My Top 10 Films of 2008

Here's my somewhat ridiculously overdue Top Ten Films of 2008, the disappointing sequel to Top Ten Films of 2007. To make up for my tardiness, each one comes with a lovingly hand-crafted haiku summary.

I thought the haiku was an original touch, until I realised that sites like this have been doing this sort of thing for ages.


Never mind, eh?



10. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

Stateside Guillermo
But Hellboy goes to Ulster
Red Right Hand, indeed...


9. The Orphanage

Twisty Spanish yarn
With a very sad middle
Behold the sack mask!

(Thanks to Clare for that one!)


8. Burn After Reading

Coen's strike again
Dumb idiots hatch dumb plot
It's sadistic fun!


7. Tropic Thunder.

Actors' film folly
As they stumble into war
Year's funniest film


6. No Country For Old Men.



The Brothers Coen
Go bleak and nihilistic
Beware cattle gun!



5. There Will Be Blood


Fictional oilman

Think: 'Charlie Kane Does Dallas'
Dan Day Lewis shines!



4. Iron Man


Wealthy arms dealer
Finds redemption in tin suit
He's Invincible!



3. Wall*E

Little yellow box
Dreams of love and musicals
Then clears up our mess

2. In Bruges

Two Irish hitmen

Lying low in Low Country

Beware racist dwarf!

1. The Dark Knight

Costumed crime drama

Of order versus chaos

A spandex ballet!

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda, Didn't

Here's another pesky but obligatory year-end list for me to get out of my system: it's my Top 5 list of the gigs I really would have liked to have gone to in 2008 but for one reason or another didn't.

I'm sure I can come up with something snappier than that.

5. Public Enemy, Custard Factory, Birmingham. I mentioned this during one of my 11-11-11 write-ups, but sort of subsequently forgot about it. I'm sure it would have been fun.

4. Band of Horses, Birmingham Academy. Clare bought us a pair of tickets, there was a mix up over the dates and we missed the gig. Bugger.

3. TV On the Radio, Birmingham Academy. I've been following them since 2004's Desperate Youths, Blood Thirsty Babes. 2008's Dear Science was one of my favourite albums of the year. For some reason I didn't catch them on tour. So it goes.

2. Bruce Springsteen. The last time I saw The Boss play live was at Villa Park in June 1988. That's fucking ridiculous, that is.

1. Leonard Cohen. Clare and I came close - this close, I tell you - to nabbing a pair of tickets to see Laughing Len in Manchester. I'll spare you the details.

My Top 5 Gigs of 2009

Why Top 5? Why not a Top 10? As a lapsed Discordian I was going to knock out a rather elaborate, mind-bending explanation based on the 'Law of Fives' (which, according to Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus! Trilogy, claims that everything in the universe can be connected to the number five if you try hard enough), but that looked too much like hard work.

Instead, I'll just tell you the truth: I opted for a Top 5 because I didn't go to very many gigs in 2008.

Five of 'em, though, were fucking awesome...



5. Bearsuit, Latitude Festival 2008 - Pete Ashton introduced them to me in 2007 when I saw them play at Birmingham's Sunflower Lounge, and their Latitude set was great fun. They're tremendously silly, ridiculously catchy and highly recommended. Jupiter Force, indeed.

4. Foo Fighters, Wembley Stadium, 7th June 2008 - I mentioned it in passing here, here and here but never got around to writing a proper review. Oh, well. I've never been what you might call a Foo Fighters fan; I have, however, always been an unrepentant Led Zeppelin fan. Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones surprise guest appearance on stage - and their storming rendition with Grohl & Co of Zep classics Rock and Roll and Ramble On - made this a gig to remember.

The Foo Fighters were quite superb, too.

3. Buzzcocks, Latitude Festival 2008 Sweaty, sticky, stomping fun in a marquee at 2am isn't everyone's idea of a good time. It's my idea of a good time and I wrote about it here.

2. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Birmingham Carling Academy, 5th May 2008;
Grinderman, Latitude Festival 2008 I'm cheating a bit, here - I suppose this should be two separate entries - but this is my list so my rules rule. I wrote about the former here and the latter there.


1. Tom Waits, Le Grand Rex Paris, 24th July 2008 - No shit, Sherlock. A bit of a foregone conclusion, this. A Tom Waits gig will always, by definition, be the the gig of the year. That's just the way it is.

I attempted a reconstruction of the gig here.

Top 10 Films of 2008 to follow.