This is my first year as the vice-president of the Toronto Film Critics Association, and in advance of the announcement of our awards tomorrow there is a hell of a lot of stuff to do. Also, my latest Sympatico/MSN DVD column has yet to go up.
So, for now, it is my pleasure to direct your attention to the Onion AV Club’s 17 Worst Films of 2008. And think about this: M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Happening” came in second.
This was a bad, bad year for cinema.
The Onion has no hate for Speed Racer, Hancock, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Love Guru, or Clone Wars? There were so many, many bad movies this year. Why stop at 17?
Oh, oh, I forgot Mama Mia!, Twilight, Dragon: The Curse of the Dragon Mummy Emperor’s Dragon, High School Musical 3, that Hannah Montana concert, the Day the Earth Stood Still remake, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, Narnia 2, Bangkok Dangerous, Tyler Perry’s annual atrocity, Valkyrie (just guessing)…. I could go on and on here.
Well, I have the feeling a longer list would have been too soul-crushing. And I have soft spots for “Hancock” and “Zohan”.
Also you forgot “Meet the Spartans” and “Disaster Movie” — though it’s probably a critical defense mechanism to block out the fact that this year brought us not one but two Friedberg-Seltzer abominations.
“Hey, it’s Amy Winehouse!” Yeah, fuck you, too.
I sort of disagree about being a bad year in cinema. Then again, I am not a critic so I am able to miss epic such as Nottie and the Hottie. But I did see The Happening, which is very bad, but not any worse than Lady in the Water.
A year with WALL-E, Slumdog, Dark Knight, Rachel Getting Married and The Wrestler can’t be all bad.