like it. So I'm not really sure why I'm saying anything beyond that I have nothing better to do.

Quantum sucked. Or was at least severely disappointing. And The Strangers will inevitably leave you staring at the TV and wondering how people can be so consistently stupid.

...Also, if you didn't see Bolt, you seriously need to see Bolt as it was awesome. Like Emperor's New Groove levels of awesome.

But considering the time of year, I'm going to tell you to just watch Nightmare Before Christmas again.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I need to see QUANTUM for myself, because the responses I keep getting to that seem almost totally across the board, but that's the first time I've heard anyone say it sucked.

Dang it, one day, I will make a horror movie where the characters aren't fucking dumb. Unless you mean something else.

[scampster4.livejournal.com]

Sucked might be a little harsh. I mean, Wanted sucked. Wanted made me want to cry in the bad way. Magic fucking loom. But I was expecting it to be good, since the last one really was (at least, from what I remember from the time I saw it when it first came out). But it had way too much of that awkward quick cut action style that I hate and the story itself was incredibly weak. So yeah. Maybe I just went in with high expectations. Also, it's like a legit direct sequel, so that made it really hard for me, seeing as how it'd been two years since I'd seen the first one and I didn't remember much about it beyond that there was poker and that Bond now had very pretty blue eyes.

...And good luck with that. I honestly haven't seen it, but I've been told the whole story by enough people that I know what it is. Apparently the first half is pretty good and scary and then the inevitable Fucking Idiotic Horror Character disease kicks in.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

The punk girl I'm hanging out with up here insisted I watch WANTED, as she fucking adores that film. Let's just say I'm glad I had lots of beer in me already. Also, I hate the comic so much. It's even more loathsome.

[angrylemur.livejournal.com]

You are such a bad fan. I'll bet Hollywood weeps bitter tears every night out of its unrequited longing for you. It's all, "Nooooooooo! :C"

That said I haven't see Let The Right One In yet and I feel bad about that even though I know that no one cares. So.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I'LL MAKE IT UP TO YOU, HOLLYWOOD. TONIGHT, I'LL WATCH ANNE HATHAWAY AS A DRUG ADDICT, THAT WILL MAKE YOU LOVE ME AGAIN, RIGHT?

Also, I care. See it. Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee it.