2008 Will Bring Me Joy in the Following Ways

Cloverfield - I know this has the ability to disappoint but I'm willing to trust JJ.

Be Kind Rewind - Michel Gondry is amazing. He's the pumpkin pie of directors.

Synedoche, New York - The new Charlie Kaufman film starring Catherine Keener (my gf)

10,000 B.C - I know it'll be bad, ok? I can't help it.

Iron Man - The trailer got me excited.

Speed Racer - Wachowskis. I liked all the Matrix movies and anyone who says they didn't is a liar.

Indiana Jones - Karen Allen is back. Cate Blanchett is here too and she looks like a dominatrix.

The Happening - Say what you will about M. Night - I like 75% of his films.

Wall-E - This is going to be awesome. Pixar kills.

Hellboy 2 - Because Hellboy was great and Guillermo is at the helm again.

The Dark Knight - OBVIOUSLY.

Where the Wild Things Are - The adaptation of the incredible book, directed by Spike Jonze.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - come on.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - The new David Fincher film.

The Box - The new Richard Kelly film (Donnie Darko)

The Fighter - The new Darren Aronofsky film (Pi, The Fountain)

Blindness - Great book, great director (Fernando Mereilles) great cast (Mark Ruffalo, Gael Garcia Bernal)

X-Files 2 - I miss Agents Scully and Mulder so much my heart hurts.

Science Friday!

The Orphanage

I liked this movie more the next day. Its has a very 1970's early 80's feel about it, kind of like The Changeling or The Entity, which are two awesome ghost stories from the greatest decade ever for the horror genre. There were some real creepy moments (including a terribly creepy child in a horrifying mask), an engaging story and a wonderful performance from the lead actress, Belen Rueda. I'd definitely recommend this to fans of the genre.

National Treasure 2

Nicholas Cage on the hunt for his missing sideburns.

I don't know why. Perhaps because I like conspiracy theories and such. Anyway, Someone must have either slipped Helen Mirren a roofie or paid her eleventy billion dollars to be in this mess of a movie (and it's not just a forgivable cameo either). The entire gong show is almost hilariously bad. However they did find a way to make Nicholas Cage even harder to look at - they made him shave his sideburns for the role a la Tom Hanks in The DaVinci Code. Disgusting.

Juno

Awe..it's the year's most inexplicable and forced romantic pairing!
I know I'm in the minority on this but I'm not sure what the big deal is all about. I found the characters slightly irritating more than anything. Ellen Page is great but the whole thing just seems so unlikely and forced (especially the too-cool-for-school dialogue - sorry, I was too busy rolling my eyes to be charmed by their non stop little quips) One of the many ways this story seems unlikely is because the Juno character was a walking contradiction. There is no way she would be interested in someone like Michael Cera's character - he had zero charisma, and not once did I feel like I liked his character. They also went in a very painfully awkward and disruptive direction with the Jason Bateman character, which I thought was unnecessary. Add to that a decidedly pro-life message and you have the years most over rated film - Juno. Allison Janney was great though, as usual.

I'm trying to find the internet.

I Am Legend

There's a lot about I Am Legend that doesn't quite work, but for whatever reason, it liked it... no, wait, not for whatever reason. Post-Apocalyptic is my favorite genre of everything and this movie paints that scenario successfully. Also, there were some scenes in this that REALLY scared me. I do this thing that Sam makes fun of me for..I plug my ears for terrifying scenes...for this one sequence in particular my fingers were jammed so far in my ears it hurt. Will Smith plays Will Smith to perfection of course, no surprises there. The dog is amazing, the infected are sufficiently freaky and the pacing is good. In fact, I wish it could have been a smack longer and given us more insight into the lead character's daily routine and rituals, which was the most interesting thing about the movie. Good fun.