Paste Magazine Posts Top 20 of 2008

Quickly become a favorite of Pre-Awards season for me is Paste magazine's first-out-of-the-box announcement of the best films of the year. Last year they posted fifty films [and it was a very good list], this year it's twenty films.

This year, it's a troubling list with 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days actually a film from 2007 and their top film is a January 2009 release! More evidence that 2008 wasn't exactly the best year for movies. No wonder they only did a top twenty. None of the later trumped up Hollywood releases are on it (Milk, Revolutionary Road, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button....)

The Full List (and link):

1. Firaaq [Nandita Das]
2. The Dark Knight [Christopher Nolan]
3. A Christmas Tale [Arnaud Desplechin]
4. Nights and Weekends [Joe Swanberg and Greta Gerwig]
5. The Visitor [Thomas McCarthy]
6. WALL•E [Andrew Stanton]
7. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days [Cristian Mungiu]
8. Momma's Man [Azazel Jacobs]
9. Son of Rambow [Garth Jennings]
10. Ballast [Lance Hammer]
11. Call+Response [Justin Dillon]
12. Man on Wire [James Marsh]
13. Vicky Cristina Barcelona [Woody Allen]
14. Rachel Getting Married [Jonathan Demme]
15. Kabluey [Scott Prendergast]
16. Paranoid Park [Gus Van Sant]
17. The Wrestler [Darren Aronofsky]
18. The Pool [Chris Smith]
19. Chop Shop [Ramin Bahrani]
20. Iron Man [Jon Favreau]