2008: From Best to Worst

2008 has had its hit and misses, and while I haven't yet seen the Oscar favorites for next year, I have seen a small handful of marquee '08 flicks (you may call it meager, but this is my blog) and since people like seeing things in ranked form, I shall provide a tidy little ranking of the 2008 films I had the great pleasure of spending $10 (or $15 for the IMAX experience) on.

12. HANCOCK
Review? Yes.
Bottom Line: Lots of promise here with one of the most anti-hero superhero films to hit cinemas, but childish humor, baffling plot turns, and mind-numbing stupidity make this the most painful watch since SPIDERMAN 3.

11. INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
Review? Nope.
Bottom Line: Resurrecting one of America's most famous adventure heroes goes horribly awry in a film plagued by remarkable implausibility and childish visual effects that turns a celebration of the return of the fedora and whip into a film that ends up as 122 minutes of facepalms.

10. AN AMERICAN CAROL
Review? Yep.
Bottom Line: While the film is a certain breath of fresh air in the political film climate of Al Gore and Michael Moore, David Zucker's parody is desperately mediocre and full of cheap gags and few laughs.

9. IRON MAN
Review: Nope.
Bottom Line: Robert Downey Jr. gives a memorable go as iron clad Tony Stark, but the rest of the film suffers from the same mediocrity of popcorn superhero formula plaguing the rest of the Marvel film adaptations.

8. PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
Review: Yah.
Bottom Line: After a slow first act, Seth Rogen and the surprising James Franco settle in to a moderately witty stoner comedy that ends up being worth the price of admission.

7. CLOVERFIELD
Review: Nada.
Bottom Line: A truly bold step in Hollywood cinema, CLOVERFIELD is a thrilling, fast-paced home movie that has opened doors for mainstream filmmaking.

6. QUANTUM OF SOLACE
Review: Si.
Bottom Line: Daniel Craig again proves that his casting as 007 was nothing short of brilliant, but despite some truly gut-wrenching drama and a character arc that the aging franchise has never seen, a story weakened by too-swift-pacing and an over-abundance of action leaves the film behind in CASINO ROYALE's dust.

5. BURN AFTER READING
Review: You betcha.
Bottom Line: While not the Oscar winning drama that the Coen Brothers have treated us with over the last few years, BURN AFTER READING is a dark, hilarious ensemble comedy that proves that the duo can do no wrong.

4. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
Review: Ya.
Bottom Line: Not quite the Earth-shattering foreign film it's been made out to be, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is still the most charming film you'll ever watch with severed heads and gallons of blood.

3. FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL
Review: No.
Bottom Line: Despite gratutitous acts of Jason Segel, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL is yet another Apatow-helmed romcom that is utterly hilarious and neither too sappy nor too cheesy.

2. THE DARK KNIGHT
Review: Of course!
Bottom Line: One of the best action flicks of the decade, THE DARK KNIGHT is smart, immaculately crafted mainstream cinema that has set the bar for all future films in its genre to follow.

1. WALL-E
Review: No duh (and here's a re-review).
Bottom Line: Utterly charming, magical, clever, and feel-good, WALL-E is yet another Pixar film that pushes the boundary of animated children's film into full-fledged grown-up cinema.

There you have it. And yup, I'm a grown man and WALL-E was my favorite movie of the year; even better than THE DARK KNIGHT. I'm perfectly comfortable with myself, thank you very much.

And with that the curtains are drawn on the Scope in 2008. Let's hope 2009 brings us another year of fine cinema and arse-kicking reviews!

Låt den rätte komma in!

Now that the Oscar push is in full bloom, I figure I might as well try to lay my eyes upon all of the contenders that I can. Unfortunately some of these are only going to be in limited release, so I've had to revert to um... other means, but alas, I have finally decided to start watching these films, with the highly acclaimed Swedish vampire flick LET THE RIGHT ONE IN being first on the list.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (2008)

Folks were eagerly counting down the days before LET THE RIGHT ONE IN hit the festival circuit earlier this year. It came. Critics gushed.

Attribute this to what you want, but the fact that Hollywood is saturating the market with horrible excuses for horror films these days certainly couldn't have hurt the anticipation for a film that was billed as being a breath of fresh air for an otherwise perishing genre.

To understand what makes LET THE RIGHT ONE IN work, I suppose it takes an understanding of why Hollywood horror films of the last decade have hit the crapper. Filmmakers seem to be under the impression that horror movies can only work if there are a bunch of low-IQ college kids running around like idiots getting their limbs hacked off left-and-right. How can people possibly find this shit interesting? If you want to scare me, at least make your so-called "scary movies" suspenseful (originality can't hurt, either). Heck, that's how the first SAW film struck gold (you know, before they decided to make an endless supply of sequels that devolved exponentially into gimmicky, brainless gorefests). Make it something that I can attempt to relate to. That will legitimately make me shit my pants. Wanna know what won't make me make a mess of my pants? A tied-up naked woman getting cold water sprayed on her. I can turn on my shower and watch my own nipples get hard for myself, thank you very much.

Now I'm not singing the praises for LET THE RIGHT ONE IN quite as high as others but it certainly is a welcome change to what has become a pretty boring genre. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN tells the story of a bullied schoolboy named Oskar who becomes friends with Eli, the girl next door; a conisseur of the blood of Swedes who is peculiarly skilled with Rubik's Cubes and neck-snapping. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of blood, death, ferile cats, and spontaneous human combustion here, but this film makes it clear that it's not about gore, vampire romance (oh, and by the way, go fuck yourself TWILIGHT), or any of that formulaic crap. This is a love story that just happens to have the vampire mythos complementing it.

I think you have to look at LET THE RIGHT ONE IN two different ways. As a horror film it's certainly worthy of all its praise. I dunno if I've ever seen a horror flick incorporate a love story as effectively as this, or even take on a theme that was more important to the story than the horror itself. As a standalone film though, I don't think LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is quite as prodigious as billed. While the film as a whole certainly must be lauded for its audacity, the story seems to be held together by a story arc so puny that it makes Nicole Richie look like a Miss Universe contestant. Maybe this was deliberate in trying not to distract from Oskar and Eli's slowly-blossoming courtship, but the sparsely-communicated connections of the supporting characters are sure to leave a few viewers scratching their heads when the finale rolls along. Make no mistakes though, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is still a beautiful film, and in the end, its love story is an audacious step forward that should leave Hollywood filmmakers reconsidering just what exactly it is that makes a good horror film.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is a more-than-solid film, one that any self-respecting horror fan should feast upon. Fortunately for those of you that hate subtitled films, Hollywood has caught wind of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN and has commissioned CLOVERFIELD helmer Matt Reeves to direct the American remake slated for a 2010 release. Groan. What's next, an American version of INFERNAL AFFAIRS? Oh wait... groan!



I really want to see SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. I love Danny Boyle. Perhaps that will be next on the agenda. Or another viewing of THE DARK KNIGHT on Blu-Ray. Who knows?