2008 Movies in Review

As I do each year, I’m going to list all of the theatrical releases of 2008 and my impressions of each. At the end, I’ll try to post a top 10. Note that I am posting the movies in order of release date based on Wikipedia’s listing. Here we go:

One Missed Call

First Sunday

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

27 Dresses

Cloverfield – Did this really come out in 2008? It seems like it has been at least 2 years since it came out. The movie was pretty lame.

Mad Money

Cassandra’s Dream

Meet the Spartans

Rambo – Another one I’m surprised came out in 2008. I really dug this action flick, but it was too graphic.

Untraceable

Over Her Dead Body

Strange Wilderness – 2008 Mikey Award Nominee for worst movie. All improv and no script makes a horrible movie.

The Eye

Fool’s Gold

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins

In Bruges

Shrooms

The Hottie and the Nottie

Definitely, Maybe – Kind of like the title, I was pretty wish-washy over this movie. It was alright, but nothing I’d kill myself to see again.

Jumper

Step Up 2 the Streets

The Spiderwick Chronicles – A mess of a kid’s movie. Just another Harry Potter wannabe that was rushed out too quickly.

Diary of the Dead

Be Kind Rewind – I really dug this movie. The whole jazz musician angle didn’t work well for me, but everything else was near spot on. Worth a rental.

Charlie Bartlett – This was supposed to be the next Ferris Bueller, but it didn’t have the comedy or cheekiness to pull it off. It felt more like Igby Goes Down (not a good thing).

Vantage Point

Witless Protection

The Counterfeiters – A pretty solid foreign flick. It’s worth a rental if you like watching concentration camp movies.

Penelope

Semi-Pro – Semi good. It had a tough time deciding if it wanted to be the next Anchorman or the next Kingpin. The movie didn’t support the two lead characters.

The Other Boleyn Girl

City of Men

Chicago 10

10,000 BC

College Road Trip

The Bank Job – I hoped it would be more like Ocean’s 11, but it turned out to be more like Stander. It was okay to watch once, but I wouldn’t revisit it.

CJ7 - Another fun Stephen Chow movie. Not quite on the level of Shaolin Soccer, but it was worth watching.

Married Life

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Snow Angels – One heck of a downer of a movie. I’m not sure what the point of it all was.

Horton Hears a Who

Doomsday – If you took Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, Escape from New York, and 28 Days Later, then filter out all the stuff that is good about them, you would have Doomsday.

Never Back Down

Funny Games

Sleep Walking

Drillbit Taylor

Meet the Browns

21 – Another Ocean’s knock-off that wasn’t all that great. They tried to add too much drama into a place where it wasn’t needed.

Run, Fat Boy, Run – I saw this, but I don’t really remember much about it.

Stop-Loss

Superhero Movie – Middle school me would have loved the hell out of this movie. 27 year old movie thought it had its moments.

Leatherheads – I almost got half way through this movie before deciding to do anything else.

Nim’s Island

The Ruins

My Blueberry Nights – Tons of hot women (Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman, and Norah Jones), but the story was too disjointed.

Young@Heart – A very good documentary about senior citizens singing pop songs. The highlight of the movie, for me, was the music video for their cover of “Golden Years” by Bowie.

Prom Night

Smart People

Street Kings

Chaos Theory

The Visitor – I enjoyed this movie, but I wished it was a little happier.

88 Minutes

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

The Forbidden Kingdom – I really enjoyed this movie. It is like a combination of the Karate Kid and the Neverending Story, except better than either.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall – Best comedy of 2008.

Pathology

Where in the World is Osama bin Laden? – I’ve always been entertained by Morgan Spurlock’s work, and that is the same here. Not as good as Super Size Me, but still watchable.

Baby Mama – This movie didn’t bring anything to the table. Maybe if Tina Fey had written it, it would be better. If you are thinking of renting this, do yourself a favor and rent The Brothers Solomon instead. It is far superior.

Deception

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay – I really didn’t like the first Harold and Kumar, but this one was funny and entertaining.

Iron Man – Best comic book movie of 2008. Of course, I hate the Batman character, so I’m a little biased here.

