Fizz Top Ten1 - Wall-E: 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 came with a wonderful romance, a unique friendship, a nod to the silent era, an eco friendly story set within the confines of a classic sci fi setup that didn't pontificate and to top it all off, a last act situation where the entire fate of mankind was at risk. Wall-E was the highlight of the year.
2 - Che: For creating the ultimate anti-biopic, by upholding the legend of Che in the first film and then debunking it with just as much skill and ferocity in the second.
3 - In Bruges: For the bloody, remorseless hilarity of two aimless hitmen and for the most efficient, skillful, tightly wound script of the year, that made use of every character it introduced, including the dwarf.
4 - Chop Shop: For internalizing the condescending pity shown by shallow, popular American such films as such as
Blood Diamond, and turning that pity into something more profound; self-awareness.
5 - Los Cronocimenes: For a clever hybrid of horror, sci-fi and mind numbing storytelling, that made me want to go back in time and rewatch it again.
6 - Hellboy 2: For being
THE comic book movie of the year (take that,
The Dark Knight) - an endlessly enjoyable, funny, imaginative superhero/fantasy/buddy action film, brimming with creativity that out did itself one act at a time, without getting tiring in the process.
7 - The Wrestler: For Randy - a character we cared so much about, despite all his enormous failings, that it broke our heart to see him take one final leap, even when we couldn't help but cheer him on to a sort of personal victory.
8 - The Class: For the most authentic, unsentimental film about students and their often confrontational, misunderstood, love/hate relationship with teachers, who we learn are just as human and fallible as their subjects.
9 - Tell No One: For a paperback novel throwback to the French thrillers of Jean Pierre Melville and the years most engaging chase sequence on foot.
10 - Momma's Man: For giving the term, "coming-of-age" a completely different meaning and for a tender, almost heartening look at a man stuck in the past.
Honourable Mentions: The Escapist: For Brian Cox's humble performance as a convict who wants out of prison and goes to literally unimaginable lengths to find emancipation.
Man on Wire: For thrilling us with a documentary, combined with excellent recreations of unfilmed footage and an ego trip that literally took a man to the top of the world.
The Elite Squad: For making you angry at, and rooting for, the same guy - the ruthless captain of Brazil's crazy BOPE.
Most OverratedIron Man: For unncessarily being treated by critics and the general public alike with almost holy reverence upon its release when in actuality, it was nothing more than a big, goofy, cheesy, empty Hollywood product, as consciously assembled as the armour that the pimp like Tony Stark wears in the film.
