2008 was a much different year than I expected, as I was disappointed more often than not in the films I was expecting to be fairly good. The fourth Indiana Jones was all sorts of bad, as was The Spirit and most of what will end up comprising the year end awards. Comedy was at its absolute peak this year, with even the second tier of comedies being endlessly funny and quotable, but overall the total quality of film was a marked departure from last year.
That isn’t to say there weren’t a lot of good films, which there were. Here are the very best of them.
10. RocknRolla – 10 years ago, Guy Ritchie was one of a handful of new directors that were supposed to change the way cinema. 10 years later and he’s the divorced boy toy of Madonna and auteur of a bunch of films that are bad knockoffs of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. RocknRolla is a return to the crime genre and a return to making great films, as perhaps his divorce will inspire some great films from him again.
9. Forgetting Sarah Marshall – The funniest film of the first half of 2008, this is probably the comedy that is going to be overlooked on most people’s top 10 lists. With a terrific script and an unbelievably funny performance from Russell Brand stealing the show, it was a romantic comedy where no one is demonized and both sides are presented equally. If you’ve ever had a bad breakup you can relate to both sides of this story.
8. Wanted – Timur Bemambetov is perhaps my favorite foreign director currently working and Wanted was a film that pushed the envelope of what an action film could do. Bending Bullets? Check. Hyper-stylized action sequences, including a car jumping a curb and landing on a bus? Check. An eye-popping final action sequence with lots of gunfire and death? Check. An awesome film experience with a great title song? That’s a definite check.
Check out my review here.
7. Role Models – The funniest film of the year, easily, as Paul Rudd shows again that he’s in the rare handful of people who could be called the funniest comedian in Hollywood. With Sean William Scott keeping up and working with Rudd wonderfully, the film pushes the limit and misses on more jokes than some films hit on.
6. Henry Poole is Here – Luke Wilson takes a break from comedy and moves into serious dramatic work for one of the best films of the year. As a man contemplating death, all he wants to do is die in peace. It’s an arresting look that takes on matters of faith with an unexpectedly good performance that will go in all likelihood go overlooked.
Check out my review here.
5. Traitor – Body of Lies may have been hyped more, but this was the spy thriller of the year. Focusing on a man (Don Cheadle) so deep undercover that no one knows which side he’s on but him, it’s a powerful espionage thriller with a great supporting cast.
Check out my review here.
4. Rambo – Sometimes you just need a film that features a good guy giving out justice to some bad people. And this is the visceral action experience of the year, as John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) saves some missionaries in Burma by dispensing justice with a .50 caliber machine gun mounted a jeep in glorious fashion.
Check out my review here/
3. Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist – A love film for the ages, it combines the quirkiness of an independent comedy with the sort of romance of Before Sunrise between two teenagers (Kat Dennings and Michael Cera) falling in love over the span of one night. It’s beautiful, with a great soundtrack to boot.
Check out my review here.
2. Frost/Nixon – Ron Howard has this knack of making great films that come out of nowhere, and this is one of them. A fictionalized account of Richard Nixon’s public apology, and some would argue it would be his redemption after Watergate, the interplay between Michael Sheen and Frank Langella is the stuff that great films are based on.
Check out my review here.
1. The Dark Knight – With as much hype as this film had going into it, The Dark Knight would have to be a perfect film and an epic gem to be able to live up to it. And it did in every sense, as Chris Nolan redefined what a superhero film could do. TDK isn’t a superhero film in the truest sense; it’s an epic crime film that just happens to have a criminal in clown make up and a vigilante who wears a costume.
Check out my review here.
