Best Movies of 2008 so far

The Dark Knight was simply incredible. Spiderman 3 was a disappointment after all the wait. The Dark Knight however is even better than I hoped for. It takes Batman and the villains seriously. So you don't get shots of Batman's butt or him saying awful lines, like "I don't fit in at a family pic-nic", or "it's the car, chicks dig the car". While the villains don't act like something from the 60's tv series.

The Dark Knight has Batman (Christian Bale), Gordon (Gary Oldman) and Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) teaming up to bring down criminals. They aren't doing a bad job; a new criminal named the Joker (Heath Ledger) just might be more than they can handle though. He's a twisted and creepy villain with no compassion for anyone. He threatens to kill a different person until Batman reveals who he is. Which starts to become too much for Bruce Wayne since people he cares about start to become targets.

The movie is an ingenious masterpiece with many twists and turns. You never know what to expect from the movie. Despite being a super hero film it also works as a thriller/mob movie. Sometimes I even had a hard time convincing myself that Michael Mann wasn't the director lol.

Comic fans should still be pleased though. Heath Ledger is amazing as the Joker and it's sad that he won't have a long career of playing the part. He's creepy, twisted, funny and menacing in the role. What also helps the movie is that everyone else is in top form as well. While Christopher Nolan knows how to handle having more than one villain, unlike Sam Raimi with Spiderman 3. He does have a task ahead of him though to try and top this with a 3rd film. I don't see that happening but I can't wait for more either way.

WALL.E is probably my favorite movie of the year so far. It's original, imaginitive and actually one of the best science fictions movies. It's also fun while being sweet, charming and romantic.

It's smart as well with how mankind is off getting fat on a ship after they ruined earth. They are so used to technology doing everything for them that they don't even walk. With how things are going now...it could happen lol.

Iron Man is Marvel's best movie since Spiderman, Spiderman 2 and X-Men 2. It can be a little slow which is why it has been compared to the Hulk. It's a lot more fun than the Hulk was though.

Plus even if it slowly picks up, Robert Downey Jr. is entertaining through-out as Tony Stark. So you're never bored with Iron Man. The supporting cast is excellent as well. Gwyneth Paltrow keeps up with Downey Jr's quick wit with some quick wit of her own. The two also have some great chemistry.

While Terrence Dashon Howard is fine as Stark's friend in the military. A bald Jeff Bridges does a good job as Stark's business partner as well. The movie has action it's cool and very well done. Another reason why it shouldn't be compared to the Hulk is because it never makes you scratch your head saying "what's going on ?". It's more involving and more of a crowd pleaser than the Hulk as well.

Kung Fu Panda is simply touching, fun, charming and it has pleanty of heart. I'm not a huge Jack Black fan but I must give him credit for his great voice over work here. Dustin Hoffman also does excellent work. The action is also well done. Out of all the summer blockbusters this is one of my favorites so far.

I wish Seth Rogen wrote the script for every comedy that came out. Pineapple Express is hilarious and great fun. If you didn't like Superbad though, you might not like this either. I do think it is a lot funnier than it though.
Think of Seth Rogen's character from Knocked Up with the weed but guns and crooked cops as well. You also have brilliantly funny fight scenes. Every one of them could even wind up being nominated for Best Fight at the MTV Movie Awards.

While James Franco should just do comedy roles for now on. He does his best work here than he has in any other movie. Danny R. McBride also is hilarious as their friend Red who can sure take a beating I'll just say lol. His scenes might just be worth seeing the movie for alone. Bill Hadar (Superbad) makes a very funny appearance in the opening of the movie as well.

My only problem with it is that it would have been great to actually hear the M.I.A Paper Planes song in the movie that's from the trailers. It went great with the movie in the trailers and it's not in it at all. You also get a scene in the end where the characters talk about basically everything that happened. Which wasn't needed. Still, I didn't care that much since I laughed so much that the movie made me feel like a stoner myself.

The Spiderwick Chronichles is one of the better movies based on a fantasy book series. It's about a boy who moves into a house with his mom and his twin brother and sister. The lives of him and his family change as soon as he finds a mysterious book. It holds all the secrets of an alternate world that goblins want to get their hands on.

The movie is magical and even a little bit touching "Don't listen to the guy here who that gave it *1/2 lol." With the voice acting and the rest of the cast being so good I wouldn't even mind more. I just don't understand if tomatoe sauce kills goblins, does that mean they could kill them by just throwing tomatoes at them too ? lol.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a brilliant comedy with everyone in top form. Jason Segel has a future in movies. I like him in How I Met Yiour Mother but never saw him as talented as he has proved to be in films like Knocked Up and now Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Hell he's even bold enough to show his penis more than once just for laughs. Which is pretty gross though lol.



