10 - Traitor
This movie came out late summer and was quickly forgotten. However, this movie was the equivalent of a Bourne movie in terms of intensity, legit action and a solid, stoic peformance by Don Cheadle, one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood.
9 - Tropic Thunder
Easily the funniest movie of 2008. The core group of actors were all hysterical, especially Robert Downey Jr. However, what totally made this movie was Tom Cruise's role as movie producer Les Grossman. This was honestly one of the best career moves I've ever seen someone make.
8 - Kung Fu Panda
I have always had a huge soft spot for animated movies that the adults can enjoy as much as the kids. The fact that the main hero in this movie was a fatty only made me feel that much more attached to him with my fat ass. The voices were great, the laughs were huge and the movie was beyond entertaining.
7 - The Incredible Hulk
I know that people will think that this movie has no right being on a top 10 list, but The Hulk was always my favorite superhero growing up and this movie was everything that the original movie a couple years back should have been. This movie was tremendously entertaining and was a big part of one of the most satisfying movie going summers I can remember in a long time.
6 - Revolutionary Road
I never would have thought that such a plain movie could be so intense. Basically its like watching a disfunctional couple in the 50s fight/argue for two hours but you can't look away because of how all out real the fights are. WW and I were cracking up after it was over at how we were so emotionally drained from watching it.
5 - Gran Torino
This is probably my favorite Clint Eastwood film. His portrayal of an old school war veteran having to deal with ethnic changes in his town and the generation gap between him and his children/grandchildren was amazing. His totally out of left field, insensitive one liners also made this movie totally hysterical.
4 - Iron Man
Never in a million years did I expect this movie or the casting of Robert Downey Jr to be so brilliant. I honestly rolled my eyes when I heard they were making this an expected another Daredevil. I rolled my eyes again when I heard that they cast Downey Jr. and figured that the movie would be garbage. I was so beyond wrong and this movie ended up easily being one of the top 5 comic book movies ever made.
3 - Slumdog Millionaire
I had heard great things about this movie but figured that everyone was just creating that I saw this first type buzz. I totally expected this to be the movie this year that I ended up not liking as much because of the aforementioned buzz (that honor ended up going to The Wrestler for the record) but I was wrong. This is one of those movies that just takes you on a ride that you love every second of but can't for the life of you explain why. It was so well done with the back and forth story telling and based on my belief that my top two movies on this list will probably garner no attention whatsoever, this movie is my pick to win the Best Picture oscar for 2008.
2 - Wall-E
I absolutely loved this movie. I loved the love story portion of it even though they were robots. I loved how they mocked the human race's laziness by saying that in the future we are all going to be sitting on moving recliners with multiple screens attached to the chair and that our bone structure is going to change from our lack of mobility. Most of all, I loved the character of Wall-E. He might end up being one of my favorites of all time. The way that the animators were able to show curiousity, shock, sadness, and love in a robot without using any dialogue was absolutely priceless.
1 - The Dark Knight
This is not only the best movie of 2008 . . . . . it is hands down the best comic book movie of all time. Heath Ledger as The Joker is one of the greatest performances of all time. Christopher Nolan's directing and build up of tension to the big scenes in the movie was awesome. The script was so powerful that even after having seen the movie 20 - 30 times I'm still picking up on some of the reflections on society and am amazed at how dead on they are. This movie is so much more than just a comic book movie. Its one of the best movies of all time.
