OK, here we are with my final “Best-of” list, the Top 10 DVDs of 2008!  To be included on this list, the DVD in question had to contain a high-quality TV show, movie, or special and also a great presentation on DVD, with lots of cool special features.  Behold my list:

10.  Mystery Science Theatre 3000:  20th Anniversary Edition — I adore this show, and this 20th anniversary celebration of its existence just rocked.  On this set, the gang haves fun with four great/terrible films: First Spaceship on Venus (1960), Laserblast (1978), Werewolf (1996) and Future War (1997).  Even better is the inclusion of an in-depth 3-part documentary on the making of the show, from its creation through to its end.  The icing on the cake was the neat tin case that included fun stuff like a little model of Crowe T. Robot, which now sits proudly on my desk.

9.  John, Paul, Tom & Ringo: The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder — This DVD contains three lengthy, rare interviews that Tom Synder conducted with Paul McCartney (in 1979), Ringo Starr (in 1981), and John Lennon (in 1975).  The Lennon interview is the last televised interview that John gave before his death.  Snyder is an engaging interviewer, and these lengthy conversations with 3 of the 4 Beatles are a real find.  

8.  The Office: The Complete Fourth Season and 30 Rock: The Complete Second Season — Complete season sets of these two NBC shows at the top of their game were released in ‘08, I can’t tell you how many hours of enjoyment I got out of these DVDs.  In the fourth season of The Office, Ryan the temp is promoted, moves to New York City, and falls to pieces; Andy begins dating Angela; Stanley finally loses it with Michael (”did I stutter?”), Michael is deposed in Jan’s case against Dunder Mifflin; the gang creates an ad to run on local television and participates in Michael’s “fun run” towards a cure for rabies; Toby finally leaves for Costa Rica; and of course Michael and Jan invite Jim and Pam over for a dinner party.  Over on 30 Rock, Jack launches a new reality series called  MILF Island; Tracy and Jenna feud over Liz’s attentions; Liz adopts a hippie writer (played by Carrie Fisher) as her mentor; Devon Banks (Arrested Development’s Will Arnett) feuds with Jack over the top spot at GE; Jerry Seinfeld discovers Jack’s plan to digitally insert him into all of NBC’s new fall shows; Jack falls in love with a Democratic Congresswoman from Vermont (Edie Falco); and while Liz Lemon faces a pregnancy scare, Jack takes a job working in the Bush Administration along with a sad little man the President nicknamed “Cooter” (Matthew Broderick).  Both sets have extensive special features including lots of deleted scenes and commentaries.

7.  Sold Out: A Threevening With Kevin Smith – In celebration of his 37th birthday, Kevin Smith hosted a Q & A in his home-town of Redbank, NJ.  This almost 4-hour event is a hilarious (and VERY raunchy) tour through Smith’s brain, as he regales the crowd with stories covering everything from his experiences making Clerks II and Live Free or Die Hard to his day serving on a jury while stricken with an anal fissure.  This is the third DVD in the Evening with Kevin Smith series, and I treasure these even more than his actual films!  (Read my full review here.)

6.  Battlestar Galactica: Razor — We didn’t see an enormous amount of new Battlestar Galactica material in 2008, but possibly the best of what we did see was the direct-to-DVD movie Razor.  Razor follows the experiences of the ill-fated Battlestar Pegasus, which, like the Galactica, also survived the annihilation of the Twelve Colonies by the Cylons.  However, without the moderating influence of a civilian leader like Laura Roslin, we see how the Pegasus’ commander, Admiral Cain, responds to the tragedy in a much more brutal way than did the Galactica’s Captain Adama.  Razor serves as a compelling “what-if” tale, demonstrating what might have befallen our heroes on the Galactica had things unfolded just a tiny bit differently.   (It’s fascinating to see the way the movie weaves through and around the pieces of the Pegasus’ backstory that we’d already been given in the series.)  As usual with BSG, there is an enormous amount of intense action and stunning outer-space combat depicted with astounding special effects.  In particular, the visuals of the Cylons’ assault on the spacedock where the Pegasus was berthed are breathtaking in their beauty.  As if the movie needed anything else to recommend it, it also features an extended flashback in which we see young William “Husker” Adama taking on Original Series-looking Cylons in the last battle of the First Cylon War.  Great stuff, and a key piece in the over-all Battlestar Galactica story.

