10. Get Smart
Steve Carrell giving comedy a hope, perfectly cast in what is a derivative piece but nevertheless well done, with great tongue in cheek and excellent action.
9. Kung Fu Panda
Great vocals, visuals and humour, the placement of this film is an appreciative nod to unchallenging yet pleasing, entertaining film making done well. Its just good fun - what more do you want?
8. There Will Be Blood
This film is unique, not tailor rmade for a Saturday nights viewing, or for people who go on holidays to sit by a pool, it is an exposure of character over a severely bleak canvas for 3 hours. What remains is an unfathomably complex piece, P.T. Anderson, Day Lewis and deserving mention also, Paul Dano, each have strong proprietal rights to this film so there is a strange mix of opposing forces trying to sculpt how you engage with this movie. Powerhouse stuff.
7. Burn After Reading
The most under rated movie of the year and the best ensemble of the year. A-listers, character actors, a plot that knowingly is absurd. This is atypical film making targeted at a mainstream audience, an approach to telling a story that intrigues, its novelty making you smirk. The story is assisted by excellent performances, everyone doing justice to their credibility. More of the same please.

6. Man on Wire
King Kong was the RTE Christmas movie on RTE 1 this year, I only saw the end of it and no matter how many times I see it I still get an uneasy feeling in my gut, and a nervousness on seeing the primate and Naomi Watts scale the Empire State Building. I had that experience again this year, through a documentary re-enactment in ‘Man on Wire’. Its re-enactment of a tight-rope walk between the twin towers in New York, the lead up to this, portrayed through black and white stills, some re-enactment and the people involved relaying their story was just brilliantly done. I honestly relived some of my worst ‘height’ experiences watching this. For a movie to evoke emotion, any sort is a testament to its achievement. This aside, the soundtrack, mix of styles and the questions remaining afterwards surrounding this riveting, odd event make this a full cinematic experience.
5. 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days
This movie made me cry, it literally effected me like few movies I have ever seen. Its not a comfortable topic and there is never a break in the tension that will grip you. No one walked out of this movie, no one spoke for a few minutes after the screen went black. It was a shared experience in unease and human frailty.
4. In Bruges
Next comes a polar opposite, a joy of Irish writing talent transferring to a bigger audience and Irish acting talent at its best. Brilliantly made, with tragi-comic themes throughout and an inherent rawness to the humour that is devilishly black, then juxtaposed within an instant with poignant moments. Stand out moments include the introduction of ‘the love interest’ (Clémence Poésy), her hair flailing beautifully, Farrell in a bathroom, revealing his heavy conscience, an exchange in a bell tower between Gleeson and Farrel and the final shoot out which will forever be one of my great moments in film.
3. Lars and the Real Girl
This is a difficult film to summarise, it makes the list for being so heart-felt but also for being brave enough to ask of the audience a leap of faith and then being so rewarding. I dont doubt there are those for whom this movie was a step too far - but again as with ‘Burn After Reading’ above this doesnt offer a ‘For Idiots’ storytelling technique or aim for overt realism, it bellies the film with quirkiness, sincerity and an almost fairytale like quality. I couldn’t but be swayed by its charm. And Ryan Gosling, all is forgiven for ‘The Notebook’.

2. No Country for Old Men
Guns, violence, dry wit, a sprawling story with poetic moments, tense moments, surreal moments - this is the Coens at their best. They want to play with you - Javier Bardem hides behind a door, you presume Tommy Lee Jones is just about to open. The door creaks open. Jones’s profile with stetson casts a stark shadow across the room, he enters, we fear the outcome, knowing the brutal way Bardems character has dispatched with various lives thus far. The room is empty. We are not told whether these events occured at different times, whether Bardem made an escape or whether he is still concealed in the room. The thought that goes into this type of execution of a movie sequence makes such great movies, and adds to the viewing experience. This movie is full of such moments.
1. The Dark Knight
There came a point while watching ‘The Dark Knight’ for the 1st time where the story was bombarded by events and I knew this was like no other superhero movie ever made, no simple progression, no driven villian, no easy finale. There came a point when Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon makes the closing soliloquy that I realised this movie had such huge dynamics; 3 men at its core and in their story ground was broken on how full of ideas this type of movie could be. There came points the second and third times I saw this movie that any smattering of plot hole or other failing you might like to find were negated by this tapestry of a film. I will neither be the first nor last person to say ‘The Dark Knight’ was the movie of 2008, I will be one of the most passionate in stating it though. No question.
