2008 end of the year BLOW OUT!

I know I am late with this, but I was really wanting t0 wait until I had seen everything I believed would end up on my top list. I hope the lateness does not deter people from reading it. I am not sure how much longer I will really continue updating this blog, but we shall see. Anyway, what follows is my end of the year stuff: favorites, least favorites, surprises and whatnot.

My Ten Favorite movies of 2008

10. Forgetting Sarah Marshall- This was my favorite straight up comedy of the year. It made me laugh from beginning to end and there were singing vampire puppets!

9. Frost/Nixon- Amazing acting and writing and somehow made an interview crazy intense. It found a way to make me feel sympathy for Richard Nixon

8. Milk- The most relevant story of the bunch. It has great acting and a tremendous heart. Sean Penn throws himself into the role and everyone around him follow suit.

7. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- An impressive marriage of intimate and epic. Brad Pitt gives the performance of his career and the technical side of the movie will change the way CG is used.

6. In Bruges- I loved this nice little surprise of a movie. It is funny, politically incorrect, featured a few cool shoot outs and gave Colin Ferrell the best performance of his career. I really hope more people find this little gem.

5. Slumdog Millionaire- I expected nothing out of this story, but it moved me and made me, even if briefly, believe in the idea of fate. It never feels false and it somehow makes beauty out of an ugly situation. It is a moving and powerful story.

4. The Wrestler- Heart breaking in so many ways, this is an intimate and tragic story, with a big heart and a powerhouse performance from the most unlikely of sources. It is really a movie about love and going out on your own terms. Live the life you want to live!

3. Wall-E- I cannot believe how amazing I found this movie. It is a gorgeous love story, a sweeping sci-fi epic and a message film all rolled up into one. Plus, Wall-E is soooo damn cute. How could you not fall in love with the little robot who wants nothing more than to hold hands with something?

2. The Dark Knight- I cannot say anything else about this movie that has not already been said. It is a moving, violent, sweeping and manic movie that makes superhero movies look good. I wonder how the pessimism of Gotham City will look under the new administration.

1. Rachel Getting Married- This is somewhat of a sentimental choice, I admit that, but I was so unbelievably moved by this suffocating family struggle. The way music and cameras are used to further the story only made things more intimate and interesting. I cried my way through it and when it was over, I wanted to believe in love and change.

The Next Five (11-15)- Tropic Thunder, Redbelt, Valkyrie, Ironman, Revolutionary Road

The 10 worst movies of 2008

10. Twilight- This movie carried hype, otherwise, it might have just been some forgettable movie I saw once and it would not have made this list. It sucked. The romance sucked, the action sucked, the effects sucked and the music sucked. If you liked this movie you are just flat out wrong.

9. The Mummy 3- Pointless sequel alert!! This was a mess from beginning to end and having Yetis that somehow understand Chinese and Yetis that have a sense of humor did nothing to help matters. This was also plagued with bad CGI.

8. Mamma Mia- I am still trying to forget I ever saw this garbage. Meryl Streep is not one for musical comedy and it was sad to watch her try. It was an uninspired movie, with one good sequence and a bunch of hot people, but still a waste of time and money.

7. Prom Night- Characters is slasher flicks have to be a bit stupid for a movie to exist, but this movie is full of the stupidest characters doing the stupidest things. I hated this thing so much because I just wanted them all to die of stupidity.

6. Speed Racer- This was probably the biggest disappointment for me this year. I wanted to like it but it was a disaster. The colors got headache worthy pretty early on, and the story did nothing to save it!

5. Saw V- It is not every year that a Saw movie does not end up in my worst 3 list, which means this was either not as a bad as the other ones or this yr just had more worse movies. You can pick whichever you like.

4. Punisher: War Zone- Gore, blood and bullets can help make a movie better, but if the movie is awful, they cannot change that. This was awful in every way imaginable. It should have gone right into the DVD bin.

3. Bangkok Dangerous- Such a string of pointless cliches tied together into a movie. Nic Cage has awful hair, again, and his acting is even worse. I am not sure what the point of it all was, I just know I was glad when everyone was dead.

2. In the Name of the King- I was so sure this would be number 1. I guess it should thank number 1 for coming out. I guess it is fitting that this is number 2 because it is a big steaming pile of crap.

1. The Love Guru- Words cannot even fully describe just how bad this movie is. Superlatives do not exist with enough gusto to properly place this movie in the right amount of suck. Actually let me try, if this movie had been released in the same year as Pirates of the Caribbean 3, this would have been the worst movie and not Pirates, which is saying something.

S0 there it is my 2008 wrap up. It is time to look forward to The Oscars and then of course, to 2009. Please let me know what some of your favorites of 2008 were, unless you just want to talk about how amazing Twilight was. In that case, just keep it to yourself, no one needs to know that. :-)