I'm going with Wall-E for many of the same reasons you mentioned.  Also because it's the only movie I've gone to with my kids this year and not dozed through (HSM 3 and Beverly Hills Chihuahua I'm looking your way here).
Unfortunately I'm woefully behind on my 2008 movie watching, but from what my friends tell me Iron Man and The Dark Knight will both be on my list as well when I get around to seeing them.

MY FAVORITE FILMS OF THE YEAR AS A 21 YEAR OLD MALE WOULD HAPPEN TO BE WALL-E AND THE DARK KNIGHT. These are the two movies that moved me the most this year. Wall-E was fantastic not in only its portrayal on what I think the future is quickly becoming in a bad way it was also one of if not the best Romantic Comedy I have ever seen. Who didnt want to cry for Wall-E when EVE was mad at him....I know I was real close. The Dark Knight is for obvious reasons. They played up the terrorist elements enough to the point where it seems like there could be a psycho out there really like the Joker. It also dealt with love lost and the true emotions of Right vs. Wrong....I have a feeling after Dec. 25th I'll be adding Benjamin Button to this comment....it looks fantastic

I loved Dark Knight at the time, but don't want to see it again.  Ditto for Sex and the City.  I also loved the horror film "The Strangers" and did actually watch it again, but, like most suspense movies, not as good the second go around.  Some of the others I've watched are already forgotten.  I guess The Strangers or DK would be 2008 fave.

As far as ones from years past, The Shawshank Redemption was one of my faves when it came out and remains so.  I find myself watching it everytime it comes on. Chicago was great when I saw it in the theater (and rightfully deserved its Oscar accolades), but I never really wanted to watch it again on the small screen.

THE DARK KNIGHT IS THE BEST FILM OF THE YEAR.

I think the Dark Knight is the best film of the year and one of the top 5 entertainment experiences of the past 15-20 years.  This is a landmark film...the "Titanic" of this decade, and it should be rewarded as such.  Critically acclaimed and the #2 grossing film of ALL TIME...there's no question it's the year's best.

The Dark Knight is the best film of the year. Wall-E, oh boy, konk me on the head but I only liked it when Wall-E was on Earth. I didn't care for the overweight, sloth propaganda message. Scarred from Happy Feet, I guess. Let the Right One In is on my to see list.  

Thought "The Dark Knight" was great. The story and acting were excellent enough to make you forget it's a comic book movie (nothing against them, I love them, but think it factors into why this one is getting serious Academy attention). Wasn't as impressed with "WALL-E" as everyone else seems to be, it was cute but not one I'd stop flipping channels for. Two that I haven't seen mentioned yet are "Tropic Thunder", great mockery of Hollywood and "Pineapple Express", hilarious buddy movie that even tugs at your heart (remember the alley scene after Franco save Rogen from the school cop?)

From what I have seen so far this year, I have to go with Let The Right One In as my favorite.  It was such a breath of fresh air that was needed in the horror genre, but at the same time, it was much more than just a horror movie.  

The Dark Knight, Slumdog Millionaire, and Wall-E are some of my other favorites this year.  I still need to see Milk, The Wrestler, Doubt, The Curious Case, etc.  So we will see.  

The movie I most enjoyed this year was 'Indiana Jones'. Was it 'Raiders'? No. It wasn't supposed to be, either. I was just so damn happy to see Indy back in action, the minor flaws (ie, Shia) didn't matter.

I'd go with The Dark Knight simply for the reason that it was powerful entertainment on a gigantic scale, a true epic of crime drama. I've already seen it several times and it doesn't get any less interesting or powerful. The anarchistic Joker does really drive the film, but each strand of the story is interesting in its own way.

I just saw Let The Right One In, which is a rather twisted romantic drama between a 12-year-old and a 12-year-old-in-body-only vampire. It's a bit too long, and contains one laugh-out-loud CGI scene involving cats, but otherwise it is very well done. The young actress who played the vampire was very good. The best way to describe it is that it's a quiet character drama punctuated by some graphic moments of bloodletting.

