The Bad & The Beautiful

OK, this one goes to 21...

11. The Visitor
Thomas McCarthy follows up his strong debut, The Station Agent, with a subtle and highly moving view of how the lives of a stuffy professor and a young Syrian drummer living illegally in the U.S. are unexpectedly brought together and altered by the other.

12. Funny Games
A lot of critics wrote off Michael Haneke's nearly shot-for-shot, English language remake of his 10-year-old home invasion nightmare, saying he wasn't challenging himself, and he wasn't saying anything new to indict those who seek out violence for entertainment. But this one is just as formally masterful as its predecessor, and personally, I think getting an A-list actress and the arm of a major studio to wrap themselves around the remake is pure, misanthropic genius.

13. The Edge of Heaven
I can't think of another movie this year that I wished would keep going as much as Fatih Akin's ensemble piece about a group of characters with lots of interconnections, many known only to the viewer.

14. A Christmas Tale
Another fabulous foreign ensemble work, this one benefits from players such as Catherine Deneuve and Mathieu Almaric and the attentions of director-cowriter Arnaud Desplechin, who just kills at the slow, shocking dramatic revelation

15. Lake of Fire
It's thoughtful, exhaustive, artfully envisioned, as fair a documentary as you'll find and very highly recommended for anyone interested in the subject matter, but Tony Kaye's view of both sides of the abortion debate is also the great movie from '08 that I least want to watch again.

16. Frost/Nixon
After a rock 'em-sock 'em election season, it was nice to walk into Ron Howard's adaptation of Peter Morgan's stage play and find an extension of that energy level. Basically, this is Rocky for political wonks.

17. Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Between Man on Wire and this, Alex Gibney's portrait of the legendary journalist and indulger, it was a good year for docs that reworked (or gave the finger to) the staler elements of the standard format. Here, it's a voiceover but in Johnny Depp's voice, and dramatic reenactments that are genuinely dramatic.

18. (tie) Iron Man & Hancock
Iron Man's just a blast, for both the thrill of watching Robert Downey Jr. make the most of his role (dramatically and career-wise) and Jon Favreau firing on every crowd-pleasing cylinder while keeping things smart. And honestly, Hancock isn't as good a film as Iron Man, mainly for an ending that's a bit of a cop-out. But in any year other than the one that brought us Iron Man and The Dark Knight, Peter Berg's high-profile subversion of the beloved superhero genre probably would've gotten a little more of the love it deserved.

20. Trouble the Water
Though Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke provides an excellent overview of the Hurricane Katrina fiasco, Carl Deal and Tia Lessen's doc puts you right in the middle of the natural disaster, getting both the man-made chaos and some small acts or heroism that would be otherwise forgotten.

21. Tell No One
I'm a latecomer on this one, having finally caught up with it this weekend, but then again, so was the rest of the U.S. Guillaume Canet's twisting crime story didn't come to the States until over a year after it had played festivals and theaters in France. Once you see it - kind of like a whodunit, but it's not clear what's been dun and to who - you'll wonder what took it so long.

I did my share of agonizing over this year's top 10, which hasn't let up as I try to figure out films 11-20, so I'm going to take a couple more days to consider what ultimately ends up in that group and have it ready for you Monday, along with a video-embedded look at some of the year's best individual scenes and performances.

In the meantime, I've asked our film stringers (minus Shelley Mann, who's got her hands full with a new baby) and a few of the local guys who work with film all year to chime in with their individual picks for the best movie of 2008.

Todd LaPlace, Alive freelancer
The Visitor
"Not quite as momentous as The Dark Knight, as overtly emotional as Milk or as British as Happy-Go-Lucky, Thomas McCarthy's The Visitor is the kind of subtly beautiful movie that makes you remember just how absolutely amazing movies can really be."

Karl Mechem, Publisher, Journal of Short Film
Be Kind Rewind
"Gondry can do no wrong. He is the Gabriel Garcia Marquez of the film world, but funny."

Dave Filipi, Film/Video Curator, Wexner Center for the Arts
Tie: A Christmas Tale, My Winnipeg
"The most recent films by two of my very favorite directors, both who have visited the Wexner in the past."

Chris Stults, Assistant Film/Video Curator, Wexner Center
In Memoriam, Mark LaPore
"Phil Solomon's suite of videos transforms footage from the Grand Theft Auto videogame series into a true ghost world haunted by memories of loved ones, cinema, and beauty. More anima than anime, these videos introduce the soul into the new media landscape."

