More of the Best of Ought-Eight

My contractual obligations to the Independent Film Channel means I've already posted my favorite movies of 2008 to IFC.com, along with a brief essay about the year in film, but in case you missed it and can't summon the strength in your index finger to click the link, here's my top ten:

1. My Winnipeg
2. Rachel Getting Married
3. The Dark Knight
4. Wendy and Lucy
5. The Wrestler
6. Milk
7. Let the Right One In
8. Doubt
9. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
10. A Christmas Tale

Honorable Mention: The Bank Job, Burn After Reading, Chicago 10, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Encounters at the End of the World, The Fall, Pineapple Express, Quid Pro Quo, Shotgun Stories, Snow Angels, Step Brothers

There's very little overlap between our Termite lists this year, but that's something I take as a good thing. Several of Sweeney's choices I've been unable to see yet, including Tokyo Sonata and In the City of Sylvia. I look forward to using his top ten as a guide to essential viewing over the next couple months as these films make their way onto arthouse screens and DVD.

By my count, I watched 382 movies this year, more than a movie per day on average, and a full 90 movies more than I watched in 2007. Because the assignments I've been getting on IFC.com for the last twelve months have focused more on older movies than on new releases, that's where the majority of that increase came (I actually saw slightly fewer new releases in '08 than in '07). With that in mind, here are the best older films I watched for the first time in 2008:

5. Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1972, Ted Post)
4. Trafic (1971, Jacques Tati)
3. Crank (2006, Neveldine & Taylor)
2. Lola Montes (1955, Max Ophüls)
1. Brute Force (1947, Jules Dassin)