Originally Posted By Mary Poppins I got out to one movie, Stepbrothers. It was cute. What movie did I miss?
Originally Posted By DAR Movie??? I would say movies. Here are some of my choices. The Dark Knight offered the best take on the Joker I have ever scene. And along with Batman Begins it's the definitive take on the entire Batman mythos. Iron Man was great fun that took a secondary Marvel hero and elevated him to A list status. Of course we can't forget the little robot that stole everyone's hearts(and if he didn't well then you don't have a heart to steal) Wall-E was a masterpiece through and through. Don't forget some other worthy animated films like Kung Fu Panda and Horton Hears A Who. In addition to Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. had another great movie out there in Tropic Thunder. Clearly heads above all the other comedies out there. Indiana Jones made a comeback in the fun but silly Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. There are three movies that I hear people raving about and really want to see myself are Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Wrestler.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip 1. Appaloosa Great acting. I don't generally like Westerns but I LOVED Appaloosa. A movie made the way great movies used to be made. 2.Burn After Reading Another Cohen brothers masterpiece. Brad Pitt was hilarious!!
Originally Posted By RockyMtnMinnie I'd say my highlight was Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. I will never look at a pencil the same again.
Originally Posted By lesmisfan for me the must see movies was The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger impressed the heck out of me! and it was a great cast. and i suprisingly loved Iron Man! Robert Downey jr. is fast becoming a favorite actor of mine. and Mama Mia was wonderful as well!
Originally Posted By friendofdd Not much of a movie goer. However, I was greatly impressed by "The Secret Life of Bees". I have become a real fan of Queen Latifah.
Originally Posted By FaMulan I only remember hitting three movies in theaters last year: Wall-E (what's not to love about the little trash compactor?) Twilight (just because it remained very true to the book) The Tale of Despereaux (I think I was a bit too old for it, I found the storyline a tad disjointed but figure the under 10 set would be very happy)
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains I did enjoy Iron Man, Wall-E, Madagascar But the only movie I was excited to see again and paid twice in the movies to see and now own the Blu-ray for was Mamma Mia. If you ask my boys (19,17,12) it was Dark Knight.
Originally Posted By ecdc The must-see movie? Probably the Dark Knight. Fantastic through and through. But the best movie? I've got a few more award contenders to go (Revolutionary Road, for example) but I'd say the leader is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. What a beautiful film, on so many levels.
Originally Posted By mawnck Sita Sings the Blues. A tough one to catch due to some music rights problems, but it tends to pop up frequently at film festivals. If you spot it playing within 200 miles of your town, drop everything, quit your job if you have to, but go see it. Roger Ebert just got his mitts on a copy. He flipped: <a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2008/12/having_wonderful_time_wish_you.html" target="_blank">http://blogs.suntimes.com/eber...you.html</a>
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I thought 2008 was fairly hohum. We were really looking forward to Indy and enjoyed it, but great cinema it was not. Wall-E is probably the closest. Dark Knight, while good (and I am a huge comic book fan), I thought was severely overrated. And Kung Fu Panda while good, very good in fact, is not that memorable. A real shame.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Dark Knight, while good (and I am a huge comic book fan), I thought was severely overrated.>> Outside of Ledger's performance I didn't find much to like. And even there, I kept getting this feeling that Ledger was channeling Nicholson in The Shining. But instead of a three-day beard he had makeup.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan I'd say the most pleasant surprise for me was Kung Fu Panda. It had a lot of heart, and the animation, voice work and character design was top notch stuff. One thing I loved was the fact that the panda's dad was a duck, and that they never attempted to explain why that was the case made it even better!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I think they intimated that Po could be adopted (the time to tell the secret), was fantastic. Yes, I really enjoyed Kung Fu Panda, but I do wonder how it will stand the test of time.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan I don't know. Unlike, say, the Shrek movies, which are filled to overflowing with contemporary gags, Kung Fu Panda didn't have a lot of that -- the humor was centered on the story and the characters and in their "world", so that will help it hold up better I think. I LOVED the first half of Wall-E. I didn't care for it near as much once it became centered on the blobby humans. Specifically, I was distracted by the use of some live action footage of Fred Willard and then the very cartoony humans later in the film. I think it would have been interesting if they had done a mix of live action with Pixar animation when it came time to see the humans. Either that, or animate the Fred Willard footage. Be consistent. (Said the guy who liked a duck being a panda's father! LOL, so much for me being consistent!)
Originally Posted By vbdad55 ditto the feeling here on Dark Knight - outside of Ledger's performance( and for me tons of shots of downtown Chicago including the fundraising party held in the building I worked in for 15 years ( OneIBMPlaza) - the rest of the movie very very average. Crystal Skull was fun as I went in with low expectations which made this better Iron Man - never saw at the theatre- have viedo - and likely that is good enough So while Wall-E likely the best movie I saw in 2008 - the most enjoyable for me was the surprising Get Smart.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip One thing that bothered me about Dark Knight was the HUGE holes in believability. Yes, I know. I want believability in a story about a crime-fighter who flies around in a cape? Yes, I do. Just because I am willing to suspend disbelief when it comes to the Batman character, that doesn't mean I'm willing to believe any kind of garbage they throw my way. Two of the most glaring examples of this were: 1) Dent in the hospital. Even if a person refused skin grafts, they would be hitched up to IV's injecting antibiotics, fluids and pain killers. Speaking of pain killers, didn't anyone tell the director that burns are excruciatingly painful? Yet Dent lies in his bed pissed-off but not in pain. 2) The hospital blowing up. To drop a building like that would take a large crew of professional demolition guys. Joker and his rag-tag band would not be able to carry it off. Besides the fact there is no way you could place that many charges without being noticed. Besides... any movie that kills off a beautiful and law-abiding woman before any of the other leads die just plain sucks to start with.