5.  Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs and Bender’s Game —  Not only has DVD helped with the preservation of a lot of obscure TV and movie content (I am SO excited, for example, at the recent announcement that Andy Richter Controls the Universe is finally getting a DVD release!!), but it has also helped resuscitate once-cancelled programs.  Exhibit A: the cut-down-before-its-time Futurama, which has returned in four direct-to-DVD movies, the middle two of which were released in 2008.  The Beast with a Billion Backs is probably the strongest of the two, but both contain all of the amazing animation and obscure sci-fi references that fans of the show have come to expect and love.  I hope the final DVD, Into the Wild Green Yonder (coming out next month) isn’t the last Futurama adventure that we’ll ever see!

4.  Robot Chicken: Star Wars and Family Guy: Blue Harvest — These two Star Wars parodies both aired on TV within just a few weeks of one another; both featured the work of a lot of the same talented writers and performers; and both have been in REGULAR rotation in my home since their DVDs were released.  In very different ways, both specials mercilessly mock the silliness of the various Star Wars films.  But there is so much love on display, too, along with a wonderfully geeky focus on obscure details of the films, that the mockery never becomes mean-spirited.  They are both just absolutely hilarious, with one of the highest jokes-per-second ratios of anything I’ve seen this year.  Both DVDs were also filled to the brim with special features — and the deluxe edition of the Family Guy set even came with a Family Guy Star Wars t-shirt!  (Read my full review of the Robot Chicken Star Wars Special here.)

3.  Touch of Evil: 50th Anniversary Edition — A beautiful presentation of this amazing film from 1958.  Orson Welles directed and stars as corrupt cop Hank Quinlan, who winds up tangling with Mexican narcotics official Mike Vargas, played by Charlton Heston.  Gorgeous cinematography and Welles’ incredible direction (the film is known for a series of extraordinary tracking shots, including the opening sequence and a dynamic interrogation scene in the house of a Mexican suspect) combine with a tough, surprisingly brutal story to create a film classic.  In addition to the restored film, the DVD is (like most of the other DVDs on this list) loaded with fascinating behind-the-scenes features.  (Read my full review of the film here.)

2.  Blade Runner: Ultimate Edition — I still remember the first time I ever saw Blade Runner, on VHS back in High School — I didn’t quite know what to make of it!  It was only in college, when I had an opportunity to see the film on the big screen, that I began to realize what a masterpiece it was, and with each subsequent viewing I have come to love the film more and more.  Famously, director Ridley Scott had to bow to some studio-requested changes to the final film.  A “Director’s Cut” released in the early days of DVD attempted to restore the film to Ridley’s original intention, but it was long hoped that Scott would some-day create a true director’s cut.  Finally, those requests have been answered.  This exhaustive DVD set contains a variety of different versions of the film, including Ridley’s newly-produced “ultimate” cut, as well as an astounding amount of behind-the-scenes special features headlined by the feature length making-of documentary entitled Dangerous Days.  You could spend weeks (and I did!) exploring all that this set has to offer, but of course what it all comes down to is the beautiful presentation of this astounding, ground-breaking film.  (Please note that I am cheating a little bit by including this on my list, as this set was actually released in late December, 2007.  But since I spent so much time in early 2008 enjoying it, I felt it proper to include it here.)

1.  Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog — I wrote about this quite extensively just the other week here on the site, so I won’t repeat myself.  Suffice it to say, this DVD presentation of Joss Whedon’s 3-part web-series about a beat-down supervillain (Neil Patrick Harris as the titular Dr. Horrible)’s attempts to woe a girl he met at the laundromat and defeat his nemesis (Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer) has quickly become one of my very favorite things on my DVD shelf.  If you haven’t seen it yet, you need to remedy that ASAP.

And with that, we bit a fond farewell and adieu to 2008!  See you all right back here on Monday, as we start getting caught up with all of the fun stuff I’ve seen so far in 2009…

Well, I hope you enjoyed my lists of the Top 10 TV Shows and the Top 10 Movies 0f 2008.

But, you know, EVERYONE writes those sorts of top 10 lists!  So today, I wanted to send some love in the direction of the best comic books that I read in 2008.  2008 was a PHENOMENAL year for comics, with a lot of great material out there.  Here’s what I felt was the best of the best.

15.  Top 10: Season 2 (issues #1-3 published in 2008) — One of Alan Moore (Watchmen, V For Vendetta)’s greatest works of the past decade was the first “season” of Top 10, published between 1999 and 2001.  It chronicled the efforts of a police force in a bizarre city that seemed to be a meeting point for all sorts of fantasy characters from comics, TV shows, and movies.  Although Mr. Moore has not returned for this second installment, talented writer Zander Cannon along with returning artist Gene Ha have crafted a story every bit as weird, complex, and compelling as Mr. Moore’s original.  Ha’s art remains staggeringly complex and detailed, filled with lots of fun surprises in the background for an attentive reader.

