Concerning films, 2008 was a lame year. I watched only 33 films...

Category: best films 2008
1. eastern promises, david cronenberg
2. le scaphandre et le papillon, julian schnabel
3. in bruges, martin mcdonagh
4. no country for old men, ethan&joel coen
5. i'm not there, todd haynes
6. sweeney todd, tim burton
7. flammen og citronen, ole christan madsen

Category: remarkable - exceptional performances
there will be blood, paul thomas anderson.
strong film, but in my opinion it's missing something, it's not complete. daniel day lewis's daniel plainview was the best acting performance in 2008! but that is one of reasons why i have problems with the film: it's a one-man show, an amazing one!!

the dark night, christopher nolan.
overall, a weak film, the story is a bit 'busy' with two bad characters. BUT: heath ledger was outstanding!! what a loss

things we lost in fire, susanne bier.
i expected much more of susanne bier, but to my disappointment the film was weak. benicio del toro's performance of a drug addict was pretty amazing, watching him caused almost physical pains in me!!

Category: disappointing - annoyingly disappointing
michael clayton, tony gilroy
la fille coupée en deux, claude chabrol
my blueberry nights, wong kar wai
elizabeth. the golden age, shekhar kapur

Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Woody Allen

Sometimes funny, some kind of amusement here and there, but: a banal and trivial film, crammed with clichés and has no point!

Body Of Lies
Ridley Scott

Difficult to judge.
Brilliant cast: Leo di Caprio, Russel Crowe, Mark Strong.
The first 15-20 minutes were average action film, but then characters and story developed into some kind of claustrophobic nemesis.
After the bombings in Bombay, this film left me helpless.

Blindness
Fernando Meirelles

Very disturbing; ambivalent!
Julienne Moore was great!

Quantum Of Solace
Marc Forster

meow, ok.
Mathieu Amalric as the bad guy was nice!

I think, the "story" is frayed out: got the idea, Forster didn't really knew where he wanted to go when he began shooting - or he somewhen lost his storyboard...
Forster in interviews said he wanted a realistic Bond, who fit's in the 21st century. But what's the point in having, as Forster aimed to, a "realistic" James-Bond-character anyway? Every James-Bond-film follows a pattern, and the director's task is, to modiefy it's elements within it.
Forster wanted a "realistic" Bond: but there's no need for! Above, continuing so, Bond will become just any random hero of any random action film. In my opinion, there're plenty of those already existing, there's no need for more!
Overall, it was somehow entertaining, somehow boaring.

Burn After Reading
Ethan & Joel Cohen

Winner! Very entertaining.

Paul Newman 26. Januar 1925 - 26.September 2008

Flammen Og Citronen
(Synchronfassung: Tage des Zorns)
Ole Christan Madsen

I absolutely disagree with dubbing films. But there's no chance to see this film in Danish so I had noc choice.

Film is ok. Directing is a bit bulky, sometimes it reminded me on a history book turned into a film. But also editing sometimes is fantastic.
Mads Mikkelsen: excellent.
Thure Lindhardt: new to me, superb!
Stine Stengade: very good.

The Dark Knight
Christopher Nolan

Well well. Difficult to judge. Very entertaining, nice to see old-school stunts again on screen. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes less would have been helpful. It's a good film, but I'm not overwhelmed

Heath Legder is fantastic, mindblowing - what an amazing performance. Left me speechless. And, he's very disturbing too. Very glad he had all that make-up in his face - made it easier to say good-bye.

Besides HL the other (awesome cast) was a bit bland:
Gary Oldman: first time I saw him not beeing the weirdo: a rather disturbing experience. With his beard he looks like a seal.
Christian Bale (Batman voice sounds stupid): ok
Morgan Freeman: ok
Michael Caine: ok
Maggie Gyllenhaal: meow.

'Things We Lost In Fire', Susanne Bier

OK (a bit too long or too slow, if preferred), but Benicio del Toro is fantastic.