Top Three Movies of 2008

Even though ticket prices at the box office are soaring to more than ten dollars per adult in some areas this year, and will continue to go up, there are a lot of movies I saw this year in the theaters that were just AWESOME.

What you will see here is a review of three fantastic movies that came out in 2008, and then a list of honorable mentions, because there are tons of movies that came out in 2008 that were simply wonderful and worthy of mention.  I encourage you all to contribute in the comment box below, let me know what you thought of these movies, or others that were released in 2008.  I'd love to hear your opinions.

Without further ado:  Gamergirl's Top Three Movies of 2008! 

Let me just say it this way right now: Angelina Jolie is freakin' HOT.  Aside from that fact, the movie Wanted features the former star of Children of Dune James McAvoy as the son of an elite secret society member.  This movie is a cornucopia of stars, with the aforementioned Jolie, Morgan Freeman, James McAvoy, Terence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann and others playing out the events surrounding McAvoy's character's transformation from annoyed office worker to bullet-curving badass.  I'm not going to spoiler anything here for you, but the ending is totally not what I had expected, and the twists of the plot are ingenious. 

I'm probably a little biased about this movie both because it's based on a true story and because Angelina Jolie stars in it, but those points aside, The Changeling is a movie which exposes a serial killer who kidnaps children and kills them on his ranch, one of those children being the child of the character portrayed by Jolie.  There are a few things that shine for me in this movie:

• Emotion - the movie evokes a lot of emotion throughout.  Jolie does an incredible job portraying the real stresses of a mother whose child has gone missing.
• Pace - The pace of the movie is completely fitting for the subject matter and appropriate for setting a mood.
• Performances - Both Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich give this movie the very best, in my opinion, and bring a remarkable power to the tale.

The story is very sad, and by the end of the movie I will admit to a few sniffling moments myself.  It was very well done, which is why I picked it for the second best movie of 2008. 

Call me names, call me what you will, my top movie pick for 2008 has got to be Iron Man.  There is no other flesh and blood face for Iron Man in my head now, Robert Downey Jr. is IT.  If you don't know what Iron Man is, please kindly dig your head out of that hole in the ground and shake the dirt out of your ears.

Iron Man insider Tony Stark is played perfectly, to a T, and the starry cast (consisting of such heavy hitters as Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, and Jeff Bridges) are nothing short of spellbinding.  It's rare for a superhero movie to come out that doesn't make efforts to inject a human element to the superhero role played, but this movie took that to a new height, and a new low.

Iron Man, The Changeling, and Wanted all receive two thumbs and two controllers up from me, Gamergirl!  If you haven't seen them, go go go! Hit up the nearest blockbuster store right now!