14.  Detective Comics #846-850, “Heart of Hush” – Although Grant Morrison’s “Batman: R.I.P.” storyline over in Batman got all the attention this year, it was writer Paul Dini (one of the guiding forces behind the amazing Batman: The Animated Series) who was behind my favorite Batman story of 2008.  Enigmatic villain Hush returns with a complex scheme to take down the Dark Kight, while in a series of flashbacks we learn how the friendship between young Bruce Wayne and Tommy Elliott went wrong.  Throw in Catwoman and gorgeous art by Dustin Nguyen, and you have a classic.  (Collected edition available here.)

13.  Ultimate Spider-Man (issues 116-128 published in 2008) — I cannot believe how much I continue to enjoy this Spider-Man book.  Guided by the incredible writing of Brian Michael Bendis, who has been writing this reinvention of Spider-Man since issue #1, this is everything a super-hero comic book should be.  It is filled with great action, terrific humor, and incredible continuity and character development.  I don’t know of any comic that is consistently more fun, and the fact that such a high standard of quality has been maintained for 128 issues and counting is amazing.  (The entire run of USM is available in collected editions.  Here is the latest.)

12.  Steph King’s The Dark Tower (issues 1-5 of “The Long Road Home” and 1-4 of “Treachery” published in 2008) — A complex but coherent story and absolutely gorgeous art by Jae Lae and Richard Isanove characterize this adaptation and expansion of the back-story of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series of novels.  The richness of the world that has been created rivals that of The Lord of The Rings.  Extra props for the extensive back-up features found in every issue.  (Collected edition of “The Long Road Home” is available here.)

11.  Fantastic Four #554-562 — With their “Worlds Finest” storyline that began in issue #554, writer Mark Millar and artist Bryan Hitch have returned this long-running Marvel series to greatness.  Millar’s tales are modern and yet also retro, recapturing the feel of FF comics from the 60’s in which every issue would feature big new ideas, characters, and adventures, and Hitch’s hyper-detailed artwork is eye-candy of the greatest kind.  (Collected edition of their first story-arc is available here.)

10.  Kick-Ass (issues #1-5 published in 2008) — You’ll be hearing a lot more about this comic series in 2009, as it’s being made into a movie directed by Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust).  Set in a world like ours, in which super-heroes exist only in the pages of comic books, Kick-Ass follows young Dave Lizewski, a boy who decides to become a super-hero.  Much mayhem follows.  Much, much mayhem.

9.  Young Liars (issues #1-11 published in 2008) — David Lapham (Stray Bullets) returns to the world of black-and-white comics!  The sprawling story (that constantly jumps around in time) follows a group of young twenty-somethings of dubious morality on a mind-bending adventure involving stolen art, rock and roll, and, um, spider-men from Mars.  Yeah, it’s weird.  Extra appreciation to Mr. Lapham for managing to see eleven issues published in 2008, quite a feat!  (The first six issues are collected here.)

8.  RASL (issues #1-3 published in 2008) — After completing his magnificent epic, Bone, Jeff Smith began this bizarre tale involving a thief with the ability to travel between parallel universes.  The story is just beginning to unfold, but I am already hooked by Smith’s energetic illustrations and the sci-fi tinged story.  I just wish new issues came out more often!  (And no, readers don’t yet know quite what the title of the series means…)  (Collected edition available here.)

7.  Hellboy/B.P.R.D. — Through a series of mini-series and one-shots, Mike Mignola and a talented group of collaborators have continued to expand and move forward the stories of Hellboy and his former partners at the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.  Special notice must be made of Guy Davis’ work on the B.P.R.D. series — he has a style that is completely unique, and perfect for the book.  The man can draw anything.  And 2008 also saw Mike Mignola return to the drawing table for the Hellboy one-shot “In The Chapel of Moloch”!  Absolutely outstanding work, all around.  Click here for my full review of the last several years worth of Hellboy and B.P.R.D. adventures.  (Collected edition of the latest B.P.R.D. series, “The Warning,” is available here.)

6.  Ex Machina (issues #32-40 published in 2008) — Mitchell Hundred was once a super-hero known as the Great Machine.  After 9/11, he successfully ran to become the mayor of New York.  Brian K. Vaughn and Tony Harris’ story combines politics, exploration of character, and a little bit of super-hero action and sci-fi weirdness into a ceaselessly entertaining mix.  The stories never go where I expect them to, and I love the series even more because of that.  (The latest collected edition is available here.)

