A film year like 2007 only comes along once in a lifetime: There Will Be Blood (TWbB) cemented the fact that Daniel Day Lewis is the greatest actor maybe of all time; No Country For Old Men (NCfOM) made me realize that the Coens do not have an original thought in their head; and Michael Clayton showed the world the darker side of the Clooney. And let us not forget the awesomely political Wall-E.
2008 however, dear reader, was a bit slow.
According to metacritic.com, an aggregate entertainment scoring site, the highest rated American movie of the year was the Gun Van Sandt biopic Milk. While a good movie, it should not stand high with it's 84 (out of 100) rating, while TWbB got a 92 and NcFOM got a 91. As is wont to happen on slow years, the French ruled with the powerful film The Class about a few teachers trying to make the best of a bad situation. Slumdog Millionaire, most peoples choice for Best Picture, is Danny Boyle's weakest film, even more so than Millions.
There were some bright spots though. Mike Leigh's outrageously optimistic Happy Go Lucky has introduced the world to Sally Hawkins, Mickey Rourke's stunning performance in The Wrestler and everybody's favorite laughing villain got a treatment for the ages from Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.
Let's hope for a stronger 2009 from the Americans, shall we!
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I just followed your link to Metacritic and looked at the all-time high scoring films (which you've incited me to do by your rankings). Can you review Pan's Labyrinth? Just curious what you think. It's fourth on the list, which makes me wonder how these rankings are composed--that is, what precisely is aggregated?
ReplyDeleteI just watched Pan's Labyrinth this week. Wow, there was something for everyone in that movie. No wonder it's so high on the list.
ReplyDeleteI havn't seen Slumdog Millionaire, but everytime I hear it mentioned it's attached to some type of high praise. So I guess the first thing that popped into my mind when I read this post was a question as to whether you are complimenting the movie or suggesting that its BP nomination is solely the product of a weak year for American films?
ReplyDeleteI hope that Heath Ledger and Mickey Rourke win the Oscars at the Academy Award, which they rightly deserve. Who do you want to win for best supporting actor and best actor?
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