Mike Olenick, filmmaker and editor in the Wexner Center's Art + Tech dept.
Observando El Cielo (short)
"The only new film that I felt compelled to see more than once this past year (and I feel lucky having seen it three times) was Jeanne Liotta’s mesmerizing short film about the night sky. The basic premise is simple (time lapse cameras record the sky above), though the results are not (often stars arc in one direction while clouds flutter and shooting stars rocket in dramatic counter-movements). I could go on and on about the editing and the soundtrack, but the best thing I could tell you is that film made me feel like I was floating in space."

Jeff Frank, Drexel Theatre
Man on Wire
"Director James Marsh's movie is simply astonishing in its depiction of an almost forgotten event - French aerialist Phillippe Petit's death-defying walk on a cable stretched between New York's Twin Towers in 1974. The movie was filled with poetry, adventure, wit, athleticism and suspense!"

Tim Baldwin, Studio 35
The Dark Knight
"As much as I don't want to pick Dark Knight, there is no reason why I can't. The story is strong, tackling themes no summer movie dares. Top notch action that was not forced, or just put in to appease audiences. Amazing performances from everyone, including Heath Ledger. A very sly taste of humor. It was a movie that had enormous amount of hype and expectation, and blew past all of it. It lived up to it and beyond. Plus, it was Studio's biggest movie, probably ever."

Kevin Ward, Landmark's Gateway Theater
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
"For me, this film was like finding a gem that had surfaced from the Hollywood mediocrity that generally abounds. A film that chose ingenuity for its production 'special effects' in an age when directors head straight for the computer. A solid cast of actors, led by Mathieu Almaric, to carry the story. The struggle of the mind shown through an inner monologue against the body shown naked and incapable. A soundtrack that spoke to the heart of each situation. Put it all together in the capable hands of an artist like Julian Schnabel and you have my pick for the best film of the year."

Kevin Cecil, AMC Lennox
Synecdoche, New York
"I was initially overwhelmed to the extent of feeling underwhelmed toward Kaufman's dense, juvenile, hilarious and brilliant film. During the second viewing I honed in on how a seemingly inconsequential moment, when Hazel feeds Caden a few flirtatious lines, becomes monumental to how the film (and Caden?) ends and, with that, found some simplicity within the labyrinth. I now feel aptly-whelmed, and a little in love, with this perfectly unperfect film."

Recently, I was on the radio with a couple of other local film critics and I was surprised to hear that they were put off by Milk - specifically, the scenes of open homosexuality. First off, aside from previous high-profile stuff like Good Will Hunting, this is the first Gus Van Sant movie I can think of that doesn't include a scene of two young men showering. Second, the critics in question are extremely down on strong violence in film, so I didn't expect them to also be down on scenes of love and affection that are relatively mild - it's just that both participants are of the same gender.

Anyways, at the time I recommended the Oscar-winning 1984 documentary The Times of Harvey Milk as a more straightforward, fact-based way of getting to know the maverick public official. Today, thanks to former SxSW programmer Matt Dentler's blog, I can inform you the whole thing's available on Hulu.

This is really essential viewing, so I hope you'll have time to check out at least some of the film. You might want to have a tissue handy before you do.

And a safe, happy new year! I'll be back next week with year-end lists and more.

In a pinch? Out today on the DVD front we've got the Keira Knightley costume drama The Duchess and Shia LeBoeuf in Eagle Eye. For stranger tastes, there's the based-in-fact, incestuous, totally f'ed up family drama Savage Grace with Julianne Moore, the Duplass brothers' low-budget hybrid Baghead and a director's cut of Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. That's also new to Blu-Ray, as is a twofer of Coming to America and Trading Places, a personal holiday favorite.

You could also go for one of the lovely vintage ornaments available at Flower Child in the Short North. Here are a few of the 5,000 or so that are in stock (so you know they won't be out), including boxes of Shiny Brite ornaments from the post-war era featuring a photo op between Uncle Sam and Santa.

And there are always gift cards. You'll get those extra fuel perks by getting one for a chain store at Giant Eagle, but there are some nice alternatives that keep your money local. Certificates to North Market or the participating restaurants in Dine Originals give your recipient more than the usual redemption options, but if your giftee has a particular favorite among local restaurants, a free meal there will tell the person you're paying attention. And I can tell you just about any local restaurant would be happy to have the business right now.