5.  1985 — A magical, engrossing tale of a young boy who starts seeing characters from his beloved Marvel comics pop up in his regular life, this mini-series tapped into a well of nostalgia for the Marvel comics I loved as a kid when I started reading them in the late eighties.  The story is enhanced by Tommy Lee Edwards’ amazing illustrations.  I’ve never read a comic quite like this.  Read my full review of 1985 here.  (Collected edition available here.)

4.  Criminal (issues #1-7 of Criminal Volume 2 were published in 2008) — I first discovered the team of writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips when they were working on the much-acclaimed (but I guess little read) series Sleeper for Wildstorm Comics a number of years back.  As good as that work was, Criminal is even more engaging.  There are no super-heroes to be found here — Criminal is hard-boiled noir of a type I don’t think I’ve ever before seen in comics.  Criminal kicked off 2008 with a trio of extra-length stories that were each stand-alone tales, but that linked together to tell a larger story set in 1972. Those three tales (available in a collected edition called The Dead and the Dying) established some powerful and poignant back-story for the characters introduced in Criminal Volume 1.  Then, issues 4-7 told the tale of a former counterfeiter for whom a chance interaction at a diner leads to a whole lot of trouble.  The world of Criminal is filled with vivid characters, most of whom are pretty sorry sons-of-bitches who have made a lot of bad choices in life.  This is a marvelous series, and I hope that Brubaker and Phillips continue telling these stories for a long time to come.

3.  Daredevil (issues #102-114 published in 2008) — Ed Brubaker (just mentioned as the author of Criminal) shows that he is just as skilled at writing super-heroes as he continues to spin yarns about the blind hero of Hell’s Kitchen, Daredevil.  Brubaker has been making Matt Murdock’s life a living hell for quite some time now, and I am loving every minute of it.  His partner in this endeavor is artist Michael Lark, whose gritty work creates the tough, unhappy New York streets in which Brubaker’s stories are set.  (The latest collected edition is available here.)

2.  Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men (issues #23, 24, and Giant-Sized Astonishing X-Men were published in 2008) —  This is sort of a cheat, as only the final 3 issues of Joss Whedon’s story were published in 2008, but they were without question some of the very best comics I have read in years.  I grew up loving the X-Men, but I have felt for a long, long time now (since the mid 90’s), that the various X-Men comics had all lost some of the magic that made Chris Claremont’s lengthy run on the title so special.  Then came Joss Whedon (known as the creator and show-runner for Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Firefly), who crafted an astounding tale that reminded me of every reason why I used to love these characters.   No one can breathe life into special-but-misunderstood youths quite like Mr. Whedon, and the astoundingly evocative illustrations by John Cassaday were only icing on the cake.  Read my full review of Whedon’s run here.  (Collected Edition of Volume I of Whedon’s run is found here, and Volume II is found here.)

1.  All-Star Superman (issues # 10-12 were published in 2008) — Another series that only saw it’s final few issues published in 2008, All Star Superman nevertheless rises above every other comic that I read this year.  Just as Joss Whedon was able to channel everything iconic and beloved about the X-Men into his run on Astonishing X-Men, so too were Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely able to synthesize 50 years worth of different interpretations of Superman into what I consider to be a truly classic version of the character.  They told a complex tale, but were able to stick the landing and wrap everything up into a satisfying conclusion.  In many ways this series was designed to be their version of the LAST Superman story (as in, what might the final issues of a Superman comic ever be like should DC decide to stop publishing it), but what I wouldn’t give for another few issues from these fine gentlemen.  Read my full review here.  (Collected edition of Volume I of the series is found here, and Volume II is found here.)

Whew!  Quite a list of good stuff, there.  If you’re interested, follow the links and pick up some of the collections that are available through Amazon.  They’re well worth your time.

On Friday, we’ll wrap up my look back at 2008 with my list of the Top 10 DVDs of 2008! See you then!

Today we continue my list of the Top 10 Movies of 2008!  Scroll down (or click here) to read yesterday’s installment, listing numbers 10-6 and several honorable mentions, if you missed it.

5.  Tropic Thunder — Ben Stiller’s evisceration of Hollywood actors and their quest to win Oscars by making “serious” movies is one of the funniest films in recent memory.  Somehow Stiller was able to corral an astonishing group of actors and comedians (Jack Black, Nick Nolte, Steve Coogan, Danny McBride, Jay Baruchel, Bill Hader, Matthew McConaughey, and many more) into the project, creating one of those special films in which every single scene has about ten funny things going on.  Special attention must be paid to the brave work by Robert Downey Jr. (as Australian actor Kirk Lazarus, a man so “method” that he dies his skin black to become the Afrian-American character Sgt. Osiris) and Tom Cruise (buried under a hilariously hideous hairy fat-suit as studio head Les Grossman), who turn in two of the best performances of the year.  Though not the type that will win Oscars!  (Click here for my full review.)

