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?
how much did get “cloverfield”?
I’d have liked to see In Bruges in there as well, best film I’ve seen from 2008, but from what I’ve gathered from the rankings it’s rather of a love or hate affair. Still need to catch up on quite a few, especially 2, 4, 5 and 6. The Dark Knight is overrated though, just like Juno and to a lesser extent No Country For Old Men were in 2007.
In Bruges was very awesome!
Here’s the order of these films on IMDB:
1. The Dark Knight (0)
2. The Wrestler (0)
3. Slumdog Millionaire ( 3)
4. WALL·E (-1)
5. Milk (0)
6. Let the Right One In (-2)
7. Man on Wire (0)
8. Encounters at the End of the World (0)
9. Synecdoche, New York (0)
10. Rachel Getting Married (0)
Pretty much the same except for Slumdog Millionaire being a lot more popular there than it is here, and Let the Right One In being less popular on IMDb than it is here. Are Criticker users more about cinema than about popcorn? Or is that a statistically insignificant observation? Or am I dead wrong about these movies, since I have seen neither of the two. I’ve only seen The Dark Knight and Wall-E… shame on me!
I think how overrated The Dark Knight is is questionable. I’ve seen it three times, twice in theaters, and can honestly say I was pretty much blown away every time. Matter of opinion, I guess.
This blog post was interesting though, thanks. I’m a sucker for lists. Also good job mentioning Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along blog, probably my favorite thing to come out of 2008 overall. Recommend everyone buy the DVD of that, if only for “Commentary: The Musical!”, possibly the single most sweet audio commentary ever where the cast and crew spend about 90% of the time singing about each other. Gold.
If The Dark Knight and Wall-E are in the top 5, it’s a sad, sad year.
The God Awful thing living in WV, only 4 of those came to our theater.
Burn After Reading is a fantastic film and in my opinion is the year’s best. I’m surprised how many people don’t love it. I was laughing my ass off the entire time and the film has one of the most hilarious endings I’ve ever seen.
Saw all of these but The Wrestler, which I plan to do first chance I get. Can’t complain about most, although Milk left me colder than most, I was baffled by the accolades thrust upon Rachel, and Slumdog is very simply terrible. Would much prefer to see Burn After Reading up there.
totally agree with d7 on ‘burn after reading’, fucking love that movie, might even make my coens top 3. i have a feeling synecdoche would top my list if i didn’t live in britain, but for now it’s BAR all the way. ‘let the right one in’ is my second favourite, lovely film, second half could’ve used quite a bit of trimming down though.
the dark knight is definitely a bit overrated (too obvious and soundbitey and stuff), but the backlash is stupid as hell, it’s easily a top 10 film for the year and i seriously thought about it a fuckload afterwards which is always the sign of a good film. definitely liked it more than wall-e (which is good in parts but not one of the best pixars).
i’m sure i’ll like the wrestler, hate slumdog millionaire, be lukewarm towards milk, love encounters at the end of the world. ‘rachel getting married’ i’m not sure about, seems to be a lot of disagreement there. i’ll get round to seeing them all, maybe something will surprise me. glad to see there’s no ben button there too.
all in all not a bad list considering it’s a weak year. criticker > imdb
can you make a worst list too please
Glad to see I am not the only one who thought The Dark Knight was alittle overrated. Don’t get me wrong, i still think its a good movie and probably the best superhero movie made. But thats what it is a superhero movie but people seem to put it on the level of past oscar movies. Not even close to No Country for Old Men from last year in my opinion. I liked Slumdog, but thought it was alittle to hollywood for my liking.