What have you seen? What have you liked?

I'll be cobbling my list together over the next few days and eventually posting it. Didn't get to see some of the movies I really wanted to see before 2009 hit, but I still got to see quite a bit.

I think a lot of you will agree that the best of 2008 was The Dark Knight. Even the DVD on my 40" TV was still awesome. that said, here's my list, (in no particular order):

The Dark Knight
Wall*E
Incredible Hulk
Iron Man
The Bucket List, (Not sure if it came out in 2008, but I rented itlast week and that was really good too.)

I'm sure there were others I liked, but those are the ones I rememer off the top of my head.

Here's a list of the movies I saw in theaters this year:

1. 21
2. 27 Dresses
3. 10,000 B.C.
4. The Animation Show 4
5. Appaloosa
6. Australia
7. Baby Mama
8. Batman: Gotham Knight
9. Be Kind Rewind
10. Beverly Hills Chihuahua
11. Body of Lies
12. Bolt
13. Burn After Reading
14. Cadillac Records
15. Changeling
16. Charlie Bartlett
17. Choke
18. City of Ember
19. Cloverfield
20. College Road Trip
21. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
22. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
23. The Dark Knight
24. The Day the Earth Stood Still
25. Death Race
26. Definitely, Maybe
27. Diary of the Dead
28. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
29. Doubt
30. Drillbit Taylor
31. Eagle Eye
32. The Fall
33. Fear(s) of the Dark
34. The Foot Fist Way
35. The Forbidden Kingdom
36. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
37. Four Christmases
38. Funny Games
39. Get Smart
40. Ghost Town
41. Gran Torino
42. Hamlet 2
43. Hancock
44. The Happening
45. Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
46. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
47. Horton Hears a Who!
48. The House Bunny
49. How She Move
50. How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
51. Igor
52. The Incredible Hulk
53. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
54. In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
55. In the Realms of the Unreal
56. Iron Man
57. JCVD
58. Journey to the Center of the Earth
59. Jumper
60. Justice League: The New Frontier
61. Kabluey
62. Kung Fu Panda
63. Leatherheads
64. Let the Right One In
65. The Love Guru
66. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
67. Made of Honor
68. Man on Wire
69. Marley and Me
70. Max Payne
71. Meet Dave
72. Meet the Spartans
73. Milk
74. Mother of Tears
75. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
76. Never Back Down
77. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
78. Nim's Island
79. The Onion Movie
80. Pineapple Express
81. The Promotion
82. Punisher: War Zone
83. Quantum of Solace
84. Rachel Getting Married
85. Rambo
86. Redbelt
87. Righteous Kill
88. Role Models
89. Run, Fatboy, Run
90. Saw V
91. Semi-Pro
92. Sex and the City
93. Sex Drive
94. Shine a Light
95. Slumdog Millionaire
96. Smart People
97. Son of Rambow
98. Southland Tales
99. Speed Racer
100. The Spiderwick Chronicles
101. The Spirit
102. Star Wars: The Clone Wars
103. Step Brothers
104. Stop-Loss
105. The Strangers
106. Superhero Movie
107. Starting Out in the Evening
108. Step Up 2: The Streets
109. Strange Wilderness
110. Synecdoche, New York
111. There Will Be Blood
112. Transporter 3
113. Tropic Thunder
114. Twilight
115. Twisted: A Balloonamentary
116. Valkyrie
117. W.
118. The Wackness
119. WALL·E
120. Wanted
121. What Happens in Vegas
122. Wild West Comedy Show
123. The Wrestler
124. The X Files: I Want to Believe
125. Yes Man
126. You Don't Mess with the Zohan
127. Zack and Miri Make a Porno

A note on the above:

The majority are considered 2008 releases. I watched most of them in the theater. Some (e.g., Justice League: The New Frontier, The Onion Movie) were direct-to-video releases. I downloaded a handful of them (JCVD, The Wrestler, Slumdog Millionaire) because I decided it was taking them too long to come to Saint Louis. Some (The Nines, Southland Tales, There Will Be Blood) had been given theatrical releases in 2007 or earlier, but I had either missed them or they had not come to Berlin or Saint Louis when I was in whichever place I was in when I was in it.

The ones I saw this year that really stood out for me (in a positive way):

1. WALL·E
2. Man on Wire

I'd put There Will Be Blood in with these two, but it's really a 2007 release, so I won't. If I had been in Saint Louis when it was released and had been able to watch it, I would have put it in last year's list.

Mostly enjoyable movies that stood out to a lesser degree: Slumdog Millionaire, JCVD, Son of Rambow, Iron Man, Shine a Light.

Some uneven movies with moments or performances I would recommend solely for those standout moments or performances: The Dark Knight, Cadillac Records, The Wrestler, Starting Out in the Evening.

Light, pleasant, inoffensive movies I would watch again for no other reason than that their light, pleasant inoffensiveness is the biggest draw: Leatherheads, 27 Dresses, Burn After Reading, Nim's Island, Kung Fu Panda.

Movies that were exceptionally-yet-enjoyably bad: Step Up 2: The Streets, Never Back Down, The Spirit, Punisher War Zone, Max Payne. The Spirit is the biggest surprise out of this bunch. I went in expecting to be in a constant state of upset while watching it.

Movies that were jaw-droppingly, anger-inducingly bad: The Happening, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Jumper, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Meet the Spartans.

* * *

I did what I set out to do, which was to watch fewer new releases this year than I did last year. I am proud of myself for that.

I missed some movies I wanted to see. Among them: Revolutionary Road, The Reader, Frost/Nixon, Happy-Go-Lucky, High School Musical 3, In Bruges, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Mamma Mia!, Delgo.

I did actually see In Bruges on DVD. I think you would enjoy it.

In the theater I saw:

The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Tropic Thunder
Hellboy II

All of which were quality viewings. Hellboy II was the weakest, and I probably could have waited for the DVD release.