4.  Religulous — Comedian Bill Maher partnered with director Larry Charles (Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Borat) to create this movie in which Maher travels around asking people questions about religion.  You might not agree with Maher’s views, but it is impossible not to respect someone willing to ask straight, tough questions of believers.  (Well, not impossible, apparently, as Maher’s film certainly angered some.)  Maher speaks with members of various different religions and denominations, both religious leaders and common people.  He demonstrates a surprising (to me, at least), gentleness with most of the people he questions.  Whatever your faith, the issues that Maher raises are important ones to consider, and it doesn’t hurt that the film is also absolutely hysterical.  (Click here for my full review)

3.  Man on Wire — This extraordinary documentary looks behind-the-scenes at Philippe Petit’s incredible achievement of walking on a high-wire strung between the roofs of the Twin Towers in NYC back in 1974.  The audacity of Petit’s artistic crime is astounding to contemplate, and this film provides an insightful peek into the years that Petit and his friends spent planning the event.  It also explores a variety of ideas about art and human accomplishment.  Amazing.  (Click here for my full review.)

2.  Iron Man — Director Jon Favreau and actor Robert Downey Jr. created one of the best, most joyful comic book movies I have ever seen.  A fun, funny epic that is also a serious film filled with great character work (as opposed to a camp-fest), Iron Man is everything that a super-hero film should be.  Favreau was able to distill the essence of this classic Marvel super-hero (who has appeared in thousands of comic books since the 1960’s) into an almost-perfect film, aided and abetted by some terrific actors who you might not expect to see in this type of movie (Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard, Clark Gregg, and others).  Of course, it all rests on Downey Jr., who is overwhelmingly charismatic and honest as billionaire industrialist prick-turned-superhero Tony Stark.  Iron Man also must be praised for opening the door to what looks to be a very exciting series of inter-connected Marvel films to come.  (How great was the post-credits scene with you-know-who???)  I’ve already seen this film at least four times, and I expect to be watching it a heck of a lot more in the future.  (Click here for my full review.)

1.  The Dark Knight — The opposite side of the coin from Iron Man, The Dark Knight is a shockingly grim and brutal film.  It is everything I have always wanted a Batman movie to be.  Director Christopher Nolan and an astounding ensemble (Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhardt, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and more) show us life inside the urban hell that is Gotham City.  Throughout the film, every one of the characters are presented with impossible choices without any easy fixes or solutions.  Every character has an arc in the film — and every story is integral to the overall tale being told.  A masterpiece.  (Click here for my full review.)

Whew!  So those were my favorite films of 2008!  I hope you’ll let me know if you agreed or disagreed with my choices!  Tomorrow, we continue with my wrap-up of 2008 with my list of the Top 10 Comic Books of 2008!  See you there.

In case you haven’t figured this out already, I LOVE movies.

And in 2009, as usual, I saw a LOT of movies.  Today and tomorrow I’d like to celebrate what I feel were the best of the best of the new films released between January 1st and December 31st, 2008.

Before we dive in, though, I want to acknowledge that, even though I saw an enormous number of new films during 2008, there were also quite a few that, despite my interest, I never got around to see.  These include: Synechdoche, New York; Waltz With Bashir; Doubt; The Wrestler; Che; Rachel Getting Married; Choke; American Teen; Hamlet 2; Changeling; Rocknrolla; and Son of Rambow.  So if you loved one or more of those films and want to know why on earth they didn’t make my list, now you know.

As with my TV lists, let’s start with some Honorable Mentions:

Honorable Mention #1 — The Foot Fist Way.  If you, like most of America, discovered Danny McBride this past summer in Tropic Thunder (as pyromaniac Cody) and Pineapple Express (as the indestructible Red), then you owe it to yourself to check out this film.  The Foot Fist Way was filmed back in 2006, but only saw a release (and a very small one, at that) in 2008.  It is written and directed by McBride, who also has the starring role as a small town Tae Kwon Do instructor who is, shall we say, a little big for his britches.  This is a dark, dark comedy — not for everyone, but if you’re a fan of McBride’s it is a spectacular showcase for his abilities, and well worth your time.  

Honorable Mention #2 — Cloverfield.  For months now I’ve been meaning to watch this film a second time, to find out if it holds up on a repeat viewing.  I don’t know if it does, but I will say that the experience of seeing Cloverfield theatrically was one of  the best times I had in a movie theatre all year.  You either buy the conceit (that one of the kids is able to film their whole adventure) or you don’t.  I did, and had no problem getting swallowed up in this intense thrill ride.  Incredible visuals, great storytelling — this was a ton of fun, and a clever twist on the giant-monster-attacks-New-York sub-genre of movies.

