2008 Midterm Report

With 2008 nearly half over, here is a look back at the top 10 best and top 5 worst films so far this year.


TOP TEN
1. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, Romania)
2. The Band's Visit (Eran Kolirin, Israel)
3. XXY (Lucia Puenzo, Argentina)
4. Reprise (Joachim Trier, Norway)
5. The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (Cao Hamburger, Brazil)
6. Beaufort (Joseph Cedar, Israel)
7. The Visitor (Thomas McCarthy, USA)
8. Young @ Heart (Stephen Walker, UK)
9. Battle for Haditha (Nick Broomfield, UK)
10. In Bruges (Martin McDonagh, Ireland)

BOTTOM FIVE
1. Prom Night
2. 10,000 B.C.
3. The Happening
4. Savage Grace
5. Teeth

Once again, as I mentioned in a previous post, the amount of American films on the upper end are seriously lacking (the lower end has plenty, though), but there have been a few good ones - most notably Helen Hunt's Then She Found Me, Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park, and the best studio summer film so far, Kung Fu Panda.

Of the top five that I published in my first quarter report, the top 2 are the same, the #3 pick is now #10, the #4 pick is out, and the #5 pick is out of the top 20. That means it's been a relatively strong year for obscure films.

The top three are incredibly strong, and it will be interesting to see if they remain that high at the end of the year. Still, six months is along time, especially on the movie calendar. And the best season for movie going is still ahead.

Comments

Daniel said…
Nice. I like intermittent reports. You know I consider #'s 1 and 2 from 2007, but they would definitely be up there. Otherwise I would include #'s 5, 7, and 8, with # 4 close behind, maybe #10 still sneaking in the discussion.

Jumper is behind The Happening as my worst of the year. I'd also throw Semi-Pro and 21 up there. I didn't see Rambo or Funny Games.
Mattie Lucas said…
I love "Rambo," so it's nowhere near consideration for worst of the year for me. And I doubt "Funny Games" would be either, as I'm a big fan of the original.

As far as #1 and #2 being form 2007, I used to go by Academy rules, but now I've decided Academy rules are worthless after last year, so I'm going by official release dates, categorizing them as 2008 films.

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