The Best Films of 2008 (so Far)

It's the time of year when the movie studios usually roll out their premium stuff. They figure that the Academy voters have short memories, so the real primo stuff, the stuff you hope gets as Oscar nod, you roll out at the end of the year. While there may be many more high-level studio productions still to come in the waning days of 2008, it has already been an impressive year.

It was the year that super hero movies finally came into their own. Rather than just being a mere series of genre movies the movies finally began to tell compelling stories with amazing direction, powerful performances and terrific writing. It was the year where at least two examples transcended the genre and approached that elusive thing that movies always seem to aspire to: art.

It was also the year when one of the most talented young actors Hollywood has produced finally made his long-awaited comeback. Robert Downey Jr. seemed to finally dispose of his past and his past problems and come into his own. He proved to be a great human side to a super hero in a mechanical costume and then proved he could be just as funny as Ben Stiller and Jack Black. If you're a fan of movies you probably were like most fans and rooted for the guy to get straight and now that he has, you hope he stays that way.

So, here are the four best movies of 2008, at least in my opinion. These should be on your must-see list, at the very least.

Tropic Thunder is one of the movies that brought Downey, Jr. back to the big screen. Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Nick Nolte and Tom Cruise in a barely recognizable form all contribute to this comedy about the arrogance of actors trying for those "prestige" pictures. It lampoons. It goes over the top. Even Matthew McConaughey is even very funny as a sleazy agent. At the center of it all is Downy Jr. as an Australian actor who is so "method" he gets his skin surgically dyed to play an African American. The fact he can pull off being, essentially, in "black face" and not be offensive, but hilarious, is a testament to how scary-talented he really is.

Wall*E brought yet another gem of a Pixar movie to the big screen. It tells the story of the titular sad little garbage compacting robot who is all that is left on planet Earth when it's become too polluted to support life. The movie has barely any dialogue and still conveys more emotion than just about any other film. For me, the movie will always be the magical scene where Wall*E, clinging to the outside of a spaceship, reaches up his metal hand to trail it through a river of stardust. It may lack that certain "something" of a modern classic like "Finding Nemo" but it's a magical, funny, entertaining and sweet movie.

Iron Man is the second movie where Robert Downey Jr. shone and it had more to do with his acting than the armor his character wore. In the comics Iron Man was always a wounded man beneath high-tech gear. Downey Jr. may have seemed an unlikely candidate for the role, but when you know about Tony Stark's battle with alcoholism you realize he was born to play the role. In a movie that could have easily overwhelmed a lesser actor with special effects and a computer-generated alter-ego, what you remember is Downey Jr. and his stunning, memorable, and very human portrayal of inventor Tony Stark.

The Dark Knight is the movie that finally pushed the super hero genre into something approaching art. At the center of this brilliant film is the stunning and powerful portrayal of one of the greatest movie monsters of all time, the Joker, by Heath Ledger. The role reminds of just what a major talent we lost when he died so suddenly early this year. So much of what could have been is evident behind that make up. Still, his portrayal is so strong you forget that and get lost in the movie. There has been a backlash against this film by some and there are some who love to harp only on the fact that Batman seemed in dire need of a lozenge. What they lose is that it is one of the best cat and mouse crime films of recent memory. The tale of the two rivals, locked in eternal battle, has never been done as well or as powerfully as in this film. My one minor complaint would be that the character of Two-Face deserved to be brought back in another film. All in all, however, that is a small quibble in a great film. Also, Chicago has never looked better as Gotham City.

Of course, all of those movies were summer movies. Given the projected slate of films due for release as the year ends, it seems like those should remain my picks for the best movies of 2008. Sorry, but Tom Cruise as a Nazi seems unlikely to sway me and the disappointment of the most recent James Bond has cemented those four movies as my picks for the movies you have to see from the year 2008 and should look for come Oscar time in 2009.