Made of Honor

Son of Rambow – I was hoping for a fun look at a child’s imagination. Instead, I was treated to my 8 year old nephew playing army guys in the backyard for 2 hours.

Speed Racer

What Happens in Vegas…

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – I enjoyed it and thought it fit into the general Indiana Jones legacy. There are too many bitchy people on the internet who don’t seem to like to have a good time.

Postal

War, Inc.

Sex and the City

The Strangers

The Foot Fist Way

Kung Fu Panda – David Cross was way underused. I didn’t like this film overall, but I seem to be the only one.

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan – This comedy was too “one-note” for me. It is somewhere slightly ahead of Little Nicky on the Adam Sandler movie rankings.

Mongol – Reminiscent of  movies like Braveheart, this foriegn flick is entertaining but it is a bit long and it doesn’t go into the playa aspect of Ghengis Khan.

The Promotion

The Happening

The Incredible Hulk – The second best superhero movie of 2008. Really, this is the Hulk done right. You get that build up of excitement right before Bruce Banner becomes the Hulk that is necessary for the movie to work.

Get Smart – The second best comedy of 2008.

The Love Guru – A bit of a mess, but I still laughed out loud at a few parts. It is the Mike Myers equivalent of Zohan.

Wall-e – Pixar movies have been letting me down for some time now, so this was a nice little surprise. I enjoyed it more than I had expected to.

Wanted

Hancock

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Journey to the Center of the Earth – If you can get past some plot holes, this movie is fun and entertaining.

Meet Dave

August

The Dark Knight

Mamma Mia!

Space Chimps

Transsiberian

Step Brothers

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

Man on Wire

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Swing Vote

Pineapple Express

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2

Beer for my Horses

Tropic Thunder – Should have been one of the top movies of the year, but Tom Cruise absolutely killed the movie. That role should have been cut or at least cast Jerry Stiller in it.

Mirrors

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Vicky Christina Barcelona

The Rocker

Death Race

The House Bunny

The Longshots

Hamlet 2

Traitor

Babylon A.D.

College

Disaster Movie

Bangkok Dangerous

Burn After Reading – I enjoyed the film, but I understand most people’s complaints (i.e. what’s the point of the movie?).

Righteous Kill

The Family the Preys

The Women

Towelhead

Ghost Town

Igor

Lakeview Terrace

My Best Friend’s Girl

Appaloosa

The Duchess

Eagle Eye – This movie was bashed pretty hard, but I loved it.

Fireproof

Miracle of St. Anna

Nights in Rodanthe

Choke

An American Carol

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Blindness

Flash of Genius

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist

Rachel Getting Married

Religulous

RocknRolla

Body of Lies

City of Ember

The Express

Quarantine

Happy-Go-Lucky

Max Payne

The Secret Life of Bees

Sex Drive

W.

What Just Happened

High School Musical 3

Pride and Glory

Saw V

Changeling

Passengers

Synecdoche, New York

The Haunting of Molly Hartley

Zack and Miri Make a Porno – All the crudeness of a Kevin Smith film without any of the heart.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Role Models – A funny movie that shouldn’t have been as good as it was.

Slumdog Millionaire

Quantum of Solace – I was entertained, but overall it was a pretty weak Bond movie.

Bolt - Fun family movie. Very good in 3D

Twilight

Australia

Four Christmases

Transporter 3

Milk

Cadillac Records

Nobel Son

Punisher: War Zone

Frost/Nixon

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Delgo

Nothing Like the Holidays

Doubt

Gran Torino

Che

The Wrestler

Seven Pounds

The Tale of Despereaux

Yes Man

Bedtime Stories – Pretty good overall, but a bit fluffy.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Marley & Me

The Spirit

Valkyrie

Revolutionary Road

Defiance

Mike’s Top Movies of 2008

10) Young@Heart

9) Rambo

8) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

7) The Incredible Hulk

6) The Forbidden Kingdom

5) Be Kind Rewind

4) Eagle Eye

3) Iron Man

2) Get Smart

1) Forgetting Sarah Marshall

 

So, now you have the full list of movies released and my picks for best movie of the year. Go ahead and post your favorites in the comments section.