Top Ten (10) Favorite Movies of 2008
Below is a countdown list of my favorite movies of 2008. Mind you, this is not a list of movies that I believe are the best. Such a list would only be subjective anyway. So without further ado, here are my favorite movies of 2008:
TOP TEN (10) FAVORITE MOVIES OF 2008
10. "Frost/Nixon" - Ron Howard directed this excellent drama about the series of interviews that British journalist David Frost conducted with former Presiden Richard Nixon in the early spring of 1977. Frank Langella and Michael Sheen starred.
9. "Vantage Point" - I really enjoyed this political thriller about an assassination plot on an American president participating at an anti-terrorism summit in Salamanca, Spain. The entire movie is based on a single, short period of time, which is retold six times, each time from the viewpoint of different characters. Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver starred.
8. "Quantum of Solace" - Despite some slightly erratic photography, I still enjoyed this sequel to the James Bond movie, "Casino Royale". Daniel Craig is great in his second out as British agent James Bond.
7. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls" - This fourth Indiana Jones movie took a different twist on the franchise in being a send up on the 1950s 'B' movies. Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf, Ray Winstone and Cate Blanchett are marvelous together.
6. "Defiance" - Ed Zwick's World War II tale about three Jewish brothers from Poland leading a resistance against their Nazi conquerors. Filled with delicious moral ambiguity, the movie starred Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell.
5. "Tropic Thunder" - Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. starred in this hilarious movie about Hollywood actors caught up in the filming of a Vietnam War movie gone wrong. Downey Jr. is especially hilarious as an Australian actor pretending to be an African-American character.
4. "Valkyrie" - Bryan Singer directed this superb World War II thriller about the last conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Tom Cruise stars as the main conspirator, Claus von Stauffenberg. Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Kenneth Branaugh and Terence Stamp give excellent support.
3. "Iron Man" - Robert Downey Jr. is excellent in this origin tale about Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and master engineer with many playboy vices, who builds a powered exoskeleton and becomes the technologically advanced superhero, Iron Man. Terrence Howard, Gweneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges give great support.
2. "Changeling" - Clint Eastwood directed this period thiller based upon an actual case about a woman in 1928 Los Angeles who recognizes that the boy returned after her son's disappearance is an impostor. After confronting the Los Angeles Police Department, she is vilified as an unfit mother and branded delusional. Angelina Jolie gives a superb performance as Christine Collins.
1. "Speed Racer" - The Wachowski Brothers directed this superb live action film adaptation of the 1960s Japanese anime series about an American race car driver and his family. Filled with innovative visual effects and backed by a first-rate plot, the movie stars Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, Matthew Fox, John Goodman and Susan Sarandon. One of the most original movies I have seen in years.