I have my upcoming final for my Film History 2 class. Unfortunately, due to when it was scheduled I missed a couple screenings..

I was going to write a list of the best things I’ve watched in 2008, but soon realized that’s impossible. The inexorable ease of Netflix ensures I’m not rushing out to see movies when they premiere and television can always wait until it’s plucked off DVDs in great, heaping gobs. Plus, my friends and I seem to seek out crap with the passion of flies and that doesn’t always lend itself to seeing finer fare like Milk, Rachel Getting Married, and Harold & Kumar 2. Did I mention that I’m one of those jerks that barely watches TV?

So with that said, hit the jump and add your opinions to a rambling, free-wheeling highlight of the most interesting stuff our eyeballs experienced in 2008. This is an incomplete and erratic list that demands your input!

JUMP!

christmas time is here

From an acquaintance on Banned Bill’s board.

NPR has a very entertaining article on a new character archetype, the manic pixie dream girl, “that bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.”

The article cites some of the obvious ones (Garden State), but misses others (Amelie) in favor of more controversial and conversation-inducing picks (Breakfast at Tiffanies). So this is a call. Make a list!

File under “completely unexpected,” I am now, for the first time since I was 8, excited about a Jean-Claude van Damme movie. Watch the trailer and I’m pretty sure you will be, too.

I plan on utilizing my Netflix to watch nothing but horror movies from now until November. And I need suggestions. So what are your Top 5 Horror Movies (+1 great horror movie that you think everyone should see but not everyone has heard of).

Readmore for my Top 5+1

Everyone’s knows about and has done the Dark Side of the Moon/Wizard of Oz thing, but does everyone know about the thing with the climax of 2001: Space Odyssey as well? I had no idea until I read a recent wired article on the subject in honor of keyboardist Richard Wright’s death. Turns out the videos are prety easy to find on YouTube (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) and there’s no mistaking that it was done purposefully. It’s pretty absurdly cool, too, though it seems to miss the spirit of the movie. Something I’d definitely like to try at home sometime.

by yourself

Unwittingly in honor of the supposed “Black Monday” we’re supposed to have today (though is seems the DOW is already recovering…), I watched Trading Places today out of sheer boredom/procrastination. It occurred to me that I still have no idea what the fuck happens during the climax of the movie on the stock exchange floor. So I looked it up and, lo, apparently I’m not the only who didn’t have a clue. Lucky for us, we have the internet to explain things for us. It’s actually pretty ridiculously interesting and all very much real-world economics—no hollywood crap.

Check out the theme song to the new James Bond film:

Holy shit. What a great movie.

The site offers full-length documentaries that “can be shared on blogs, websites and personal pages on Facebook and Myspace,” and each film “has links to donate to organizations.”