Top Films (2008)

From the opening shot to the last scene we are treated to clever, intricate film-making on a level only equalled by The Godfather movies. This is the definitive comic-book adaptation in my eyes. Yes, Tim Burton's Batman is great fun but you can't compare it to this epic re-visualization from the genious of Chris Nolan. It's really, really entertaining. From the opening heist scene with it's slick, twisty storytelling you know you're in for one hell of a ride. There are so many cool set pieces it's too hard to list them, but the lorry chase was probably the best. It's just so cooly done. This film is all about the Joker though. Every moment Heath is on screen you can't peel your eyes away, he's just so unpredictable. The 'dissapearing pencil' trick had me in stitches. My man Gary Oldman was an absolute rock as usual. Everyone is talking about how dark this movie is, of course it's fucking dark it's a story about a fucking vigilante dressed as a bat who's parents were slade by ruthless criminals in a stinkin' city underworld. Dark is how it should be. What i liked most most is the urgency of the characters, you really felt they were trying their hardest to clear the streets of the filth, and it's a real struggle. There's no happy ending but your not left with an empty feeling, but one of satisfaction that the Batman has laid down his own reputation in order to save a city, if only temporarily, as he'll be back to clear his name and win over the people of Gotham once more. It's just such a damn shame that the next movie will be Jokerless. The Dark Knight is here and summer has officially landed. Fucking epic inspiring stuff!

Best film of the year. Wow, what a performance from Mickey Rourke. This is an almost perfect film. There isn't a lot to work with as we're mostly following this broken man around to bars, strip clubs, supermarkets, signings etc but you can't take your eyes away. The wrestling matches punctuate this film with killer precision. They are so realisticly done you can almost feel the pain he has to go through in each match. This film doesn't show wrestling as the camp, spandex wearing drama like in WWF but instead shows a brutal but honest interpretation where the people involved are very well respected and have great respect for eachother. Loved all the camerawork and cinematography - very natural. Music was nice too. Marisa Tomei is just amazing, she gets better and better and she is stunning. What a body! I loved the scene in the Deli counter where Randy is happy and playing with the customers, it's a sweet moment. Open ending kind of fits the film i thought, as the end shot is the most powerful shot in the whole film. Awsome. A+

Forget all that Twilight/Underworld/Blade shite, this is a real vampire movie, set in real life, and it's stonkingly good! The subtle direction and natural acting coupled with the beautifully crisp cinematography makes this film a joy to watch, whilst the slow burning story unveils a few shock moments along the way. Dark, tense and very chilling this film will make your hairs stand on end at times, the soundwork is great too. The final swimmingpool scene is fantastic as the use of underwater camera proves to be a majestic touch. Great movie! One of the best from '08 but brace yourselves for a crappy american remake where everything will be lost in translation and watered down to a run-of-the-mill, jumpfest adaptation.

Genious. Forget that the plot is paper thin & the characters all seem a bit one-dimensional, but the actual visuals are a delight to watch & the core of the film is all heart. Gondry again shows his majestic creative touch fitting in so much visual trickery & jokes. I think film-makers will appreciate this more than you're average cinema go-er, it's so sweetly made and all the scenes where they re-make the movies seem to ring home so well. To everyone expecting this to be another profound 'Eternal Sunshine' type movie - lighten up, it's just a charming little film about the sense of community that's meant to be fun, and it is fun! Jack Black is brilliant. Gondry just keeps cranking out the genious. Go check out the trailer on youtube where he 'swedes' his own trailer! Fantastic.

