FINAL Top Ten (Or So) Films Of 2008!!!

still waiting on [REC] to make it to Netflix......................................

I hated the Strangers as well thought it was really boring not scary and poorly acted. I don't really like horror but i am going to watch Let The Right One In eventually.

The Orphanage is one of the better horror movies of this DECADE. REC was great for how I saw it which is after watching Quarantine (which I loved) and on youtube without subtitles. Still a great horror movie. And yes N-Span we need to start a petition to get REC an american release.

The Strangers had very stupid main characters and that was annoying but there were some genuinely creepy parts. When the masked guy appears behind Liv Tyler and watches her from the hallway and then just disappears was perfect. In terms of a straight slasher flick, Strangers was great.

If anyone thought the Ruins was a good but failed movie, read the book. There is a reason that Scott Smith has two novels, two bestsellers and two movie deals; he is a top notch storyteller. He isn't the best writer around but that book sucks you along despite the flaws.

And I liked the Signal. It wasn't perfect but what a great premise and the three acts by three directors set up was great. I thought the second act was awesomely done comedy/horror.

Have Teeth on my queue and have high expectations for it. I have heard nothing but good reviews.

Sony is releasing [Rec] straight to DVD later this year. I'm disappointed that it won't be released theatrically but I guess it's better than nothing.

A new avatar Bus, where's Arnold?

as i said before, The Orphanage would've been on my top 10 list for the year overall (not just in the horror genre), but it's technically a 2007 movie... bah

packpaljs wrote:A new avatar Bus, where's Arnold?

I usually change every 100 posts. Originally, I was going to use the poster for Career Opportunities (one of my favorite gulity pleasure movies) but I didn't think I could find a picture small enough to be useable.

NSpan wrote:as i said before, The Orphanage would've been on my top 10 list for the year overall (not just in the horror genre), but it's technically a 2007 movie... bah

Who cares about technicalities, I am yet to know anyone who saw the movie in 2007. As far as I'm concerned it was a 2008 movie, that was when it was released (very limited) over here.

What was so great about the orphanage? I liked it, I though it was good, good acting. Beyond that I didnt see anything great about it. At times, I even thought it was generic. It wasn't even scary

silversurfer19 wrote:

NSpan wrote:as i said before, The Orphanage would've been on my top 10 list for the year overall (not just in the horror genre), but it's technically a 2007 movie... bah

Who cares about technicalities, I am yet to know anyone who saw the movie in 2007. As far as I'm concerned it was a 2008 movie, that was when it was released (very limited) over here.

Frendo lives in California. He probably saw it in 2007.

Ghost Dog probably did as well, considering that France gets foreign films sooner than the US.

in general, we might as well submit to whatever dates we see on IMDB, because that'll correspond to the "official" numbers down the road..

in the future (hell, in a few months from now when we've forgotten the details), "El orfanato (2007)" will be the last word on the matter

undeadmonkey wrote:What was so great about the orphanage? ... It wasn't even scary

i'd say The Orphanage was closer to fantasy (or even mystery) than straight-up horror, despite a somewhat misleading marketing campaign.. i've described it as The Devil's Backbone meets Turn of the Screw.. i suppose Pan's Labyrinth meets The Others would also be acceptable

My wife was scared shitless during The Orphanage. I thought it was creepy as hell (that snuffling ragged breathing under the mask was uggghhh freaky.)

not saying it didn't have some truly creepy moments.. just noting that it was a blend of genres

I'm with you NSpan, this wasn't a straight out horror movie like The Strangers et al. More a ghost story with some creepy moments. I liken it to The Innocents meet The Devil's Backbone.

silversurfer19 wrote:I liken it to The Innocents meet The Devil's Backbone.

that works too, considering that both The Innocents and The Others are loose adaptations of Turn of the Screw

Watched Doubt and Blindness last night. I liked them both and the performances in Doubt were stunning but neither film will crack my top 10 of 08.

I've seen a lot more 2008 films now that when this film was up and hopping, so I resserected it.

