My Top 10 Films of 2008

Here's my somewhat ridiculously overdue Top Ten Films of 2008, the disappointing sequel to Top Ten Films of 2007. To make up for my tardiness, each one comes with a lovingly hand-crafted haiku summary.

I thought the haiku was an original touch, until I realised that sites like this have been doing this sort of thing for ages.


Never mind, eh?



10. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

Stateside Guillermo
But Hellboy goes to Ulster
Red Right Hand, indeed...


9. The Orphanage

Twisty Spanish yarn
With a very sad middle
Behold the sack mask!

(Thanks to Clare for that one!)


8. Burn After Reading

Coen's strike again
Dumb idiots hatch dumb plot
It's sadistic fun!


7. Tropic Thunder.

Actors' film folly
As they stumble into war
Year's funniest film


6. No Country For Old Men.



The Brothers Coen
Go bleak and nihilistic
Beware cattle gun!



5. There Will Be Blood


Fictional oilman

Think: 'Charlie Kane Does Dallas'
Dan Day Lewis shines!



4. Iron Man


Wealthy arms dealer
Finds redemption in tin suit
He's Invincible!



3. Wall*E

Little yellow box
Dreams of love and musicals
Then clears up our mess

2. In Bruges

Two Irish hitmen

Lying low in Low Country

Beware racist dwarf!

1. The Dark Knight

Costumed crime drama

Of order versus chaos

A spandex ballet!

No, I'm Iron Man...

Rol liked Iron Man, too:

Finally we have the world's undisputed Greatest Living Actor in the role of Stark's backstabbing father figure, Obadiah Stane. I couldn't have been more excited when I heard they'd cast The Dude himself in this role, though I was also a little concerned that they'd try to make him too much of a cartoon baddy. Not the case - though only given a few crucial scenes to work with, Jeff Bridges alternates between sympathetic and chilling throughout. And it's refreshing to see a villain in a comic book movie totally devoid of the OTT histrionics that usually come hand-in-hand with the part...

Oh, and look at how he holds that whisky glass... just like The Dude with his White Russian. I was just dying to hear him say, "Hey, Tony - there's a beverage here!"

Damn, wish I'd noticed that...

Invincible

Okay, let's start this with off a pair of disclaimers. Firstly, due to time constraints I'm going to have to knock this out in a bit of a rush. If it appears at all disjointed, misspelt and badly structured it's possibly due to the excuse that I'm working against the clock. Secondly, although I'm writing about the film Iron Man (which I went to see yesterday), I do so not only as a card-carrying cinephile but as someone who has also spent just over three decades as an unrepentant comics fanboy.

So, having said all that, I'd just like to take this opportunity and say that Jon Favreau's Iron Man was the most fun I've had at the cinema in bloody ages.

As summer blockbuster fare goes, I found it hard to fault. Smart direction, excellent performances and more substance and subtext than you'd normally expect from that kind of budget at this time of year. As a superhero movie - that increasingly ubiquitous if not always respectable of genres - it was one of the best. Up there, in my humble opinion, with long-underwear benchmarks like Superman: The Movie, X-Men 2 and Batman Begins.

As a comics fan with a more than passing familiarity with the source material (the first superhero comic I read as a 7 year-old featured "Shellhead"), I was quite taken aback at the extent to which Favreau and his team successfully condensed forty years' worth of fictional history whilst remaining true to the spirit of the comics. Sure, the same has been said for other successful comic2films adaptations, but none have gone as far as Iron Man to strive for authenticity. I kept waiting for that one duff artistic choice that would spoil it for me - like Sam Raimi dropping Spider-Man's character defining wisecracks because they didn't fit his vision- but it didn't happen. It was a note-for-note perfect adaptation.

And what can I say about the casting of Robert Downey Jr as the eponymous armour-clad person of mass destruction? It was a bloody stroke of genius: RDJ is Tony Stark. He absolutely nailed the role. I've been a big fan of Downey Jr since 2005's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, going out of my way to watch pretty much anything he's appeared in ever since and never being let down. I think he's one of the most charismatic actors of his generation, and its great to see him getting top-billing on a big summer blockbuster. And his well-documented bad boy shenanigans of the past actually helped Iron Man: his personal baggage was actually an asset to the role, giving Tony Stark the kind of implied background a 12A certificate can't make explicit.

For fans of Iron Man - and Marvel Comics in general - the film was packed with treats and hints of things to come (and, if there's any justice in the world, there will be more to come - I haven't left the cinema that hungry for a sequel since Batman Begins).

And as for the obligatory Stan Lee cameo - it's a gem.