84 replies to this topic

[Safari Suit]

I found Tom Cruise's appearence in Tropic Thunder a little embarassing to be honet. "Ha look it's Tom Cruise! Only he's bald! And he's dancing to Hippity-hop! Oh what japes!" He did OK I guess, but giving him an Oscar for it would be a bit like giving him an Oscar for hosting Saturday Night Live.

Worst film I saw this year probably was Indy IV, Alien Vs Predator: Requiem was undebiably worse on an objective level, but at least it just about managed to hold my attention. Aside from those two I found everything else at least diverting. I saw a lot fewer films at the cinema this year than last year. I'm happy to say QOS was the most enjoyable film going experience of the year for me. TDK was a towering achievement and I even saw it twice (though not really through choice) but to be honest I'm bloody sick of the thing.

And Loomis, I'm shocked you ranked ing Juno higher than Rambo!

[Harmsway]

I found Tom Cruise's appearence in Tropic Thunder a little embarassing to be honet. "Ha look it's Tom Cruise! Only he's bald! And he's dancing to Hippity-hop! Oh what japes!" He did OK I guess, but giving him an Oscar for it would be a bit like giving him an Oscar for hosting Saturday Night Live.

Quite right.

[Vauxhall]

I also agree. The humour generated from his character in TROPIC THUNDER was largely due to the fact that it was Tom Cruise performing the role, and the sheer ludicrousness of it.

What are the opinions of you all on Robert Downey Jr. in the same film though? I accept that similarly a great deal of the humour is from the novelty of it being Downey playing such a role. However, in my opinion, his acting performance markedly overshadows Cruise and would be far more deserving of an Oscar nomination.

[dodge]

Well said, and I hope your post puts this to bed now: Cruise IS doing something extraordinary in disappearing so completely into character.

But I don't think he really disappears. Sure, he's not really visible under that make-up, but it's still very much Tom Cruise being Tom Cruise.

Couldn't disagree with you more. Nor could most of the critics I've read.

I found Tom Cruise's appearence in Tropic Thunder a little embarassing to be honet. "Ha look it's Tom Cruise! Only he's bald! And he's dancing to Hippity-hop! Oh what japes!" He did OK I guess, but giving him an Oscar for it would be a bit like giving him an Oscar for hosting Saturday Night Live.

Quite right.

Noooo, not QUITE right.

[Harmsway]

I also agree. The humour generated from his character in TROPIC THUNDER was largely due to the fact that it was Tom Cruise performing the role, and the sheer ludicrousness of it.

What are the opinions of you all on Robert Downey Jr. in the same film though? I accept that similarly a great deal of the humour is from the novelty of it being Downey playing such a role. However, in my opinion, his acting performance markedly overshadows Cruise and would be far more deserving of an Oscar nomination.

Entirely agreed. Downey Jr. was excellent in a way that Cruise wasn't, and I wouldn't have a single complaint if he was nominated in the Oscar category.

[HH007]

My favorites, of the ones I've seen...

1) Slumdog Millionaire
2) The Dark Knight
3) Funny Games U.S.A.
4) Tropic Thunder (sorry, but I found Tom Cruise hilarious in this)
5) Quantum of Solace
6) Trans-Siberian
7) Zack & Miri Make a pørno
8) Burn After Reading
9) Paranoid Park
10) The Bank Job

Admittedly this was a weak year for quality movies.

Seven Pounds: I saw this trailer several times and can't figure out what the heck it's about. The bad reviews don't help either.

According to a friend of mine who's seen it, you really have no idea what the movie is about until almost the end.

[AgentBentley]

La Mome (aka Edith Piaf)
Atonement
The Bank Job
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Cloverfield
QoS
Wanted
The Other Boleyn Girl

Biggest disappointment: two of my favorite actors - Pacino and De Niro - wasting everybody's time in Righteous Kill

[JackWade]

I only saw twelve 2008 releases, so here's my ranking, as posted in my blog:

12. HANCOCK
Lots of promise here with one of the most anti-hero superhero films to hit cinemas, but childish humor, baffling plot turns, and mind-numbing stupidity make this the most painful watch since SPIDERMAN 3.

11. INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
Resurrecting one of America's most famous adventure heroes goes horribly awry in a film plagued by remarkable implausibility and childish visual effects that turns a celebration of the return of the fedora and whip into a film that ends up as 122 minutes of facepalms.

10. AN AMERICAN CAROL
While the film is a certain breath of fresh air in the political film climate of Al Gore and Michael Moore, David Zucker's parody is desperately mediocre and full of cheap gags and few laughs.

9. IRON MAN
Robert Downey Jr. gives a memorable go as iron clad Tony Stark, but the rest of the film suffers from the same mediocrity of popcorn superhero formula plaguing the rest of the Marvel film adaptations.

8. PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
After a slow first act, Seth Rogen and the surprising James Franco settle in to a moderately witty stoner comedy that ends up being worth the price of admission.

7. QUANTUM OF SOLACE
Daniel Craig again proves that his casting as 007 was nothing short of brilliant, but despite some truly gut-wrenching drama and a character arc that the aging franchise has never seen, a story weakened by too-swift-pacing and an over-abundance of action leaves the film behind in CASINO ROYALE's dust.

6. CLOVERFIELD
A truly bold step in Hollywood cinema, CLOVERFIELD is a thrilling, fast-paced home movie that has opened doors for mainstream filmmaking.

5. BURN AFTER READING
While not the Oscar winning drama that the Coen Brothers have treated us with over the last few years, BURN AFTER READING is a dark, hilarious ensemble comedy that proves that the duo can do no wrong.

4. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
Not quite the Earth-shattering foreign film it's been made out to be, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is still the most charming film you'll ever watch with severed heads and gallons of blood.

3. FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL
Despite gratutitous acts of Jason Segel, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL is yet another Apatow-helmed romcom that is utterly hilarious and neither too sappy nor too cheesy.

2. THE DARK KNIGHT
One of the best action flicks of the decade, THE DARK KNIGHT is smart, immaculately crafted mainstream cinema that has set the bar for all future films in its genre to follow.

1. WALL-E
Utterly charming, magical, clever, and feel-good, WALL-E is yet another Pixar film that pushes the boundary of animated children's film into full-fledged grown-up cinema.

There ya go.

[tdalton]

Well said, and I hope your post puts this to bed now: Cruise IS doing something extraordinary in disappearing so completely into character.

But I don't think he really disappears. Sure, he's not really visible under that make-up, but it's still very much Tom Cruise being Tom Cruise.

Couldn't disagree with you more. Nor could most of the critics I've read.

I found Tom Cruise's appearence in Tropic Thunder a little embarassing to be honet. "Ha look it's Tom Cruise! Only he's bald! And he's dancing to Hippity-hop! Oh what japes!" He did OK I guess, but giving him an Oscar for it would be a bit like giving him an Oscar for hosting Saturday Night Live.

Quite right.

Noooo, not QUITE right.

Completely agreed, dodge.

Tom Cruise's performance in Tropic Thunder is amongst the best performances of the year, and hopefully this is finally the year in which comedies are given the recognition that they deserve in the acting categories. Just because the performances of Cruise and Downey Jr. are comedic performances does not diminish them in any way when compared to the performances of people like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ralph Fiennes, or Heath Ledger. IMO, Cruise very much deserved his supporting actor nomination for the Golden Globes, and I'll be pulling for him to win the award when the Golden Globes are handed out.

[dodge]

Well said, and I hope your post puts this to bed now: Cruise IS doing something extraordinary in disappearing so completely into character.

But I don't think he really disappears. Sure, he's not really visible under that make-up, but it's still very much Tom Cruise being Tom Cruise.

Couldn't disagree with you more. Nor could most of the critics I've read.

I found Tom Cruise's appearence in Tropic Thunder a little embarassing to be honet. "Ha look it's Tom Cruise! Only he's bald! And he's dancing to Hippity-hop! Oh what japes!" He did OK I guess, but giving him an Oscar for it would be a bit like giving him an Oscar for hosting Saturday Night Live.

Quite right.

Noooo, not QUITE right.

Completely agreed, dodge.
Tom Cruise's performance in Tropic Thunder is amongst the best performances of the year, and hopefully this is finally the year in which comedies are given the recognition that they deserve in the acting categories. Just because the performances of Cruise and Downey Jr. are comedic performances does not diminish them in any way when compared to the performances of people like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ralph Fiennes, or Heath Ledger. IMO, Cruise very much deserved his supporting actor nomination for the Golden Globes, and I'll be pulling for him to win the award when the Golden Globes are handed out.

NOW we can say 'Quite right'! I'll be pleased if Cruise at least wins an Oscar nomination...a stick in the eye of the Smuggies who find it too easy to loathe him. I suspect Ledger will bag the award and that, in its way, will be sweet. As one of Downey's major supporters, I applaud the roll he's on. But Cruise deserves our full respect.

After all, Tom disappeared so completely--that Harms never even noticed he was gone.

[Harmsway]

But Cruise deserves our full respect.

Not in my book.

[Santa]

But Cruise deserves our full respect.

Not in my book.

He gets my full respect for Top Gun. One of the greatest films ever.

[dodge]

But Cruise deserves our full respect.

Not in my book.

Ah, you're just proud to admit your book is missing some pages.

