Best Movies of 2008 (1-5)

1. The Dark Knight

Where was Christopher Nolan, when the original Batman movies came out, I think his directorial genius could have saved us from disasters like Batman Forever, Batman Returns and the god awful Batman & Robin.

As far as the late Heath Ledger goes, his performance as the Joker, was amazing, he took a role, previously played by Jack Nicholson and made it all his own. Ledger turned this modernized Joker more sinister and diabolical, that Nicholson's portrayal which to me was similar to the original Joker Cesar Romero.

Not to mention, his performance as the Joker is stronger than the actual lead actor in the film, Christian Bale, who in my opinion as been the best Batman out of the four actors to don the bat suit.

What upsets me, is that all of these critics, who say Ledger should get a sympathy vote for Best Supporting Actor, come Oscar time. In my view, Ledger earned an Oscar nod and a win at the Golden Globes, with his lone competition being Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise for Tropic Thunder.

The movie, as a whole, featured great action sequences, and solid performances from an all-star cast, including the returning Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman and new additions Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhall.

2. Ironman

Jon Favreau, coming off directorial efforts in Zathura and Elf, may have come up with his masterpiece, in bringing Ironman to the big screen. When casting for the lead role, Favreau went with his gut and chose Robert Downey, Jr. instead of hiring a young unknown actor like director Bryan Singer, who selected an unknown Brandon Routh to play Superman in 2006's "Superman Returns."

For Downey, this role resurrected his career with his performance, as Tony Stark, a billionaire weapons inventor who after being kidnapped by Iraqi terrorists, decides to fight back and becomes Ironman.

The special effects, the well-told story and action sequences were awesome, and like The Dark Knight, Ironman featured great performances from an all-star cast that included Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges.

If not for The Dark Knight, Ironman would have been my #1 movie this year.

3. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

After missing his usual comic gold, with Drillbit Taylor, Judd Apatow comes back and produces yet another comic gem, this time in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Jason Segal, from "How I Met Your Mother" and previous Apatow hit, "Knocked Up, wrote the screenplay for Forgetting Sarah Marshall and played the lead role of Peter Bretter, a composer, whose girlfriend played by Kristen Bell dumps him for rock star Aldus Snow played by Russell Brand.

Sure, this movie does have the usual Apatow over the top humor, but you get strong cameos from Paul Rudd and Jonah Hill who actually improved their roles.

The lead actresses in the film also provided a spark, Bell whose come of Veronica Mars, was hilarious and Mila Kunis, who plays Bretter's love interest later in the film provides an energetic almost spunky performance.

The breakout star in the film was Russell Brand, for this being his first big screen performance, Brand showed me a lot of comedic potential.

4. Tropic Thunder

This movie was a close call for tops on the list, if not for Ironman and Dark Knight, this movie may have been number one.

At first, when I saw the trailer, I thought the movie would have been silly with barely any laughs, but boy was I wrong.

What stole the show, the performances of Robert Downey, Jr. and Tom Cruise, yes I said Tom Cruise.

Downey whose performance as a black man, while his character was Austrailan was unbelievable, a transition role that I wouldn't have expected coming off Ironman.

Cruise, I personally have never been much of a Tom Cruise fan, but I was blown away with Cruise's portrayal of Les Grossman. I don't find it a little odd, he was nominated for a Golden Globe this year for his performance, but it was great nonetheless.

The movie did produce my favorite quote this year:

"I know who I am, I am a dude, playing a dude, disguised as another dude," said Downey playing Lincoln O' Sirus.

5. Kung Fu Panda

Most critics would disagree with me, and say Wall-E was the best animated film this year, but I just loved this movie.

Jack Black was hilarious, as Po, a panda who is in love with the world of Kung Fu, gets mistakenly dubbed The Dragon Warrior and must learn the art of Kung Fu through Master Shifu voiced by Dustin Hoffman.

It was hard to believe, that the martial arts sequence were so right on, and this was a cartoon.

Who would have thought Jackie Chan, would do a voice over in an animated film, and yet he was great as Monkey one of the Furious Five joined by Tygress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Crane (David Cross).

Next time on the Reel Revue, I will present my reviews for "Soul Men" starring Samuel L. Jackson and the late Bernie Mac, "Quantum of Solace" starring Daniel Craig and "Bedtime Stories" starring Adam Sandler.