#1
Wall-E
Andrew Stanton | USA | 2008
98 min

For being a perfectly believable, perfectly entertaining and perfectly unique film, with the most lovable character (human or otherwise) to grace the screen all year. It also includes a wonderful romance, a unique friendship, a nod to the silent era, an eco-friendly story in a classic sci-fi setup that doesn’t pontificate, and to top it all off a last act where the entire fate of mankind is at risk. Wall-E was the highlight of the year 2008.

#2 (tie)
In Bruges
Martin McDonagh | UK | 2008
107 min

For the bloody, remorseless hilarity of its two aimless hitmen. Packaged in the most efficient, skillful, tightly-wound script of the year, In Bruges makes use of every character it introduces, including a racist little dwarf. The film works as both an entertainer and crafty morality lesson.

#2 (tie)
The Wrestler
Darren Aronofsky | USA | 2008
115 min

For Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a character we care about so much (despite his enormous failings) that it broke our heart to see him in that final shot, even when we couldn’t help but cheer him on, as he leaps to victory or sudden death. The Wrestler features a devastating, phenomenal performance by Mickey Rourke.

#4
Che
Steven Soderberg | USA | 2008
262 min

For creating the ultimate anti- biopic and war film. Che upholds the legend of ‘Che’ Guevara in the first part, The Argentine, then debunks it all with just as much skill and vigor in its second installment, Guerilla. Here is a film, an epic in the truest sense, a one-two punch that employs multiple filmmaking techniques, parallel storytelling and at the center of it, an enigmatic performance by Benicio Del Toro.

#5
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
Guillermo del Toro | USA | 2008
120 min

For being THE comic book movie of the year — an endlessly enjoyable, funny, imaginative superhero/fantasy/buddy action film, brimming with creativity that out does itself one act at a time, without ever getting tiring in the process. Director Guillermo del Toro works like a magician on visuals that feature eye-popping effects, each one fixating.

#6
Hunger
Steve McQueen | UK/Ireland | 2008
96 min

For being the year’s most remarkable debut by director Steve McQueen. Hunger is a visually arresting, thematically engrossing recreation of IRA Republican Bobby Sand’s hunger strike. Unflinching, raw and memorable, all by virtue of its silent power and a multi-layered script, the film is front-loaded by a compelling lead performance by Michael Fassbender.

#7
Chop Shop
Ramin Bahrani | USA | 2008
84 min

For internalizing the condescending pity shown to underprivileged nations by shallow, mainstream American films such as Blood Diamond, and for using introspection to turn pity into something more profound: self-awareness. With his second film director Ramin Bahrani gives another hypnotic drama about the struggles of the immigrant, recalling memories of Italian Neo-realism, except this is a story set in modern America.

#8
Timecrimes (Los Cronocrímenes)
Nacho Vigalondo | Spain | 2008
92 min

For a clever hybrid of horror, sci-fi and mind-numbing storytelling that made us want to go back in time and watch it again. Timecrimes borrows its concept from the indie cult classic Primer, but has a more specific purpose in mind: to entertain and thrill, which it does with great aplomb.

#9
Let the Right One In (Låt den Rätte Komma In)
Tomas Alfredson | Sweden | 2008
114 min

For being the best vampire film that Stephen King never wrote. The comparisons are not entirely unjustified, with its bloody third act and school setting, traits reminiscent of King’s Carrie. Employing the use of popular vampire mythology and the frigid, snowy Swedish mood, it is our favorite fantasy-romance of 2008.

#10
Vacation (Kyûka)
Hajime Kadoi | Japan | 2008
112 min

For being the year’s biggest, most pleasant surprise — a film that showed us in excruciating, riveting detail the last days of a prisoner on death-row and how that affects both the condemned and his executioners. Vacation is a film of uncommon depth, with moments of deadpan humor (as counter to the grim subject) and features uniformly excellent performances.

Honorable Mentions

The Dark Knight
Christopher Nolan | USA | 2008
152 min

For being the most overhyped film of 2008, but more importantly, and here is the real reason it appears on our list, because it actually lived up to some, if not all, of that hype. Heath Ledger’s performance as the maniacal Joker has become the stuff of legend; his predicted win on Oscar night is almost a given. But, more than anything, it is director Christopher Nolan who must be heralded for blending superhero mythology with the nuances of a crime film, to create a singular vision.

The Fall
Tarsem Singh | USA | 2008
117 min

For its visuals, which are not only inventive, but also very real (no film sets here), and for cleverly embedding the power of imagination into the story of a little girl who befriends a crippled, storytelling stuntman in a hospital. The Fall is grandiose, and looks the part, aided by scene after scene of hypnotic, surreal images.

Solitary Fragments (La Soledad)
Jaime Rosales | Spain | 2008
128 min

For its elegantly designed tableau of incidents in the life of a group of individuals, who experience both the rhapsody and banality of life. An aged mother is in search for a place in her grown-up daughters life; another young mother with her infant son moves from the country-side to a bustling Madrid, only to have great tragedy befall them; and multiple, interwoven slices of the everyday life of their friends and relations — all presented, cleverly, through split-screens and long takes, to represent the overriding theme of a fragmentary existence bereft of the illusion of catharsis. A product of ferocious formalism, Solitary Fragments is Spanish director Jaime Rosales’ second feature, who, like Michael Haneke, may be called an intellectual provocateur or auteur, possibly both.

The results were polled by Faizan Rashid, John Murdoch, Kamal Tolani, Shariq Madani, Layth Barzangi, MADali and Oz.