Critics Pick the Best and Worst Films of 2008

iamtheseagull17 on 12-30-2008 08:59 AM

a tomatometer does not a great movie make

even though fincher's film may not have gotten as good reviews as, say, slumdog millionaire or the dark knight does not make it any less of a film. regardless of what people may say, the fact is that the curious case of benjamin button is an ambitious, masterfully made film

Thelastholdout on 01-2-2009 03:16 PM

Well, of course they wouldn't have Disaster Movie on their bottom 10 list. This is because it was so incomprehensibly bad that nobody could pay them enough to even SEE it, let alone rate it as good or bad. ;)

shloogie on 12-30-2008 08:23 AM

wall-e was honestly the worst movie i have ever seen but everyone else likes it i am surprised it is not on either list

Meghan C. on 12-30-2008 08:48 AM

Yeah! that's what I want to know.

Grady W. on 12-31-2008 12:12 AM

Sorry. Wall-E was nothing but Green Crapaganda!

arendr on 12-29-2008 09:35 PM

Glad to see someone agrees with me on Benjamin Button.

lancerbird13 on 12-30-2008 07:48 AM

my thoughts exactly on the Forrest Gump comparison. I saw many similarities to it while I was watching Button.

lonelyromance on 01-23-2009 01:04 PM

sad but true

CoUcH ToMaToE DoUgIe on 12-29-2008 09:51 PM

thunderstruck- no movie this year was better than the Dark Knight that I could say it "kicked ***" over it.
Plenty were better-the Wrestler, MILK, Frost/Nixon, Benjamin Button, Slumdog millionare. Still, I believe Nolan's work was so splendid that it
holds it own among these slighty superior yet loftier films.
I know its your opinion, thunderstruck, yet I find it hard to imagine how
you felt Iron Man was that better than Dark Knight.
Still, if anyone cares{and i know no one does} my favorite movies included those Oscar caliber films I mentioned before plus the wide-released blockbusters Dark Knight, Iron Man, Kung Fu, Pineapple Express and Wall*E.
Finally, I agree with the majority of the RT community with the shock and anguish over the exclusion of Diaster Movie in the worst films of the year. Also, I'm dissapointed to see so many fresh films designated as the worst films of the year. I'm sorry but Indy 4, Baghead or the Boy In Pinstripe Pajamas were not that bad and don not deserve such awful recognition.
Even Speed Racer, which I know is a favorite of Rotten Tomatoe's Ms. Jen Yumato, IS NOT deserving to placed on such a lowly ranking with such rotten films like the Love Guru and the Hottie and Nottie. Speed Racer was an experience worth watching and wan't too bad when I look bad on it. Its groundbreaking visuals alone should keep it off this dubious list.

Brett O. on 12-30-2008 08:32 PM

Iron Man better than The Dark Knight? What are you smoking?

Ted E. on 01-2-2009 03:45 PM

ThunderStruck, Milk is the worst movie ever and Iron Man was nothing but a "decent" movie, The Dark Knight should be nomianted for Best Picture and probably will. You should take your head out of your ***.

Ted E. on 01-2-2009 03:47 PM

Your top five is that of a child's, you are a retard

Ted E. on 01-2-2009 04:05 PM

Your top five is that of a child's, you are a retard

farleydave3 on 12-29-2008 11:31 PM

THesar... WHY have you seen all those movies/ seriously you must see everything that comes out! Thats like a list of all the movies I avoided this year... except the Happening... and that DID suck~

rodge d. on 12-30-2008 07:09 AM

funny games was 2007, and it was a decent film.

peryteran on 12-31-2008 07:20 AM

The Happening would have been better if they made it into The What's Happening with the remaining cast of the venerable 1980s show.

My feeling about worst movies goes to the intent of the film. In some ways, when you get good people who go out of their way to try and squeeze the audience with the film's message or its performances, like 21 grams or Babel, it's worse than watching an obvious hunk of crap like the Hottie or the Nottie. The more attention that those films get is worse for all of us. They're best forgotten, even as punchlines.

Funny Games is a good example of a filmmaker trying to kick the audience while making a point, but that's sorta his deal anyway. I don't think anyone is going to walk into a Haneke film and not know that he hates people's fascination with violence.

I wouldn't say I thought Happy Go Lucky was the worst movie I've seen, but it underwhelmed me. I'm a Mike Leigh fan, but for me, it just didn't work. There were too many mannered performances that didn't feel as authentic as some of his others did.

preyer on 01-7-2009 04:12 PM

'...and what do these critics know? seriously? they bring their excess baggage of cultural influences, biases and favorites and yet we adhere to what they think? critics whose opinions are predetermined by media machines? PLEASE!!' ~ like him or not, roger ebert has forgotten more about movies than you plus any ten others on this board will ever know.

what do critics know? they know movies. after all, that's their job. they know the history (or should!), have seen everything worth seeing and can offer you a dissertion on why it's good.... what it boils down to is a critic has standards that's not merely based on 'i liked it!'

a good critic (and there are some who aren't worth wasting the pixels on) knows dreck when he sees it. he knows it because he's seen it before a hundred times. insert whatever analogy you'd like that involves those who by virtue of a limited amount of experience lets a person think he's some kind of expert, where 'i liked it!' supplants any kind of real analysis.

and don't be fooled by bloggers who think they're worthy critics only because they use a witty comment or two. some 'critics' are barely able to do more than recount the plot.

if you want to know what being a good critic is, check out 'antagony and ecstacy.' that dude is awesome. now compare yourself to him and realize that he is, like many others, far more qualified to dissect and analyze a film than we're likely ever to be. for us it's a hobby, something for fun; for some people it's a passion. another critic/s i enjoy is spill.com (i find the animated reviews work better on youtube than their own site).

the tomato meter is misleading anyway. too often you find a tomato and inside the review itself you discover the critic really didn't like the movie.

you don't have to agree with any critic, though you should realize that a good critic merely isn't spouting an uninformed, malformed, baseless opinion like most of us. a lot of critics cite artsy movies and we think they're pretentious pricks because of it. i posit that you can only watch a man's blood splatter on the wall so many times before you get tired of it and start to want for more.

Zac H. on 12-30-2008 09:30 AM

I am pro-Benjamin Button, despite the flaws aptly highlighted in previous posts. The story telling methodology was a bit intellectually lazy- a nearly identical structure was used to drive this modern day fairytale as was used in the beloved Forest Gump. But, accepting BB for what it is, instead of wishing that Fincher et al. would have done some parts of the film differently, I think that it was quite excellent. Visually stunning, well acted, and it stuck to a message outside of the Jennie-Forrest love motif- chance rules and we should make the most of the hand we are dealt. In contrast to Gump who luckily stumbled through life, Benjamin consciously strives to take in all life has to offer while simultaneously accepting that much of what happens is beyond his control. To pile on the top 5 band wagon:

5- The Dark Knight
4- Milk
3- Let the Right One In
2- Slumdog Millionaire
1- Benjamin Button

Tarik M. on 01-2-2009 08:22 AM

I couldn't agree less with Rotten Tomatoes little professional critics right now than ever. I personally loved Indiana Jones 4 and Speed Racer. And it's not just me, all my friends and everyone I talk to loved those two movies. You'll put too much expectations and hopes on these things, they're just movies and good ones at that. They don't have to complete your life.