My favorite movies of 2008

I could do one of those 10 Best Films or 10 Worst Films, but instead I am just going to tell you what my favorite films of 2008 are and which films I didn't think were worth the time I spent watching them. :)

1. The Wrestler--this movie was phenomenally good. I would not have recognized Mickey Rourke if I hadn't known ahead of time it was him in the starring role. This movie completely blew me away. I have loved Aronofsky's films before but never to this extent. I highly recommend this movie!

2. Iron Man--This is my all-time favorite superhero movie ever. I loved everything about it.

3. Gran Torino--Clint Eastwood knocked another one out of the ballpark with this one. It made me laugh. It made me cry. Excellent movie that I highly recommend to everyone. You love to hate Eastwood for the first half of this movie and then just flat out love him for the rest of it.

4. The Good, The Bad, The Weird--This Korean spaghetti western was the movie that I had the most fun seeing all year. I recommend this to everyone!!!

5. Pineapple Express is my new favorite stoner movie. James Franco and Seth Rogen are hysterical together!

6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button--This was my favorite movie from Butt-numb-a-thon this year. I have seen it again since then and loved it even more with the 2nd viewing. The special effects team should win the Academy Award this year IMO.

7. Frost/Nixon--This is the most compelling movie based on a real event that I have seen in a long time. If you'd asked me before I saw The Wrestler who I thought should win the Best Actor award for this year, I would have said Frank Langella. However, after having seen The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke deserves it HANDS DOWN!

8. The Brothers Bloom--I was fortunate enough to see this at Fantastic Fest this year and I loved it. Great caper movie! :) Rachel Weisz steals the movie.

9. Slumdog Millionaire--I didn't really know much about this one going into it, but I thought it was another great movie!

10. Cloverfield--I really enjoyed this movie when I went to see it with my brother and nephew. Of course, the fact that it was capped off by my nephew walking out of the theater puking into the popcorn bucket might have something to do with this being one of the most memorable movie experiences of the year for me. :P

11. Kung Fu Panda--My favorite animated film of the year, other than the first 45 minutes of Pixar's Up that I saw at BNAT this year.

12. The Dark Knight--TDK was good, but it wasn't my favorite Batman movie. Heath Ledger's Joker was terrifyingly wonderful. It's a shame that we won't have him around for future films. Christian Bale's Batman gruff voice got on my nerves, though.

So there are some of my favorites for the year. I could have just listed a whole slew of movies, but these are the ones that stand out the most. I will say that there is one movie that made it onto most everyone else's favorite or top movies that I just don't agree with and that's Milk. Yes, Sean Penn was good in it, but I have seen other movies that I thought he was better in. I thought the movie itself was mediocre. I actually enjoyed the documentary about Harvey Milk MUCH better than the movie.