[Safari Suit]

Taking personal opinions out of it, has there been any genuine oscar buzz on Cruise?

[tdalton]

Well said, and I hope your post puts this to bed now: Cruise IS doing something extraordinary in disappearing so completely into character.

But I don't think he really disappears. Sure, he's not really visible under that make-up, but it's still very much Tom Cruise being Tom Cruise.

Couldn't disagree with you more. Nor could most of the critics I've read.

I found Tom Cruise's appearence in Tropic Thunder a little embarassing to be honet. "Ha look it's Tom Cruise! Only he's bald! And he's dancing to Hippity-hop! Oh what japes!" He did OK I guess, but giving him an Oscar for it would be a bit like giving him an Oscar for hosting Saturday Night Live.

Quite right.

Noooo, not QUITE right.

Completely agreed, dodge.
Tom Cruise's performance in Tropic Thunder is amongst the best performances of the year, and hopefully this is finally the year in which comedies are given the recognition that they deserve in the acting categories. Just because the performances of Cruise and Downey Jr. are comedic performances does not diminish them in any way when compared to the performances of people like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ralph Fiennes, or Heath Ledger. IMO, Cruise very much deserved his supporting actor nomination for the Golden Globes, and I'll be pulling for him to win the award when the Golden Globes are handed out.

NOW we can say 'Quite right'! I'll be pleased if Cruise at least wins an Oscar nomination...a stick in the eye of the Smuggies who find it too easy to loathe him. I suspect Ledger will bag the award and that, in its way, will be sweet. As one of Downey's major supporters, I applaud the roll he's on. But Cruise deserves our full respect.

After all, Tom disappeared so completely--that Harms never even noticed he was gone.

I'll be pleased if he gets a nomination as well. He won't win the award simply because his performance is a comedic one in a comedy that's not meant to be taken seriously (as opposed to Alan Arkin's win in a more "serious" comedy a year or two ago). In this case, a nomination will be about as good as a win since comedies of this nature are frowned upon by the Academy because they're mainstream films as opposed to the artistic films they hand awards to every year, whether the awards are deserved or not. The performances of Cruise and Downey Jr. will, for me, go down as being easily amongst the best performances I've seen this year, easily on par with any of the other front-runners for the major awards.

[Harmsway]

Taking personal opinions out of it, has there been any genuine oscar buzz on Cruise?

Not a peep, really.

[DR76]

Entirely agreed. Downey Jr. was excellent in a way that Cruise wasn't, and I wouldn't have a single complaint if he was nominated in the Oscar category.

Ah. The Tom Cruise bashing continues. Personally, I thought the entire cast of TROPIC THUNDER was funny . . . especially Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise.

[JackWade]

Is TROPIC THUNDER really that good? Like good enough that it has performances that are Oscar worthy? Nothing about the previews seemed that enthralling.

[tdalton]

Entirely agreed. Downey Jr. was excellent in a way that Cruise wasn't, and I wouldn't have a single complaint if he was nominated in the Oscar category.

Ah. The Tom Cruise bashing continues. Personally, I thought the entire cast of TROPIC THUNDER was funny . . . especially Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise.

Agreed. Downey Jr. and Cruise were phenomenal in their roles. I expected it from Downey Jr., as I've long thought of him as a terrific actor, and one that is always capable of Oscar-worthy work whenever he's on screen, regardless of the genre of film he's working in. Tom Cruise, while certainly a very talented actor, is one that, when I see on screen, I only expect him to entertain me, because that's what he's made a living doing for the past couple of decades. Every once in a while he stars in a film where his acting skills are put front and center (The Last Samurai, for example), and that's when he's allowed to truly shine as an actor. Even though it was a small role, I felt like his role in Tropic Thunder was just such a role in which he was allowed to really show what he was capable of as an actor, and he turned in a great performance in this film.

For a comedy, which usually don't attract much attention during awards season, Tropic Thunder does have a lot going for it. Downey Jr. and Cruise are exceptionally strong in their roles, and hopefully they'll be recognized for it as the awards season progresses.

[Harmsway]

Ah. The Tom Cruise bashing continues.

Well, I have lots of harsh words for Mr. Cruise in general, but my stance towards his performance in TROPIC THUNDER is pretty amiable. He certainly had me laughing. I just don't think his work in the role is worth an Oscar nomination, nor do I think it's up with the best work Cruise has done as an actor.

[Safari Suit]

Ah. The Tom Cruise bashing continues.

I don't consider saying "I don't believe Tom Cruise deserves an Oscar for his performance in Tropic Thunder" to be "bashing".

[Vauxhall]

Taking personal opinions out of it, has there been any genuine oscar buzz on Cruise?

