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

  1. Séraphine* (review)
  2. In the City of Sylvia*
  3. Shotgun Stories* (review)
  4. WALL•E
  5. Flight of the Red Balloon*
  6. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days* (review)
  7. The Class
  8. Heartbeat Detector*
  9. Rachel Getting Married
  10. Man on Wire (review)
  11. Up the Yangtze*
  12. Let the Right One In (review)
  13. The Dark Knight
  14. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
  15. Times and Winds* (review)
  16. A Christmas Tale (review)
  17. Silent Light*
  18. Synecdoche, New York (interview with Charlie Kaufman)
  19. Doubt (some observations)
  20. Son of Rambow*
  21. Waltz With Bashir
  22. Yella*
  23. The Secret of the Grain* (review)
  24. U23D*
  25. In Bruges
  26. 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)