Best Movies of 2008

Well, it is the new year and it's time to release the list of best movies of 2008. 2008 was a pretty big year for movies, and I'm sure you'll be mad that certain movies didn't make the cut. It's a short list, but here they are:
CLICK HERE to view the Most Anticipated Movies of 2009
or
CLICK HERE for the Biggest Flops of 2008

4) Tropic Thunder

A brazen attempt to make a movie that has no regards as to who is the butt of it's jokes. Many people may not understand its humor, its satircal Hollywood angst (because most people don't understand how Hollywood and filmmaking works). This is surely the funniest film of the year and definitely the most quoted. Kudos also to Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise for some of the greatest performances of the year (apparently don't watch the unrated director's cut, as I heard it isn't funny)

3) Slumdog Millionaire

Danny Boyle is on top of his game with this film. It is this year's small movie that could. If any movie could sweep the award season, this one could. It's different. It's unique. It shows us a slice of life that most of us would have never known until we've seen this film.

2) Wall-e

Although, not my favorite Pixar movie, Wall-e is beautifully told and animated. The first 20 minutes of the movie is one of the greatest storytelling sequences in history and all done with no dialogue, just feeling and seeing the emotion through Pixar's animation. Very bold movie to make. Very adult. Very risky. But it pays off.

1) The Dark Knight

This is the first time in along time that my number one pick just happens to be the highest grossing film of the year. With that said, The Dark Knight is a great film. Finally, a comic book film that is less comic book and more humane, in its story. It is long, yes. But it is much more complex and sophisticated than other pictures of this genre. I must admit, there are little nuances that bug me about this film, but in the wideview of things, it is trivial to how pertinant this film is to society. And of course, Heath Ledger, the best acting performance of the year. How can anyone miss that? Now the one question that remains: how is director Christopher Nolan going to top this?

Best Songs of 2008

There were a lot of good songs to choose from. It was hard to differentiate as to which song is better when compiling a list like this. But overall, I think the top ten were the stand out tracks of the year. And yes I'm including Radiohead, as you will notice, even though the album came out last year (it came out in that grey area late last year, which could be considered for this year anyway, like it is for the Grammys). Anyways on to the top 50...
CLICK HERE for the Top Albums.

50) The Who - Baba O'Reilly (SebastiAn Remix)
49) Coldplay - Viva La Vida
48) Grovesnor - Drive Your Car (Hot Chip Remix)
47) Radiohead - Reckoner
46) Lo-Fi-Fink - Want U
45) Pnau - With You Forever
44) Vampire Weekend - Kids Don't Stand a Chance (Chromeo Remix)
43) The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)
42) Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place
41) Brookes Brothers - Tear You Down
40) Chase and Status - Running
39) Bloc Party - Signs
38) Adele - Hometown Glory (Axwell Remode)
37) Peachcake - Stop Acting Like You Know More About the Internet Cafe Than Me
36) Radiohead - House of Cards

35) Kaiser Chiefs - Never Miss a Beat
34) Coldplay - Lost
33) Does it Offend You, Yeah? - Dawn of the Dead
32) Pendulum - Tempest
31) Radiohead - Bodysnatchers
30) Bloc Party - One Month Off
29) The Faint - The Geeks Were Right
28) Estelle - American Boy
27) Lupe Fiasco - Superstar
26) Radiohead - 15 Steps
25) Mystery Jets - Two Doors Down (Duke Dumont Remix)
24) Sam Sparro - Black and Gold
23) Bloc Party - Ion Square
22) Cut Copy - Hearts on Fire
21) Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
20) J Majik and Wickaman - Crazy World
19) Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes

18) Pendulum - Visions
17) Pendulum - Granite
16) Quivver - Chasin a Feeling
15) Kanye West - Flashing Lights (High Contrast Remix)
14) Danny Byrd - Weird Science
13) Deadmau5 - Not Exactly
12) Eric Prydz - Pjanoo (High Contrast Remix)
11) MGMT - Electric Feel
10) The Killers - Human
9) Adele - Hometown Glory (High Contrast Remix)
8) MGMT - Time to Pretend
7) Van She - Kelly (Alan Braxe and Fred Falke Remix)
6) Pendulum - Propane Nightmares

5) Cut Copy - Lights and Music
4) Cut Copy - Lights and Music (Boys Noise Remix)
3) MGMT - Kids (Soulwax Remix)
2) MGMT - Kids
1) Eric Prydz - Pjanoo

Top 10 Box Office Duds of 2008

Well, 2008 had some major hits and record breaking movies. However, as always, there are those that missed, and missed big time. These are the top 10 box office duds, flops, bombs, whatever you may call it of 2008. There are actually a lot more than 10 movies that flopped in 2008, but most of those you haven't heard of and wont really care if they flopped. So on with the biggest duds, bombs, misses of 2008.

