Best Movies Of 2008

This top ten list is based on the 35-40 flicks I saw this year.  There were a few big ones I missed out on, so they may be added upon a further date.  As of today this is my list, where action movies reigned proud.  Some of my choices may be up for debate, but the number one film of the year is clear.  Read on and enjoy!  

 

10. Rambo

 

John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) returns to us in this fourth installation of his life. This time around he is living a quiet life on the Burmese river collecting rare snakes for a man that has a snake charming show. His life takes a turn when he is asked to take a Christian relief group down the dangerous river, into the violent Burma, and drop them off. Though he initially declines, after the earnest begging of Sarah (Julie Benz), he is convinced to take them anyway. It isn’t long before the man in charge of the missionary seeks Rambo out with the news that the group has gone missing. Rambo agrees to take mercenaries to the location where he dropped the missionaries off, but soon finds himself compelled to search and destroy as well.  For more click here.

 

 

9. Twilight

 

As a film that has been translated from adolescent novella to the big screen, Twilight was an exceptional success, but it also stood on it’s own as a very intriguing teen film that had appeal to an audience beyond the young adult consensus group.  Having read the complete collection of the “Twilght” stories the film smartly followed what made it’s novel version such a gigantic achievement.  It attained all the qualities of the characters, the setting, and the plot itself that made the story compelling.  With direct lines from the story and actors that visually mirrored the description Stephenie Meyers so heart-fully described, the Twilight film became a wonderful adaptation of a now beloved story. For more click here!

 

8. Stargate: Continuum

 

Stargate Continuum was another success from my point of view in the Stargate DVD movie collection verse.  That being said, I’m going to get my major criticism immediately out of the way.  The Ark Of Truth did an excellent job closing up SG-1’s tenth season cliffhangers, but also evolving it on a much larger scale than a regular two part episode, but as BIG as Martin Wood promised Continuum to be, it simply wasn’t.  It had all the feeling and best elements of a season three or four finale episode but it never translated into feature film epic.  This is not an out and out complaint, but it was a little bit dejecting because it was built up so much by the director, producers, and Stargate community.  That icky little criticism aside Continuum made for an nostalgic return to days of early SG-1. For more click here!

 

 7.  Horton Hears a Who

 

 A kind of goofy elephant named Horton (Jim Carrey) in the jungle of Newl discovers a fantastical thing one morning during his ritual swim.  It’s a spec that seems to be talking.  The sweet elephant is determined to communicate with the voices he heard on the spec.  Little does he know an entire world of it’s own exists called Whoville.  In contrast the Mayor of Whoville is unaware that his entire community is tiny tiny and lives on a spec.  It isn’t long before he begins to suspect that things have gone slightly awry and finds himself talking through a pipe to a giant elephant named Horton who is carrying the spec on a flower with the intentions to put the city somewhere safe.  But both Horton and the Mayor find their goals being thwarted by a Kangaroo (Carol Burnett) and a mean councilman (Dan Fogler)  who are determined to stop them. for more read here!

 

 6. You Don’t Mess With The Zohan

 

 Adam Sandler is back.  You Don’t Mess With Zohan is the first comedy he’s made in years that has any likeness to the vulgar and shocking comedy of Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore.  The past few years it seems he’s focused more on the sweeter side doing films like Big Daddy, Mr. Deeds, Click, Eight Crazy Nights, and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, which simply just were sub-par to the gentle hearted comedy of The Wedding Singer.  You Don’t Mess With Zohan incorporates an off-kilter dialect that is silly as his Waterboy and Little Nicky interpretations yet have an undeniable sweetness in it’s creation.  For more read here!

 

 5. Definitely, Maybe

 

 It was a breath of fresh air to watch a film about relationships and life that wasn’t all about corny predictably romantic beats and happy endings.  It was a realistic journey threw the eyes of a man who’s life had changed drastically from his hopes and dreams leaving college with a collage of failed relationships.  His divorce and his daughter caught in the middle is the driving force for this reflective peek into what once was and what was lost over the years.  While some of memories are borderline dark and depressing the story itself manages to keep an upbeat positive feel that often offers a good chuckle in between romance and heartbreaks, without being awkward or forced, like a lot of films in this genre. For more read here!

