It’s been a bumper year for cinema, with some truly superb films on offer. With cinephiles so spoiled for choice, Gentry makes its over-agonized selection for the top 5 movies of 2008…

 

1. There will Be Blood

Some way ahead of the pack, PT Anderson’s film feels like it has always existed. Everything about it seems so definitely crafted, so skillfully chiseled and “faithful”. The centerpiece on which it all rests is undoubtedly the exquisite uncoiling of Daniel Plainview. Daniel Day-Lewis’ barnstorming turn is something to savour. His character’s inspired cruelty is a joy to behold and Anderson forms here a classic tale of self-destroying greed right up there with Von Stroheim’s Greed and William Dean-Howell’s The Rise of Silas Lapham. And what a soundtrack by Johnny Greenwood.  Should head any list of top 5 movies of 2008.

 

2. Gone Baby Gone

2008’s greatest cinematic revelation was witnessing the re-birth of Ben Affleck as a gifted film director in Gone, Baby Gone. This slick adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s novel is one of the most gripping and convincing thrillers of recent years. Casey Affleck is superb in the lead role and the piecemeal exposition is masterfully handled by his older brother. The ending might have been more improbable in less capable hands but Affleck Sr. gives it the horrid tang of desperation, which instills due credibility into the most unlikely of human endeavors.

 

3. The Orphanage

It’s a very rare thing indeed to be truly spooked by a movie. Disgust comes in buckets with franchises like Hostel and Saw running wild – but true terror is a far more delicious emotion, which few filmmakers have the skill to tap. Director Juan Antonio Bayona (protégé of the much vaunted Guillermo del Toro) stirs a thickly gothic cauldron of shredded emotion and raw fear with this inventive ghost story. It reaches the scorching boiling point of its truly painful conclusion under the dreadful fire of revelation. Not since The Usual Suspects has a film turned so satisfyingly on its axis.   

4. Cloverfield

Every year must be punctuated by an event movie and 2008 was given sharp exclamation by Cloverfield. Like much of what comes forth from the restless polymath JJ Abrams, this film occupies the gleeful middle-ground between The Twilight Zone and something HP Lovecraft might dream up. A tantalizing disaster-movie with a dazzling sense of crisis, Cloverfield delivers a very authentic, completely modern shock.

 

5. The King of Kong
An affecting and touching foray into video game obsession. The charming loser Steve Wiebe is the focus of the documentary – and he’s clearly not a well-functioning human being. He’s failed at pretty much everything he’s ever attempted and he’s on the verge of some sort of mental collapse. Then, he discovers Donkey Kong. He uses the game as a crutch – propping up his self-worth, pounding the buttons alone in his garage while his wife and son look on in bemused, fearful wonder. Ultimately he breaks the world record – a score ludicrously contested by the official record keepers. This doubt forces Steve into a play-off with the arrogant and ridiculous Billy Mitchell – the self-adorned King of Kong. Seth Gordon’s film is a brilliant insight into a tiny corner of the universe where normality seems to have been suspended.

Disagree with our choices? Give us your top 5 movies of 2008…

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Category: 5 best