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Stephen King Reveals His 10 Best Movies of 2008

by Alex Billington
December 12, 2008
Source: Entertainment Weekly

Although most readers found Richard Corliss of TIME Magazine's Top 10 of 2008 a bit ridiculous, I'm certain most will either love or hate this list. Author Stephen King dishes out his annual list of 10 best movies and he's made some rather peculiar choices this year. "This is almost surely the only 10-best list you'll read that contains not one but two Jason Statham movies; it's that two-brains thing," King says, after explaining how he is "two-minded" when it comes to opinions on movies. Whatever his excuse may be, I still have a lot of respect for Stephen King, even if he puts Redbelt on this list. And that's because I respect him and his choices, because he is Stephen frickin' King and I want to see what he chose!

1. The Dark Knight
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Wall-E
4. Tropic Thunder
5. Funny Games
6. The Bank Job
7. Lakeview Terrace
8. The Ruins
9. Redbelt
10. Death Race

You can find King's write-up on each of his choices on Entertainment Weekly. For The Dark Knight, he says: "The best superhero movie ever. It's crowned by Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker, but Christian Bale makes a great Batman, delivering a performance where dignity and despair are in perfect sync... This is to cape-and-tights movies what Godfather II was to the gangster movie: a genre-defining event." Amen to that! And screw it, because I loved Tropic Thunder, Funny Games, and Death Race, too, so his choices aren't that crazy. Although I did hate Redbelt and never saw either Lakeview Terrace or The Bank Job, so oh well! I love this time of year - so many fun end of the year lists!

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TKaihea

I agree with the first 5 and #9 as well. Redbelt was awesome. Decent list but rofl at Death Race. It was a fun movie but definitely not one of the year's best.
Lolly

All I have to say is.... He's STEPHEN KING! I would go see Beverly Hill Chihuahua if he said it was good (....maybe) Amen
Blue Silver

Those were good choices. I still haven't seen Redbelt. "The Bank Job" was a pretty good frickin movie!
Daniel F.

i have only seen two of those movies. I also think funny games was excellent.
Connor

finally somebody put Funny Games on their list. best movie i saw this year
http://www.aytemir.com Tschai

The Bank Job was great and Death Race was fun...
Casey Sanders

i dont know what your talking about alex. you obviously dont have any respect for the martial arts. im a black belt in ju jitsu and i have a lot of respect for this movie because it portrays the corrupt industry that is martial arts for what it is. probably one of the best movies that Ive seen all year.
-Peter-

I LOVE STEPHEN KING and I love his list. he WOULD like Funny Games. that movie was creepy as hell.
http://www.blogawayla.com Ivan Jaime

The Bank Job was a very well-made film. It worked quite nice in all elements, and left me and my friends not regretting plunking down eight bucks to see it.
Guan-Di

He obviously hasn't seen My Name is Bruce, because that would've gotten Number 1!!!
nem

This is by far the worst list I have ever seen made by a well renouned author. Death Race and Tropic Thunder? Are you fucking kidding me? King is losing it.
vanagwathiel

I so agree with Lolly. I'd watch any movie Stephen King recommends. And I love his list.
Secret-Asian-Man!!

Much more respectable than Time magazine.
Kill the Batman

Why the hell everyone forgot about Cloverfield ?
bill

The Ruins??????? That was a terrible movie.
sumonesumtime

What an Asshole.
http://azmovietrailers.com AZMT

That's surprising. I would've never expected this kind of top ten from Stephen King. Then again it's nice to see him choose his own top 10 favorites and not pick ones that were liked by the majority just to stay on the safe side. You gotta respect an honest man. He liked Tropic Thunder and he's telling the whole world that he did.
Dusty

WOWOW... very cool.... except RedBelt still surprises me... loved the movie... HATED the CHEESEBALL ENDING
Gab

Redbelt and Funny Games? Were they good? Didn't see any of these two film...
yourmom

How could you put The Ruins on a list but not Cloverfield Epic Fail
Maxwell

I understand the concept of DUMB-GOOD FUN . Tropic Thunder was dumb fun, Commando is pure DUMB FUN Gold... but Death Race was only dumb. Paul Anderson is taking himself so seriously. There was no creativity , no vision , horrible editing and all of that covered with an annoying «look how cool we are» attitude. It's like that Dodge add with the cowboys and firemen driving the truck through different obstacles... does it take itself seriously...? im still not sure... and i agree with both # 14 and #20 , Cloverfield was a pretty amazing movie... and fun while still being creative. enough of death race bashing... Take care!
kevin

King loved the book The Ruins so it makes sense that he chose the movie as one of the 10 best (it was OK...but pretty standard horror fair). If you're doing a list of Top 10 AMERICAN Films, then Tropic Thunder should be on every list...it was easily the best comedy of the year. My problem with Funny Games, though it was a great movie, is that it was the same movie as the original just with English speaking actors...I'd already seen the original and there was nothing new in the American remake (it's even directed by the same guy).
tyler w

I dont care who you are if you said go see beverly hill chihuahua I would still think you were an idiot. but this list is solid and much better than that other piece of shit list. but yeah no death race never, bank job was a sick movie tho.
LeeMan

wow i'm glad you started the list at 1 or i wouldve stopped reading as soon as i saw the ruins. ok king so u like horror, then y not put the stragers, a pretty decent film up there? and tropic thunder, really? no luv for pineapple express from anyone. i will agree with the top choice, cuz it seems that all the real critics are putting movies that nobody pays to see at numero uno, like slumdog millionaire, which i see is getting lots of luv from every critic. and i agree with the ppl who defended cloverfield. ok so the ending let most of us down, nobody watched it afetr the first week, and i still cannot see the satelitte falling into the ocean, but it did change movies forever and it was heartpounding for 80 straight mins., soto put death race up ther but not cloverfield is stupid
Film Fan

Come on people, this is not a TERRIBLE list. Especially for Stephen King. And for what it's worth, I'm thrilled he chose "The Bank Job". It is most definitely one of 2008's very best films. And also in my top 10 for the year.
Leo

I'm surprised to see Funny Games here. Didn't think anyone had watch it. Not of of the top ten this year, but a trippy film anyhow
http://movieguyreviews4u.blogspot.com Ryan

Ruins was awful. Agree completely up to number 6. Finally someone adds FUNNY GAMES to their list!
Conrad

Lakeview Terrace???!!!
NadaNuff

@22: Yeah, Stephen King did like The Ruins as a novel...which is exactly why the movie should not be on this list. The movie was changed radically from the book, which was excellent. Not only that, but it turned out to be a so-so to bad translation at that.
ARIES98

the cause of banjamin buttons