10's
1. Milk
2. The Visitor
3. Slumdog
4. The Dark Knight

9's
5. Cadillac Records
6. Iron Man
7. Taken
8. Hellboy II
9. Gran Torino
10. Frost/Nixon
11. Redbelt
12. Wall-E

8's
13. Incredible Hulk
14. Death Race
15. Changeling
16. Nick and Norah
17. L'Troi

7's
18. Kung Fu Panda
19. City of Ember
20. Hancock
21. House Bunny
22. Madagascar 2
23. Cloverfield
24. Ghost Town
25. Benjamin Button
26. 21
27. Vantage Point
28. The Wrestler

6's
29. Eagle Eye
30. Step Brothers
31. Quarentine
32. The Happening
33. Defiance
34. Mirrors
35. Jumper
36. Yes Man
37. Get Smart
38. Bolt
39. Untraceable

5's
40. Swing Vote
41. Prince Caspian
42. Indiana Jones 4

4's
43. Mummy 3
44. Tropic Thunder
45. Seven Pounds
46. Wanted
47. Lakeview Terrace
48. Journey to the Center of the Earth

3's
49. Zohan
50. Twilight
51. Babylon A.D.
52. The Eye
53. Street Kings
54. X-Files 2
55. 10000 BC
56. Prom Night

2's/10
57. The Day the Earth Stood Still
58. The Strangers
59. Passengers

1/10
60. Max Payne

Still Want to Watch Eventually (34 Total, though I assume a lot of these will just get deleted from "the list"):
An American Carol
Baby Mama
Be Kind Rewind
Blindness
Burn After Reading
Fanboys
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Four Christmases
Frozen River
Happy-Go-Lucky
Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
In Bruges
JCVD
Marley & Me
Miracle at St. Anna
Pineapple Express
Quantum of Solace
Rachel Getting Married
Rightous Kill
Role Models
Saw V
Semi-Pro
Soul Men
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The Forbidden Kingdom
The Love Guru
The Reader
The Rocker
The Wackness
Valkyrie
W
Wendy and Lucy
Zack and Miri

Nice list W. Out of that to see list i would jump on The Wackness,Zack and Miri,Role Models,Harold and Kumar,Forgetting Sarah Marshall and In Bruges ASAP. I would avoid The Reader and The Love Guru like the plague and the rest are all up to you.

The Reader was great, with an awesome turn by Kate Winslet (tho the subject matter is too dark to really want to watch more than once). I'm surprised you have Indy Jones so high. It's probably the worst thing I've ever seen. I thought Ben Button and Hancock were shittier than you did too. Agreed with alot of it tho. Milk and Redbelt were both great films!

My finalised Top Ten
(although I've yet to see the second Mesrine film which may or may not make it)

The Wrestler
Waltz with Bashir
Milk
In Bruges
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Frozen River
The Class
Wall E
The Dark Knight
Man on Wire

I'd avoid An American Carol, W. Unless you like to watch directors' careers die with senseless propaganda.

Buscemi wrote:I'd avoid An American Carol, W. Unless you like to watch directors' careers die with senseless propaganda.

I thought with all of the left stuff out there, a (read "one") right sided comedy might be a nice change of pace. Either that, or they'll show why they don't make many films... Plus I can't stand Michael Moore, so there's gotta be at least something there.

I'm going to see The Love Guru because Jim Gaffigan is in it. Just a quick trivia tidbit here, did you know that Mike Myers films average over $130 M apiece? It's kind of nuts that even the non-Shrek stuff has done well in the past (Austin Powers/Wayne's World and even Cat In the Hat).

And his cameo in Inglourious Basterds should keep that average at a decent number.

Sheesh way to resurrect dead threads! I'm going to have to jump in with mfrendo though, The Reader was godawful, but there's a huge amount of nudity.

The Reader had one of the dumbest twists in film history.

Spoiler:

How did the Academy find this concept good enough to give the film a Best Picture nomination? Oh wait, it wasn't the film itself. It was Harvey Weinstein promoting the film to be nominated!