Top 10 Movies of 2008

2008 was a year of fanboy fantastics and terrible remakes, and terrible from-tv-to-silver-screen adaptations. Here’s a list of the potential top 10 movies of 2008!

10. Cloverfield - For the sheer fact that this movie creeped me out and made my co-editor Daniel fear for his life whenever he stepped foot in NYC, this movie gets the 10 spot. Creative use of camera angles and story telling that led to a “Wtf?” ending made this a keeper for me. It also had me going for weeks trying to spot all the lil bits and pieces that were thrown about by Abrams (LOST), that bastid.

9. Frost/Nixon – Quite possibly the best movie ever made about an interview, apparently Ron Howard can record an egg roasting on a sidewalk and it would be the best 20 minutes spent not watching Sex and the City.

8. The Wackness – Inner city troubled youth (check), Ben Kingsley acting crazy (check), great young up-and-coming actors (check), and an exciting soundtrack (check) made this a movie that shouldn’t have been missed. A small indie film with a great story in the backdrop of NYC and a great lesson in life made it one of the best films for me this year.

7. Kung-Fu Panda – It’s hard for me stand Jack Black for more than 20 mintue increments, but this was definitely worth the nusiance. Black was superb, the story line was original and entertaining. When it comes to animated films not created by Disney, this movie hit it out of the ball park for me. Skadoosh!

6. Religulous – I hate Bill Maher, let that be known. The guy is annoying and quite frankly he needs to sometimes stick a foot in his mouth (amongst other things). But his mockumentary about what is so f***ed up about religion was not only hilarious but extremely informative. Watch this film! You have to just to come to the realization that.. hey … maybe we humans are what’s making religion so crazy!

5. There Will Be Blood – When it comes to epics and acting, no one is better suited for a role than Daniel Day Lewis. Great actor and great story. Showing a fictional story about the creation of all that is “oil” and providing hilarity with a phrase involving a milkshake made this movie a must-see.

4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall - When it comes to comedies this year, I think this one beats out all of them for the simple fact that its honesty is what made it so funny. Plus the lead actor showed his peesh.. c’mon!

3. Iron Man - Robert Downey Jr. is IRON MAN. Thank God Marvel finally gave this great superhero his well-deserved place in silverscreen history and thank God Downey played Stark. He was perfect, the story was perfect, the graphics were perfect. This film was almost the best superhero film ever made. ALMOST!

2. WALL-E - Showing their staying power, Disney’s WALL-E was superb. The first 10-15 minutes of the movie involved absolutely no dialogue and it was probably the most engaging theatrical experience of the year. Heartfelt, educational, and eyeblastingly good…Wall-E was a homerun.

1. The Dark Knight – I don’t think there’s anything I can say here that hasn’t already been said. The late Heath Ledger was beyond superb, he brought to life what has occupied comic book pages for years. He did the character justice and embraced it unto himself. He was THE JOKER and he proved that Hollywood could make a fantastic comic book movie. Nolan behind the helm has proved that he is first-class and has the ability to show layer upon layer of human emotion and triviality on screen. Bale was fantastic once again and added more angst and pain on top of his already broken Bruce Wayne. Finally, Aaron Eckhart to me has been overlooked a ton. The guy was brilliant, he embodied torment, guilt and insanity all in a span of a half hour. He was fantastic showing Harvey Dent’s fall from grace and was extremely powerful throughout the film. By far, the Dark Knight takes the cake!