Bests of 2008

Happy New Year, everybody. As I work to catch up on film viewing and writing after the holiday break (while also trying to finally kick this energy-sapping bug I’ve been carrying around for a week), here’s a look back at the 2008 year in film, based on what I’ve seen so far.

Best Face: Freida Pinto as the eldest Latika in Slumdog Millionaire

Best Blue-Balls-Face: Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) in Twilight

Best Reason to Avoid HGH: Sylvester Stallone in Rambo

Best Reason to Avoid Botox: Mia Farrow in Be Kind Rewind

Best Beard: Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) in Iron Man

Best Ponytail: Barry (Steve Martin) in Baby Mama

Best Ponytail Reference: JCVD (Jean-Claude Van Damme) on Steven Seagal in JCVD

Best Use Of Dessert As Sex Metaphor: My Blueberry Nights

Best Example Of How George Lucas Has Hurt Cinema As Much As Helped It: Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

Best Performance By Someone You’ve Never Heard Of And Might Never See Again: Catinca Untaru as Alexandria in The Fall

Best Reason To Never Want To See Renee Zellweger Again: Appaloosa

Best Argument In Favor Of Adding Real-Life Cattle To The Screen Actors Guild: Australia

Best Boob Flashing By An Actress In Her Sixties: Charlotte Rampling in Deception

Best Boobs: Penelope Cruz in Elegy

Best Boob: Josh Brolin’s George W Bush in W.

Best Impression Of A Jason Bourne Movie: Quantum Of Solace

Best Pronunciation Of A Word: “Memoirs” (“Mem-wahhs”) by Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) in Burn After Reading

Best Swearing: Harry Waters (Ralph Fiennes) in In Bruges

Best Rambo(w) : Son Of Rambow

Best Stuntwork By Cell Phones (That’s Not A Compliment) : Sex And The City

Best Performance By A Whistle: Milk

Best Use Of A Windshield: Pineapple Express

Best Reason To Never, Ever Let M Night Shyamalan Write So Much As A Christmas Card: The Happening

Best Totally Pointless Jump Over A Metal Barrel: Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) in Tropic Thunder

Best Employment Of A Sound Effect: The recognizable computer-powering-up tone in WALL-E

Best Evidence That Norman Bates Didn’t Have Such A Bad Mother After All: Barbara Baekeland (Julianne Moore) in Savage Grace

Best For-The-Greater-Good Defense Of The Policies/Tactics Of The George W Bush Administration: The Dark Knight

Best Covert Operation In A Documentary: Philippe Petit’s World Trade Center tightrope walk in Man On Wire

Best Covert Operation In A Comedy: The basement project of Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney) in Burn After Reading

Best Role If You’re Not Good At Memorization: Christine “He’s not my son” Collins (Angelina Jolie) in Changeling

Best Evidence That Kathy Griffin Might Not Be The Most Obnoxious Person Ever: Poppy (Sally Hawkins) in Happy-Go-Lucky

Best Use Of A Neil Young Song: “Unknown Legend” as sung by Sidney (Tunde Adebimpe) in Rachel Getting Married

Best Use Of A U2 Song: “With Or Without You” in Tell No One

Best Use Of A Song: “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” in WALL-E

Best Use Of A Song To Drive An Audience Insane: “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” in Australia

Best Sign That Some People Take Movies WAY Too Seriously: The comments section at Keith Uhlich’s review of The Dark Knight at The House Next Door.

So, what did I miss? Any “bests” you’d like to add?