As with my common caveat last year, a knock-out tournament like the annual Film Fight can only determine the winner and not any of the other places, but that doesn’t hugely matter (the whole thing being an excuse for me to write about films anyway). Some notable films that did not take a monthly final place:
- Them!
- The Last King of Scotland
- Blood Diamond
- Sunshine
- Vacancy
- The Hoax
- Michael Clayton
- Death Proof
- Ratatouille
- American Gangster
More importantly, the twelve finalists:
- The Fountain
- Hot Fuzz
- The Good Shepherd
- The Lives of Others
- Zodiac
- Tell No One
- Edmond
- The Bourne Ultimatum
- Knocked Up
- The Counterfeiters
- Planet Terror
- The Golden Compass
It’s pretty telling, to me, that of all the great films this year, my favourite three (The Counterfeiters, The Lives of Others, and Tell No One) are foreign language films that go back to strong narratives, beautiful direction, and character acting, rather than big budget Hollywood efforts.
More than in previous years, it’s incredibly difficult to decide between those three great movies, but I think the performance of Ulrich Mühe in The Lives of Others edges it over the top. A triumph of traditional strong story-telling, the film is a must-see masterpiece.