Here he plays a man who does the musical score for a CSI type show. His girlfriend iSarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) is the star. She breaks up with him for someone else. He goes on a vacation to Hawaii to try and move on. That;'s going to be hard though since she's there too with her new rockstar boyfriend.



What I love about this movie is that everyone involved gives their A game. Russel Brand who I've never seen before is simply hilarious as Sarah's new b/f. While Paul Rudd as a stoner surfer is also good for laughs. Bill Hadar (Superbad) is funny as well as Segel's supportive step-brother. Plus for once he doesn't have any lines that refer to StarWars lol.



Jonah Hill (Knocked Up, Superbad) is funny as a waiter that stalks Brand. He still sticks out like sore thumb though since he looks exactly the same as he is did in Knocked Up and Superbad. Mia Kunas (That 70's Show, voice of Meg in Family Guy) I think does her best work though. She plays a Motel Hostess that Segal starts to fall for. I should also mention that Kristen Bell shows that she has a future in movies too. She made a much better role choice here than she did with that awful movie Pulse.



This movie is just good for laughs. Even the scenes of the Sarah Marshall tv series is funny. I mean William Baldwin plays her partner who's basically spoofing William Peterson on CSI. He's surprisingly pretty funny. Look for a nice cameo by Jason Bateman in the credits as well.

All I have to say is wow. I didn't expect much from this movie but I really enjoyed it. The Monkey King character is a little annoying though. Other than this movie has some fun fight scenes.

Plus it took Jackie Chan and Jet Li practically 10 years to find a good script for an American film. I mean, sure the Rush Hour movies were ok but this is a much much more entertaining role for Chan. I hear he wants to do yet another film with Chris Tucker but enough is enough. Chan needs more roles like this!

Forbidden Kingdom also gives Jet Li a better role as well than lets say The One. Which was only made because the Matrix was successful and the main character was called...The One. Hell I think this is the only American Jet Li movie I ever liked. It has some fun Kun-Fu and even some good fantasy.

In Bruges is well acted, smart and funny. I just expected a little more due to all the talk about how great it is. It certainly was well made but I didn't really like how it ended. So that ruined it for me a little.

Colin Ferrell is more fun than usual here though. While I agree with critics that Brendan Cleeson should be nominated.

This new version of the Hulk has less talk and more action. It also scraps the idea in the 2003 film that Banner got powers due to his father experimenting on him.

The opening credits "which is a lot like the ones to the 70's tv series" explains how he became the Hulk.

Norton's Banner goes into hiding right after getting his powers. In Brarzli he tries to learn how to control his anger beter. It's going ok until the military finds out where he is.

The Incredible Hulk is also a success for Marvel after Ironman. However it has less of a story than the 2003 film. It also feels like the same movie in some areas. You have Betty's father (this time played by William Hurt, not Sam Elliiot) after Bruce yet again. When we already know that weapons of the milary are useless against the Hulk. We learned that bullets bounce off of him in the 2003 film already.

However they do learn that if they want to be a match for him they need someone as strong as him. Tim Roth's character is more eager to be experimented on after seeing how unstoppable Banner is.

The movie has so much energy that I was yawning by the middle of the film. However it is well made and the action is very well done. It is the fun comic "Hulk Smash" film that people hoped the 2003 film to be. Norton is also about as good as Banner as the late Bill Bixby was.

The Wrestler is an excellent film about the life of an aging wrestler that did it for over 20 years. Rourke is so believable that it feels as if you're watching the biography of an actual wrestler.


The scenes outside of the ring where he's struggling to have a life without wrestling are also believable. His scenes where he tries to reconnect with his daughter that he left feel authentic and real.

Rourke makes you feel for him and sometimes he also makes you think of him as a jerk who deserves to be alone. Marisa Tomei also does great work as a stripper he befriends and falls for. Both of them deserve Oscar nominations. I think Rourke does even more though since he has been overlooked more than once for fine performances. The end though sort of left a bad taste in my mouth. It was satisfying, yet unsatisfying at the same time, if that makes sense.

Let the Right One In is about a 12 yr old boy named Oskar who's tormented by bullies at school. A new girl moves in to his apartment building and appears to be the same age as him. They become friends and she gives him the courage to stand up to the bullies. He starts to fall for her and wants to go steady with her but he doesn't know that she's actually a vampire.

The movie is dark and twisted, yet their relationship is kind of sweet. Despite the film being creepy and haunting, it also manages to be likable due to the 2 young leads. The only thing that skeeved me out though, is that they didn't have to show the girl's private area. You know an American film wouldn't have got away with
that.

Despite that though I would still recommend it to those who wish Twilight was less romantic, mushy and whimsical. Let the Right One In is kind of romantic but unlike Twilight, you get a good dose of old fashion horror. The direction has an old school feel to it and the film even has the look of a movie from the late 70's or early 80's.