 

 

4. Cloverfield

 

 

Cloverfield was a monster movie like one you’ve never seen before. The entire film is shot from a first person camera and the entire feel of the movie retains that personal affect. The movie begins with a man video taping central park at 6:42 a.m. from the apartment of his girlfriends father. He claims it’s going to be a good day. There is interchange between the couple that suggests an obvious affection and then the camera is shut off. The next shot brings us to a new couple preparing for a going away party of sorts, and soon it becomes clear that they are taping over the tape that had previously recorded the couple and their day at Coney Island. The next twenty minutes or so are spent developing and establishing relationships between the people when suddenly the entire building shakes. After a mysterious news bulletin, it’s obvious that the quake is not local to them, but all of Manhattan. In a panic people crowd the streets in a fury when an all too familiar cloud of smoke floods the streets followed the head of the Statue Of Liberty. When more debris begins to come people seek shelter until it’s seems to pass, and run outside to see what has happened to their beloved city. The rest of the movie after this is followed by one beat after another that builds on the previous event, maximizing the amount of suspense and intensity of each individual event.  For more read here!

 

3. Iron Man

 

Why are some movies of the Superhero Genre so well received compared to others?  What drives Spiderman 1 and 2, Batman Begins,  X-Men 1 and 2 to heights of critical, financial and the most hard won of all, core fan success? That question, and what I believe to be a common answer spread out across all of these films came to me while I was watching Iron Man.  What is it?  Characters.  Three dimensional, fleshed out characters.  Not just the basic chess pieces moved from square to square in service of the plot, but well written, well acted, well directed people inhabiting a story which JUST HAPPENS to include supernatural and or science fiction elements.  If the delivery of them is flawed, if the audience is not able to identify and relate to the people involved no amount of Special Effects, no strict adherence to character back stories will mean a damn.  It’s in that area of characterization that Iron Man puts it’s efforts first – foremost – and for the length of the film. For more of Marc’s review click here!

 

2. Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

 

I admit the first scene left me a bit concerned and nervous.  It was a little off putting, the character’s unfamiliar, and our aged Ford seeming a little less like his normal dauntless adventurer.  Also were the worries advertised by the critic naysayers that claimed it was too Sci-Fi with the alien theme.  I will promise those concerns were immediately dismissed.  The first three films were themed with the occult and paranormal activity and the myth of the skull and even it’s gargantuan climax was more geared toward the original three’s mysticism rather than science fiction and aliens.  Rumours of that are simply fiction.  Spielburg even denied Lucas’s request to put more science fictionesque stuff in the film.  I assure you this film is not exactly in the same category as it’s predecessors, but it contains the same dynamics’s, feel, and heart of the original Indy’s. For more READ HERE!

 

1. The Dark Knight

 

The Dark Knight certainly lived up to it’s hype with an action packed story, enigmatic and perplexing characters, and undertones that leave chills twisting down your spine.  The brilliant script and direction of Christopher Nolan shines through with a film that balances action, crime, the very nature of good and evil while still maintaining it’s comic book genre.  It blows what other comic movies have tried to do out of the water, they aren’t even in the same category.  The internal struggles of the character’s and desperation of the choices each makes is the catalyst for the story. For more READ HERE!

Worst Movies Of 2008

Worst Movies Of 2008

 

Heather’s Picks

 

Here are the worst of 2008.  Those bad enough that I want to scream and warn you to run as far away from these titles as possible without a viewing.  Personally, I’ve seen better film on teeth.  If anyone can nail that quote I will give you a cookie.  When it comes to my reviews of the terribly bad I sometimes stray away from writing a professional review and rant a bit, and while it’s not as eloquently written, the reviews tend to be on the funny side.  So Finally, here is the list you’ve been waiting for!

