The best (and worst) films of 2008.

[Smokey]

Tom Charity of CNN look at best and worst movies of 2008. Out of 350 film reviews he wrote during the year, these made the list. Dark Night, Indiana Jones and Ironman did not make the list.

Best of 2008:

"WALL-E"
Yes, the second half is merely really, really good, but the nearly wordless first 40 minutes suggests unsuspected affinities between Charlie Chapin and Stanley Kubrick.


"Encounters at the End of the World"
The documentary of the year also has an apocalyptic theme. Werner Herzog visits Antarctica and discovers we're all on thin ice.


"In the City of Sylvia"
A man returns to the city to find the girl that got away. Jose Luis Guerin fashions a remarkable mazy quasi-musical out of looks and glances.


"Still Life"
Maybe the most prescient film of the year, Jia Zhangke looks at China as a superpower in the making -- and the unmaking -- as the towns along the Three Gorges Dam project are dismantled brick by brick.


"Appaloosa"
Ed Harris was obviously born to make Westerns. Too unpretentious for its own good, this was classical American moviemaking at its best.


"The Wrestler"
Darren Aronofsky's authentically downbeat movie is distinguished by its sympathy for the muscle men and strippers who never got beyond the first rung of the American Dream.


"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
We know there are no second acts to American lives, but Benjamin takes Fitzgerald at his word. Brad Pitt ages with uncommon grace in David Fincher's fantastical love story, the ultimate slow dissolve.


"Let the Right One In"
Preteen vampires. This is what "Twilight" would be if it were five times better, Swedish and told from the point of view of a lonely 12-year-old boy.

[Smokey]

Then there are those films that make you lament losing two hours of your life:

"The X-Files: I Want to Believe"
This pretentious spiritual non-thriller signaled a sorry end for Scully and Mulder. Still, at least no expense was lavished on what looked like an extended TV special.


"What Happens in Vegas"
Ashton Kutcher steals the washroom door. That's how desperate things get in this total bust, probably the least romantic romantic comedy of the year.


"88 Minutes"
Al Pacino has 88 minutes to live ... yet this mind-bogglingly dumb movie dies agonizingly slowly.


"Seven Pounds"
You have to sit through the entirety of Will Smith's soggy new movie to find out just how shameless it is. I'd rather take a bath with a jellyfish.


"Fool's Gold"
Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey's vacation snapshots would have been more amusing than this torpid exotic adventure. Oh, wait, these WERE the vacation snapshots ...


"Eagle Eye"
A big-budget tech thriller -- apparently suggested by Steven Spielberg himself -- that borrowed from all over but made absolutely no sense.


"The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor"
It doesn't get much sloppier than this mummy movie without a mummy. Rachel Weisz made a shrewd choice not to return.


"The Spirit"
Granted, I hated "300," and "Sin City" left me cold, but at least they had a degree of technical accomplishment to wrap around Frank Miller's puerile pulp fascism. His own movie is just an inept embarrassment.


http://us.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movie...008/index.html

[thekid]

I think "In Bruges" and "Dark Knight" should have made the "Best of" list.

[RGA]

I have not seen many movies ths year but if Seven Pounds is one of the ten worst then this was one of the greatest years in movie history.

I have not seen a single movie on his ten best list. I need to get out more. Unfortunately, where I live no movies are shown in English.

[Worf101]

Off the top of my head.

Best:

"In Bruges" - Funny, quriky, a laugh and a hoot.

"Iron Man" - Robert Downey..... ah you funny muthaf**ker"

"Tropic Thunder" - Robert Downey..... ah you funny muthaf**ker"

"Slumdog Millionaire" - Wow, much like "Salam Bombay" some 15 years earlier, a great great film.

"Batman - The Gotham Knight" - Batman inspired Anime tellings of a couple of days in the life of the Dark Knight. I found it more entertaining than the other one, trust me.

"Cloverfield" - Good, if not great giant monster movie.


The Worse:
"Bangkok Dangerous" - Stupidity with guns.

"Wanted" - See above

"Babylon A.D". - See above

"Death Race" - See above

"College" and "College Road Trip" - Haven't we exhausted this juvenile crap yet?

"Drillbit Taylor" , "The Love Guru", "Don't Mess With the Zohan" - Are you chittin' me?

"The Happening" - God, what happened to MNS?

"Indiana Jones etc..." - God I want those 2.5 hours back.

"Leatherheads" - Proves once and for all that anyone can make a stupid movie.

"Semi-Pro" - "Stepbrothers" - If ever an actor needs to be told that the joke is old it's Will "ain't been funny in years" Ferrell.

"Speed Racer" - Are you chittin' me?

Da Worfster

[3-LockBox]

"Drillbit Taylor" , "The Love Guru", "Don't Mess With the Zohan" - Are you chittin' me?

I don't wanna be too big an ass, but maybe the release of Drillbit Taylor led to his mental breakdown.

And enough already with SNL alum making movies.

[JSE]

I don't wanna be too big an ass, but maybe the release of Drillbit Taylor led to his mental breakdown.

And enough already with SNL alum making movies.

The only funny part of Drillbit was at the very end when he caught the sword.

"Was that my finger?"

The visual of seeing the tip of his finger drop and the look on his face was freaking funny. I don't care who you are, that's funny.

