2008 was a very good year for movies, and even the worst
movies I watched this year weren’t that horrible.
14. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
D: Guillermo del Toro
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The movie is worth a look for its beautiful and creative
visuals, but it has a confused story and a bland villain.
13. Be Kind Rewind
D: Michel Gondry
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At first the movie is funny and visually creative. It’s interesting to see how the protagonists
recreate movies’ special effects with no budget in a hurry, and I agree with
the stance against copyright fascism.
However, the movie becomes dull and pretentious when it starts to take
itself seriously. It’s painful when a
character straight-facedly asserts that their recreations have “more heart and
originality than those formulaic Hollywood blockbusters.” That might be one thing if the films in
question weren’t classics like Ghostbusters,
Lord of the Rings, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Lion King (which they “improve”
by adding foul language) and RoboCop.
12. Step Brothers
D: Adam McKay
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Occasionally funny, but stupid, humor. I know that it’s parody, but I found Kathryn
Hahn’s character among the most irritating desperate housewives I’ve ever seen.
11. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
D: Steven Spielberg
**********
I’ve been waiting years to watch Indy kill some commies,
and this was just a big disappointment.
10. The Spirit
D: Frank Miller
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While it has some style and funny moments, it’s a confused
movie whose humor doesn’t work most of the time. I found The Octopus’ simpering clone sidekicks
particularly annoying.
9. Bolt
D: Chris Williams, Byron Howard
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This movie does have its strengths. It was a step
in the right direction for Non-Pixar 3D Disney films. I liked Mittens
(Susie Essman) and the movie had a lot of good poignant and heartwarming
moments. Let’s not forget the oddly autobiographical nature of Miley
Cyrus’ character. Still, the movie was mostly a rehash of Buzz
Lightyear’s arc from Toy Story. It gets worse when you find out
the much better idea Disney scrapped in
favor of this.
8. Eagle Eye
D: D. J. Caruso
**********
Well-paced and watchable, but it has an absurd premise
and nothing else special.
7. Tropic Thunder
D: Ben Stiller
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While everyone else seemed to like this movie, I didn’t
particularly enjoy it. I liked the “Don’t
go full retard” scene, but that’s about it.
6. Hancock
D: Peter Berg
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A confused mess of a movie.
5. Twilight
D: Catherine Hardwicke
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A bad movie, but at least it has some good scenery. Still take it over Underworld, though.
4. Pokemon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior
D: Kunihiko Yuyama
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It’s boring, but it has some decent scenery.
3. The Happening
D: M. Night Shyamalan
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Despite some funny moments, it wasn’t nearly as funny as
I thought it would be.
D: Dave Filoni
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An answer to a question that was already answered. But it did spawn a surprisingly good series.
1. Wanted
D: Timur Bekmambetov
**********
“Curving the bullet” could have been the best action idea
since Gun Kata, but they had to ruin it with generic racking and bullet
time. Some of the action is good, but
most of it is given away in the trailer.
The movie tries too hard to make it the movie fantasy fulfillment, and
it comes off as obnoxious. The best part
was a really good precision F-Bomb from Morgan Freeman.
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