Favourite Movies of the last year..

[Mark in Oshawa]

Well...Since Iam always on everyone else's threads, I do try to come up with one or two myself on occasion. I am not a huge movie buff but I do like to know what is going on and see the odd picture. I didn't get to see as many as I would have liked (or my wife would have liked, she would see a movie every night if she could) but I want to single out my favourite of the year:

Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood. ( I know...I should be talking about Batman Returns since everyone I know says it was the best movie of last year )

Gran Torino takes place in current Highland Park Michigan, which is a suburb of Detroit that was once the burbs but is now bordering on an inner city. Like most of Detroit, the housing stock is decrepit and you want to almost cry in frustration how a great city in the 40's had turned into such an urban wasteland. In the midst of all of this lies the home of one Walt Kowalski, (Clint Eastwood) who is a new widower and probably the crankiest most ornery redneck bigot going. AT least that is what he appears to be. I wont go into too much detail but he through his own sense of right and wrong ends up helping a Hmong family (Hmong are Vietnam mountain tribe who were NOT fans of the Ho Chi Mynh led north and they migrated out of Vietnam with the US pull out)who live next door. What happens has some humour but also some hard lessons for the family, for Walt and Walt's family.

I enjoyed the movie immensly and realized that the clash of cultures can often be bridged easily when people don't take offense so easily and judge a man (or woman) by their actions.

Clint is one of the few people in Hollywood that actually understands the "flyover" country ( that is the America between California and New York)and their characters. I felt myself understanding how he fit into his world, and how he was a dinosaur with a lesson to tell....

Anyhow good movie, and I loved the morality of the man thru thick and thin.....

[The Phantom]

I agree Mark, fantastic movie, the first film in years for me that I've found myself thinking about for days afterwards.

Batman Returns is a great film, but it doesn't hit you deep inside like Gran Torino.

[Hazell B]

Batman Returns .....

You mean The Dark Knight? If so, that was my favourite by far, though I will have to admit to not seeing much in the past year or so.

Thirty Days of Night probably falls outside the past year, but if not I loved that too.

[markabilly]

A very poor year for movies....there was gran torino (Great)and then there was tommie cruise trying to be a german....the last I thought was one of those movies that could have been incredibly great

No matter who wins the academy, i think the only movies that will be remebered much are dark knight and gran torino

[Mark in Oshawa]

Haven't met anyone who said a bad word about either movie.

[vauxhall corsa]

hancock is ok

[urabus-denoS2000]

Is RocknRolla from 2008 or 2009?

Thats a great movie

[A.F.F.]

hancock is ok


:eek:

[Captain VXR]

Quantum of Solace?
Slumdog Millionaire?

The Wrestler

[Mark in Oshawa]

I want to see the Wrestler and Slumdog. I enjoyed Quantam of Solace and thought it was terrific ( the Stig drove the car in the opening sequence ) but it wasn't a movie that made you think. Gran Torino did.....

[Storm]

I watched Slumdog...I liked American Gangster too...or was that a 2007 movie which I saw in early 08 :s

[jim mcglinchey]

I watched Beowulf the other night, the Robert Zemeckis / Ray Winstone version and it was actually very good. Intimate Enemies about the French fighting in Algeria in 1959 is a great film too, if you're into war movies.

[vauxhall corsa]

the new batman

[Hazell B]

.... American Gangster too...or was that a 2007 movie which I saw in early 08 :s

Yes, and I did the same. Loved it :up:

Haven't met anyone who said a bad word about either movie.

Not seen Gran Torino, but the Dark Knight was very over-rated. Ledger was just copying Nicholson's Joker and the film just wasn't 'dark' enough.

[vauxhall corsa]

who actually is bothered about the bafters

[ChrisS]

WALL-E

not just as an animation film but a great movie by any standard.

[MrJan]

Dark Knight was good but IMO ruined by Christian Bale's poor performance as Batman himself. However Ledger's horribly dark and manic Joker obviously made the film.

Tropic Thunder was one of my favourite films, purely because Robert Downey Jr was so superb in it and it was a stupid film :D

Haven't seen Slumdog Millionaire and for all the reviews I don't particularly want to, same with Wall-E. Thought QoS was alright but Casino Royale was much moodier and gripped me more.

[steve_spackman]

Well...Since Iam always on everyone else's threads, I do try to come up with one or two myself on occasion. I am not a huge movie buff but I do like to know what is going on and see the odd picture. I didn't get to see as many as I would have liked (or my wife would have liked, she would see a movie every night if she could) but I want to single out my favourite of the year:

Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood. ( I know...I should be talking about Batman Returns since everyone I know says it was the best movie of last year )

Gran Torino takes place in current Highland Park Michigan, which is a suburb of Detroit that was once the burbs but is now bordering on an inner city. Like most of Detroit, the housing stock is decrepit and you want to almost cry in frustration how a great city in the 40's had turned into such an urban wasteland. In the midst of all of this lies the home of one Walt Kowalski, (Clint Eastwood) who is a new widower and probably the crankiest most ornery redneck bigot going. AT least that is what he appears to be. I wont go into too much detail but he through his own sense of right and wrong ends up helping a Hmong family (Hmong are Vietnam mountain tribe who were NOT fans of the Ho Chi Mynh led north and they migrated out of Vietnam with the US pull out)who live next door. What happens has some humour but also some hard lessons for the family, for Walt and Walt's family.

I enjoyed the movie immensly and realized that the clash of cultures can often be bridged easily when people don't take offense so easily and judge a man (or woman) by their actions.

Clint is one of the few people in Hollywood that actually understands the "flyover" country ( that is the America between California and New York)and their characters. I felt myself understanding how he fit into his world, and how he was a dinosaur with a lesson to tell....

Anyhow good movie, and I loved the morality of the man thru thick and thin.....

they dont make films like they used to...i very very rarely watch a film these days

[MrJan]

they dont make films like they used to

Indeed, because we all know that the Batman in which 'our hero' uses a canister of 'shark repellant bat spray' is far more of a masterpiece that Dark Knight which had one of the greatest ever acting performances :p :

I have a long list of films which I class as my favourites and they come from all different eras. To close your mind to modern films is just a stupid thing to do. Where do you draw the line anyway, do you just refuse to watch anything made after 1990? Or is it more pick and choose so that anything with a special effects budget is off the list? I'm quite interested because if you don't watch modern films purely because they aren't the same as the s***e from the 'old days' then you have missed out on some really superb stuff.

[steve_spackman]

Indeed, because we all know that the Batman in which 'our hero' uses a canister of 'shark repellant bat spray' is far more of a masterpiece that Dark Knight which had one of the greatest ever acting performances :p :

I have a long list of films which I class as my favourites and they come from all different eras. To close your mind to modern films is just a stupid thing to do. Where do you draw the line anyway, do you just refuse to watch anything made after 1990? Or is it more pick and choose so that anything with a special effects budget is off the list? I'm quite interested because if you don't watch modern films purely because they aren't the same as the s***e from the 'old days' then you have missed out on some really superb stuff.

I have a long list of films which I class as my favourites and they come from all different eras..i was just saying that they dont make films like they used to

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Haven't seen that many good films this year. Tropic Thunder was hilarious though and Sweeney Todd was very good for a musical.

[Ranger]

Not a great year for film.

The Dark Knight is great, but overrated.

Gran Torino is a good movie as Eastwood films often are.

Haven't seen Slumdog Millionaire or The Wrestler.

From what I've heard, Quantum of Solace has got nothing on Casino Royale.

[vauxhall corsa]

madagascar 2 escape to africa

[vauxhall corsa]

Hancock