Good balance of action (lots of shit gets blowed-up), comedy (Downey Jr's dry sense of humor is perfect for the role), a little bit of romance (but not enough sex) but the plot is so incredibly thin & stupid you almost don't care. The techy scenes where he's in his lab are probably the most enjoyable but the final battle is a bit rushed and weak. Jeff Bridges is good but it's just way too obvious what his intentions are from the first moment you see him. I enjoyed the sequence with the jet fighters a lot. Terrance Howard is solid & believeable. Paltrow is quite cute. It's really Downey Jr's charisma that carries the whole movie on it's shoulders, he is fantastic. Stan Lee as Heff got a chuckle out of me. Ultimatley this is a great dumb action movie that you can just loose yourself in and have fun watching, leave your brain at home though. Quite often these super hero movies just peater-out at the end but this one ended on a really cool note. Oh, and if you stay until after the credits there is a surprise waiting for you, we were the only ones in the whole cinema who saw it! Bring on Iron Man 2 next summer.

Hard to describe my feelings of this. It really does leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth, it's quite vomit inducing actually. Haneke doesn't really give you anywhere to hide you are made to sit through and witness some strange, unjustified cruelty. At the same time as being gritty and realistic, it's also kind of other worldly in the sense there's no justification for any of the acts. It may be some kind of bash on American's love of ultra violence or it may just be a really experimental serial killer movie. There isn't actually very much violence or gore on screen but you get to hear it which makes the experience more painful in some respects. Definatley if you can stomach a bit of clockwork orange you should see it. It's disturbing to say the least. I will never watch this film again. Ever.

With all the love that this film is getting at the moment it will surely sweep up at the Oscars and probably deservedly so. Slumdog is visually amazing as all Danny Boyle films are. The chase scenes are so colourful and lively it's hard to take your eyes off the screen. He uses a lot of canted & dutch angled shots for more impact like his previous films. I must say the setup for the whole movie was really good. You knew where it was heading right from the moment we learn how he was able to answer the first question and this gave good story telling structure to the film as a whole. Great performance from the main character. My only problems with it is the fact i thought who wants to be a millionaire was recorded instead of broardcast live, maybe that's not the case in India? Also the show's host was a little over the top. The ending dragged a little bit and lost some of it's impact i thought. The music suited the film brilliantly. To all the snobby critics claiming that it is 'pornography' exploiting povety in stereotype for Western eyes - shut the fuck up! Overall this is certainly one of the best films of the year, but not one of the greatest films ever like if heard people coining it.

Loved every minute of it. Really good piss-take of over-paid, over-hyped pampered hollywood actor-types. Each main character had pretty serious mental issues which when you put them all together it made for comedy gold. Loved all the little odes to war movie epics like platoon, apocalypse now, rambo, predator etc, my girlfriend hated this but i suppose you need to be a red blooded male who's up with their war-films to fully appreciate the humor. The language is pretty colourful and the gore is excesive but that's what i loved about it. So many laugh out loud moments. Danny McBride is hillarious as the gung-ho explosives expert and Downey Jr nails another role, he is really on fire at the moment. Props to Stiller & co. for cranking out one of the funniest movies of the summer. One for the boys!

It goes to extremes yes, and there are many "what if?" scenarios, but i admire how this film was put together. For a big movie about an epidemic, theres no talk of 'finding a cure to save mankind blah blah blah". It's just simply a back drop to a character study inside a hospital ward where the inhabitants happen to have all gone blind, except for one. This movie will leave some people feeling angry and confused as there is no explanation or science into the mystery illness. Instead this movie is more a look at the dynamics of a group when faced with difficult circumstances. Yes it's filthy and disgusting in places but when push comes to shove in that situation i don't think some of those events would be too far from the truth. An interesting, yet difficult film to watch.

One of the best films from last year. Very well put together with all the old newsreel footage seemlessly integrated into the film. Outstanding performances by all especially Penn, he really gets into his characters, you just believe every word he says. Very powerful ending. I'm not a fag or anything but fundemental christians are such a bunch of fucking morons and deserve to die a slow death. Good film!

Very very good. Top notch acting and an involving story. Revolutionary special effects that are barley detectable. People are calling it a rip-off of Forest Gump but they obviously didn't watch the film properly. Maybe Button isn't quite as entertaining as Gump but there's certainly a lot more going on underneath it in terms of themes & meanings. I enjoyed this very much. The concept & execution are both perfect from one of the best living directors around at the moment in Fincher.

