Films: Review of the year, 2008

As with every year the first two months of the cinematic calendar were taken up with the Oscar contending films. I was not a particular fan of any of them, No Country For Old Men was depressing and without incident, In the Valley of Elah was dull and not very interesting and There Will Be Blood had little actual story and I just didn't get it. If it was about something I couldn't tell what. Sweeney Todd was a bit too gothic and gory for its own good. The film didn't show enough interest in the romance of the 2 nice characters as it was too interested in its own tragedy and the Danny Elfman soundtrack didn't fit with the brilliant Sondheim songs. Still a better film than the others, however. After these Oscar films came the barren time of cinema where the studios have exhausted there supply of what they consider good films and there is a period where very little of interest comes out. The 2 highlights of this period were Vantage Point, a film that came out of the blue and did a good story with a Rashomon style narrative telling the story from a number of different perspectives that made for a very good film and Horton Hears a Who which, while child pleasing and with bright colours, was simple enjoyable and funny. These were balanced by the terrible 10 000 BC, I have always been a Roland Emmerich fan but in this film he basically remakes Stargate but rubbish. Then in May the summer blockbuster season started. This summer was the most congested yet in terms of numbers of big films. Film distributors have yet to work out that unlike the USA the schools in this country have exams in June that interfere with cinema watching but are still on holiday in August when their US counterparts have gone back to school and that they would probably be best served by holding back some films until the middle of August (where there is always a barren patch where no good films come out) to maximise returns rather than moving the blockbuster season earlier and earlier. As a result the very enjoyable Iron Man did well but the also very good, if too intelligent for mass media, The Incredible Hulk was buried under a pile of better advertised films. The same is true of my pick of the summer’s films, Speed Racer. I am a Wachowski brothers fan and this film has their strong script with a lot of story a lot of action a lot of humour and fitted together into a brilliant film. Both these films lost out to Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull which, while having some enjoyable scenes, had a diabolical story, an awful script and Steven Spielberg should be ashamed of himself. All of these were very much all age films but aimed at the teenage market. The summer had the strongest crop of family films I have seen for a number of years. Prince Caspian, while neglecting much of its source material, was a very exciting and enjoyable film with points that can still be drawn from it, Kung Fu Panda was funny and exciting and there was the charming spectacle that was Wall-E. Despite a few missteps (e.g. Cars) Pixar are adept at maintaining their own high standards and an amazingly likeable central character combined with a chillingly possible human future make it one of the highlights of the year. The summer was dominated, however, by The Dark Knight. This highly anticipated film surpasses its very good predecessor thanks to an amazing performance from the late Heath Ledger, a good story and some amazing visual effects. There were problems with the two face character and I never like it when the film's romantic interest is killed (apologies if you haven't seen it) but the film remains as a cinematic masterpiece. Of the films that came in the Dark Knight's shadow there are three worth mentioning. Get Smart was the first comic parody for a long time that was actually funny and made for a very enjoyable 1 1/2 hours, Star Wars: the Clone Wars, much maligned in the media for being unnecessary, was justified by the fact that it was better than the three recent prequels and Hellboy 2 was visually stunning and very enjoyable even if the almost complete lack of story let it down a bit. September and October (before half term) have never been big film watching months and this year that was reflected in the lack of anything interesting entering our cinemas (by our cinemas I of course mean the multinational corporations cinemas). The one highlight of this period was the enjoyable Tropic Thunder. Half Term brought two very good films in Eagle Eye and City of Ember which were enjoyable family friendly and gave me a better feeling upon leaving the cinema than anything this year that was put up for an Oscar. November was all about one film. Quantum of Solace was a good film, it doesn't make the step to a great film but was very far from disappointing. Soon after it came Body of Lies, an interesting thriller by the master of the genre Sir Ridley Scott which is the best so far of the post 9/11 Middle East thrillers. November finished with the release of the first of the contenders for the 2009 Oscars, Clint Eastwood's Changeling. It was an inspiring story, not the least because the church is represented as a good guy, good acting by both Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich which made for a very moving film. December saw a number of Christmas entertainment films including the entertaining Inkheart and also Madagascar 2 which was, refreshingly, a vast improvement on the first even if the lack of a convincing story became more obvious as a consequence. The best film of December was the visually stunning Day the Earth Stood Still with some good performances and a brilliantly sustained sense of threat throughout the film.

So, in review, my picks for outstanding films of 2008 are: Vantage Point, Speed Racer, Wall-e, Eagle Eye, City of Ember and Body of Lies but my award for the best film of 2008 is Changeling.