Here are - to date - my personal film favorites for the first half of 2008.
THE BEST FILM OF THE YEAR: (Drum roll, please!)
* "In Bruges" (Martin McDonagh, Great Britain/Belgium)
And listed in no particular order, the rest:
* "The Visitor" (Tom McCarthy, United States)
* "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"/"4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile" (Cristian Mungiu, Romania)
* "Cassandra’s Dream" (Woody Allen, Great Britain/United States/France)
* "Redbelt"(David Mamet, United States)
* "Love Songs"/"Les Chansons d'amour" (Christophe Honoré, France)
* "Iron Man" (Jon Favreau, United States)
* "Savage Grace" (Tom Kalin, United States/France/Spain)
* "You Don’t Mess with the Zohan" (Dennis Dugan, United States)
* "Roman de Gare" (Claude Lelouch, France)
* "Noise" (Henry Bean, United States)
* "The Bank Job" (Roger Donaldson, Great Britain)
As for as other specifics and details, I'll pass - except to single out Colin Farrell as the year's best actor for his flawless, equally committed back-to-back work in "Cassandra's Dream" and "In Bruges."
Now, on with the rest of the year...
(Artwork: Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in the year's best film, "In Bruges," and the comic/brooding Farrell, the year's best actor)
I have to agree 'In Bruges' is the best film this year (so far). I have seen just about every UK release so far and this stands out from the rest. I did however greatly enjoy the French comedy 'Priceless.'
ReplyDeleteI second the motion for "Priceless,"but my very favoite French film of the year (not that many get imported here anymore) is the Lelouch, "Roman de gare."
ReplyDeleteZohan? You put Zohan on the list? Even if you only saw those ten movies so far this year, you could still have just left it at nine.
ReplyDeleteI hope you wrote this before seeing "Wall-E".
ReplyDeleteJohn--
ReplyDeleteI considered title released before the beginning of July, the six-month mark. Consequently, I left out "Wall-E," 'Hancock," "The Dark Knight," "Mamma Mia!" and "The Wackness."