Dorkgasm Gonzo Is God

            What a crazy year for film, you know? We saw dead careers come back to life with a roar, great actors die before their time, and the living dead were practically impotent when they finally showed up at the end of the year. 2008 is the year that the writers went on strike and genre films changed tact and proved that it was those very writers who could turn a bit of clichéd fare into potential award winning blockbusters. Oh wait, I forgot that my compatriots in the world of film criticism tend to look down their noses at mainstream fare. While I agree that 2008 saw its fair share of crap, there were plenty of main-stream gems to get excited about.

10. Doomsday
Yes, this movie pandered to genres ranging from the Ren Faire set to the Snake Pliskin-loving post-apocalyptic sci-fi fans, but it did so very well. What I went in expecting was a piece of genre trash, but what I got was one of those few modern science fiction films that comments on current events in ways only a sci-fi film can. To top it off, the movie was seven kinds of fun!

9. Wanted
I wanted, desperately, to hate this film for verging from the written material, but I couldn’t. Managing to pull off the reverse Fight Club can be difficult, but Timur Bekmambetov pulled it off. Yes, the book is still better, but this director is one of the few who seems to get how to use a lot of special effects to tell a good story. Mark Millar’s input on the script helped keep enough of the original feel of the book in the film, and that kept a smile on my face.

8. Kung Fu Panda
Everyone got caught up in the Disney-fied fervor surrounding Wall-E, but I certainly didn’t. Kung Fu Panda may not have had the social commentary that the Disney/Pixar folks did, but it also avoided the kitsch factor that comes with that company as well. Jack Black and company gave us a good, old-fashioned “love yourself” kids movie, and man, do kids these days need that! Not since Monster Squad have I looked up to a fat kid this much.

7. Stop Loss
The dirty business of the war won’t go away just by ignoring it, even if everyone does it. Kimberly Peirce delivered a film that didn’t look for an answer, but made us look at the problem. What could have been a preachy-leftist trope on anti-war turned out to be a well-made drama about the pain individuals go through because of war. Like her previous film Boys Don’t Cry, the director refused to pull any punches, and this one aims for the gut without getting overly sentimental.

6. Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Note to Hollywood: Kevin Smith is here to stay. The reason Smith films end up being cult classics is that the main stream tries its damndest to ignore him, but he makes fun and poignant films. He is almost a vulgar, narrative driven Goddard, or a modern Woody Allen, and history will treat him better than contemporary critics have. While this film won’t win any awards, its treatment of modern love and the porn industry should accomplish its goal of touching your heart and making you laugh all at once.

5. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
What I love most about Del Toro is that he is unapologetic when it comes to his fandom. He loves comics, and he makes award winning films. Of course, when he makes a comic-book movie, he doesn’t suddenly become any less visionary a director, and this movie shows that. He manages to bring his own dark imagination to the film while still keeping the tone of the original material true to form. Those who lauded Wall-E for its pro-environmental message should check this one out, and everyone else can experience the wonder and awe Del Toro brings to all of his films.

4. Iron Man
Holy crap! Robert Downey Jr. lives! The best part of this movie was that it managed to trick millions of viewers into sitting through an anti-war piece. With a smart script and solid performers on board, this could still have been a cheap shoot’em-up, but it wasn’t. Favreau brought in writing wunderkind Brian Michael Bendis to advise and the world received as solid a look at Tony Stark as anyone willing to read could get. In fact, more so than the stellar performance from Downey Jr., the writing was what made this movie work. The script managed to develop characters, deliver a message, and still gave us all the action we could want from a summer blockbuster.

3. Funny Games
In a year that didn’t see a single thrilling horror film from the studios, Michael Haneke trumped them all with a remake. I normally hate remakes, especially shot-for-shot ones, but Haneke managed to pull this one off. Expect a cult following to build up around this one, and film students world-round will undoubtedly study the wildly entertaining, and extremely disturbing horror film for years to come. Funny Games is the thinking man’s horror film, but it manages to keep everyone else rooted to their seats as well.

2. Tropic Thunder
Normally, there would be a moment where the audience would ask themselves if it was okay to be laughing at a man in blackface. The thing is, no one stopped laughing long enough to do that until it was too late. Robert Downey Jr. pounded out the kind of performance that makes him an award winner. Add to that a comedic ensemble that managed the kind of synergy we haven’t seen since Mel Brooks and Ivan Reitman dominated the 1980’s, and it is no wonder this movie gets away with all it does. Comedy gold, and it still manages to say something poignant about both Hollywood and Americanism. Tropic Thunder is this generation’s Blazing Saddles.

1. The Dark Knight
While the general public was bewildered by the idea of the gay cowboy playing Jack Nicholson, cinema nuts realized the genius of Christopher Nolan early on. Take a good script and put it in the hands of good actors. That is the best plan for any filmmaker hoping to make a successful film. That’s exactly what Nolan did, and when you ignore that this film is based on a comic book, what you have is an crime drama of awesome scope and power. Heath Ledger’s performance is the stuff of acting legend, and the rest of the cast and crew brought forth their “A” games as well. The city of Chicago struts just as much for the camera as the Joker, and once again, the writing carries it all the way to the bank. History has shown us that a poorly written Batman movie does not make money, and this film did so hand over fist. To ignore a film that dared to defy genre conventions and limitations as this one did is a travesty, but then I’m sure the Academy is good at that by now.

Honorable Mention: Clubless: The Legend of Victor Montango, Prince Caspian, Spiderwick Chronicles, and Quantum of Solace.

            Coming up in 2009, we’ll see if the suits have learned their lesson and look to pay the best writers for the best stories, because THAT , ladies and gentlemen, is what put your asses and mine in the seats this year. Get in line for Star Trek now, and I'll see you at the cinema!