Oh, whither the glory days of 2007, when December was filled with joy, laughter, and Daniel Plainview impersonations? Whenever people call it "a bad year for movies," I usually declare that it's always a good year if you know where to look -- but in 2008, you had to look pretty hard, and most of my absolute favorites were festival movies that didn't see release in theaters. Still, I'm happy with this, my official top ten list of favorites for 2008. Honorable mentions go to Be Kind Rewind, Mister Lonely, Frost/Nixon, and Happy-Go-Lucky.

1. Che

Steven Soderbergh's obsessively detailed two-part biopic about the Argentine revolutionary is the year's most boldly ambitious and successful American film, with a bravura performance by Benicio del Toro at its center. By focusing on two specific periods of Guevara's life, Soderbergh manages to avoid all of the genre's cliched pitfalls and instead offers an epic combat adventure that is also a deconstruction of genre expectations, a study of guerrilla warfare, and a vivid portrait of a larger-than-life personality. See both parts together if you can.More »

2. A Christmas Tale

Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, and Chiara Mastroianni are part of the dream ensemble that meets and fights in writer-director Arnaud Desplechin's delicious spin on the "home for the holidays" genre. Dense with love, death, betrayal, long-buried secrets, and Desplechin's trademark audacious direction, A Christmas Tale is an overwhelmingly dense experience that deserves to become a yearly holiday institution.More »

3. Speed Racer

I still haven't forgiven myself for the fact that the early poor reviews for the Wachowski Brothers' life-action spectacular kept me from seeing it on a big screen. But at least the DVD gave me a chance to start the movie again as soon as it was over to confirm what I had seen: a delirious feast for the senses that does George Lucas's layering of digital imagery one better and unmoors it completely. The weightless camera floats, zips, and careens around candy-colored landscapes that are crammed with visual surprises -- and the story, starring Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon, and John Goodman, is entirely satisfying, as well. I don't use the word mind-blowing lightly, but my synapses are still popping.

4. Man on Wire

With his documentary about the French tightrope walker Philip Petit, James Marsh managed to take an event most people have come to take for granted and restored its original luster. I've always been aware that somebody had once performed a high-wire act between the towers of the World Trade Center -- but to arrive at that moment at the climax of the film's painstaking and outrageously tense narrative is to see it for the first time, the awe-inspiring sight of something that was supposed to be impossible.

5. In Bruges

I've long been a fan of Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, and his first foray into film successfully translates his trademark mix of humor and horror to the quaint Belgian town of Bruges, where two hitmen (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) come to grips with a botched job.More »

6. The Edge of Heaven

Fatih Akin (Head-On) once again investigates the cultural and human cross-currents between Germany and Turkey, this time with a broader ensemble (including Fassbinder favorite Hanna Schygulla) and a more complex, tightly woven web of interrelated stories.More »

7. Tell No One

I can't remember a thing about Quantum of Solace, but this stunning French thriller, based on the bestselling novel by Harlan Coben, is still burnt into my brain half a year later. A twisty tale of murder and betrayal meets a cast -- Francois Cluzet, Marie-Josee Croze, Kristin Scott Thomas, Francois Berléand -- that breathes real life into believable characters and recognizable situations, which only makes the genre elements more thrilling. All that, and it's a lovely romance, too.More »

8. Let the Right One In

Another genre flick that somehow manages to transcend its trappings, this time by infusing vampire horror with an art house sensibility in a way that heightens the pleasure of both. With Lina Leandersson as the ancient child vampire Eli.

9. The Wrestler

2008 would not have been the same without the Ram Jam. Darren Aronofsky's humble but entirely assured follow-up to The Fountain knows when to play it cool and when to flex its fearsome muscles, and Mickey Rourke delivers knock-out punches left and right.

10. Love Songs

It would have been a truly awful year if there wasn't at least one musical to celebrate -- and I'm not talking about Mamma Mia! Christophe Honoré casts Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier, and Chiara Mastroianni in an inventive three-part tale that begins with obvious allusions to Jacques Demy and then takes some very surprising turns.