In the Christmas spirit, I present five "little" movies from 2008 that I liked but which were somewhat overlooked or underappreciated, listed in chronological order of release:
1. Charlie Barlett (Feb. 22). Very fun teen comedy that comes across as the 2008 version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. This movie put Kat Dennings on the map for me as an up-and-coming young actress. This was definitely a break-out year for her.
2. Stop-Loss (March 6). My number one underappreciated Hollywood movie of the year. I really loved this simple story about a Texas soldier on the lam from being sent back to Iraq. Hollywood needs to make a lot more movies like this. I very much liked Ryan Phillippe in the lead, and especially Abbie Cornish in her supporting role. But I've been told she has no shot at award nominations, because she stole Mr. Phillippe away from the much-beloved Reese Witherspoon.
3. The Bank Job (March 7). A period spy thriller masquerading as a caper movie. The DVD extras really made me appreciate the costumes from 1970 London. It heightened my appreciation of Jason Statham (my actor-of-the-year) and put the lovable Saffron Burrows on the map for me.
4. Flawless (March 28). Demi Moore (!!) is a woman facing the glass ceiling in the London diamond industry in the early 1960s. A fun caper plot with some pleasant twists involving the ever-watchable Michael Caine. Splendid period art direction, and one of the best uses of Dave Brubek's Take Five in a movie score.
5. Bottle Shock (Sept. 19). Fun, quaint little indy movie based on the real-life incident from 1976 in which California wines won a blind taste test in France. Alan Rickman is fun in a role not as a villain. Unlike many period movies about the 1970s, this one actually felt like the 1970s.
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