 

6. Strange Wilderness

 

With a hilarious cast and Happy Madison productions backing it up Strange Wilderness appeared to be a movie that would be overflowing with the funny.  It wasn’t.  In fact it was desperately boring, and now I feel lesser for having wasted my time viewing it.  Steve Zahn  has a great knack for playing a stoner with a dry sense of humor, which suited him fine for this role, but as the lead character reminiscing about this tale, he comes off as too stupid to put a sensible thought together.  His outrageous idea’s and behavior in regards to the Wilderness show he hosts goes past being over the top and funny and into the realm of too offensive to even have one blink of sanity.  To believe the preposterous story isn’t even possible.  Even in the universe created by the director and writer. Fore more Read Here!

 

5. 27 Dresses

 

Apparently all you have to do these days to find true love is take your hair out of a ponytail and put some makeup on.  Voila!  No more bridesmaid!  You’ll finally be a bride.  This may not have been a direct message in 27 Dresses but it was one of the many visual supporting qualities that contradicted the con-deluded theme that this film presented on the surface.  Outwardly it’s presenting one truth to you while subsequently offering an entirely different ideal behind it. For More Read HERE!

 

4. Day Of The Dead

 

Day Of The Dead is a remake of the 1985 version where the world is overrun by viscous flesh eating zombies.  In this adaptation a brother and sister named Sarah and Trevor (Mena Suvari and Micheal Welch) are separated in their small town in Colorado as an angry outbreak of the flu has become air born.  As sick people flock to the local hospital it becomes clear it is no ordinary flu.  Something is killing the people of the town and turning them into flesh craving monsters.  Sarah, who is in the army, meets up with a small group of people including another officer named Salazar, played by Nick Cannon.  Hiding in the radio station across town Trever and his girlfriend watch terrified as the town is devoured and changed.  It seems like there is no hope and no one will survive.  For more READ HERE!

 

3. Meet The Spartans

 

Meet The Spartans was unfortunately the pathetic disaster advertised by critics and peers alike.  Instead of rising above some of the more recent parody films like Epic Movie, Meet The Spartans only managed to fall into the same dismal attempt at unoriginal, unfunny jokes, while not even having the ability to conceive an original story out of 300’s plot line.  It stuck exclusively to the basics 300 set and never bothered to waiver from it.  The film never rose above a sarcastic friend commenting on the film while sitting next to you on the couch.  For more READ HERE!

 

2. 10,000 B.C.

 

Synopsis 

Prehistoric man’s love is taken to be a slave for crazy Pharaoh in far off land.  Prehistoric man searches for woman and fights great battles and prehistoric foes.  There is lots of CGI and little dialogue.  There is almost a battle at the end.

Review

I tried to write a synopsis but the smart part of my brain couldn’t say much more than a sentence or two because that was all I could muster without criticizing any aspect of it.  What I expect from a Roland Emmerich film is very little.  I wager there will be superficial character’s with a paper thin plot and mediocre dialogue that will offer an occasional laugh if delivered by a good enough actor.  Most importantly there is excellent CGI and action sequences to distract from the simplistic story being told before you.  Emmerich is one of the few directors who can pull this off and generally come up with a reasonable movie that’s harmless enough to not mind that it’s kind of dumb.  For more READ HERE!

 

1. Witless Protection

 

Admittedly I only suffered a viewing of this movie because my husband begged to rent it.  I enjoy Larry the Cable Guy’s stand up, and his previous film “Larry The Cable Guy” had inadvertent moments of funny to offer.  A few beers and it’s not a half bad movie.  Nonetheless, an entire case of beer wouldn’t have encouraged a moment of laughter from Witless Protection.  As a viewer you know going in this is no Academy Award winning film, and you also know you aren’t going to get Adam Sandler and Mike Myers talent of making successful and good offensive comedies.  You expect the campy overdone mockery of Tremors 2 or 3 and that was what I was looking for.  Each of those were worthy of best picture nominations next to Witless Protection.  In fact there have been adult films made with more of a plot, better soundtrack, and even better acting. For more READ HERE!