OK, and now here’s the top 10:

10.  Burn After Reading — A disc containing the memoirs of ex-CIA agent Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) are stolen, and they wind up in the hands of a pair of not-that-bright gym employees (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand) who, mistaking them for government secrets, try to ransom the information back to Cox and sell it to the Russians.  Meanwhile, Cox’s wife (Tilda Swinton) is having an affair with State Department official Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney).  Things go downhill from there.  To everyone who preferred last year’s No Country for Old Men, I don’t know what to say.  This clever mish-mash of a political-thriller, wacky comedy, and espionage caper gave me the most enjoyment by far.  And it has one of the best final scenes of any movie I saw this year.  (Click here for my full review.)

9.  Frost/Nixon — Structured like a documentary (complete with “talking-heads” interviews interspersed throughout the drama to handle some of the exposition), director Ron Howard’s adaptation of the hit play by Peter Morgan was gripping from start to finish.  Headlined by the dazzling acting performances of Frank Langella (as Richard Milhous Nixon) and Michael Sheen (as British TV personality David Frost), this is a superb peek behind the scenes of one of the great television showdowns of the 20th century.  Terrific supporting turns by Sam Rockwell, Oliver Platt, Matthew Macfadyen, and Kevin Bacon don’t hurt either.  (Click here for my full review.)

8.  Redbelt — Another mind-bender from writer/director David Mamet, Redbelt introduces us to the strictly moral, but broke, jujitsu instructor Mike Terry (the tremendous Chiwetel Ejiofor) who gets drawn into an extraordinarily tangled web of intrigue involving Hollywood celebrity Chet Frank (Tim Allen), Frank’s manager Jerry Weiss (Joe Mantegna), fight promoter Marty Brown (Ricky Jay), traumatized lawyer Laura Black (Emily Mortimer), and the world of Brazilian martial arts.  As usual, Mamet graces us with a number of tough guys spouting rat-a-tat dialogue which attains a level of poetry in its staccato rhythms.  Ejiofor is a terrific addition to Mamet’s ensemble — his Mike Terry is a man of quiet nobility.  Watching how he responds when backed into a corner is one of the film’s great pleasures.  (Click here for my full review.) 

7.  Forgetting Sarah Marshall – The world of Peter Bretter (Jason Segal) suffers a complete collapse when he is dumped by his TV-star girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell).  To escape his sorrows he heads off on a Hawaiian vacation, only to discover that Sarah is staying at the same resort along with her new boyfriend, British rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand).  What seems like a silly sitcom premise turns into a terrifically likable (and absolutely hilarious) romp, featuring dynamite comedic turns from Bill Hader, Paul Rudd, Jack McBrayer, Jonah Hill, and a lot of other familiar faces.  Russell Brand’s Aldous Snow is one of the great comedic creations of all time, and the climactic Dracula musical (with puppets!!) is one for the ages.

6.  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — I was completely swept away by the beautiful, sad story of the life of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), cursed to live his life aging backwards.  Stunning, subtle visual effects convey Benjamin’s journey from his birth as a little baby with the body of an old man, down through the years as he de-ages.  His story is paralleled by that of his true love Daisy (Cate Blanchett)’s journey from youth (she and Benjamin meet when she is about 10 years old) through to old age.  This is a fairy tale that is both epic and also intimate.  I was caught off-guard by its power, and I can’t wait to see it again soon.  (Click here for my full review.)

That’s all for today.  Click here for numbers 5 through 1!

Today we continue my list of the 10 best things I saw on TV in 2008!  (Click here to read yesterday’s installment, listing numbers 10-6 and several honorable mentions, if you missed it.)

5.  Battlestar Galactica: “The Hub” (season 4, episode 9, aired on 6/6/08).  Trapped on a Cyclon basestar with Gaius Baltar, cancer-stricken President Laura Roslin begins seeing visions of her long-dead friend (who bought it on Kobol in season 2) Elosha, and Helo is given an order that puts him at odds with his conscience (as well as his Cylon wife).  In one of my favorite moments of the entire fourth season, Baltar attempts to preach to a mechanical Cylon Centurian.  But the emotional climax of the episode comes at the end, when Roslin must decide whether to let Baltar, who she now knows to be responsible for the genocidal Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies that nearly eradicated humaity, bleed out and die.  In any other show we’d be certain that, by the end of the episode, she’d “do the right thing” and let him live.  In Battlestar Galactica, in which there are never any easy answers or easy decisions, the result is terrific suspense and gripping character drama of the best kind.

