The 2008 Hollywood Top Films
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1. “WALL-E” — If we all had this plucky little robot’s work ethic, we wouldn’t be in a recession. The animation masters at Pixar have delivered a true innovation, a robot love story tucked in a cautionary environmental tale wrapped in a sci-fi saga, with romantic leads who communicate adorably in mechanical beeps and squeals. The title character of Andrew Stanton’s adventure is beyond endearing as he toils alone to clean up filthy old Earth after everybody else has left.
2. “Encounters at the End of the World” — Werner Herzog went to Antarctica declaring he was NOT making another movie about penguins. His documentary presents a series of hypnotic vignettes about the researchers, wanderers and societal malcontents working at the South Pole. And representative of this motley lot, Herzog finds a penguin too fascinating to ignore — a loner striding purposefully away from his flock, into the mountains, toward certain death.
3. “Slumdog Millionaire” — Danny Boyle masterfully applies his “Trainspotting” dichotomy — the humorous and horrific sharing equal screen time, occasionally at the same moment — with this story of a Mumbai orphan who perseveres like a Dickens hero amid police torture, fraternal betrayal and child mutilation. The film has a wickedly joyous heartbeat as fate carries a lowly “slumdog” to fame, fortune and a reunion with the lost love he’s been seeking all his life.
4. “Frost/Nixon” — Frank Langella may not have Richard Nixon’s jowls, but he’s got the chops and then some to create a riveting portrait. Reprising roles they created in the stage play, Langella and Michael Sheen as David Frost engage in a fascinating battle of wills and wit amid the historic TV interviews from 1977. Without a trace of caricature, Langella is tragically grand in a drama that marks the best work ever from director Ron Howard.
5. “The Dark Knight” — Christopher Nolan isn’t kidding when he says he held nothing back from his Batman sequel, which raised the superhero genre from comic-book pages into the realm of highbrow literature. The scope is as grand as “The Godfather,” the themes aspire to Shakespeare. Heath Ledger may steal the show with his maniacal Joker, but Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and cast mates form an ensemble as good as any on the big-screen this year.
6. “Wendy and Lucy” — Michelle Williams is an utter heartbreaker in co-writer and director Kelly Reichardt’s deceptively simple story of a down-and-out woman heading with her dog toward hopes of a better life in Alaska. Stranded in a small Northwest town where her pet goes missing, she finds mostly hardhearted indifference from the strangers she encounters — but also a glimmer or two of kindness to sustain the faltering faith that one day, things will get better.
7. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” — A grand, old fashioned epic that takes mind-boggling advantage of the most modern filmmaking technology. Director David Fincher, always a virtuoso stylist, has outdone himself here. You’ll be in awe of the wildly ambitious yet intricately detailed way he tells the story of a man who ages in reverse. Brad Pitt melds his leading-man and character-actor abilities in an inspiring heartbreaking performance.
8. “Milk” — Gus Van Sant boldly returns to mainstream filmmaking with a story that, on its surface, could have been shamelessly mawkish. Instead, he presents the last eight years in the life of Harvey Milk, the slain San Francisco politician and gay rights activist, with a mix of vivid details and nuanced heart. He’s also drawn from Sean Penn one of his most glorious performances ever.
9. “Iron Man” — A rare blockbuster with both brains and emotion, this truly is the summer’s best superhero movie (sorry, Batman). Robert Downey Jr.’s intelligence, quick wit and striking presence bring real heft to what could have been a mindless popcorn picture. In making the biggest film of his life, director Jon Favreau deftly juggles all the complicated, expensive toys.
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