2006 favorite - Children of Men?? That movie was terrible!

My top five would have to be the following

1) The Dark Knight
Reasoning: Perhaps the best comic book movie ever made, The Dark Knight shows audiences that sometimes comic books could work even in the real world. What made this movie a pleasure for me was the character of the Joker as well as Heath Ledger. The Joker represented insanity and chaos at its worse, I mean even the National Guard couldn't stop him. He symbolized the terror of guerrilla terrorism striking an ever relevant tone in the post 9-11 society.

2) WALL-E
Reasoning: There will come a time in which our gluttony will get the best of us. In Wall-E, the human race has abandoned Earth and left it to waste away. But one robot is left to try to salvage it and in the end, salvages humanity and represents the best of it. And along the way, this robot learns to be human by falling in love. He teaches us, the real humans, how to appreciate what we have and not take it for granted.

3) Milk
Reasoning: In this country, we have recently discovered our natural spunk for politics. For years it laid dormant and due to the polarizing nature of this new century, it awoke to a blessed welcoming. During the time of Harvey Milk, political activism was second nature to everyday life. Back then, people were a lot more interested in politics and with the recent passage of Prop 8 and Prop 2, politics has been thrust back into the spotlight. With Harvey Milk's life, Gus Van Sant presents us a very arthouse depiction, quiet and subtle anchored by the greatness that is Sean Penn. To call him the next Brando or DeNiro would be diminishing his own performance identity. Joined by commanding performances by Diego Luna, Josh Brolin, James Franco, and Emile Brosh, political movies may never be the same.

4) Tropic Thunder
Reasoning: Satire and mocking are two uniquely American traits, but when presented in cinema, they become tools of attack and buffoonery. But with Ben Stiller, he understands the art of satire and brings renewal interest back to the art of the satire movie. The characters of Tropic Thunder are headlined by Kirk Lazarus and Les Grossman, two of the most comedic and superb stock characters of Hollywood. Played to the T by Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise. Let's hope that Tropic Thunder will prevent the Scary Movie franchise from getting renewal.

5) Cloverfield
Reason: I could never imagine seeing this film on the big screen. Innovative camera technology is the film's strong point and its weak point. The POV technique is perhaps the most effective horror technique to come out Hollywood since Hitchcock's time. The storytelling technique of panic and the monster's refusal to wanting to be filmed lends to the film. Now, if only there was a way to present a different side of the story. Is there a Cloverfield 2 coming out?

Honorable Mentions have to go out to the following:
1) Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2) Bolt
3) Kung Fu Panda
4) Mamma Mia!
5) Sex and the City
6) Doubt
7) Revolutionary Road
8) Slumdog Millionaire
9) The Reader
10) Frost/ Nixon
11) Waltz with Bashir
12) Marley and Me (I know, it has fluff, but I'm a pet lover)


Alfonso Durale makes a valid point, the popcorn flicks definitely outdid the SERIOUS movies this year with the exception of Milk. Mamma Mia showed us we could go to the movies and just have fun, even if the plot was little to nothing, and Sex and the City reunited our four favorite New York ladies, but unfortunately forgot the wit and tone of the series. It's unfortunate that Oscar tends to be in flux on its opinion of every film. Some will say we need to give these films their due, and all they receive is a nomination in Best Score or Best Costumes. With The Dark Knight and WALL-E, perhaps that will change. Perhaps, the history books will say this is the year that a Slumdog or a Dark Knight or even a little robot became the best picture of the YEAR.

The Wrestler. It's only on 4 screens (in L.A. and N.Y.), but hopefully it'll get a wider release after the holidays, and if it does, I hope more people go to see it. It may have some predictability to the story, but there's great performances by Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei. The story is gut-wrenching and you can't help but feel some emotion for Randy "The Ram" Robinson. If you think you're going to catch a glimpse of some WWE fanaticism, you're wrong. You get a chance to witness human emotion and, as The Ram describes it, "a broken down piece of meat." And that's how he treats himself, just some piece of meat being torn apart to please his adoring fans. There's one key word... Staple Gun. Go see it!!!!

