Brett's Best/Worst Of 2008 Picks!

I did this last year, so let's have another go at it:

Best Movie: Undoubtedly the Dark Knight. Do I really need to explain why? Heath Ledger steals the show as the Joker, and of course, anything with Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman in it is gold. However, it's not my favorite. That goes to…

Favorite Movie: Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Don't act like you're surprised! It's the only movie I've seen in theaters 3 times, and for damn good reason. Guillermo del Toro is probably my second-favorite director, and the film's an excellent example of why: lots and lots and lots of IMAGINATION. The movie is packed full of creatures, the majority of which are guys in suits, puppets, and animatronics, the sets are spectacular, and the action is great. Plus, the movie's damn hilarious. Sorry Batman, but ol' Red is my favorite comicbook character.

Runner Up: Iron Man. IT'S TECHPR0N. With Robert Downey Jr. and the Dude!

Favorite Movie that DIDN'T come out this year that I saw for the first time: Stalker. Which was made in the 70's. It's a beautiful movie.

Runner Up: Primer, for being time travel done in an interesting way. And for being a lot like Pi.

Most Violent Movie: Punisher War Zone. Hands down.

Most Schizophrenic Movie: Doomsday. Seriously, from some kind of 28 Days Later thing to espionage to Mad Max to Lord of the Rings and more. This movie is INSANE. And I love it.

Best DVD: Hellboy II. Yep.

Best Trailer: Watchmen. The first one. Had me on the edge of my seat, my jaw on the floor, muttering "oh my God" over and over again. And then I went home and watched it like, 30 more times. It stuck with me more than the Dark Knight itself, man.

Runner Up: Black Dynamite! Because it was so damn hilarious.

Best Giant Monster Movie: The only one. Cloverfield. Though Hellboy II DID have the elemental…

Best Movie I Didn't See: Eden Log. Foreign sci fi thriller thing!

Worst Movie I Didn't See: Meet Dave, probably. Or any one of those parody movies, I forget which ones came out this year and which didn't, they all run together like a river of shit…Oh, and Twilight!

Best Album: The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath. After their third album, Amputechture, being so disappointing, this was a breath of fresh air and more of that psychotic, surreal wonder that encapsulates what the Mars Volta is. This is what brought them back to being my favorite band ever.

Runners Up: Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV. Okay, I haven't listened to many other new albums, but once I got my hands on this in its entirety, I played the hell out of it. 36 instrumental tracks for 5 bucks, close to 2 hours of music, and it's wonderful stuff to just zone out and work to. Also Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! First complete album of his that I've gotten, and it's wonderful. I love that Australian man to death.

Best Soundtrack: Repo! The Genetic Opera. YESSSSS. I have Kat to thank for this, and CJ too since I think he and his girlfriend got her into it. So yes! Rock opera!

Runner Up: Monkey: Journey to the West. Another opera, from the men who created the Gorillaz, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. I love those guys.

Best Album that didn't come out this year: Mastodon - Blood Mountain. Fucking badass metal, I love those guys. Why I didn't get it when it came out in 2006 is beyond me, since I own and also love Leviathan. Oh well, I have remedied that now.

Runner Up: Toonami - Deep Space Bass. The man responsible for this sweet, sweet, badass instrumental music is Joe Boyd Vigil, and his other non-Toonami stuff is similar and excellent as well. This is another "play in the background while working" album that just kind of washes over you.

Worst Album: Whatever Nickelback put out not too long ago. Yeah. Fuckers. Just when I think they're falling out of style, they come back. Like some sort of venereal disease.

Best Wii Game: Super Smash Bros. Brawl. My friends and I will be playing it for years and years to come, and still probably be unlocking stuff. However…

Favorite Wii Game: No More Heroes. This is like with the movies, Brawl is superior in nearly every way, but No More Heroes touches me in all the right places. Visceral, over the top bloody action, hilarious bosses and story, and more what-the-fuck moments than any other game. Suda51 is my hero for creating this game and its protagonist, Travis Touchdown.

Most Colorful Wii Game: De Blob. Like No More Heroes, this is another underappreciated gem of a game, and will definitely put a smile on your face, unless you hate color or some shit, in which case, go fall in a volcano.

Best Wiiware Game: Megaman 9. Retro awesomeness prevails!

Best DS Game: Professor Layton and the Curious Village. Kept my attention for a very long time, convinced Sierra to buy a DS, and after beating it, I haven't touched the DS since because of how overwhelming it was.

Runner Up: The World Ends With You. One of the few Square Enix games I've beaten, with a story filled with way too many twists, an awesome soundtrack, interesting characters, and an awesome battle system. It had a style all its own.

Best GBA Game (which obviously did not come out this year): Astro Boy: Omega Factor. Treasure makes awesome games, and this is a great beat-'em-up/shooter thing with a surprisingly good story!

Best PS2 Game (which also did not come out this year): God Hand. It's almost just as zany as No More Heroes, has a soundtrack by the same guy who did the music for NMH, and you can make your own combos up for beating the shit out of goons! Also has one of the greatest bosses ever, named Elvis! Perfect for blowing off steam.

Best Game I Haven't Played: Mirror's Edge. But I've played the demo and I have a remix of the theme song!

Best Action Figure: Transformers Animated Grimlock. I love that thing to death.

Best Comic: Welcome to Hoxford. Ben Templesmith's werewolf story is awesome, and introduces Ray Delgado, one of my new favorite comicbook characters ever.

Runner Up: Popgun. Both volumes. Great, great anthologies from a huge number of writers and artists, there's a lot of talent in there.

Best Novel: Um. I didn't buy any new novels this year. Shit. Can I say Crooked Little Vein again? No? Well fuck you, I am anyways. Otherwise, I'll go with Dune, even though it was published in the 60's and I'm not even done reading it yet. Shut up, it's MY best/worst of thing! You can go do your own!

[Brett]