Favorite Films of 2008

[RobertR]

My list.

 

There Will Be Blood (it didn't come to Milwaukee until 2008, so I'm counting it.)

The Dark Knight

Slumdog Millionaire

Happy-Go-Lucky

Wall-E

The Band's Visit

The Visitor

In Bruges

I've Loved You So Long

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

 

Still need to see: Milk, Rachel Getting Married, The Wrestler, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frozen River, Man on Wire, Burn After Reading, Frost/Nixon, and Let the Right One In (missed an opportunity in October). Everything below Wall-E could get bumped after I see those.

[Chio151]

I don't think Wall-e got enough credit for how technically brilliant it was. Clearly, to me, it has become the gold standard for 3d animation.

[razzzorsharp]

My favorite Five...

 

1) Dark Knight

2) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

3) The Wrestler

4) Forgetting Sarah Marshall

5) Zac and Miri Make a Porno

[BrewCrewForever]

"Dark Knight"

"Ironman"

"Burn After Reading"

 

All I can think of right now, I'm sure there are more.

[bjkrautk]

Liked (in hastily-assembled order):

Iron Man (Downey Jr. plays a pitch-perfect Tony Stark.)

Hellboy 2 (Never read the comic, but but Del Toro's style as a filmmaker really shines through in the Hellboy movies....especially as someone who remembers Blade II.)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Any movie that alternates between scantily clad Kristen Bell and scantily clad Mila Kunis is off to a good start...and unlike a certain blogger, I thought it was funny.)

Zack & Miri (...the plot and the core of the film were classicly Kevin Smith, but the snappy dialogue was notably absent)

Quantum of Solace (Felt more like a 'Bourne' homage than Casino Royale; still missing some sort of 'Q' cameo / role.)

Tropic Thunder (Although everyone else I watched it with hated it)

 

Neutral:

Cloverfield (As a popcorn flick, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit....but the presentation and all of the trappings surrounding it just makes the end product feel...unfinished.)

The Dark Knight (Just like Batman Begins, the film's ending just kills it for me.)

Hulk (I appreciated how much closer this movie was to the source material than Ang Lee's version....but the Marvel Zombie in me has never really clicked with the big green guy.)

 

Disliked:

Wanted (No part of this movie worked for me. Adimittedly, I'm not much of a "turn your mind off and watch" guy.)

Indiana Jones 4 (Keep the Indy-Marian characterization, lose pretty much everything else, and they could have something...)

 

Didn't See

Pretty much everything else.

[homer]

I thought Man on Wire was OK. I didn't think it was as thrilling as some made it seem to be. Decent rental.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I saw and enjoyed a lot of movies this year, but undoubtedly "The Dark Knight" stands head and shoulders above the rest of the heap. It's not very often that a movie that gets as much advance hype as this one did actually lives up to it, but this one did, and I'm just upset that I didn't get to see it in the theater.

[Brewtacular]

Mongol

 

Awesome movie about the early life of Genghis Kahn. I highly recommend this.....my lack of credibility not withstanding...you should take my recommendation as gold!

[DSFastball55]

Liked
Dark Knight
Valkyrie
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Felon
Quantum of Solace
Burn After Reading
Changeling
Zack and Miri
Jumper
Charlie Wilson's War
Body of Lies
21
The Ruins
The Happening
Eagle Eye
Day the Earth Stood Still

Neutral
Indiana Jones 4
Wanted
Pride and Glory
Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo
X-Files 2
Sex and the City

Didn't Like
Cloverfield
10,000 BC
Be Kind Rewind
Get Smart
Righteous Kill
Moscow Zero

Haven't Seen Yet
Frost/Nixon
Pineapple Express
Wall-E
Hancock
The Spirit
Benjamin Button

[Katuluu]

I'll be doing two top tens in the next week or so at my site. One on the films I watched for my site and another on new releases. I'll post at least the new releases top ten here as well. Still don't quite know how it will shape up, as I can barely remember which films are released which year anymore. That being said, at least 3 documentaries will make the list, those being Man on Wire, Waltz with Bashir and Bigger, Stronger, Faster*.

[Schlitz001]

2 Thumbs Up

4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days

Be Kind Rewind

Bigger Stronger Faster

Pineapple Express

Slumdog Millionaire

Wall-E

 

1 Thumb Up

Burn After Reading

Dark Knight

Harold and Kumar 2

Ironman

Man on Wire

 

2 Thumbs Down

10,000 BC

Cloverfield

Indiana Jones 4

Kung Fu Panda

Quantum of Solace

Step Brothers

Tropic Thunder

 

I still want to see a bunch of movies including Charlie Kaufman's new movie and Zack and Miri.

