Dark Knight leads movies in 2008
12/31/08
BEST MOVIES OF 2008
It was a good year for comic book superheroes and animated movies.
The Dark Knight is not only the best of the Batmans, with a probable Oscar for Heath Ledger, but is box office champ for the year too, pulling in almost a billion around the world. Iron Man is also noteworthy in the genre.
WALL.E, about a robotic trash packer left behind on an unpeopled Earth, may become that rarity, an animated movie that wins major awards. Bolt is also worth a look.
A pleasant surprise was Mamma Mia! Enormously popular for a musical, it also features an amazing performance by Meryl Streep.
Changeling is another success from Clint Eastwood, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull gave us Indiana Jones again and Body of Lies was probably the best action film.
Passchendaele is a notable Canadian film and Sex and the City successfully made it to the big screen.
The year’s sleeper is In Bruges, a delightfully black tale of two Irish hitmen in that medieval Belgium town. Another winner is Traitor, with Don Cheadle as an American Muslim terrorist.
Luckily this reviewer managed to avoid a lot of the real dogs out there, but did have to sit thru Rambo, One Missed Call and 88 Minutes.
As always, there’s a long list of good movies yet to reach Red Deer. It starts with Slumdog Millionaire, on almost everyone’s top ten list, released in November, but still not here. Add in Frost/Nixon, Milk, Revolutionary Road, The Reader, Frozen River, The Wrestler, etc, etc.
New on Video
Righteous Kill is only the third time Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are in the same movie.
Alf Cryderman is a Red Deer freelance writer and old movie buff.
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