4.  30 Rock: “Believe in the Stars” (season 3, episode 2, aired on 11/6/08).  30 Rock has made great use of some phenomenal guest stars in the past (Steve Martin, Jennifer Aniston, Carrie Fisher, Paul Reubens, Isabella Rossellini, Edie Falco, Matthew Broderick, Will Arnett, Rip Torn, and so many others), but Liz Lemon’s hilarious plane ride seated next to Oprah Winfrey takes the cake.  That story-line alone would make this episode a winner, but there is so much more fun to be had as Jack puts Kenneth’s country-boy morality to the test and Tracy and Jenna begin a bizarre social experiment in order to see who has it harder in America: blacks or women.  Best line of the episode comes from Tracy:  ”I watched Boston Legal nine times before I realized it wasn’t a new Star Trek!”

3.  Robot Chicken Star Wars Special: Episode II (aired on 11/16/08).  I’m not sure what more can be said that I didn’t already cover in my initial review of this special on 11/24/08.  For 22 gut-busting minutes the Robot Chicken gang mercilessly skewer all six Star Wars films in their second Star Wars special.  The jokes are delightfully random, from the House parody “Dr. Ball, M.D.” (”she lost the will to live?  What is your degree in, poetry??”) to the Cantina Band’s attempt to pitch a commercial jingle (”it works better as an instrumental”), to an awkward meal on Cloud City (Leah to Vader: “you know where I had great soup?  Alderaan!”) but they are always hilarious.  Seth McFarlane’s depiction of the put-upon, profane Emperor Palpatine takes center stage here, whether getting his hair done (”you’ve got the face for it” says his barber), haggling over prices with bounty hunters (”let’s just say SUBSTANTIAL reward”), or harassing Darth Vader (”feels like I just dipped my wang in hot lava, something you know a thing or two about, am I right?”).  Bonus points to the show’s writers for being unafraid of extremely obscure references (such as the origin of the bizarre dragon skeleton that C3P-0 shuffles by in one scene on Tatooine in the original Star Wars).  Pure genius, and more laughs-per-second than anything else I saw on TV all year.

2.  The Wire: “-30-” (season 5, episode 10, aired on 3/9/08).  I have selected the finale of The Wire, which so beautifully brought to a close the five-year-long exploration of the City of Baltimore and all of its kids on the corner, its cops on the street, its drug lords, its police detectives, its city officials, its dock workers, its judges, its school teachers, and all the sad, lost folks in between.  But really, I am using this number two spot on my list to give praise to the entire fifth season as a whole.  (It is almost impossible to single out an individual episode.)  I have sung the praises of this astounding achievement in television before, and I will do so again.  The Wire’s dissection of a modern American city is staggeringly complex (there must be at least 50 major characters weaving their way through the series by the fifth season), honest and brutal.  Each season has a focus, even as it carries all the characters’ stories forward, and season five’s spotlight was on the decline of the American newspaper.  If the show didn’t get to delve quite as deeply into that topic as it did in previous seasons (such as season 4’s look at struggling schools and the kids falling through their cracks), it can be forgiven as the show also had so many character arcs to bring to some sort of resolution.  Not everything is tied with a bow, and not everyone’s storyline ends happily, but the resolution felt just right.  Sticking the landing on a show this acclaimed and this complex is no easy feat, and David Simon & co. made it look easy.  This is a show I cannot wait to revisit, and if you’ve never seen it then you NEED to go out and get your hands on season one right away.  Once you meet McNulty and the unfortunate Snot Boogie, you’ll be hooked.

So what could possibly be on the top of my list, if The Wire is coming in at number two?

1.  The Daily Show Indecision 2008 election coverage.  Every night, week after week, Jon Stewart and his marvelous team of writers and performers did their best to expose all of the ridiculousness, hypocrisy, corruption, and other shenanigans happening under our noses.  I’ve always thought their work bordered on brilliance, but somehow their election coverage this past year, from the primaries straight up through election night, reached a new level of quality.  Every night, day in and day out, Stewart and the Best F—-in’ News Team on the Planet took what Stewart calls his “morning cup of sadness” (when he gets up and, with his team, starts investigating the day’s events) and turned it into the sharpest political satire around.  There was nothing more consistently hilarious or intelligent on TV this year, and the fact that we got to enjoy it almost daily is astounding.  Well done!

OK, whew!  That’s my list!  Do you agree?  Disagree?  Be sure to let me know!  Otherwise, I’ll see you right back here tomorrow for my thoughts on the season premiere of Lost, and then on Monday for part one of my Top 10 Movies of 2008!

