My top 10 - or maybe 12 - movies of 2008

For most people in the world there certainly have to be more important things to spend your Sunday afternoon thinking about, but it took me quite a while to get this list down to only 10 flicks.

Oddly enough, since this list will be presented simply in alphabetical order, the first one you'll find is actually the last one to make the cut, just edging out Oliver Stone's "W." and Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" for the final spot.

And, even though "Ratatouille" was my single favorite movie of 2007 (though "Into the Wild" has pretty much moved into a tie with it), the simply charming "Wall-E" didn't quite manage to find a home here.

So, without further ado, here goes, and please feel free to share your favorites or let me know of any you think I've just snubbed.

"Cadillac Records"
Writer/director Darnell Martin's take on the history of Chess Records plays more than a little loosely with the facts, but in a way that strays in refreshing ways from the conventional music biopic. And it certainly doesn't hurt that this woefully under appreciated little flick contains my favorite ensemble cast of the year, led by Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters, a surprisingly strong Beyonce as Etta James and a thoroughly fun Mos Def as Chuck Berry. See it if you somehow still can.

"The Dark Knight"
With crazy rumors flying around about what might happen with the next chapter of director Christopher Nolan's take on the Batman saga (Eddie Murphy as the riddler? Really!?!?), it's easy to overlook just how much he accomplished with this one. Though "Iron Man" was also a brainy and fun superhero flick, Nolan just made the story of "The Dark Knight" his own, with more than a little help from the much-missed Heath Ledger.

"The Fall"
I think I may be the only person in the world who would put this on the list of 2008's best movies, but I love it and have no intention of backing down. I went into Tarsem's oddly engaging flick expecting a visual stunner but also found a tender story starring Lee Pace of "Pushing Daisies" as an injured stunt man who befriends a young girl played by the charming Catinca Untaru. I loved this movie the first time I saw it in Atlanta, and do so even more now.

"Let the Right One In"
All I knew about this flick as I was examining the lineup for the 2008 Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival, which I was fortunate enough to attend with my parents, was that it was a Swedish vampire flick (not, as I somehow first thought, a Mexican one), but that was enough to get me hooked. What I found was a genuine horror movie that also mixes in a fantastic coming-of-age tale about a social outcast who finds out his new neighbor and friend just happens to be a vampire. "Cloverfield" director Matt Reeves is making noise about transporting this European charmer to Colorado for everyone who can't be bothered to read subtitles, but I heartily recommend checking it out in its original form instead of waiting.

"Milk"
All politics aside, if you can really say that, Gus Van Sant has made what I think will turn out to be my favorite flick of the entire year with this biopic of the slain San Francisco pol Harvey Milk. What makes it work so well is that, even as it presents a true American tragedy, it never dwells on that but instead shows the resolve and joy that made Milk (played by Sean Penn) try so many times to break through barriers. I was surprised - but never bored - by just how much it got into San Francisco politics of the time, and next to "Cadillac Records" it features the second best ensemble cast of the year with supporting players Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch and "Freak" James Franco.

"Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist"
Peter Sollett, who clearly knows the city of New York as well as Woody Allen used to, turns what could have been (and in many ways is) just a silly teen tale into a thoroughly fun portrait of the bridge-and-tunnel set that invades Manhattan every weekend. He's certainly helped by charming leads Kat Dennings and Michael "George Michael" Cera, and has managed to craft here my single favorite comedy of the year.


"Slumdog Millionaire"
Even though Danny Boyle's last flick, "Sunshine," was one I had very little time for at all, I knew he would strike gold with this tale of a Mumbai "slumdog" who competes on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" in hopes of winning the affection of his true love. That just sounds hokeyer each time I type it, but even though the game show framing gets a little old by the end, Boyle's affection for India shines through in every scene, many of which will become permanently burned onto your brain.

"Tell No One"
As happens to me with many mind-bending thrillers, I was sure after watching this French flick based on a Harlan Coben novel once that it just didn't add up. Boy, was I wrong. This one should be out on video soon, and if you like a really taut thriller with natural action scenes and a "reveal" that I guarantee will simply stun you, definitely check out Guillaume Canet's flick. The Macon Film Guild, by the way, will be showing this one soon at the Douglass Theatre downtown, so if you happen to live in my little burgh please turn out for it.

