The Movies of 2008 (so far) « The Earl of Essence

So, this is a weird time to write this (the winter season is usually the best for movies), but I made a list of what I’ve seen so far and I’m gonna use it. I’ll give you the name of the movie, a one sentence review and a letter grade. Here we go (in order of release)…

Cloverfield. Scary as hell, espeically in the theater. A-.
Rambo. Rambo is old and shoots things, good times. C+.
In Bruges. Better than it should have been. A-.
Jumper. Not so hot, but it has Sam Jackson. D.
Diary of the Dead. Just stop with the social messages, George. D.
Be Kind, Rewind. I seem to be the only person who really liked this one. B+.
Charlie Bartlett. Better than Rushmore. B.
10,000 B.C. Just bad, except the mammoths. D.
The Bank Job. Jason Statham needs to do more serious stuff. B-.
Doomsday. Only the end was any good. C.
Funny Games. Anything but, yet well made and effective. B.
21. Really formulaic. C.
Run Fatboy Run. A waste of talent. C.
The Ruins. The German guy was awesome, everything else ok. C+.
Young@Heart. Moving and funny doc about singing old people. A-.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Better than Knocked Up and Superbad. B.
Iron Man. A whole lotta fun. A.
Son of Rambow. Cute and inventive. A-.
The Fall. Beautiful and touching. A+.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Reepicheep (Eddie Izzard) is the best part. C+.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Not the best but not bad at all. B.
The Strangers. Straightforward scares. B.
Kung Fu Panda. Pretty great, the prison scene is amazing. B+.
The Happening. Hilarious in all the worst ways. D+.
The Incredible Hulk. I hate Ed Norton, but this was ok. C+.
Get Smart. Fun but formulaic. C+.
Wall-E. Every superlative I could throw at this wouldn’t be enough. A+.
Wanted. Like The Happening, hilarious in all the worst ways (the ending was pretty great, though). C.
Hancock. Could have been great, but is just good as is. B.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Guillermo del Toro is one of my favorite directors and this is as good as anything else he has done. A+.
The Dark Knight. A great movie. A+.
Step Brothers. The two leads have great chemistry that carries the movie through the slow parts. B-.
Pineapple Express. My favorite Seth Rogen movie (mostly because of James Franco). B.
Tropic Thunder. RDJ is great again. B+.
Burn After Reading. Hilarious and dark. B+.
How To Lose Friends and Alienate People. Simon Pegg gets a role that is worthy of his greatness. B.
Changeling. I cried once or twice (mostly because of Jolie’s great acting). B+.
Synecdoche, New York. Confusing but great. B+/A-.