Every year I go through the same debate with myself: the best movies vs. my favorite movies. Well, it took me a little longer to see all the movies on the list, but now that I’m caught up, here is my list for my top 10 [i]favorite[/i] movies of 2008.
[b]10. The Incredible Hulk[/b]: I know I’m going to get a lot of grief about this one. The last act was a dud, but otherwise I really enjoyed this movie. Hulk went smash. I had fun. Not in the same class as the top comic book movies, but for a Every year I go through the same debate with myself: the best movies vs. my favorite movies. Well, it took me a little longer to see all the movies on the list, but now that I’m caught up, here is my list for my top 10 [i]favorite[/i] movies of 2008.
[b]10. The Incredible Hulk[/b]: I know I’m going to get a lot of grief about this one. The last act was a dud, but otherwise I really enjoyed this movie. Hulk went smash. I had fun. Not in the same class as the top comic book movies, but for a two-hour check your brain at the door movie, it was good by me.
[b]9. Gran Torino[/b]: There’s not a lot of plot there. Cranky old man’s wife dies. He hates the new neighbors, but they win him over. The movie has heart, although it runs a bit long a slow in places. But the true pleasure is watching Clint Eastwood in a role he should have been nominated for. His performance makes the movie work.
[b]8. Slumdog Millionaire:[/b] This is a great movie for the first two-thirds before the final act falls apart with a silly Hollywood ending. Dazzling and surprising, I was really sucked in. Slumdog deserves a lot of the hype it’s getting. But that ending …
[b]7. The Bank Job:[/b] This biopic about the true story of the biggest bank robbery ever is fun from beginning to end. The characters were glossed over, but I was in all the way. This is one crime movie I’ll be coming back to. Why David Statham isn’t a bigger star is beyond me. His day is coming.
[b]6. Forgetting Sarah Marshall[/b]: My favorite flat-out comedy of the year. Good laughs all the way through, and it holds up on repeat viewings.
[b]5. Frost/Nixon:[/b] The retelling of the David Frost/Richard Nixon interviews is compelling, but nobody’s showing up for the movie itself. It’s the one-on-one between Frost and Nixon we all wanted to see. Those moments do not disappoint. There’s not a lot of story there for a thorough movie, although it does a nice job of capturing the feeling of the times. Just watch the performances. Worth it.
[b]4. Milk:[/b] By the time you get to the end it’s really quite remarkable what Harvey Milk accomplished as the first openly gay politician in America. It took a little while for me to get into it, but the performances are good across the board, and the tension builds throughout.
[b]3. Iron Man[/b]: Robert Downey Jr. absolutely sells this movie. Probably the most charismatic superhero performance ever. Iron Man is fun, fun, fun. It could have used a few more strong actors to fill it out, but Iron Man is one of the top comic movies to come out. I’m so in for Iron Man 2.
[b]2. The Dark Knight[/b]: What truly surprised me was the scope. The Dark Knight wasn’t so much a Batman movie as a crime movie that Batman happened to be. Heath Ledger deserves all the praise he got for his performance as the Joker–one we’ll never forget. The Dark Knight was dark and thrilling, although it ran long and flat in places. But it was so ambitious–a modern day retelling of Elliot Ness and Al Capone–that it upped the level of what comic movies were and showed us what they can be.
[b]1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button[/b]: I know this movie isn’t for everyone, and get why those don’t like it were disappointed. But for me, this was one of the greatest movie-going experiences I’ve had in years. Benjamin Button has a magical quality that really surprised me. It transported me. Watching Brad Pitt start off as this tiny old man, and then get younger–and wiser–was something to see. I didn’t totally buy the love story at the center, but this movie so dazzled me that I couldn’t stop talking about after it was over.
Post edited by: rcolchamiro, at: 2009/01/14 06:07
Post edited by: rcolchamiro, at: 2009/02/16 19:01
Post edited by: rcolchamiro, at: 2009/02/16 19:02