Hi everyone!  Welcome to the first of my four “Best of 2008″ lists.  In the coming days I’ll be sharing my Top 10 Movies, Top 10 DVDs, and Top 10 Comic Books of 2008.  Today we kick things off with my 10 absolute favorite things televised during 2008, starting with some honorable mentions and then counting down from number 10.  (Special thanks to TV.com for helping me to find all the original air-dates!)

Honorable Mention #1 — Battlestar Galactica: “Revelations” (season 4, episode 10, aired on 6/13/08).  Plotlines converge in this mid-season finale as the Cylons and the Colonial Fleet race to discover the location of Earth.  There’s been a lot of discussion, over the brutally long hiatus, about the Planet of the Apes ending, but for me it all comes down to the nail-biter of a scene in which Lee Adama orders Colonel Tigh, now revealed as a Cyclon, into an airlock for his execution.  (Why isn’t this in my top 10 list?  I just wasn’t wowed by the “surprise” ending.)

Honorable Mention #2 — The Office: “Goodbye, Toby” (season 4, episode 14, aired on 5/15/08).  Michael is so excited by the imminent departure of his “nemesis,” the sad-sack Toby Flenderson, that he commands his party-planning committee to throw the greatest celebration the Dunder Mifflin office has ever seen.  The Jim-Pam story is a bit of a downer, but guest Star Amy Ryan (The Wire) positively killed, and her storyline, in which she becomes convinced that Kevin is mentally challenged, is pure genius.  (Why isn’t this in my top 10 list?  The Jim-Pam story felt too much like a writers’ device to keep their relationship from moving forward.)

OK, and now here’s the top 10:

10.  Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles: “The Demon Hand” (season 1, episode 7, aired on 2/25/08).  Would that every episode of this uneven show were as good as this one.  In a surprising move, the show reprises a number of storylines and characters from James Cameron’s T2, including psychologist Dr. Silberman (played here by the terrific Bruce Davison).  Sarah and John Connor struggle with her guilt and his anger over her seeming abandonment of him during the years when she was institutionalized, and Agent James Ellison (Richard T. Jones), the Jean Valjean of the show, confronts powerful evidence that everything he thought he believed about Sarah Connor might be wrong.  Great drama, great action, great exploration of the Terminator mythos.  I loved it.

9.  Battlestar Galactica: “The Ties That Bind” (season 4, episode 3, aired on 4/18/08).  Lee Adama, now out of the military and serving as a member of the governing Quorum of Twelve, must decide how far his loyalty to President Roslin will go.  Kara Thrace, leading a ragged group of officers on board the battled old Demetrius in what seems a hopeless search for a clue in the road to Earth, begins acting more and more erratically.  The Cylon Civil War begins.  And in the episode’s most powerful storyline, the marriage between Chief Tyrol and Cally begins to fall apart.  The shocking ending absolutely knocked my socks off, and once again established BSG as the most intense, stunning show on television.  (Now that The Wire is off the air, of course!)

8.  30 Rock: “Sandwich Day” (season 3, episode 13, aired on 5/1/08).  It’s a magical day in the 30 Rock studios, as the annual Sandwich Day has arrived, in which the teamsters bring in delicious free sandwiches for everyone.  The staff faces a moral dilemma when they discover Liz Lemmon’s sandwich sitting, uneaten, on her desk, and Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) must adjust to his recent demotion.  There’s a lot of funny stuff in this episode, but nothing more brilliant than Liz’s “I wolfed my teamster sub for you!” declaration of love to Floyd, a phrase that has now entered my regular repertoire.

7.  The Office: “Dinner Party” (season 4, episode 9, aired on 4/10/08).  Michael and Jan invite Jim and Pam and Andy and Angela over for the dinner party from hell.  I get nervous whenever The Office leaves the confines of the Dunder Mifflin office, but this half hour of extraordinary agony is a gem of an exception.  There are so many great moments: Jan’s candles, Michael and his vasectomies, Hunter’s CD, Michael’s prized 11 inch plasma TV, Jan’s cooking… the list is endless.  This is everything I love about The Office — staggeringly awkward moments and amazing humor.  

6.  Lost: “The Constant” (season 4, episode 5, aired on 2/28/08).  In this mind-bender of an episode, Desmond’s consciousness bounces between his life in 1996 (in the Royal Scotts Regiment) and his life in “present day” 2004, on a helicopter to the mysterious freighter.  The storyline is a 12 Monkeys style twister, containing a lot of hints about Lost’s future and Desmond’s past, but the heart of the episode is the powerful love story between Desmond and Penny, which steps to the center stage here.  

That’s all for today.  Click here for numbers 5 through 1!