i think we had a thread similar to this last year. everything seems to be packed into this last month or so, so it's difficult keeping up.

1. Rachel Getting Married

Hathaway's performance alone makes this a must see. Demme's film approach, with its documentary overtones, frames her and her family intimately. First class character development and music from start to end.

2. WALL-E
Pixar continues to raise the bar for what animated movies can accomplish.

3. Synecdoche, New York

If you can stomach the tension and bleakness Kaufman weaves endlessly in his most ambitious film to date, the payoff is equally huge.

4. Milk

Knowing full well the pretension that will ooze from the statement to follow, I can just as surely claim "Milk" as the most important film to be released in 2008.

5. Let the Right One In

There is no dimension of this movie that isn't filled with beauty and pathos.

6. Happy-Go-Lucky

Mike Leigh's visionary acumen pays off in florid, smile-inducing spades with Sally Hawkins at the center of his whimsical comedy. Somehow, while embodying the diametric opposite of Hathaway's tour de force Kym, Hawkins emotes with equal charm and complexity, turning what starts as a grating character into someone about whom we genuinely care and wonder.

7. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
An ensemble piece that has the perfect of amount of quick pacing and narration paired with whimsy and absurdity. The exaggerated caricatures serve Allen's meditation on fulfillment well. How refreshing it is to have your expectations wholly surpassed.

8. The Wrestler

Mickey. Rourke. FTW.

9. In Bruges
Feels analogous to Road to Perdition as an understated gangster film noir. Gleeson and Farrell are a perfect match.

10. Wendy and Lucy

Painfully minimalistic, this movie is short on words and long on emotions.


Honorable Mentions:

JCVD

The Visitor

Surfwise

Burn After Reading

In some ways, it feels like a modern day Dr. Strangelove.

Frozen River

Solid performances by all the actresses in this movie.

Pineapple Express

Doubt

More than anything, this is a vehicle for Hoffman and Streep to flaunt their acting chops. And it is engrossing to watch them do so.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

This is what's left on the chopping block:

A Christmas Tale
I Loved You So Long
Che

i too would put rachel getting married in mine. some others i can think of.

in search of a midnight kiss
vicky cristina barcelona (my fave of 08)
the duchess
american teen
bottle shock

I was very impressed with In Bruges, probably my favorite at this point.

the fall is my fav.

That was pretty great too. I also need to see Synecdoche, NY. Will Probably do that tonight.

oh that's definitely up there too. i thought it was amazing.

i knew i forgot something!

synecdoche is right up there with the milk, wall-e and rachel

what is the fall about? i haven't heard a peep about it.

all i do is talk about this movie

Give it a chance, it's very good and unlike anything else made this year.

that looks incredible. has it been out long?

hey curley you forgot Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Is that even out yet? No one I know has seen it or Revolutionary Road.

I saw Gran Torino . Pretty average compared to other Eastwood.

Body of Lies was a disappointment.


I have a bunch to see over Christmas time

No they both come after Christmas. He didn't have it on his To See List that's why i mentioned it.

But they're both the top two on my radar

i was invited to a screening but couldn't make it, but the guy who invited me wrote off the movie completely. but he also doesn't like f for fake, so i don't know if i should believe it.

came out in the spring.

touche, updates

Have you seen 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days? It was released in January in the US so it counts as well. Phenomenal movie.

i saw it right when it came out. for whatever reason, i count it among the 2007 releases. i guess it's the way i associate it. and yeah, massively affecting film.