Total Recall: Top 10 Movies of 2008

Now, we all know that 2008 was a year of big movies, including some really big sequels. So, here is a post in which I recollect the best of the best that 2008 had to offer in film. So the countdown begins here!

10 ) Burn After Reading

The Cohen Brothers returned after the Academy Award winner No Country For Old Men with this hilarious dark comedy. Though the plot’s a bit complicated, it offers good laughs, with great performances by Brad Pitt and George Clooney. The movie tells the story of a former CIA Agent (John Malkovich), his wife (Tilda Swinton) and her secret lover (George Clooney) and two gym emplyoees (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand). A CD containing highly classified data from Malkovich’s CIA Files, secretly extracted by his wife falls into the hands of Brad Pitt while his colleague becomes fast friends with George Clooney. The rest is pure comedy! 😀

9 ) Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na

This could be termed as the typical Bollywood movie, but with a difference. A fresh breath into Bollywood, an industry that’s almost rusting with dead-brainers these days. The movie centers around teenage liveliness and loveliness. Marking the debut of Imran Khan and first lead-role for Genelia D’ Souza, this Abbas Tyrewala movie twisted the age old Indian taste for love stories and mixed it with well-delivered comedy. The only low-down? It’s just a one-time watch.

8 ) Iron Man

Probably the first big Superhero blockbuster of the year. Based on the comic book series by the same name, this action-packed movie set new standards in the superhero movie genre. Robert Downey Jr.’s performance was impeccable and the movie automatically won over many critics’ hearts. The movie is tells the story of Industrialist Tony Stark, a giant in the weapon manufacturing industry, whose illusions about war get shattered when he is abducted and asked to create a WMD to be used against his own nation. He then takes the cover of the Iron Man and tries to put an end to everything that he was once the center of. Amazing movie to say the least.

7 ) American Gangster

This is one of the best movies of the decade focusing on the Drug Mafia. American Gangster tells the story of two people, each on either side of the law. Inspired by a true story, Denzel Washington plays a drug lord who gets his drugs smuggled straight from South Asia, while Russel Crowe is the Police Officer hell-bent on stopping Denzel. The movie offers an insight into the America during the Vietnam War and is one of the finest of the genre, surely.

P.S. : Though this is actually a 2007 movie, it released in India in March 2008. That is why I included it in the best movies list of 2008.

6 ) Kung Fu Panda

What a great movie this is! This movie is simply full of ‘awesomeness’! Funny, hearty and action packed, this movie made you a fan of the chubby panda as soon you set your eyes on it! With a star (voices only) cast to boast of, including Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen and Jackie Chan, this movie was a hit amongst every age group alike! This movie centers around Po, the fat panda who dreams of being a Kung Fu Maestro one day and idolizes The Furious Five, the most ferocious Kung Fu disciples of Master Shifu! Little does he realize that he is to be chosen ahead of any member of The Furious Five to defend the city against the Evil Tai Lung! A roller-coaster ride all the way!

5 ) Pineapple Express

Seth Rogen!! The most amazing comedian in movies for the last few years returns with this super-hilarious movie! He teams up with James Franco (Harry Osborn from the Spiderman Series) for this movie, showing two always-high-on-weed guys on their run from two crooked cops after witnessing a murder commited by them. The guffaws never stop once you start watching this one and you might find it hard to sit quiet for a couple of minutes at a stretch. A clinically directed movie, you got to watch this if you want to laugh your day out! Really, don’t miss it!

4 ) Wall-E

Another masterpiece from Pixar! This story of a robot assigned clean-up missions to rid the Earth of industrial waste in 2700 A.D. swings between extreme emotions and grips you from the start. Before I saw the movie, i believed that the reviews were exaggerated, but I saw it and believed it! It simply is great! WALL-E, a waste cleaning robot finds himself lonely while Humans have migrated to outer-space, leaving the Earth to rot. Soon, he finds himself in the company of EVA, a much modern robot, and yes, he starts having feelings for her. The ride continues into outer-space, space shuttles and spaceships and delivers a message to everyone too- Take care of your planet before its too late. Superb movie!

3 ) A Wednesday

I just have one word to describe this movie- Mind Blowing! The best movie that Bollywood has given to the world in years! Absolute perfection! The two veterans- Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher, deliver what can only be called a great performance in this thriller, which takes on issues relevant in today’s India and delivers bang-on the feelings of many of us towards the evils of terrorism. This movie tells the story of a man who holds the whole city of Mumbai at ransom with his bombs and asks for a ransom of 4 most wanted terrorists. Anupam Kher, head of the Poilce Department, plays negotiator to the demands of the former and this clash of the titans proves to be the salt and pepper for the rest of the movie. Really a must-watch for all Indians (especially after the 26/11 incidents in Mumbai).

2 ) In Bruges

This movie isn’t exactly the most sought after movies of the year, but it surely is one the best! This Colin Farrell starrer is such a finely made movie that you can’t stop admiring it and recommending it to people. This thriller speaks about two hitmen (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) in hiding in the Belgian city of Bruges, with Ralph Fiennes as their gangster boss. What is surprising about the plot is that you cannot give an apt synopsys for it, or else you’ll end up telling too much of the precious suspense-laden script. With really funny comedy at regular intervals, plus a budding love story, this movie is surely one of the best of the year! Watch it for the sake of good cinema!

1 ) The Dark Knight

Ahh! What to say about this movie! I don’t think one can praise it enough. After the amount of hype before the release of this movie, widespread dissapointment was expected by many. But the only thing that it did was to exceed all expectations and deliver an epic of a movie! The Joker, played by Heath Ledger, tore to shreds the conventional image of the psychotic villain of Gotham. The caped crusader, played by Christian Bale, descends into a darker universe of crime fighting and Harvey ‘Two-Face’ Dent (Aaron Eckhart), spreads anarchy after once being the leader in the fight against evil in Gotham. This is one movie, that nobody’s going to forget about very soon. It has raised the standards of crime movies to such a high level, breaking it doesnt seem feasiable in the near future at least. The fourth highest grossing film ever, this movie easily finds its way into many people’s best ever movies list!

So those were my picks of the year and I really hope you liked my compilation. Your comments on the same would be much appreciated.