Overstreet’s Favorite Films: 2008

Here is the current (but occasionally updated) list of my favorite films from 2008.

In order to understand the color-coding, the purpose, and meaning of this list, please read my introduction to the Looking Closer Favorite Films lists here.

Red = Treasures
Purple = Favorites
Blue = Achievements
Gray = Decent/Noteworthy
Green = Unseen or Undecided
*** = This film was discovered after the year in question and added in a list revision.**

2008

Séraphine* (review)
In the City of Sylvia*
Shotgun Stories* (review)
WALL•E
Flight of the Red Balloon*
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days* (review)
The Class
Heartbeat Detector*
Rachel Getting Married
Man on Wire (review)
Up the Yangtze*
Let the Right One In (review)
The Dark Knight
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
Times and Winds* (review)
A Christmas Tale (review)
Silent Light*
Synecdoche, New York (interview with Charlie Kaufman)
Doubt (some observations)
Son of Rambow*
Waltz With Bashir
Yella*
The Secret of the Grain* (review)
U23D*
In Bruges
Sparrow*

Treeless Mountain*
Of Time and the City*
Julia*
Ballast
Goodbye, Solo*
Trouble the Water
Happy-Go-Lucky
Burn After Reading
Tropic Thunder
Awake My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp*
Iron Man
Still Walking
The Headless Woman
Food, Inc.
Hunger
Days and Clouds*
Kung Fu Panda
The Brothers Bloom
Redbelt
Revolutionary Road
Get Smart
The Hurt Locker
Mine (review)
Be Kind, Rewind (some observations)
Eldorado*
The Grocer’s Son*
Horton Hears aWho
Frozen River
Body of Lies
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Troubled Water*
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The Pineapple Express
Baghead
Slumdog Millionaire
Sunshine Cleaning
The Wrestler
Frost/Nixon (some observations)
Sugar
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Call + Response
I’ve Loved You So Long
We Are Together*

As-yet Unseen or Unratable Films of 2008:

24 City (Jia Zhang-Ke) A Week Alone (Celina Murga) Achilles to kame Adoration Afterschool (Antonio Campos) All Around Us (Ryosuke Hashiguchi) American Teen Anvil! The Story of Anvil Appaloosa Around the Bay (Alejandro Adams) Australia Bigger, Stronger, Faster* Birdsong (Albert Serra) BirdWatchers Bolt Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story Bottle Shock Bumaznyj soldat Burma VJ Cadillac Records (Darnell Martin) Carmen Miranda: The Girl From Rio Changeling (Clint Eastwood) Che (Steven Soderbergh) Chuck Jones: Memories of Childhood City of Ember (Gil Kenan) Cloverfield Dangkou Dawn of the World (Abbas Fahdel) Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father Death Race (Paul W.S. Anderson) Defiance Disgrace Every Little Step Falling (Richard Dutcher) Fats Waller: This Joint is Jumpin’ Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Nicholas Stoller) Four Nights With Anna (Jerzy Skolimowski) Frontier of Dawn (Philippe Garrel) Gabbla Ghost Town Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood) Hancock Henry Poole Is Here Home (Ursula Meier) How to Lose Friends & Alienate People I.O.U.S.A. Idiots and Angels Il Divo Il papà di Giovanna Il seme della discordia I’m Gonna Explode (Gerardo Naranjo) Inju, la bête dans l’ombre It Might Get Loud Jazz Icons: Series 3 JCVD Jerichow (Christian Petzold) Kisses Lakeview Terrace L’Autre Leatherheads (George Clooney) Let’s Talk About the Rain Lost Song Love Exposure (Sion Sono) Lymelife Mad Money Management Medicine for Melancholy Melancholia (Lav Diaz) Mesrine: Killer Instinct Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 Mid-August Lunch (Gianni Di Gregorio) Milk (Gus Van Sant) Miracle at St. Anna Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day More Than a Game Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (Peter Sollett) Night and Day (Hong Sang-soo) Nights and Weekends (Joe Swanberg and Greta Gerwig) Nora’s Will North Face Nothing But the Truth Nothing Like the Holidays Nucingen House (Raul Ruiz) Nuit de chien Our Beloved Month of August (Miguel Gomes) Paris Pirate for the Sea Pontypool (Bruce McDonald) Public Enemies: The Golden Age of the Gangster Film Red Cliff Religulous RocknRolla Role Models (David Wain) Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired Rough Aunties Rudo y Cursi Shine a Light Shirin (Abbas Kiarostami) Sita Sings the Blues (Nina Paley) Skin Speed Racer (Lana and Andy Wachowski) Standard Operating Procedure Stella (Sylvia Verheyde) Stop-Loss Sunshine Cleaning Swing Vote Taken Teza The Baader Meinhof Complex The Boy in the Striped Pajamas The Burning Plain The Chaser (Na Hong-jin) The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos The Deal The Duchess The Great Buck Howard The Happening (M. Night Shyamalan) The Incredible Hulk The Meerkats The Merry Gentleman The Order of Myths The Other Boleyn Girl The Secret Life of Bees The Sky Crawlers (Mamoru Oshii) The Spiderwick Chronicles The Square The Stoning of Soraya M. The Strangers (Bryan Bertino) The Wackness Three Monkeys (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) Tokyo Sonata (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) Transsiberian Trucker Trying to Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon Tulpan Tyson Un Giorno perfetto Un lac (Philippe Grandrieux) Vegas: Based on a True Story Vincent: A Life in Color W. Walt & El Grupo We Live in Public Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt) What Doesn’t Kill You Years When I Was a Child Outside (John Torres)

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