[kexodusc]

This was a pretty bad year for movies, but the only truly terrible movie I regret watching on the list was "The Mummy".
I enjoyed the first one as a popcorn muncher, as cheesy as it was. This installment was the most disappointing piece of crap I've seen in recent memory.

Haven't seen "The Spirit" yet...looks like rental grade, which is what most of these movies have been worth.

[kexodusc]

Off the top of my head.

Best:

"In Bruges" - Funny, quriky, a laugh and a hoot.

"Iron Man" - Robert Downey..... ah you funny muthaf**ker"

"Tropic Thunder" - Robert Downey..... ah you funny muthaf**ker"

"Slumdog Millionaire" - Wow, much like "Salam Bombay" some 15 years earlier, a great great film.

"Batman - The Gotham Knight" - Batman inspired Anime tellings of a couple of days in the life of the Dark Knight. I found it more entertaining than the other one, trust me.

"Cloverfield" - Good, if not great giant monster movie.

Yeah I'd petty much agree with all of these. Good movies. Unfortunately this was the best of a bad year IMO.

I don't know if there's more crappy sequels being made now than say 10 or 20 years ago (I read a web article awhile back that says there isn't) but it sure seems like every movie's been done before, or is a unashamed rip-off. If I wasn't a huge Marvel fan I'd probably be getting sick if the super-hero genre too. But I got into Comics just when the Watchmen was earning all the critical praise, and these teasers in Ironman, and The Hulk (thank you Ed Norton) have me drooling too...so I can't wait to see where it all goes.

Anyway, here's to 2009 and hopefully better things to come. Will this be the year we finally see Goonies 2?

[canuckle]

Nice to see "Let the Right One In" on your list. A fascinating film worth looking at for anyone that wants to expand what a vampire film can be when you strip away all the American "stupid" from the project.

[Smokey]

"Batman - The Gotham Knight" - Batman inspired Anime tellings of a couple of days in the life of the Dark Knight. I found it more entertaining than the other one, trust me.


Da Worfster

Don't let Wooch see that comment knowing how he loves the "other one"

Anime seem to be better medium for superhero action figures than films with live actors. IMO, only few movie such as Spawn or Spiderman (minus the cheesy love interest) have lived up to expectation of what a superhero movie should be like.

[bobsticks]

Anyway, here's to 2009 and hopefully better things to come. Will this be the year we finally see Goonies 2?

Cuz there were so many unresolved questions from the first...

[Rich-n-Texas]

BRING IT GOONIES!!!

[Rich-n-Texas]

Hey Festus, that hat is a disgrace, did you know that? Wash it once-in-a-while will ya please?

[Groundbeef]

Best-Batman

Worst-10,000 BC. I seem to remember a rather heated discussion about that one here on the boards. Perhaps the time-shifting witch can find it?

I haven't seen the others. Although I didn't think Fool's Gold was terrible in that it was somewhat family friendly.

[Rich-n-Texas]

I don't wanna be too big an ass, but maybe the release of Drillbit Taylor led to his mental breakdown.

And enough already with SNL alum making movies.

You ain't kidding brother! There used to be some funny movies with members of the "Not Ready for Primetime Players", Chevy Chase most notable among them, but to put members of the recent cast of SNL, most of whom are a bunch of dorks IMO is just cheap. Who the heck's idea was it anyways?

[Worf101]

Yeah I'd petty much agree with all of these. Good movies. Unfortunately this was the best of a bad year IMO.

I don't know if there's more crappy sequels being made now than say 10 or 20 years ago (I read a web article awhile back that says there isn't) but it sure seems like every movie's been done before, or is a unashamed rip-off. If I wasn't a huge Marvel fan I'd probably be getting sick if the super-hero genre too. But I got into Comics just when the Watchmen was earning all the critical praise, and these teasers in Ironman, and The Hulk (thank you Ed Norton) have me drooling too...so I can't wait to see where it all goes.

Anyway, here's to 2009 and hopefully better things to come. Will this be the year we finally see Goonies 2?

Couldn't agree more. I was asking my dear friend Sugi who owns "The Spectrum 8 Cinema" here in Albany, NY (go to www.spectrum8.com) and she agreed that this year was about the slimmest pickens in years. Their business was down, I mean WAY down. She's praying for a "My Big Fat Greek Weddin" or something similar to save the day. They make NOTHING on big movies, only on independents that have legs bring in enough revenue to keep em afloat.

I personally don't see how they can even have an Oscars this year, not enough films of worth. If it weren't for Clint would we even have a film industry round here?

Da Worfster

[Kam]

Off the top of my head.

Best:

"Batman - The Gotham Knight" - Batman inspired Anime tellings of a couple of days in the life of the Dark Knight. I found it more entertaining than the other one, trust me.

i agree. this was fantastic. really looked into the mythos of batman on the urban legend kind of scale, and then also the reality of what his own dark psyche must be like. the last one (i think it was the last one) where he's talking to alfred from the gutter going after the gun... wow. that was intense.

best of the more mature skewed "cartoons" since Grave of the Fireflies.

[Smokey]

Hey Festus, that hat is a disgrace, did you know that? Wash it once-in-a-while will ya please?

Just being fashionable.....hat matches the cloths

[Gerall]

The Hottie and the Nottie is a confirmation to the world that Paris Hilton has absolutely no marketable talent. Fortunately there were no superstars of any notability that were embarrased in this show. I do find that 2008 is full of movies with thoroughbred actors and actresses that just stank.