Say it with me....Wall-E...just loved it from beggining to end, the Dark Knight was one of the best films i have seen in a long time!!!!

WALL-E may well be the best movie of the decade.  I saw it twice in theaters and thrice on DVD.  The Dark Knight is a distant second with its fantastic second half.  Other great movies this year include Rachel Getting Married, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Vicki Christina Barcelona, In Bruges and Kung Fu Panda.

Downey, Jr.'s role in Tropic Thunder could be one of the greatest comedic performances ever.  A white guy playing an Australian playing a black guy.  He stands head and shoulders above Jack Black and Ben Stiller, although Tom Cruise and Nick Nolte give memorable performances as well.  Also, no love for The Wrestler?  Rourke and Tomei are excellent.  I know it was predictable, but so were Rocky (Oscar) and 8mile ($100 million).

Wall-E isn't even the best animated film. Bolt is severely underrated and was a much better movie than Wall-E.

Wall-E! is the best movie of the year. Just look at Rottentomatoes.com and Metacritic.com, the free movie critics websites.  Also the ticket-paying audience loved it as well. Another critical and commerical hit for Pixar/Disney.  The Dark Knight second best. Wall-E was more original than another film where Batman fights the Joker, whom he battled before in 1989.

Bolt is cliched crap, end of story.

Has no one here seen "Juno" or "Young at Heart" ? ?
I walked out on "Dark Knight".  Too much gratuitous violence. Haven't seen "Wall-E", but will.

"Juno" gets my vote.

KungFu Panda - That was my best movie of the year..

Seth from Tampa wrote a term paper on 2008 movies...lol.  

Interesting input on everyone's behalf, but the Dark Knight stands head and shoulders above the other movies.  Maybe not as powerful as the Wrestler or as gut-bustingly funny as Tropic Thunder or as emotionally satisfying as Wall-E, but in terms of sheer entertainment value, nothing even comes close this year.  The nation's top critics agree, as do billions and billions of people around the world who made it the second-highest grossing movie of all time.  Hey Academy..."Lets put a smile on that face" and give the Dark Knight the accolades it deserves!!  Best movie of the DECADE, at the very least.

I only made it to two movies in the theatre this year, and thoroughly enjoyed them both. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was all the fun and breath taking adventure that 'Temple' and 'Crusade' were not and brought back some of the fun of 'Raiders'. The second movie was Babylon A.D., by no stretch of the imagination a great movie, but it was good as in it was extremely entertaining. and it was Vin Deisel at his glowering s**t eating grin best.

I would give this title to Juno.  Great flick.  There's a fair amount of other interesting ones -- Ironman (much better than expected), Wanted (extremely well filmed), Cloverfield (brilliant).  But Juno definitely is number one.

Miracle at St. Anna gets my vote.  This film didn't get the attention it deserved.

A great way to weight a film as to whether or not you do watch it again. I loved Cold Mountain and Calendar Girls - bought the tapes - have never watched either one. Wondered if it was me or them.

Wall-E and Iron Man are tops on my list for the year (a year in which I valued fun far higher than serious pieces due to all the real world issues)

I will say that I think using "re-watchability" as a gauge is a tough one. I mean, I'll watch Judge Dredd anytime it's on cable and yet would never call it a great film.

"The Constant Gardener," "Children of Men," "Babel," "21 Grams," "Benjamin Button," "The Dead Girl," anything by Soderberg and even "The Dark Knight" all reflect the horrible new Hollywood trend of post-9/11 maudlin pomposity.

