2008 Capsule Reviews

The Dark Knight
rating: *****
review: Best known for Heath Ledger's iconic Joker, this may yet prove to be the definitive superhero story of its era.

The Fall
rating: *****
review: Tarsem's brilliantly imagined, and visualized, portrait of a suicidal stuntman and the little girl who saves his life.

In Bruges
rating: ****
review: Colin Farrell has found his most universal acclaim as a hitman struggling with the accidental killing of a child.  It may help that it features his most brash performance since his breakthrough, Tigerland.

Hancock
rating: ****
review: Come for Will Smith's degenerate superhero, stay for the unexpected twist.

Cassandra's Dream
rating: ****
review: I prefer to think of this Woody Allen flick as Colin Farrell's answer to In Bruges, as a guy tortured by a decision he made.

Che
rating: ****
review: Regardless of what you think about his legacy, this is a brilliant depiction of Che's activities, perhaps the essential film from Soderbergh and Benicio Del Toro.

W.
rating: ****
review: Oliver Stone presents a fascinatingly sympathetic portrait of the second-most recent controversial Republican president.  Between this and Nixon, can we expect a Trump biopic in the years to come?

Pride & Glory
rating: ****
review: Gavin O'Connor, Joe Carnahan, Edward Norton, and Colin Farrell collide.  A can't-miss combination of talents.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
rating: ****
review: Between Jason Segal's career-altering puppetry (which led directly to a revival of The Muppets) and Russell Brand's ideal role (as pompous rock star Aldous Snow, who was later featured in his own movie, Get Him to the Greek), this one rises well above the typical raunch comedy template.

Yes Man
rating: ****
review: Jim Carrey's increasingly gimmicked-oriented comedies might have begun to feel too obvious, but it's certainly worth the nonsense to enjoy, well, the nonsense, as well as Zooey Deschanel increasingly sneaking herself into a side music career.

Seven Pounds
rating: ****
review: One of Will Smith's signature dramatic performances.

The Happening
rating: ****
review: M. Night Shyamalan's most pure experience, a totally inexplicable event that can only be experienced, his ultimate rebellion against the twist ending backlash.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
review: ****
review: An incredibly tough act for Brad Pitt to follow, the culmination of the career he sought to avoid (that moment when he's back in his handsome prime) and the one he actively pursued for years (without having to come up with a weird character, because the role is inherently weird).

Doomsday
review: ****
review: Mad Max without Mad Max.

The Wrestler
review: ****
review: Even though it mostly botches what professional wrestling is actually like behind the façade, it still finds the beating heart behind it.

The Other Boleyn Girl
rating: ****
review: Ambition truly becomes nightmare; the ultimate Natalie Portman experience (no swans needed, black or otherwise).

Body of Lies
rating: ****
review: Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio clash (or, reunite nearly fifteen years after The Quick and the Dead).

Cloverfield
rating: ****
review: Found-footage saga about a Godzilla event that effectively uses the format.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
rating: ****
review: I'm no Indy connoisseur, but I enjoyed this later follow-up.  The more iconic the storytelling (as in The Last Crusade), the better I like this pulp hero.

Frost/Nixon
rating: ****
review: Post-resignation, everyone wanted a "gotcha" moment from Nixon.  This is the story of the closest anyone ever came.

Burn After Reading
rating: ****
review: Hilarious and alarming tale of a lot of idiots.

Quantum of Solace
rating: ****
review: Before the sensation of Daniel Craig's Bond had sunk in, his second outing was allowed to exist at the same level as the first, and few have yet appreciated that fact.

Step Brothers
rating: ****
review: The combination of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly always creates something special; if you can make it through their ridiculous shenanigans, you'll be happy for their happy ending.

The Love Guru
rating: ***
review: Mike Myers comes up with another great character, but there's not really much of a story to tell around him.

Smart People
rating: ***
review: A lot of great actors are depressed.

Vantage Point
rating: ***
review: A kind of wasted opportunity to spotlight a bunch of interesting actors.

Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who!
rating: ***
review: Jim Carrey is at last reduced to a cartoon, but strangely it's one of his most subdued performances.

Get Smart
rating: ***
review: Steve Carell essentially replicates his Office persona with another TV show remake, this time on the big screen.