Not particularly, but his nomination for the Golden Globes certainly seems to have created some interest and discussion about the possibility.

Is TROPIC THUNDER really that good? Like good enough that it has performances that are Oscar worthy? Nothing about the previews seemed that enthralling.

It's an entertaining comedy with a decent premise but not huge amounts of substance. I find that it will probably end up sitting well alongside the other similar modern comedy films such as WEDDING CRASHERS or ANCHORMAN, if that happens to be your sort of thing. TROPIC THUNDER is unique in the quality of acting though.

[HH007]

Ah. The Tom Cruise bashing continues.

Well, I have lots of harsh words for Mr. Cruise in general, but my stance towards his performance in TROPIC THUNDER is pretty amiable. He certainly had me laughing. I just don't think his work in the role is worth an Oscar nomination, nor do I think it's up with the best work Cruise has done as an actor.

No, his best work was in DAYS OF THUNDER.

Seriously though, he was very funny in TROPIC THUNDER and I think he deserves his Golden Globe nomination. However, I don't think he'll be nominated for an Oscar. The Academy is pretty elitist when it comes to that sort of comedy, and if they were to nominate anyone from that movie, it would probably be Robert Downey, Jr.

[Scrambled Eggs]

I've just remembered the worst film I've seen this year:

Outlaw

A handful of profoundly uninteresting Londoners, inexplicably cross paths with Afghanistan vet Sean Bean who inexplicably crosses paths with police insider Bob Hoskins and conduct a vigilante campaign against a gang boss. They do this because some of them have a grudge against him, others because... well, lets just say theres some very thin sub Fight Club going on here.

Plot implausible, characters implausible, all seems thrown together just so we can see Sean Bean (inexplicably) allowing himself to be machine gunned to pieces and watch Danny Dyer shoot someone in the face.

Not my cup of tea.

[Qwerty]

Here's my list carried over from another thread:

2008

Liked:

• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 4.5 stars
• There Will Be Blood 5 stars
• No Country For Old Men 3 stars
• 21 2.5 stars
• Iron Man 5 stars
• Cassandra's Dream 2.5 stars
• Flawless 3.5 stars
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 2.5 stars
• The Happening 2.5 stars
• Get Smart 2.5 stars
• Wanted 2.5 stars
• The Dark Knight 5 stars
• Stepbrothers 2.5 stars
• Tropic Thunder 4 stars
• The Bank Job 2.5 stars
• Burn After Reading 3 stars
• Changeling 5 stars
• Quantum of Solace 5 stars
• Flashbacks of a Fool 4.5 stars
• Doubt 4.5 stars

Disliked:

• Vantage Point 2 stars
• Hancock 2 stars
• Body of Lies 2 stars
• Jumper 2 stars
• The Strangers 2 stars

In general, I always seem to have an overwhelming number of films I loved or liked as opposed to those I wasn't as fond of. I just don't bother with the films that don't interest me, so I suppose that's why there's such a trend towards the positive side.

I'll focus a bit more on the films I really enjoyed (in no particular order):

There Will Be Blood

Technically 2007, but I think I saw it in 2008, so...

It's just a visual and acting feast. I remember being alarmed when I heard this was P.T. Anderson's next project (his Magnolia still remains #1 when it comes to movies for me) since it just seemed so different than what he had done before. No colossal cast, no set of storylines going here, there and everywhere. Just Daniel Plainview and his oil.

And that's all the film needs. From the very first opening chords of Jonny Greenwood's odd, but attention-grabbing score, I was hooked. Love this movie.

Iron Man

It may be overhyped, it is flawed, but it was nonetheless one of the most enjoyable times I had in a long time seeing a new movie. The cast makes this movie. Without all of them, I simply cannot imagine I would like it anywhere near as much.

The Dark Knight

There's really nothing more to say that hasn't already been said. Christopher Nolan strikes again.

Changeling

Really quite good. It seems a bit odd to me that Clint Eastwood's other film, Gran Torino, seems to be getting a much more generous share of the awards spotlight when the trailer for that film makes it look like a horrific in-your-face melodramatic mindless mush of pointlessness - but maybe it's just a bad trailer. Or me.

Typically not a fan of Angelina Jolie, but she's quite believable as the mother in distress here (Jeffrey Donovan is the other main star of the film, in my opinion). It's a relatively straightforward drama that takes some particularly disturbing turns considering the story matter that comes to light in the second half.

Quantum of Solace

I always wait until the DVD arrives before really ranking the newest James Bond film amongst the others, but this one is almost becoming an exception. The shortest Bond film ever is one of the best.

Doubt

Philip Seymour Hoffman VS. Meryl Streep. Sit back and enjoy the fireworks. Add in a Philip Glass score and it'd be even better.