10) Speed Racer
It was supposed to be the Wachowski brothers' comeback from The Matrix. It wasn't. Particularly because it didn't have a target audience. It is actually not that bad of a movie for what they were going for. The only silver lining for this movie is that Time Magazine ranks it in their top 10 movies of the year.
Budget: $120 million
US Gross: $43.9 million
International Gross: $49.4 million
Total Gross: $93.3 million

9) Babylon AD
You know it's bad when the director of the movie bashes it when it comes out. And this is from the same guy who did Gothika.
Budget: $70 million
US Gross: $22.5 million
International Gross: $47.5 million
Total Gross: $70 million


8) Miracle at St. Anna
Poor Spike Lee, this was supposed to be his Oscar hopeful, but instead it gets bashed from critics and no one decides to see it.
Budget: $45 million
US Gross: $7.9 million
International Gross: $1.2 million
Total Gross: $9.1 million

7) City of Ember
It looked like a promising new children's fantasy flick. As it turns out, no kids wanted to actually see it. That, and a much lack of marketing for this film.
Budget: $55 million
US Gross: $7.8 million
International Gross: $3.9 million
Total Gross: $11.8 million


6) In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
From critically bashed director Uwe Boll... Well, let's just say this got a 4% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Budget: $60 million
US Gross: $4.8 million
International Gross: $7.1 million
Total Gross: $11.9 million

5) What Just Happened
Barry Levinson, this guy made The Natural, Good Morning Vietnam and Rain Man. What just happened here?
Budget: $25 million
US Gross: $1.1 million
Total Gross: $1.1 million


4) Delgo
This animated movie just set a new record a few weeks ago as it became the worst movie on opening weekend to have a wide release. I think it made something like $500,000. Yes, that's it. And it appeared in more than 2000 theaters. This averaged out to $30 a screening. Ouch!
Budget: $40 million
US Gross: $915,840 (and counting, roll eyes)
Total Gross: $915,840

3) The Hottie and the Nottie
No, this is not an excuse to write about Paris Hilton. When a movie makes under $28 thousand in the US, it's bound to get some attention. Although, it did do better in the overseas market.
Budget: $9 million
US Gross: $27,696
International Gross: $1.5 million
Total Gross: $1.5 million

2) Meet Dave
Eddie Murphy where has your career gone? At least this movie made more money than Pluto Nash.
Budget: $60 million
US Gross: $11.8 million
International Gross: $38.7 million
Total Gross: $50.5 million


1) The Love Guru
Mike Myers seemed to be a huge draw, since his Shrek films did exceptionally well. But that is probably more due to the fact that it is an animated piece. So I guess you could compare this to the Austin Powers franchise, then. Which also did exceptionally well. However, no one wanted to see Austin Powers again, only this time as a love guru, with less than half the amount of jokes. I have a feeling the Razzies might be headed his way.
Budget: $62 million
US Gross: $32.2
International Gross: $7.9 million
Total Gross: $40.1 million

Data taken from the-numbers.com and wikipedia.

Best Albums of 2008

2008 was a big year for album releases. I mean we got huge artists, like Madonna, Kanye West, Britney Spears, Coldplay, The Killers, Oasis, Nine Inch Nails, to the lesser known artists, Hot Chip, Girl Talk, Crystal Castles, Ratatat, and even artists who've been away quite awhile like, Guns N' Roses, Metallica, and AC DC.
However, only so little made the coveted list... Like three. And none of those mentioned above, did. Granted, I haven't listened to every single album that came out, so there might very well be 2008's in my 2009 list. Anyhow, here is the top albums of 2008:
CLICK HERE for best songs.

CUT COPY - In Ghost Colours
Great album...An Aussie band that's bent on blending Indie rock with synths and glitches from house music. Reminds me of the 80's and partial 70's. Just a great album from front to end. One of the few that I can actually listen to all the way through.



PENDULUM - In Silico
What do you know? Another Australian export. Some critics did not like their transition to a more rock style setting. However, I welcome the change. I heavily enjoyed their debut album, Hold You Colour, for all its drum and bass glory. It is one of the best albums to date. In Silico shows that they can fuse the line between rock and drum and bass. And it sounds great. In fact, radio stations like KROQ and Indie 103.1, have started playing Propane Nightmares during regular hours, not just in the wee hours of the morning. That's how big they've become. My only drawback to this album is that it is a few tracks short.

GRANITE


RADIOHEAD - In Rainbows
Okay, so I know this came out in late '07 but I'm putting it on this list because I really didn't get into this album until this year. Hey, it's nominated for the Grammy's this year too, so I'm not the only one. Well, what more can I say about this album? It's great. The more you listen to it the better it gets.

RECKONER


Honorable Mentions:
DANNY BYRD - Supersized
BLOC PARTY - Intimacy