As you know I saw a lot of films this year, about 42 of them were released in 2008 and I saw about ¾ of that in theaters. I did not see a good many films though, stuff like Pineapple Express, Step Brothers, The Spirit, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button or Gran Torino will have to wait until sometime this year. The following list is the best of what I did see this year. The most disappointing film I saw in 2008 was Vin Diesel’s Babylon A.D. But you’re not here to see what I though sucked but rather what I thought was excellent.

So here is the best:

10.Valkyrie – Tom Cruise may be a crazy, sci-fi writer worshiping loon but the guy is still one heck of an entertainer. Bryan Singer is also still one heck of a director. I really enjoyed this film and surprisingly or not I did not know the details of this particular assassination attempt on Hitler. The one problem with the film is that the ending is never in doubt, even for one who did not know the story behind the attempt. This fact ultimately weakens the film of some tension and suspense but the story and performances are quite captivating.

9.Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – I heard all the complaints about how Lucas killed another of his loved franchises but sue me I liked it. Harrison Ford was still Indy and even if the story was more outlandish than in the past, although I felt it fit well within both the series itself and the time frame of the film, it was a fun summer popcorn ride and that was all I ever wanted or needed out of it.

8.Kung Fu Panda – I have a love/hate thing going on with with Jack Black. The guy tends to get on my nerves a little bit but I also find him to be hysterically funny at times. “Kung Fu Panda” is one of those times where I found him funny. Maybe it had more to do with the voice coming out of a Panda than a fat disheveled man but “Kung Fu Panda” was a very, very good film bordering on Pixar quality at times but never quite reaching that high standard.

7. Tropic Thunder – I’m going to come out and say it, I hate Ben Stiller. I don’t find the dude funny in the slightest. Regardless “Tropic Thunder” is fantastic. Robert Downey Jr. was fantastic. Jack Black was only slightly annoying and Tom Cruise was fucking awesome. The only way this film could have been better is if Ben Stiller weren’t actually in it.

6. Horton Hears a Who – Once upon a time Jim Carrey and Mike Meyers both did films based on Dr. Seuss properties. Maybe it was the live action nature of those films but honestly they were not very good. Horton Hears a Who is good. It’s the best Seuss adaptation since 1966′s “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”. Jim Carrey is great as Horton and Steve Carell plays the perfect paranoid Mayor of Whoville. One of the finest animated films to come out of 20th Century Fox ever.

5.Wanted – I’ll admit it, I thought this film was going to be crap. It turned out to be the most surprising film I saw this year. Russian Director Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch and Day Watch) has a great future ahead of him directing action films. Oh and Angelina Jolie is smoking hot in this film.

4.Forgetting Sarah Marshall – By far the funniest film I saw all year. Sometimes nothing is funnier than hardship and this film plays it to a tee. Russell Brand is outrageous and it also has vampire puppets.

3.Iron Man – I’m half tempted to state that this is the finest origin story for a comic book movie ever but I think “Spider-Man” just tops it. Regardless it is a fantastic comic book movie and Robert Downey Jr. is the perfect actor to play Tony Stark. Not only was the film good though it was also a commercial success which makes me quite happy because Iron Man is one of my all time favorite comic heroes (#3 behind only Spider-Man and…

2.The Dark Knight – …Batman) I’ve loved Batman for well over 20 years. Batman was the first comic series I ever started collecting and I am highly critical of the character on film. I felt the Tim Burton films were completely out of character, while the Joel Schumacher films were schlock more in line with the Adam West TV series than the comic book. However Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins” was the finest adaptation of the character to the big screen. That was of course until this year when Nolan took “The Dark Knight” beyond mere comic book movie and entered the realm of serious film. It’s a crowning achievement and should be regarded as such by getting nominated for Best Picture (with Nolan garnering a nod for Best Director and Ledger for Best Supporting Actor) but I don’t think it should win because of….

1.Wall-E – While Pixar has always made films that extend beyond mere children’s fare they have never quite entered the realm of serious film. Wall-E changes all that. The first forty minutes of this film are almost devoid of speaking yet you get emotionally attached to the characters despite them being robots (or insects). You feel for Wall-E and his solitary existence and how he attempts to crack the rough outer shell of EVE. And if by the end of the film you don’t feel good about humanity and what we can accomplish you have no soul. One can only hope that this us the year that the Academy gets it right.

Well that’s it, check back tomorrow as I tackle my favorite handheld games of 2008.