2008 has faded into the past, and it was certainly an interesting year. The financial crisis and the US election were just two of the overwhelming news events which often sent us scurrying to the cinema for some good old escapism. But which were the films that the users of Criticker liked more than any other?

Here you are… the Top Ten Films of 2008, as determined by average tier.

Let’s rewind 11 years. It’s 1997, and you just left the theater in disgust after having wasted your hard-earned cash on Batman and Robin. If someone had told you that, in the near future, a Batman film would be the year’s best… what would you have said? Well, it’s come to pass, and the fact that a comic book flick is the year’s most loved is almost exhilarating as Heath Ledger’s unforgettable performance as the Joker.

Continuing in the vein of “I can’t believe this was so good” is Darren Aronofsky’s film about a washed up wrestler. Starring Mickey Rourke. Yup, a wrestling movie starring Mickey Rourke is the year’s second best … losing out only slightly to a comic book adaptation. Awesome.

Ahh… coming in at number 3 is a film that we had reason to expect great things from, and WALL·E didn’t disappoint. Visually stunning, WALL·E would’ve been amazing even if it didn’t have a wonderful, unique plot. But it did, and Pixar’s latest is perhaps their best yet — which is saying something.

If you were in the mood for young vampires, you’d have been well-advised to skip Twilight, and instead hunt down Let the Right One In — a quietly arresting movie out of Sweden. Alternately romantic and violent, this film made a fan out of every Criticker user who saw it.

Sean Penn is one of the favorites to win the Best Actor Oscar this year, for his triumphant and joyous portrait of San Francisco’s gay-rights icon, Harvey Milk. Yes, this is a “message” film, but it’s one that works on every level.

Bollywood meets the West, in Danny Boyle’s exuberant Slumdog Millionaire — a fairytale-like story of one boy’s attempts to help his friend by appearing on the Hindi “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”. You know, let’s file this one under “I can’t believe it was so good”, too. This film has been racking up a lot of critics’ awards, and might be a dark horse, come Oscar time.

2008 was certainly at no loss for unique cinematic experiences, as #7 and #8 on our year-end list prove. Both are documentaries; one about a tightrope walker’s illegal 1974 stunt, and the other about life in Antarctica. Both are among 2008′s must-see films.

Despite big-name stars and perhaps the biggest-name screenwriter currently working, not too many people saw Charlie Kaufmann’s directorial debut Synecdoche, New York. Maybe that’s because no one knew how to pronounce it, and so couldn’t recommend it to their friends. Who knows? Anyway, nearly all Criticker users who did see it, loved it.

Anne Hathaway can act! It’s something we always suspected, but she finally got a chance to really prove it, in Jonathan Demme’s awkwardly engaging drama.

Kudos must go to a few other films which scored high, but which we left off this list. Pixar’s animated short Presto scored almost as well as WALL·E, and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog debuted online, and was also greatly loved.

Did your favorite film make the cut? I was saddened that one of my favorite films of 2008, In Bruges, didn’t land in the top ten. What about you?