50: Semi Pro
Will Ferrell expands his catalogue of inept sportsmen with this wilfully silly look at the world of basketball. Expect giant afros, male nudity and slam dunks. Outkast singer Andre 3000 also stars. Official site with trailer
49: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
David Fincher directs Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton in this tale of a man who, annoyingly, begins ageing backwards. Fincher tends to alternate crowd-pleasers like Alien with more thoughtful pieces like Fight Club so we are due a Fincher movie for the kind of person who takes a coffee into the auditorium rather than a Kia-Ora. Benjamin Button fan blog
48: Horton Hears A Who!
Jim Carrey and the Steve Carrell provide the voices as Dr.Seuss gets the CGI treatment. Trailers
47: No Country For Old Men
The Coen brothers return to their noir roots for this adaption of Cormac McCarthy's novel. Expect a sun-baked, but bleaker, Fargo. Trailer
46: Harold & Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay
The loveable stoners from the sleeper hit of 2005 return in what very sensibly looks like exactly the same film again. Which is precisely what everyone wanted. Official site with trailer
45: X-Files 2
Mulder and Scully return this Summer to explore more alien conspiracies and unexplained phenomena. Perhaps they can explain why they’ve been away so long. No trailer yet: Offiicial TV Show site
44: Wanted
Wish fulfilment for every bored office drone: This comic book adventure tells how James MacAvoy is rescued from cube farm drudgery by Angelina Jolie’s sexy assassin and trained to become a super-cool killing machine. If you liked the ‘secret war’ aspects of The Matrix or Nightwatch but would like to see it mixed up with the recklessly exuberant gunplay of Shoot ‘Em Up, this is the film for you. Official site with trailer
43: Leatherheads
George Clooney’s Gridiron romcom is likely to find more friends in the US than in Britain but it could well score big on DVD in the latter, colder, part of the year. Official site with trailer
42: Jumper
Evil Jedi Hayden Christensen, who has also just signed to star in the long-awaited movie version of William Gibson’s prescient sci-fi classic Neuromancer, stars as a teleporting mutant in a loose adaptation of the Steven Gould book. Trailer
41: The Love Guru
More inspired drollery from Mike Myers. With a script involving groovy gurus causing chaos in the self-help business it doesn’t sound as if he’s straying too far from his Austin Powers roots. Interview and still
40: Synecdoche, New York
Being John Malkovich writer Charlie Kaufman scripts and directs this typically oddball self-referential tale of an obsessive theatre director who builds a replica of New York. IMDB page
39: Persepolis
Vincent Parannoud adapts his own screenplay based on the graphic novel about a young girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution. Trailer
38: Flashbacks Of A Fool
Daniel Craig plays against type as a gone-to-seed Hollywood leading man looking back on a life of movie star hedonism. For more mature readers, Miriam Karlin also appears. IMDB page
37: 27 Dresses
This Easter’s most promising chick flick stars Grey’s Anatomy favourite Katherine Heigl as a perennial bridesmaid. Trailer
36: You Don't Mess With The Zohan
In easily the most original plot of 2008 a Mossad agent fakes his death so he can start a new life in New York City as a hair stylist. Adam Sandler, Rob Scheider and the Fonz all feature. Trailer
35: Walk Hard
Perennial sidekick John C,Reilly gets his own movie at last, a send-up of every biopic of a troubled musician you’ve ever seen. Trailer
34: Drillbit Taylor
Troubled star Owen Wilson is be bound to attract plenty of attention in this easygoing comedy about playground bullies and the inept bodyguards who confront them. Trailer
33: The Pineapple Express
Seth Rogen and James Franco in a stoner comedy that may not set any box office records, but will undoubtedly be rented on DVD by anyone who has ever inhaled. Trailer
32: Charlie Wilson's War
Well recieved (except by us) gun-running thriller featuring the ever-reliable Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman with some spectacular wigs. Trailer
31: Downloading Nancy
Ever hired a hitman to kill you, and then fallen in love with him? That’s the everyday problem faced by Maria Bello in Downloading Nancy. Jason Patric and Rufus Sewell also star. Trailer, which is not recommended for minors
30: Battle for Haditha
Nick Broomfield abandons the documentary world to make this fact based drama about the war in Iraq. Using real locations and in many cases the real soldiers and civilians involved this is as close as most of us will ever get to the chaos and cruelty of warfare. Offical site
29: The Time Traveller’s Wife
After having been derailed by the Pitt/Aniston divorce Audrey Niffenegger’s ‘sci-fi for women’ finally reaches the big screen with Eric Bana as the man who can’t control his progress through time and Rachel McAdams as the girl who grows to love him anyway. Wikipedia entry
28: How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
Toby Young’s mordantly comic memoir of life as a New York magazine journalist gets the big screen treatment. Simon Pegg stars. No links yet, read Toby Young's blog instead.
