Favorite Movies of 2008: The Dark Knight and Ironman

There were some really good movies that were released in 2008. My favorite flicks were The Dark Knight and Ironman. Surprised, that a girl's favorite movies were action ones instead of a cute, fun, romantic comedy or as they are dubbed chick flick? I saw 27 Dresses, Fool's Gold, The House Bunny, and Sex and the City, which were very chick flicky. I liked the movies and enjoy watching them over and over. However, the reasons I liked The Dark Knight and Ironman was due to the content, acting and interesting plots.

Heath Ledger's performance was hands down the best part of The Dark Knight. He didn't rely on his makeup job to define his character. Heath was the crazy guy that wanted to kill Batman. The kooky twitch and his attitude as the Joker made me really think this person was mental. My favorite scene with the Joker was when he walked out of the hospital dressed as a nurse. His attitude was like just another day at work. It's sad that Heath was not alive to bask in the outstanding acting he did in The Dark Knight and I hope he wins an Oscar for this role.

I found it interesting how they created the Two-Face character. It was completely different from Tommy Lee Jones' portrayal. Yet, it was still sinister and Aaron Eckhart did a great job showing the pain that Two-Face was experiencing. It came as a complete surprise to me when Aaron turned into Two-Face. I wasn't expected another Batman nemesis, but it enriched the storyline even more.

Of course, Christian Bale did a phenomenal job as Batman. Besides, Michael Keaton, Christian is Batman. He delivered the darkness and seriousness of this character. I liked how they have changed the Batman movies from quirky and funny to more of a dramatic edge.

The Dark Knight 2 is in the works. I can't wait to see the sequel. Ironman took a serious subject (terrorism) and gave it a fun comedic spin. I can't think of anyone else who could play

Ironman, as well as, Robert Downey, Jr. He has great comic timing and you believe that he's this playboy, rich kid that grows a conscience. It's always interesting to learn how super heroes are created. Sure, the explanations are far from being believable, but its fantasy and I think it would be nice to have a super hero to save us from criminals.

A friend of mine didn't like the action in Ironman. I liked the action in the movie. It was funny to watch this large, robot looking machine destroying the enemy. And it was nice to have an action movie that was not trying to copy the Matrix special effects. I liked the Matrix movies, but I started to get tired of seeing the same special effects in movie after movie. And it was funny to watch the super hero fail at his creation, i.e., in the beginning he didn't have enough power to get him in the air then there was too much.

Jon Favreau's directing was excellent. The storyline flowed and was easy to follow. We weren't left thinking what did that all mean or have to wonder the meaning of a character in the movie. I was able to follow the making of

Ironman's super hero costume. It was all technological mumbo jumbo, but the basic purpose of the armored suit was simple. Ironman was able to deflect ammo and fly.

I hope that a sequel of Ironman will be made. And of course, I'll be sitting in the theatre with popcorn and a soda enjoying the action. It will be interesting to see what super hero movies will be released in 2009.

The Dark Knight and Ironman set the bar pretty high on creating box office hits, but this is good for the consumer and hopefully guarantees us quality action movies this year.