It wasn’t the best year at the cinemas but Angelina Jolie
hit the big screen three times in 2008 so that makes it a good year in my
books. Here’s the best of the rest.
Best Comedy – This category needs to be subdivided
into “High” comedy and “Really High” comedy. High comedy is smart and witty and
also quite rare, making the Coen brothers’
Burn After Reading
this year’s easy winner. All the hype was around the
dorky Brad Pitt character but John Malkovich is the real star of this tightly
scripted screwball farce that is even funnier the second time around.
Really High Comedy is not as intelligent but, depending on
the smoky atmosphere in your living room, it’s usually way funnier.
Strange
Wilderness
, a little-seen improv flick starring
Steve Zahn on a mission to find Bigfoot is comedy genius. Runner up —
Role
Models
.
Best Action — Comic book movies were big this year.
The
Dark Knight
made a billion dollars and
director Christopher Nolan’s use of IMAX cameras for the giant action set
pieces was truly spectacular.
Iron Man
was way better than I expected. But the most innovative action this
year was in
Wanted
. Director
Timur Bekmambetov’s fresh ideas, curving bullets, and insanely impossible
stunts made this one a real treat. A naked Angelina Jolie didn’t hurt either.
Best Chick Flick — I skipped most of 2008s
female-targeted flicks but after I got used to being the only dude in a room
full of 11-year-old girls
The House Bunny
was actually pretty funny. Thanks mainly to Anna Farris’ timing and Emma
Stone’s breakthrough talent. Runner-up —
Changeling
, due to the Angelina factor.
Scariest — It was a shitty year for horror and it’s
way past the time they stop making Saw movies but if you live out in the middle
of nowhere and it’s a dark, moonless night
The Strangers
is a pretty freaking scary. Second place goes to
The
Ruins
, a movie about killer plants. Like I
said, shitty year for horror.
Best Cartoon —
Kung-Fu Panda
had the Angelina factor going for it but since it’s
only her voice
Wall-E
wins this
one. Pixar’s near-perfect sci-fi cartoon with the anti-consumption message is
an instant classic.
Best Date Movie –
Zombie Strippers
was way better than you’d think but since not
everyone’s dating techniques are like mine lets give this one to
Choke
, a quirky little movie that has laughs, tears, black
humour and lots of sex. Based on the Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same name,
this one also wins “Best movie you didn’t hear about.”
Best Documentary — There are so many good docs that we
never see until they hit DVD that this category is almost impossible but
Religulous
, the anti religion movie by Bill Maher was ballsy
and rad, as was the Hunter Thompson movie
Gonzo
. The winner though, is
Encounters at the
End of the World
by doc master Werner Herzog.
Rent it when you can.
Worst Movie – Even the dreadlocked caveman movie
10,000
B.C.
had at least one redeeming quality but
I can safely say that
Mr. Lonely
,
a movie about a bunch of celebrity impersonators wasting each other’s time in
the French countryside was so terrible it made the Lindsay Lohan stinker
I
Know Who Killed Me
look like an award
winner.
Best Movie – Danny Boyle’s
Slumdog Millionaire
and Darren Arnofsky’s
The Wrestler
could both win this category but I’m gonna go with
anarchy, ass-kicking, and the sheer awesomeness of
The Dark Knight
. It’s Batman done right, a comic movie with real
feeling, and it’s the kind of cinematic experience that movie geeks live for.
See ya in 2009.