The Best and Worst Movies Of 2008 Mid-Year Report

Hey there guys, and Happy Fourth of July! We’ve just crossed the mid way point of 2008, and as I’m accustomed to doing I thought I’d throw together a mid-year report of the 10 best and the 10 worst movies of the year to date.

The worst thing… AND the best thing about these lists is that no one totally agrees with them, which opens up tons of room for discussion on the year so far. So without further a due I present to you TMB’s best films of 2008 so far:

#1 – WALL-E Without question the best film of 2008 thus far, and barring an AMAZING 2nd half to the 2008 film season the Oscars will make fools of themselves if this isn’t at least nominated for best picture. Not only the best picture of the year so far, but also the best film Pixar has ever made… and that’s saying something. Brilliant movie on every level.

#2 – IN BRUGES The most surprising film of 2008 so far to me. The 3 main cast members (Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes) are all beyond brilliant. The film is funny, exciting… and who knew that Colin Farrell could be such a great actor when he puts his mind to it? The film has a “Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” sort of feel to it, but it’s very much its own movie.

#3 – WANTED I suspected this film would surprise a lot of people, but I didn’t anticipate it surprising me as much as it did. This film is just over the top insanity and adrenaline inducing fun from start to finish. Never thought I could buy James McAvoy as an action hero… but I guess I was wrong about that. Oh, and I’ve never seen Angelina look sexier in any role before either.

#4 – THE DARK KNIGHT There is such a huge amount of hype surrounding this film, and at the same time right now a huge amount of unrealistic over-exaggeration (in my opinion) going on about how good this film is. No, this film is not the best thing since sliced bread, but make no mistake about it, it’s a FANTASTIC movie. I believe it exceeds Batman Begins and Heath Ledger legitimately deserves an Oscar nomination for his performance as The Joker. No one will be disappointed.

#5 – IRON MAN I was not at all looking forward to this flick in the least when it was first announced. I even thought doing a movie on Iron Man in general was a bad idea. But after seeing the trailer at Comic Con last year, I started getting interested, and the movie delivers. Exactly what a summer super hero movie should be. Holy crap did Robert Downey Jr. knock it out of the park. He was the perfect Tony Stark.

#6 – SON OF RAMBOW A movie that was a hit on the film festival circuit, but sadly never found a serious audience in its theatrical run. This is a beautiful movie that I lament more of you didn’t get a chance to see. A wonderful look at innocent in a world of filled with a lot of beautiful that only innocent eyes seem really capable of seeing. The kids in this flick were great too. Touching, funny… and you even might learn something watching it.

#7 – FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL After “The 40 Year Old Virgin”, this is, in my opinion, the funniest and best Apatow related movie they’ve ever done. On the surface a formulaic comedy that somehow also manages to generate a ton of heart with a very symapthetic lead character you just can’t help but cheer for. It lacks a little of the hidden deeper stuff found in Virgin, but a wonderful and enjoyable film nonetheless.

#8 – DEFINITELY, MAYBE There is definitely an anti-romantic comedy bias out there… because… well… most romantic comedies suck. This one however, rules… so much so that I hesitate to call it a romantic comedy, but I guess that’s what it is. Best Ryan Reynolds performance I’ve ever seen him give, terrific female supporting cast and a legitimately interesting story told in a pretty unique way. Trust me guys… it’s worth checking out.

#9 – THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES Going into The Spiderwick Chronicles I was expecting a cookies cutter film in the same vein as all the new little fantasy family films that seem to be popular to produce these days. Surprisingly, Spiderwick turns out to be more than just that. The movie makes you feel awe and wonder with the world in which it takes place with a FANTASTIC performance by my favorite child actor Freddie Highmore.

#10 – SMART PEOPLE Thomas Haden Church absolutely kills me in this movie. His interactions with Juno’s Ellen page are the highlight of the movie for me… but it’s also a great character driven movie. The life of the main character (Denis Quaid) isn’t the life the majority of us lead… but I think on many levels there are a lot of us who can identify and relate with what he’s experiencing on a general level… we’re all holding our own lives back, paralyzed by fear of taking a chance… damn I loved this flick.

AND NOW FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION, I PRESENT TO YOU, SADLY, THE WORST FILMS OF 2008 SO FAR

#1 – MEET THE SPARTANS I throw up just a little everytime I have to even type the title. Check out Doug Nagy’s famous video review of it here.

#2 – THE LOVE GURU Should have just called it “Austin Powers 4 With A Different Accent And Without The Humor”. Myers… what happened to you dude?

#3 – WITLESS PROTECTION Come on, the movie stars Larry the Cable Guy… what were you expecting? The title of this movie should have stopped after the first word.

#4 – OVER HER DEAD BODY Turns out Eva Longoria actually can’t act or attract an audience and just fluked out with Housewives. Wow this movie SUCKED! Why did Paul Rudd agree to be in this?

#5 – DRILLBIT TAYLOR I guess not everything Seth Rogen writes is gold… sometimes it’s pure shit… especially when he just rips off his own Super Bad characters.

#6 – PROM NIGHT See that look on the girl’s face in the poster? Yeah, that was most of us after realizing we paid money to see it.

#7 – YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN Title should have been “You Shouldn’t Go See The Zohan”

#8 – FOOLS GOLD Just because the duo worked in “how to lose a guy”, doesn’t mean you can just put them in anything piece of garbage.

#9 – SPEED RACER Apparently the Matrix brothers went to the “George Lucas School of Post Phantom Menace Film Making” and figured flashy visual effects would cover a horrible piece of crap movie.

#10 – THE EYE Do yourself a favor and just stick to the original Asian version. SHOCKING NEWS!!!! Jessica Alba can’t act! Who would have thought?

So there you have it. Head into the comments section and discuss the list, what you would have taken off, and what you would have added. Have fun, and enjoy the fireworks tonight!