Skip to main content

Move along... No Crime Fiction content to see here

Hey, Hey! Oscar Awards are this week. I pretty much love the whole ridiculous process. I know there are many people who cast a tsk,tsk glance at the Academy Awards. They turn up their noses at them because the routinely recognize what is only mediocre about American Cinema. I don't care about any of that. Some complain that the show is boring and/or a gross spectacle. Then don't take up space on my couch complaining about it all night.

I generally don't make my Oscar picks until the day of the show. Maybe if I can get my act together I'll post my picks then. As for today's post I have listed my compendium of 2008 films below.

The Top 10
1. My Winnipeg
Flat-out the funniest/craziest movie going experience I had this year.
2. Vicky Christina Barcelona
This movie caught me in the right mood. I found this to be hilarious.
3. Man on Wire
A great adventure movie. The home movie footage in the film is amazing
4. Redbelt
Another great, great performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor
5. Gran Torino
Okay the acting is not great, but everything else is pretty amazing
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Forest Gump criticism is pointless. I found it to be gorgeously heartwarming.
7. My Blueberry Nights
Okay, okay.... Norah Jones is not.... good, but I love Wong Kari Wai
8. The Dark Knight
I appreciate the grand ambitions of this film, even if the last 1/3 is a complete mess
9. Paranoid Park
I find most Teenage drama's to be whiny, but this is rang true with every moment.
10. The Promotion
Dude, the guy said Blapples! UK Office style humiliation is so good.

Honorable Mention (alphabetical)
Body of Lies, Gonzo: the Life and Times of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Happy-Go-Lucky,
Iron Man, Leatherheads, Kung Fu Panda, Milk, Rachel Getting Married, Revolutionary Road, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Slumdog Millionaire, Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains, Synecdoche, New York, The Vistor, Wall-E, X-Files-The Truth is Out There.

Just Fine (alphabetical)
Baby Mama, BeKind Rewind, Cloverfield, Doubt, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the Foot Fist Way, Ghost Town, Indian Jones and KOCS, Let the Right One In, Mrs. Pettigre Lives for a Day, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Quantum of Solace, Rambo, Snow Angels, Standard Operating Procedure

Take It or Leave It (alphabetical)
Bottle Shock, The Counterfeiters, Definitely Maybe, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, In Bruges, The Incredible Hulk, Mamma Mia, the Pineapple Express, the Strangers, Tropic Thunder, Zach and Miri Make a Porno

Bad, So Bad
Burn After Reading, The Happening, the Mummy 3, Semi-Pro, Step Brothers, Vantage Point, Wanted, You Don't Mess with the Zohan

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Very Best of Mr. Dennis Lehane

I thought this post would appear in October. Ya, know when SHUTTER ISLAND: THE MOVIE was supposed to be released. And then it wasn't. Something about Leo not being able to do 'press' for the movie. Doesn't really matter the reason, a February release date has one of those fancy Hollywood meanings: Not Good. Look I'll be honest, I didn't connect with SHUTTER ISLAND. I loved the fifties setting, the haunted house atmosphere, and impending doom of the Hurricane. Even the set-up of the story was intriguing but how it played out just didn't work for me. Some interesting characters, a bunch of great set pieces, but the ending announces itself with an expected, thud that went nowhere. Am I still going to the movie? Its Lehane, Scorsese, Leo, and Ruffalo of course I am. Anyway the list. 8. Prayers for Rain - 1999 The last Kenzie-Gennaro book follows our heroes as they investigate a guy who is terrorizing women into committing suicide. The book played like an episo
4 comments
Read more

Small Mercies - The Return of Dennis Lehane

 A time honored tradition at The Hungry Detective HQ is to perform the twice annual, and largely ceremonial, 'Dennis Lehane New book 20XX" Google search. Nothing comes up on his long abandoned Website, except notification of the script work for his television and film projects.  Grousing aside, 2022 was a big year for Mr. Lehane. BLACK BIRD, a show he created, played on Apple+ to solid acclaim. The show's star, Paul Walter Hauser, won a Golden Globe. But despite that I have yet to watch it. Not for any other reason than I am a movie person more than a TV person. The TV I do watch is watched in an arcane order that is difficult to decipher and even more baffling to explain. Short story, I need to watch ANDOR [Editor's Note: Slow going on ANDOR despite everyone telling me it is amazing.] And then BLACK BIRD, or maybe SLOW HORSES. I'll get there...  Anyway at the dead end of 2022, I did the search. Found out he wrote a book. SMALL MERCIES . I was excited to hear it. I
Post a Comment
Read more

A Fogotten Post: A Remembrance

[Editor's Note: Started this missive, never came back to it. Still relevant, I suppose.] I am reading MURDER IN OLD BOMBAY by Nev Marsh. This was... technically still is... on my to buy pile. In the before time... the overwhelming to be read pile time... I would have bought this and thrown it on the shelf to read in the near or more likely distant future. I hope I like it enough to buy the second in the series. Buying a book is fun, buying a book that is good is better. [Editor's Note: Abandoned this book, unfinished.] BLACKTOP WASTELAND - S.A. COSBY So glad I didn't buy this last summer. Good decision to put off buying and reading what would have certainly been one of the best books of the year. New goal for the remaining 2021 calendar. Don't be dumb. Buy Mr. Cosby's follow up and read day one! [Editor's Note: I did buy a signed copy of RAZORBLADE  TEARS, meanwhile B.W. won every award, except the Edgar where it wasn't even nominated!? Also Signed firsts of
Post a Comment
Read more