box office: 2008 year in movies, pt. II

BOLT

John Travolta / Miley Cyrus
Chris Williams, Byron Howard

Fully Awesome. Ridonculous. Let It Begin.

Bolt lives up to its tag line. Everything about it is just fully awesome - Bolt himself, Mittens, Rhino, Bolt's lightning mark, Rhino's plexiglas ball, the New York pigeons, Penny's smarmy agent, Penny's mom, the Green-Eyed Man and his minions, the annoying network producer, the campers, the firefighters and everyone else save for - you know where this is building up to - Miley Cyrus and her voice. Tada! Oh, how I cringe whenever Penny talks. I know I'm being hateful but I can't help it if I find a dog more lovable and photogenic than its human co-star. (This is one of the reasons why I shouldn't do reviews. Objectivity is not one of my strong points.)

MAMMA MIA! THE MOVIE!
Meryl Streep / Amanda Seyfried
Phyllida Lloyd

... Here We Go Again.

Hands down, Mamma Mia! The Movie! is the most fun summer film I have ever seen. It's the only movie that you'll see the sensational Meryl Streep and ex-007 Pierce Brosnan singing and dancing to campy tunes made popular by the infamous ABBA. My third favorite plastic is also there, Amanda Seyfried. Oh God I so love her. I hope she already knows how to spell orange by this time. Her co-lead Dominic Cooper is also a sight to behold, along with the entire island itself. I so wanna go there! And Streep bouncing up and down her bed - that is one big LOL. Haha. I left the theatre with Dancing Queen stuck in my head and it's not something I'm entirely embarrassed to admit.

IRON MAN
Robert Downey Jr.
Jon Favreau

Armor Up. Fully Charged.

Whoever thought of signing Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is pure genius. Whether he is tinkering with his gadgets in his laboratory or soaring the skies in his cyborg suit, Downey Jr. manages to personify the super hero impressively. The production is superb with its dazzling special effects as evidenced by the advanced robotics and gadgetry. However, the good thing about Iron Man is that it doesn't rely on the technology for making its visuals stellar. For a change, this super hero movie has a plot worth the entire a hundred and twenty six minutes of your day.

WALL-E
Ben Burtt / Elissa Knight
Andrew Stanton

An Adventure Beyond The Ordinar-E.

Wall-E and EVE found each other. And they are freaking robots. Makes you think, no?

THE DARK KNIGHT
Christian Bale / Heath Ledger
Christopher Nolan

Why So Serious?

Ooh... I remember raving about this movie last July. It's the grittiest, darkest, most acclaimed Batman film I've ever seen. I talked about how gorgeous Bale was, more so when he's not donned in his costume and how insanely good Ledger was in portraying the Joker. Yep, the Dark Knight is the one instance when the Caped Crusader is actually overshadowed by the villain. Yay for the Joker!