There was only one real contender for my favourite film release of 2008, and that is...

In Bruges

In Bruges was easily the most enjoyable film that I've seen since Last King of Scotland.  The wordplay in particular between Colin Farrell's character - Ray, and Brendan Gleeson's character - Ken, represents a fantastic piece of script writing.

Other honourable mentions go to:

  • Hancock - from what I can gather most people seem to think The Dark Knight was the best superhero movie of 2008, closely followed by Iron Man.  I disagree.  Iron Man was ok but I struggled to stay awake when I went to see The Dark Knight, it was far too long.  Hancock on the other hand was a really fun twist on the genre.  Although I must admit that the first half was better than the second - it went down hill a bit after the twist.
  • Tropic Thunder - if only for Tom Cruise's dancing and profanity.
  • Taken - for some serious kicking arse.
  • Son of Rambow - sweet film, at complete contrast to the sick drivel that is John Rambo, which I wrote about here.
  • Burn After Reading - seen this twice now, yet again the Coen brothers showing that their black comedies can be just as good as their thrillers (i.e. No Country for Old Men).
  • Cloverfield - I usually hate handheld camera scenes but it was put to good use for Cloverfield.

A few others that I enjoyed included In the Valley of Elah, The Bank Job, Vantage Point, and Eagle Eye (even though it was far-fetched nonsense).

The biggest disappointment for me was easily Quantum of Solace, which I wrote about here.

Of course, there are a lot of films released in 2008 that I haven't got around to watching yet.  Some of the ones I'm looking forward to include The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, Man on Wire, Frost/Nixon, and 'W.'.