Iron Man
rating: ***
review: Movie that launched a juggernaut.  Relatively humble origins.  I always compared Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark to Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow.  These solo movies are really why the fourth and fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movies were such huge mistakes, because that outsize personality needs equally interesting surroundings.

Leatherheads
rating: ***
review: George Clooney in one of his more blatant attempts to mine his Old Hollywood appeal.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army
rating: ***
review: Later remade as Thor: The Dark World.

Revolutionary Road
rating: ***
review: Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio reunite under considerably more subdued happenings.

Bottle Shock
rating: ***
review: The most compelling thing about this one is Chris Pine just before Kirk.

Charlie Bartlett
rating: ***
review: The late Anton Yelchin in an early spotlight.

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
rating: ***
review: Personally, I love Simon Pegg as a leading man, but I think for most other movie fans, the title of this movie is fairly accurate.

Hamlet 2
rating: ***
review: Steve Coogan is crazy enough to stage that play. 

Meet Dave
rating: ***
review: Eddie Murphy beginning to concede that audiences aren't really showing up for his act anymore.

21
rating: ***
review: Jim Sturgess in his bid for casual fans.

Tropic Thunder
rating: ***
review: This parody of '80s action flicks has a gonzo Robert Downey Jr. performance going for it, and a highly overrated Tom Cruise supporting role.

Run Fat Boy Run
rating: ***
review: Honestly, the best thing about Simon Pegg roles is that he's really the only actor who could pull them off.

Speed Racer
rating: ***
review: A lot of times, when filmmakers are trying to reclaim past popularity they try to do variations of what used to work.  That's what the Wachowskis have been doing since the Matrix sequels cool interest in the original.  This is a glossy pastiche of a semblance of the original mystique.

Valkyrie
rating: ***
review: Tom Cruise was ramping up his comeback at the time, and thought this big dramatic we-almost-killed-Hitler flick would help out.  Didn't really.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
rating: **
review: What if you replace the Egyptian mummy thing with a Chinese mummy thing?  Turns out it's a recipe for irrelevance.

WALL-E
rating: **
review: This was a short stretched awkwardly into a feature-length film.  Nothing more, nothing less.

Slumdog Millionaire
rating: **
review: An embarrassing attempt to legitimize a colonial view of India.

Romulus, My Father
rating: **
review: Low-key Eric Bana drama.

Babylon A.D.
rating: **
review: Vin Diesel attempting another big franchise.  He has yet to learn that they always happen by accident, for him, and never by design.

RockNRolla
rating: **
review: I'd watch this again for the Tom Hardy supporting role, but otherwise British gangster movies aren't generally my thing.

Last Chance Harvey
rating: **
review: Dustin Hoffman went through this whole period where he didn't seem relevant anymore, and the harder he tried the worse he failed.  This was one of his better efforts.

Twilight
rating: **
review: Obviously the movies, and the books, were a huge success, but there's very little life in this first entry.  Heh.

The Spirit
rating: **
review: Frank Miller reengineers the Will Eisner strip into a movie much like the Robert Rodriquez movies based on his Sin City comics.  Probably mostly of interest to diehards of those movies.

Deception
rating: **
review: Wants to be edgy drama, but...one of Hugh Jackman's true misfires.

88 Minutes
rating: **
review: Huge fan of Neal McDonough, but it's a shame his best bid for a breakout movie role was this unbalanced Al Pacino flick.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars
rating: **
review: Star Wars so horribly lack perspective that they legitimately claim the TV material that followed this is better than the prequels.

Australia
rating: **
review: Another relative misfire in casting for Hugh Jackman.

Jumper
rating: **
review: Bid to jumpstart Hayden Christensen's popular career post-Star Wars falls short.

The Incredible Hulk
rating: **
review: Total waste of Edward Norton in the second of two Hulk movies that blow up the monster size and have no idea what to do with it.  If you're trying to recreate King Kong rather than Frankenstein?  Find a tall building.

Wanted
rating: *
review: Far too smug.

Boarding Gate
rating: *
review: Asia Argento in a European action flick.

Superhero Movie
rating: *
review: Ha!  They made this parody far too early!  But actually a pretty good Spider-Man movie, all considered.

Funny Games
rating: *
review: Dreadful European horror.