Christopher Nolan’s stylized sequel to Batman Begins is more than a comic book superhero adaptation. Featuring Heath Ledger’s Oscar winning performance as the Joker, The Dark Knight is an epic film flush with mythological themes on the nature of heroism and villainy.
2 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Stephen Sondheim’s Tony winning musical gets the Tim Burton and Johnny Depp treatment to terrific effect. The film looks great and the performances by Depp and Helena Bonham Carter (another Burton favorite of late) are outstanding.
3 August Rush
This mystical fantasy that draws inspiration from Oliver Twist centers around Evan Taylor, a young musical prodigy who leaves a boy’s home in search of his parents, two musicians themselves who spent one memorable night together, who don’t even know he exists. Evan’s journey takes him to the streets of New York to Juilliard to a concert in Central Park. By the film’s end there isn’t a dry eye.
4 Charlie Bartlett
Charlie Bartlett is a troubled yet wealthy student who after a string of private school expulsions is enrolled in public school where he soon becomes the students’ psychiatrist dishing out advice and prescriptions to those in need much to Robert Downey Jr.’s principal Nathan Gardner’s dismay.
5 Speed Racer
I consider this the most underrated film of 2008. The Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix) create a visual overload of a movie that is halfway between animation and real life with a story that is involving and has depth. The race scenes are breathtaking and the like have never been seen before.
6 No Country for Old Men
The Coen Brothers’ Oscar winning film of found drug money that sends a psychopathic assassin in search of it plays somewhat off of center like any Coen brothers film but boasts some of the best dialogue in any film of the past decade. Josh Brolin’s anti-hero, Javier Bardem’s Oscar winning turn as the assassin and Tommy Lee Jones sheriff not only do the script justice but help create a film that portrays a country that has lost its innocence.
7 Cloverfield
Imagine a monster film seen completely through the lens of a video camera. A brilliant concept is carried through from beginning to end as the story moves from a going away party to a disturbance in New York City that turns out to be a monstrous invasion. No explanations are given as the point of view is pointedly singular and tragic.
9 Lars and the Real Girl
The real girl in Lars and the Real Girl is actually a life-sized doll named Bianca. His sister-in-law is worried for him; his brother thinks he's nuts, but eventually the entire town goes along with his delusion in support of this sweet natured boy that they've always loved. The Oscar nominated script and Ryan Gosling’s touching performance make this heartfelt dark comedy (you don’t see many of those) something very different and very special.
8 Man On Wire
Man On Wire is the first documentary to ever make my top ten list for a year. It is the true story of Phillipe Petit’s daring stunt of walking a tight wire between the two towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. The Oscar winning film features actual film of the event, interviews with the participants and some dramatization.
10 Sukiyaki Western Django
Acclaimed Japanese director Miike Takashi and Quentin Tarantino created this epic tale of blood, lust and greed. A revolver-wielding stranger crosses paths with two warring Japanese clans who are both on the hunt for a hidden treasure in a remote Nevada town. Knowing his services are valuable to either side, he offers himself to the clan who will offer up the largest share of the wealth
