Best of films, 2008

The WE film critics helped compile a few of our favourite movies from 2008.

Three out of four WE critics chose Slumdog Millionaire as their favourite film of 2008.

ANDREA WARNER
Favourite film: Slumdog Millionaire
Danny Boyle’s bittersweet fairy tale showcased the best and worst of India, and achieved the impossible: translating the vitality and momentum of survival with equal parts heart and horror.

Most under-appreciated film: Hamlet 2
Subversive, silly, and chock-full of shock, this movie failed to translate with summer audiences. Plenty of folks couldn’t see the humour in songs like “Rock Me Sexy Jesus,” but Steve Coogan’s egocentric idiot savant had me humming — and laughing — all night long.

Movie trend: Smart fan-boy fare
Iron Man wisely chose a ripped and witty Robert Downey Jr. to signal the new breed of smart comic-book blockbusters. The Dark Knight was deliciously dark, a genuinely frightening tour de force that hit a cultural nerve well beyond Heath Ledger’s sad, untimely death. And though The Incredible Hulk wasn’t quite up to par, its winking end quickened the heartbeats of comic-book geeks everywhere by hinting at an upcoming feature: The Avengers! 

Drugs & Celebrity

Heath Ledger's been found dead in his New York apartment in a possible drug-related death. His wonderful performances in I'm Not There and as the brilliantly terrifying Joker in the upcoming Dark Knight were only glimpses of an incredible future in film.

Ledger's death comes just a week after Brad Renfro was also found dead from a drug-overdose.

What a sad and lonely way to die.