THE DARK KNIGHT - was the only film worth the ticket price this year - enough to pay for it twice! The movie as a whole, was a great experience, and not only do I believe it was the best film of the year, it's the best I've seen in a long time! For so many reasons starting with the use of IMAX cameras in a way that's never been done before. The wonderful cast, which of course included the mesmorizing & unforgettable performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker but also the outstanding yet underated performance of Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon. Throw in the script, the plot, the stunts, the action, the humor and - I can't forget! The brilliant & eerie musical score by Hans Zimmer! Other film makers should take a lesson from Christopher Nolan. Clearly, he knows how to deliver entertainment at it's best! I can't wait for the next one!

Wow, I feel really behind.  Here in Chicago, we're still waiting for a lot of the end-of-year films to hit.  That said: What's all the love for "Dark Knight"?  I enjoyed it a lot but Ledger's performance did not live up to the hype.  That's not saying it wasn't very fine but, as supporting work goes (or any work, for that matter), it doesn't hold a candle to what Robert Downey, Jr. did in "Tropic Thunder."

Speaking of Downey, I enjoyed "Iron Man" quite a bit more than "Dark Knight" (and I'm a serious Bale fan).  Maybe "Iron Man" was more of a popcorn movie (not my usual genre) but I was entertained.  Every aspect of that film was spot on.  Jon Favreau is fast proving himself a force to be reckoned with.  His films have a lot of heart.

Glad someone mentioned "Young @ Heart" - the one film I've seen that made me weep.  Probably just because I've yet to catch "Milk."  Having lived through that period in the Bay Area (if not part of it), it's still raw.  That was arguably the darkest period in Bay Area history that did not involve a literal earthquake.  Milk and Moscone were assassinated only 9 days after the Jonestown massacre, where nearly all the dead were from the Bay Area.

Films I anticipate:  "Revolutionary Road," "Benjamin Button," "Slumdog Millionaire" (which I'll see over Christmas"

Best... Dark Knight, Wanted

Worst... You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Get Smart

1. Rachel Getting Married
2. Vicky Christina Barcelona
3. Frozen River
4. Milk
5. Wall-E

And, yes, Children of Men was the best of 2006.

I'll sell you Children of Men.. we turned the sick boring thing off about half way through.

DARK KNIGHT. Best Batman movie I've ever seen.  And even if there wasn't another Batman movie to compare it to, and if you had to compare it to other films this year, the movie still blew me away from the sheer quality that was put into it on all levels and categories. They spared no expense in making this movie the most memorable this year.  The cinematography, the plot, and the score were AWESOME. So was the acting!  A BRILLIANT ACTION/TRAGEDY FLICK.  IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET, GO SEE IT AND YOU'LL SEE WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.

I'm pretty sure Juno and Young @ Heart were both 2007 movies...

The top five movies of this year..so far are:
1. The Dark Knight
2. Wall-e
3. In Bruges (needs some recognition people!)
4. Tropic Thunder
5. Burn After Reading

Honorable mentions to Milk and Iron Man!

Worst movies of the year is a tie
The Day the Earth Stood Still and Eagle Eye
Runners Up: W. and Indiana Jones IV

Take that to the bank people..or at least before Benjamin Button comes out.

I've seen "The Dark Knight" twice, mostly because I had two people who really wanted to see it, and it never really captured my interest.  I haven't liked the revamped Batman franchise at all.  It hasn't helped that I'm seeing red since my best friend told me the director has no interest in using Robin.  You can't have Batman without Robin!!!

I haven't really had a best film this year, but I'm very anxiously awaiting the Benjamin Button movie.  I'm going to see it this weekend for sure.  I've been anxious to see it ever since it was first mentioned on this site.  I'm betting it'll be my favorite movie of the year.  I did enjoy Mummy 3 and Indy 4 and Wall-E too.