"The Visitor"
As good as Sean Penn was as Harvey Milk, these last two contain my two favorite male acting performances of the year. (My vote for woman of the year, which will be on the list coming out tomorrow, is Sally Hawkins in Mike Leigh's "Happy Go Lucky," another great flick that just missed making this list. In "The Visitor," Thomas McCarthy (director of "The Station Agent") finds a perfect foil in "Six Feet Under" veteran Richard Jenkins, who plays a college professor who finds an immigrant couple living in the New York apartment he owns but hasn't visited for many years. It can be more than a little heavy-handed, but along with Patricia Riggen's "La Misma Luna" it tackles the issue of immigration in the United States while at the same time simply telling a very engaging story.

"The Wrestler"
How in the world they didn't open a movie this good about professional wrestling throughout the South in its first wave is beyond me, but it will be thankfully playing everywhere very soon. Darren Aronofsky's clever movie starts with the conventions of your typical sports underdog flick but turns them into something unique thanks to Mickey Rourke's amazing turn as the titular grappler, simply the best performance I've seen on the big screen all year.

So, there you have it. And here, by the way, are a few of the other flicks I really liked this year that didn't quite make the cut: Cloverfield, In Bruges, Be Kind Rewind, The Bank Job, Iron Man, Son of Rambow, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E, Man on Wire, Tropic Thunder, Trouble the Water, A Secret, Burn After Reading, Tyler Perry's The Family that Preys, Ghost Town, The Express, Happy Go Lucky, Waltz with Bashir, Gran Torino, Doubt, W., Synecdoche, NY, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Soul Men and Australia.

Once again, please feel free to share your favorites, and have a perfectly passable Monday. And if you want to, also please come back tomorrow for my women of the year and Wednesday for 2008's best leading men.

A real dark horse for a Best Actor Oscar

Thomas McCarthy's "The Visitor" is such an unassuming little film that I have to admit it sat in my house for a week before I could summon the desire to watch it, but now I'm certainly glad I did.

McCarthy, who directed the equally satisfying "The Station Agent" in 2003, may also be known to fans of "The Wire" as Scott Templeton, the Sun reporter with a very active imagination. Though that great show went more than a little off the rails in its final season, it was never his fault.

With "The Visitor," he has an able co-conspirator in Richard Jenkins in creating this tale of a man who has pretty much given up on life until he returns to his NYC apartment to find the titular "Visitor" there in the form of an illegal Syrian immigrant (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese girlfriend (Danai Jekesai Gurira), though, as it soon becomes clear, Jenkins' Walter Vale is often the real visitor in this world of ours.

Though McCarthy has an occasionally heavy-handed tale to tell about what rights we have given up since 9/11 and the constant peril of living illegally in this country, his movie is much stronger when it just tells the tale of Walter and lets Jenkins jump completely into the role. Partly because of this absorption and partly just because my mind is slowly faltering, I must admit I had to check the closing credits to remember exactly what his name was (though of course we well know his face.)

As we meet Walter, he's a college professor who's been teaching the same one class for 20 years and has now been asked to present a report he only put his name on but no work into. Jenkins captures this detachment perfectly while at the same time moving us to cheer for him without ever becoming manipulative.

And it's a credit to McCarthy's slow-moving but constantly engaging story that he lets Jenkins' Walter be drawn out of his tough shell at a natural pace. Though I'm far too cynical to ever want to participate in anything as hippy-dippy as a drum circle, it's a joy to watch as the Syrian Tarek first teaches Walter to play the African djembe drum and later to even do so in public (and in the most joyous scene, belatedly in life discover the pleasures of Fela Kuti.)

McCarthy lays on the sentiment here but not quite as heavily as in another movie about immigration that's among my favorites from this year, Patricia Riggen's "La Misma Luna" ("Under the Same Moon"). Thanks to uniformly solid performances from his cast, rounded out by Hiam Abbass as Tarek's mother, it never seems anything but genuine and just manages to suck you in.

As for Jenkins, who most people might know from his work on "Six Feet Under" but also appeared this year in "Burn After Reading" as the gym owner who longed for the love of Frances McDormand (and, really, who wouldn't?), he's certainly turned in an Oscar-caliber performance here, but it's probably come in a year too crowded for him to even be nominated. If I had to pick it today, I'd have to guess the final five will be Brad Pitt for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Clint Eastwood for "Gran Torino," Sean Penn for "Milk," Frank Langella for "Frost/Nixon" and Mickey Rourke for "The Wrestler." That final slot could also swing to another outsider, but it's not likely.

But "The Visitor," out now for a while on video, is still well worth checking out, for Jenkins' performance and a whole lot more. And Thomas McCarthy is certainly a director to keep your eyes on. Peace out.