27: 21
Lawrence Fishburne, Kevin Spacey and Kate Bosworth in a true story about a group of maths nerds who used their skills to fleece a casino. Official site with trailer
26: Cloverfield
We’ll be finding out very soon if this monster movie lives up to its incredible hype. Expect an urban Blair Witch meets a pasty-faced Godzilla. Trailers
25: Baby Mama
Do you think the world is ready for a light-hearted look at infertility and surrogacy? Sigourney Weaver and Greg Kinnear seem to think so. IMDB entry
24: There Will Be Blood
Long, dark demanding drama about the early days of the oil industry which serves as a parable about the present day Middle East. Audiences have been polarised about this film, with some hailing at as a masterpiece while others have just been bored. Don't expect a gag reel on the DVD. Trailer
23: Burn After Reading
Clooney turns up again as part of an incredible cast assembled by the Coen Brothers for this tale of two losers who find a disk containing CIA secrets. As if that could ever happen. Working Title site
22: Be Kind, Rewind
Michel Gondry’s next movie has the most original plot of the year, guaranteed. Jack Black’s magnetised brain erases every tape in his local video shop which leads to him re-making the classic films he has inadvertently destroyed. Official site with trailer
21: X-Men Origins: Wolverine
The clawed Canadian mutant gets his own movie, set before the events in the X-Men franchise. Ian McKellen’s Magneto may join him on the prequel trail in 2009. Official synopsis at Marvel.com
20: Wall-E
Pixar do sci-fi as the last robot on Earth (who owes more than a little to the talkative automaton in Short Circuit) who finds a way to bring the human race home. Trailers
19: The Eye
Another Japanese horror film remade by Hollywood This one has Jessica Alba and Parker Posey as the appealing young women in supernatural peril. Trailer
18: The Incredible Hulk
Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk movie was seen as something of a misfire, despite respectable box office. This not-quite-a-sequel promises Ed Norton as the short-tempered scientist who turns into the jolly green giant, better effects, and a connection to the Iron Man movie to set up a future Avengers flick. We’ll be happy if they can just keep the Hulk the same size all the way through the film. Marvel Site
17: 10,000 BC
Roland Emmerich directs a cast of unknowns in a prehistoric epic which promises to show us hairy mammoth, sabre-toothed tigers, and some impressively huge CGI ziggurats. Trailer
16: Sex & The City
American Idol alumnus Jennifer Hudson, best known for her showstopping turn in Dreamgirls, joins the Gucci Golden Girls for one last round of Sea Breezes, sex, and shopping. Trailer
15: Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The second most popular instalment in CS Lewis’ Lion, Witch and Wardrobe series of fantasy novels, Prince Caspian will be the children’s movie most likely to please accompanying adults in 2008. Official site with trailer
14: Valkyrie
Tom Cruise leads an all-star cast in the controversial true story of a failed attempt on Hitler’s life. Only a more contemporary political assassination will keep this movie off the newspaper front pages next autumn. Fan site with trailer
13: Mamma Mia
Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth in the film of the show of the song. England’s failure to qualify for Euro 2008 will double its audience as thousands of men will be dragged unwillingly along to view this fluffy confection which whips up the basic plot of forgotten 1960s gem Buona Sera Mrs Campbell with a frothy selection of classic Abba songs. Trailer
12: Righteous Kill
DeNiro and Pacino together again in a gritty-sounding cop drama, and this time they may actually have a few scenes together. Despite the entirely dispensable presence of Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson, it’ s a must for every film fan. Trailer
11: Hellboy II: The Golden Army
John Hurt apparently defies onscreen death in the first Hellboy film to return in another outing for the slacker demon hero. Bros fans will be pleased to see Luke Goss popping up as an evil prince. Trailer
10: Body of Lies
Ridley Scott directs Gladiator star Russell Crowe and popular Norman Lamont lookalike Leonard di Caprio in a CIA drama adapted from the novel by David Ignatius. No trailer available. Web Domain still unregistered
9: Star Trek XI
Taking place, in the increasingly complex Star Trek universe, during the period after ‘Enterprise’ but before ‘Star Trek’ this movie introduces new actors in the well-loved Kirk, Spock, Scott and McCoy roles as it explains how the classic crew came to be. If anyone can pull off that extraordinary feat of cinematic cheek it’s JJ Abrams. Official Star Trek site
8: Speed Racer
A hyperkinetic 1960s Japanese cartoon series provides the source material for the next sci-fi hallucination from Matrix creators the Wachowskis. Trailer
7: Hancock
Superhero comedies can be as knowingly funny as Mystery Men or as plain silly as Condorman. Hancocks’s secret weapon will be the perennially likeable Will Smith in the title role as a super-powered crime fighter who creates almost as many problems as he solves. Trailer
6: Sweeney Todd
Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helena Bohnham Carter conspire in a dark plot of pies and hairdressing. Spectacular somgs from Steven Sondheim are the icing on a wonderful, sinister, cake. Trailer and review
5: Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Transformers star Shia LaBeouf pops up as the son of the world’s hardest-working archeologist in what must surely be the final Indy adventure. Official Site
4: Iron Man
Next up from Marvel’s collection of flawed supermen is Tony Stark: Former arms dealer turned terrorist captive turned armoured avenger. To critics who suggest that movie fans aren’t ready for a moody alcoholic superhero Iron man has one response: Talk to the hand. The glowing metal hand. Trailer
3: Bond 22
More secretive than the eponymous super-spy, Bond 22 has yet to acquire a proper title or much in the way of a published storyline. The suggestion that it continues almost immediately from the end of Casino Royale, and in much the same vein, is all the advertising most movie fans will need. Teaser
2: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince
The vast regiment of Potter fans will already know what they’re getting. Despite Guillermo del Toro’s pleas this instalment of the boy wizard franchise will be directed by David Yates, who everyone except Guillermo seems to agree made a decent fist of Order of the Phoenix. Preview
1: The Dark Knight
The hype machine is almost up to full speed now for The Caped Crusader’s next outing. (read our article here) Great notices for director Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and an irresistible trailer make The Bat the boy to beat in 2008. Trailer
The 50 Biggest Movies of 2008.......
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Originally Posted by bigbadleo
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