Shane Meadows pulls out another bittersweet slice of life of film. Brilliant natualistic acting from the boys again. Beautiful subtle black and white cinematography. A few real funny moments and a few scares. Characters connected by their lonliness and lust for a beautiful french girl. It's a short film with a running time of just over an hour but it's so simple and brilliantly put together that it's a joy to watch.

Brilliantly directed portayle of the hunger strikes by IRA prisoners at H-Block in 1981. There isn't a lot of dialogue but the images are so strong that words are not needed. The scene with Bobby Sands with the priest is an exeption as they wrestle with the morality of what is about to happen. Michael Fassbender's performance is awesome. This is a gritty, hard hitting piece of top quality British cinema.

This film follows 3 solidiers from a bomb squad unit in Iraq. It's very suspenseful, very realistic and very hard hitting. Great acting from the leads whilst Guy Pearce & Ralph Fiennes provide decent short cameos. This film deserves more attention.

A brilliant, magical telling of an amazing act. Philippe is incredible. The fact the towers arn't there any more just makes the film all the more haunting & emotional.
All the old 70's film they shot looked so great in the movie and really brought this documentary to life. I really enjoyed it.

After the shitfest that was Matchpoint, Scoop and Cassandra's Dream, Woody has finally hit back with some form at last. Vicky Christina Barcelona is fun & easy to watch, which has a lot to-do with all the tottie on display. I enjoyed the watching the story and relationships unfold as well as the beautiful scenary in Barcelona. I think Woody tapped into a lot of peoples' thoughts, feelings and desires and managed to make a charming little study about them. Solid watch.

Sally Hawkins is awsome in this film and deserves all the plaudits she gets for tackling such a character, especially when you see how down to earth she seems on the dvd extras. Happy Go Lucky is a great little watch. The best scenes are the driving lessons when you experience what happens when one of the darkest, twisted characters ever clashes with the lightest airhead in Poppy and sparks fly. It's both funny and sad. Delicate direction and great acting makes this one of the best British films this year, but there havent been many good ones to tell the truth.

One of the most involving films i've seen all year. Great performances by Rockwell & Beckinsale. The cinematography is brilliant and the music is nice. The story is gritty and realistic but also quite poigniant. The film builds up nicely to a dramatic climax. David Gordon Green's directing is spot on, he should stick to doing indie dramas rather than the overblown stupidness that was Pineapple Express. Very good watch.

These two do it again!. Another really well crafted comedy in the same vein as Talledega Nights. The 'apatow' factor once again shines through with more crude toilet/dick jokes, vulgar humor and a boys will be boys attitude that i can again empathise with, as well as a really well-rounded, charming story. It was laugh-a-minute stuff with Ferral & Riley doing what they do best, acting like man-children. Yes there were really funny sequences like the sleekwalking, bunk beds, tree-house, drum kit, rap vid etc. but inside all of that was the serious matter growing up in a broken home which people can appreciate. The dialogue was great and they really captured the spirt of being young and naive. One things for sure, watching this made me want to move out sooner rather than later. A very smart, classy comedy!

This film shitted me right up! Had a Del Toro feel to this movie and i actually liked this a whole lot more than Pan's Labyrinth. The movie has some unexpected shocking moments that catch you off guard and some genuinly frightening sequences (the 'what's the time mr wolf' bit, and the 'ghost hunting' sequence).
Good story, beautiful cinematography, good acting, great ending. Very good film.

What a little gem! This was obviously very cheap to make but they achieved so much. Filmed in a low-budget documentary style, they were able to create a very realistic portrayal of life on the streets of Dublin, which i liked.
The relationship on the 2 main characters is really interesting, you're not quite sure what they both want but it's great to watch and not know.
The music is brilliant, so much so i had to get it and watching them play it live on screen is really thrilling.
There's not much obvious conflict or many dramatic events within this story, but that's ok, sometimes everyday life is like that, and to be honest, it was quite refreshing to see strangers pull together and be be creative and end up happy at the end of a film without much struggle. A delicate heart-warming little film.