 | Gran Torino (Widescreen Edition)
Buy new: $10.99 / Used from: $4.27 This film didn't make many top 10 lists. I thought it was the best of 2008. Entertaining, hilarious, and surprisingly heartbreaking. Eastwood gives one of his best performances and the ending of the film is like a punch to the stomach.
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 | The Wrestler
Buy new: $19.99 / Used from: $2.45 Mickey Rourke gave the best and most touching performance of 2008. Besides the mindblowing performance, "The Wrestler" has such raw emotion and stands as Darren Aronofsky's most simplistic film. It's also his best. The script, which could've been a cliched sports-themed movie, is perfect...One of only two movies from 2008 to almost make me cry.
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 | In Bruges
Buy new: $9.99 / Used from: $1.99 "In Bruges" was a breath of a fresh air. It's a very dark comedy that is both hilarious and incredibly entertaining. Some scenes are actually touching as well.
Should've won the Best Original Screenplay Academy Award...And Colin Farrell comes out of nowhere delivering a very memorable performance.
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 | Doubt
Buy new: $19.99 / Used from: $4.28 Besides Oscar-worthy performance from it's 4 leads; "Doubt" is a thought-provoking film based on an award-winning stage play. Many typical moviegoers didn't like it; this is not a mystery. It requires interpretation, it requires thinking...The performances are great enough to hold your attention anyway had the script sucked.
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 | Changeling
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $2.08 Another 2008 masterpiece from Clint Eastwood. An explosive, gripping period piece with a terrific cast. A must-see.
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 | Milk
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $2.44 A moving biopic by director Gus Van Sant. Sean Penn deserved his Academy Award for his work here (despite giving the 2nd best performance of the year) and unlike most biopics this actually gets under the skin of this great man and shows him unbiased and as he was.
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 | Frost/Nixon
Buy new: $18.49 / Used from: $3.05 Fascinating, dramatized film about the interview between TV personality David Frost and disgraced ex-President Richard Nixon. Besides being one of Ron Howard's best films, the film features Frank Langella's incredible performance as Nixon. He doesn't look like Nixon and his gruff voice doesn't sound like Nixon, but he's so convincing in this role that you'll walk away thinking he WAS Nixon.
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 | Burn After Reading
Buy new: $13.49 / Used from: $1.99 Many Coen Bros. fans didn't love this movie. I did! Brilliant in its skewering of stupidity, it also features hilarious performances by John Malkovich and Brad Pitt. Some of the funniest dialouge of 2008 too ("You think it's a schwinn.")
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 | Slumdog Millionaire
Buy new: $14.49 / Used from: $2.49 A unique, exciting love story...Not the Best Picture of the Year (the Academy should've picked "Milk"), but certainly worthy of winning it. Great cinematography, unique use of subtitles, and great performances by an unknown cast.
A memorable, convention-breaking love story.
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 | Snow Angels
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $1.78 Director David Gordon Green had a big hit in 2008 with "Pineapple Express," but this little seen film shows he hasn't lost his love for human drama. A haunting, depressing film that you'll either love or you hate. It's subtle in its progression, but it's a brilliantly acted, brilliantly written piece of work.
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 | Synecdoche New York
Buy new: $19.99 / Used from: $2.94 HONORABLE MENTION: "Synecdoche, New York" contains so much depth and emotion, it's hard to watch more than once. It is FAR from being a happy movie. It does deserve to be in the top 10 however, so it gets a spot here. The most inventive, creative film of 2008.
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Listmania!
