Cinema · 2008 Ranked

Best Films of 2008, Ranked by IQ Score

The year prestige-superhero arrived (The Dark Knight) alongside indie peak (Synecdoche, Wrestler, In Bruges). Ranked.

12 titles · ranked by IQ Score

1. 1
   

   Milk

   Masterclass biography, drama, political

   2008 Best Picture nominee and Best Actor winner (Sean Penn). Harvey Milk's journey from closeted New Yorker to America's first openly gay elected official. Moderate cognitive demands. Exceptional educational value from t…

   166/200
2. 2
   

   Doubt

   Masterclass drama

   John Patrick Shanley's 2008 self-adaptation of his Pulitzer-winning play anchored by Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman as a 1964 Bronx Catholic school principal accusing a young priest of child abuse. The structura…

   164/200
3. 3
   

   Revolutionary Road

   Masterclass drama

   Sam Mendes's 2008 Richard Yates adaptation reuniting Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio (post-Titanic). The structural commitment to letting 1950s American suburban marital-disintegration cognitive material be the actual…

   164/200
4. 4
   

   In Bruges

   Masterclass drama, comedy, crime

   Martin McDonagh's 2008 directorial debut anchored by Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and Ralph Fiennes as London hitmen exiled to Bruges after a botched job. The structural commitment to letting Bruges-as-actual-characte…

   164/200
5. 5
   

   The Wrestler

   Masterclass drama, sports

   Darren Aronofsky's 2008 Mickey Rourke comeback film. The structural commitment to letting professional-wrestling-economy cognitive material — the body-on-the-line precarity of an aging performer — be the actual subject i…

   164/200
6. 6
   

   Frost/Nixon

   Masterclass drama, biography, political

   Ron Howard's 2008 Peter Morgan adaptation about the 1977 David Frost-Richard Nixon TV interviews anchored by Frank Langella (Oscar-nominated) and Michael Sheen. The structural commitment to letting interview-procedural c…

   164/200
7. 7
   

   Synecdoche, New York

   Masterclass drama, comedy

   A theatre director builds an ever-expanding replica of New York in a warehouse for decades. Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut is formally radical — the most comprehensive cinematic treatment of mortality, creativity, a…

   161/200
8. 8
   

   The Dark Knight

   Stimulating action, crime, superhero

   A masked vigilante faces a chaos-promoting terrorist. Educational about justice and terrorism. Cognitive engagement from the moral dilemma. Entertainment from the superhero drama.

   159/200
9. 9
   

   The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

   Stimulating drama, romance

   David Fincher's 2008 F. Scott Fitzgerald adaptation anchored by Brad Pitt (Oscar-nominated) and Cate Blanchett. The structural commitment to letting the reverse-aging premise operate at three-hour scale — and the canonic…

   158/200
10. 10
    

    Bronson

    Stimulating drama, biography

    Nicolas Winding Refn's 2008 biographical film about Britain's most-notorious prisoner — Tom Hardy in his breakthrough role. The structural commitment to letting Hardy's months-long physical transformation render the cano…

    158/200
11. 11
    

    Burn After Reading

    Stimulating dark-comedy, crime, satire

    The Coens' CIA satire whose central argument is that institutional incompetence and personal narcissism compound into geopolitical-grade idiocy faster than anyone notices. The ensemble (Clooney, Pitt, McDormand, Malkovic…

    137/200
12. 12
    

    Let the Right One In

    Competent drama, horror

    Tomas Alfredson's 2008 Swedish vampire film about Oskar, a bullied twelve-year-old in suburban Stockholm, and Eli, the child-shaped vampire who moves in next door. The pacing is unhurried — long shots of snow and apartme…

    129/200