[sheetswannabe]

Fav movies were:

 

Eagle Eye- one of the best movies I have ever seen, if not the best. Great action and Shia is an awesome actor

 

and..

 

Step brothers- Absolutely hilarious. You need a good immature sense of humor though.

[statman0007]

I'm going to have to disagree with you sheetswannabe. I always thought that Shia was a terrible actor, and then he became my least favorite actor ever when he destroyed the Indiana Jones movie. The monkeys swinging through the trees scene still makes me shiver.

 

My list:

 

Good

-Slumdog Millionaire

-Dark Knight

-Ironman

 

Neutral

-Quantum of Solace

-Cloverfield

-Get Smart

 

Bad

-Indiana Jones 4

 

You can probably guess from my avatar how much it pains me to write that

[Katuluu]

Quick and dirty top ten:

 

10) In Bruges

9) Bigger, Stronger, Faster*

8) Burn After Reading

7) Synecdoche, New York

6) JCVD

5) Encounters at the End of the World

4) Let the Right One In

3) Waltz with Bashir

2) Man on Wire

1) The Fall

 

3 foreign films and 4 documentaries on the list and 2 comedies as well, and not the ones I was expecting to be on there. Stuck was also a hard one to exclude and I think Synecdoche will probably age the best out of all of them. Not as great a year as last year, but still a pretty solid year IMO.

[fstorm1]

Sure, why not (notables, not all):

Classic-

Dark Knight

Iron Man

Wall-E

Great-

Cloverfield

Kung Fu Panda

Traitor

Good-

Eagle Eye

Appaloosa

Ghost Town

Okay-

Burn After Reading

Inc. Hulk

Q. Of Solace

Journey to Center of Earth

Jumper

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

I Am Legend

Rambo

Death Race

Poor-

Hancock

Wanted

Get Smart

Tropic Thunder

Zohan

10,00 B.C.

Vantage Point

The Happening

Max Payne

X-Files 2

The Ruins

Max payne

Painfully disappointing-

Indy 4

Righteous Kill

[pitchleague]

jeez, that's 32 movies on your list! How do you guys have the time (and money for that matter) to see 32 movies in a year?

[Katuluu]

Heh, I watched probably close to 200 new releases this year. Though I do work at a theater which eliminates the cost option.

[DSFastball55]

Well I'm still out of work, so I've been going to a lot of matinees to kill time.

[homer]

I saw X-Files 2 yesterday. Wow, was that awful.

 

Saw Benjamin Button and Seven Pounds this weekend. Button was pretty good but too long. And I know I'm in a very small minority but I actually liked Seven Pounds even though the plot was rather ridiculous when you thought about it. I chose not to and my ignorance was paid off - even though I saw the ending coming a mile away.

[brettac1]

Revolutionary Road

Frozen River

The Wrestler

Gran Torino

Frost/Nixon

Wendy and Lucy

[paul253]

I am wondering what peoples takes are on the following movies. I was really pumped to see these three, but never made it to the theater.

 

Righteous Kill

Body of Lies

Pride and Glory.

 

I would have been pumped to see Saw V but Saw IV was so terrible I had no interest in paying money to see it, so I'll just wait to see it when it comes out on video.

 

Did anyone see any of these and have an opinion either way?

[DSFastball55]

I am wondering what peoples takes are on the following movies. I was really pumped to see these three, but never made it to the theater.

 

Righteous Kill

Body of Lies

Pride and Glory.

Saw all three.

Righteous Kill was a major disappointment for me. Two of my favorite actors, and this movie just wasn't that entertaining. I wouldn't say it was horrible, just not that good. 2/5 stars.

Body of Lies I liked quite a bit. Definetely worth watching again. 4/5 stars.

Pride and Glory was decent, but certainly not great. Nothing I'd buy on DVD. 3/5 stars.

[sgtcluels]

I thought Benjamin Button was alright. Losing idea of the ages of both sides seems to be the biggest draw back in that film. It seemed all of a sudden he aged slower then her, and then all of a sudden the reverse. Seemed strange, and brought down the film.

[Beerambassador]

I know this isn't the Benjamin Button thread...but I saw it and had to give my two cents.

 

I thought it was a very good movie, but with some editing it could have been great. The movie unfolded so slowly, but I felt like the last hour or so was brilliant. While I was watching it, I felt it was "eh." But I'm thinking about the movie a lot and liking it more the more I think about it.

[DSFastball55]

Just saw two more movies that were on my list:

Benjamin Button I thought was an excellent movie, although kinda long. Reminded me A LOT of Forrest Gump, which is my favorite movie of all time.

Pineapple Express was hilarious for the first 3/4 of the movie, but got kinda dull towards the end.