With The Revenant, Alejandro González Iñárritu weaves a story both simple and complex, brutal and beautiful, and with a focused and impressive visual aesthetic.
This Jazz Age is presented in the film as so many brightly colored, manic fantasies, in frantic, crowded dance scenes, in speedy, deliriously unconvincing driving scenes, and even conventionally awkward, filtered-light sex scenes.
Revealing the nature of secrets, the power they—and those who keep them—generate, and the tragedy of good intentions gone horribly awry, whether in public or private, makes J. Edgar a powerful film.
Another stepping stone in DiCaprio’s rise to superstardom, The Basketball Diaries details the alienation, abuse, and addiction of American punk Jim Carroll’s teenage years.
Unlike previous years, where classics came crawling out of the celluloid woodwork with regular reckless abandon, 2008 was more calm… and considered. That's not to say that choosing 30 top titles was hard. The difficulty in placing them in some manner of rank order suggests the actual depth of quality involved.
Like the gladiators of old, 2008 resembles a battle of formidable acting gods, especially when looking over the 20 choices presented below. Indeed, if anything, choosing a winner requires more of a leap of faith than any amount of critical skill - they all were that good.
Twenty talented ladies, 20 performances worthy of multiple little gold men. Unfortunately, as in all years, someone has to come out on top. But after looking over this impressive list, picking the preeminent turn of 2008 seems almost impossible.
