Best Trailer of 2008: Australia

It's only about a week until the 81st Annual Academy Awards (February 22, 2009). You know what that means. Time for some real awards! While 2008 has had its fair share of entertaining cinema, my hopefulness ultimately let me down. I was ready for Seven Pounds to blow me away, Australia to become one of my all time favorites, and Synecdoche, New York to match—or even exceed—Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. None of these happened—although Synecdoche needs another viewing...seriously. Luckily, there were some hidden gems. Unexpected films (The Visitor, Slumdog Millionaire, Wendy and Lucy) made this year respectable. Here's the top 10 films that I saw in 2008:

 

honorable mention:

Be Kind Rewind

Frost/Nixon

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Visitor, The

Wrestler, The

my top 10 films of 2008

 

Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The

Dark Knight, The

Doubt

Låt den rätte komma in

Man On Wire

Milk

Revolutionary Road

Slumdog Millionaire

Wall-E

Wendy and Lucy

best director: David Fincher, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

best actor: Sean Penn, Milk

best actress: Michelle Williams, Wendy and Lucy

best supporting actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

best supporting actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader

best ensemble cast: Revolutionary Road

best cinematography: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

best original screenplay: Wall-E

best adapted screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire

best animated film: Wall-E

best score: Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

best visual effects: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

best scene of the year: Sunrise on Lake Pontchartrain, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

best picture of the year: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Maybe I’m a sucker for existentialism. Maybe it's the romantic lens or the epic scale. Maybe it's the warm, antiqued lighting embedded in Benjamin Buttion’s frames. Too much like Forrest Gump, you say? It’s better than Forrest Gump. Gump tells us “life is like a box of chocolates;" Button, even with it’s fairytale concept, is a truer film, and shows us that life is more like a boat ride on a dark sea. It’s the best picture of the year.