Slothrop's Top Ten of 2008

Honorable Mention: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days; JCVD; Burn After Reading

10. Encounters at the End of the World

Koko was right. If there is a lonely, rogue, suicidal penguin to be found, Werner Herzog will fly fucking anywhere to find it. Turns out Antarctica is the perfect place for such a bird. Favorite Moment: Watching the loneliness and absurdity of our penguin friend begin his journey to nowhere and everywhere and feeling a shiver of empathy for our fellow creature of life in a cold world. 

9. Iron Man

Slothrop went to the pictures and had fun. Lots of fun. The end fight with The Robotic Dude was silly, but fun need not be perfect. Favorite moment: Robert Downey Jr. 

8. Let the Right One In

As our guest contributor Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote, this is a beautiful and sweet movie; two buddies, doing the best they can, helping each other out. All that was missing was "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys. Favorite Moment: The last scene. 

7. Wall-E 

Oh, how unbearably close this film is to a true, unmitigated masterpiece. It is dazzling to watch, it makes the heart pitter-patter, it tells a wonderful story. Wall-E breaks my heart and fills me with joy, both, just looking at him. But there's a ten minute section of the film where all we do is watch fat blobs float around in space, which is too long in a film so economical about everything else it does-- thereby rendering the human portions sententious. But this is now. How many times does Slothrop predict he'll watch this in the future? Many beautiful times. Favorite Moment: All of them where it's just Wall-E on the screen.

6. Happy-Go-Lucky

Look at this picture and tell me you don't love her. Liar. You do and you love the 80s and you wish you were like her. And I do too. This picture movie is far from flawless. But no film has stayed with me longer, just walking around, getting down sometimes and realizing that being down is for pussies. Joy is alright. 

5. For All Mankind 

But it's not a 2008 movie. Fuck you. Who's making the list here? If Slothrop was honest, this'd be number one but he'll do part-right by the list and just say that if we could do that, we should be better at getting textbooks to poor children. Favorite Moment: "You take care now." 

4. Omnivore's Dilemna

For all you winos that insist on making a distinction between books and movies, let Slothrop set you right by saying he makes movies of his dreams and he's been dreaming about grass and happy cows ever since reading this book. Favorite Moment: "So Feeding ruminants corn came to make a certain economic sense--I say "certain" because that statement depends on the particular method of accounting our economy applies to such questions, one that tends to hide the high cost of cheap food produced from corn. The ninety-nine percent price of a fast-food hamburger simply doesn't take account of that meal's true cost--to soil, oil, public health, the public purse, etc., costs which are never charged directly to the consumer but, indirectly and invisibly, to the taxpayer (in the form of subsidies), the health care system (in the form of food-borne illnesses and obesity), and the environment (in the form of pollution), not to mention the welfare of the workers in the feedlot and the slaughterhouse and the welfare of the animals themselves. If not for this sort of blind-man's accounting, grass would make a lot more sense than it does now." 

3. Taxi To the Dark Side

Another film not in the 2008 camp but there was no other film that Slothrop saw this year that was more important and devastating than this one. Koko and DFW already said it best. Now let's do what needs to be done to put those responsible in prison, to, you know, make the law mean something again. Slothrop points our handsome readers to the December 2008 issue of Harper's Magazine and the article by Scott Horton titled "Justice After Bush: Prosecuting an Outlaw Administration."  Favorite Moment: None. Save for the realization that Americans have gotten fat and bloated and lazy about the meaning of their country. 

2. Man on Wire

Slothrop has never before seen such a thing. A daydream, a nightmare, a miracle. More beautiful than you can imagine. Favorite Moment: "I realize it's impossible. Let's get started." 

1. The Wire: Complete Series

So this is how the most thoughtful, sad, complicated and beautiful journey ends. But Baltimore is still a real place. Slothrop really needs to get on it and get him a Bunk already. Favorite Moment:Watching season five every week with his beloved friends, Koko and Ass-Head.