And as for Alonso Duralde, I'm seriously thinking of never reading his reviews again.  That guy wouldn't know a good movie if it bit him on his behind.  All he does is badmouth nearly every single film that comes out.  At least Roger Ebert gives more varied and decent reviews.  I'd rather listen to him.  Duralde should be forced to watch 24 hours of movies he hates so he can start appreciating movies again and writing better reviews.

first off:  children of men remains one of my top 10 of all time... if for nothing else than those amazing tracking shots!  

this year's best : milk, slumdog millionaire, let the right one in, ironman....and yes, i'll throw in dark knight and in bruges

Burn After Reading, Sex and the City, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and Wall-E

Who are these people who didn't like Children of Men?  It was amazingly powerful and thought provoking and was definately one of the best films of 2006.

As for 2008, the Dark Knight is obviously the most appealing movie of the year.  Everything about it was fantastic, from the camera work to the costumes.  My other favorites of the year include W, which had an amazing performance by Josh Brolin, and The Wackness.  Ben Kingsley was phenomenal in it and the storyline broke my heart.

I'm looking forward to adding to my list of top movies, and expect that it will include Benjamin Button and The Wrestler once I've seen them.

And just because woefully under appreciated movies have been mentioned, let's look at last year.  I know No Country for Old Men was brilliant, as was There Will Be Blood.  But I'd like to point out that The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was a brilliant piece of work and one of the best movies I've ever seen.  Where was the love?  Another one in this category is Gone Baby Gone.  Casey Affleck was brilliant, Amy Ryan was even better, and Ben Affleck's directing made this poignant movie an absolute must see!

Zack and Miri Make A Porno ... the class reunion scene alone with Seth Rogan/Justin Long/Brandon Routh make it an instant classic ... sweet and funny movie at it's core ... Dark Knight a close second.

Hey, Allie -

I am just like you with Shawshank... I also love to watch it everytime it's on... I especially love the whole scene where they discover Andy's escape (I think I have all of Warden Norton's lines memorized... a feat only beaten by my memorization of all the dialogue/lyrics on my Sweeney Todd OCR! ;))

Frozen River still haunts me.  It was a film about real people with problems/situations that were extraordinary but not a stretch of the imagination.
Fine acting all around.  I'd highly recommend it.

i saw alot of movies this year...  More than normal.  But I only saw one twice.  I saw it a second time because I wasn't sure if i liked it.  And I loved it.  Was it the "Best" movie of the year?  No.  But it was the most enjoyable overall.. Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Juno and Young @ Heart were from '07.

I really liked Tropic Thunder though out of the Top 40 movies listed at Movie City News... I've only seen one (The Dark Knight).  I watch a couple movies per week, but mainly off of Cinemax and they aren't known for being on the cutting edge of releases.  Just last night I watched "Maradona, la mano di Dio" from '07 - suprisingly good flick about Maradona, the Argentinian soccer player / drug user.  

Ok, I have to be different and say that Twilight was my favorite movie of 2008.  Then again, the only other movie that I saw in 2008 was Fireproof.  Also a most excellent film.  Most of the actors were volunteers and the film was made on a shoestring budget, yet it was believable with a powerful message so it's definitely worth seeing.

1) Man On Wire
2) The Wrestler
3) The Dark Night
4) Encounters At The End
5) Milk

Why are so many people saying Juno? It came out in 2007...so it should be on your 2007 list.

The Dark Knight was the best film of 2008, the best film of the decade, and possibly one of the best of all time.

I didn't go to many movies this year. Every year, it seems like I see fewer and fewer of the films that eventually get Oscar nods.

So my top three this year of the ones that I saw are:

1. Frost/Nixon
2. The Dark Knight (although I wouldn't have liked it at all without Heath Ledger. I thought the story was pretty basic stuff and I hate the raspy-voiced Batman)
3. Teeth. Not sure how many theaters this played in, and it's definitely not for everyone, but I thought it was great.

The worst?
Cloverfield. Mostly because it made me puke. I'm disturbed by the "We found hand-held footage shot by people who are dead now" trend. I'm sure it can work when backed up by a good plot and good acting, but I can't watch it.

Children of Men was definitely the best of 2006.  I thought it would have been Departed, but Children of Men was simply the better movie.

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