1. Wall-E (dir. Andrew Stanton) — Not just the best animated film of the year, but one of the best science fiction films of the past decade (KYLE FRANCIS)

2. The Dark Knight (dir. Christopher Nolan) — Nolan's epic is now the watermark against which all superhero films must measure —not that difficult, I realize (BRYN EVANS)

3. Iron Man (dir. John Favreau) — I can't believe how much this didn't suck (JOHN TEBBUTT)

4. Synecdoche, NY (dir. Charlie Kauffman) — Overlong and occasionally baffling, Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut is also an uncommonly honest, haunting portrait of existential angst (KYLE FRANCIS)

5. In Bruges (dir. Martin McDonagh) —McDonagh's tale of guilt-ridden, violent criminals whiling away in a dull Belgian city is hilarious and unabashedly cynical (BRYN EVANS)

6. Tropic Thunder (dir. Ben Stiller) — The funniest part about Ben Stiller's satirical action film is that it is, in and of itself, a better filmed action-romp than the movies it sends up (KYLE FRANCIS)

7. Stuck (dir. Stuart Gordon) — The best film nobody saw. Wrenching, outrageous, and unforgettable (JOHN TEBBUTT)

8. Funny Games (dir. Michael Haneke) — Love it or hate it, Haneke's English remake of his earlier film is a masterful, squirm-inducing exercise in terror and frustration (BRYN EVANS)

9. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (dir. Nicholas Stoller) — A sharp, witty take on the rom-com genre by a writer who knows it inside and out (KYLE FRANCIS)

10. Burn After Reading (dir. The Coen Brothers) — After No Country for Old Men, the Coens prove they can still do comedy in this concise farce with a perfect punch line (PETER HEMMINGER)

For Fast Forward’s film critics, 2008 was the year of the blockbuster. The top three movies on our list have earned a combined total of over $1 billion in the U.S. alone, and at least half the list made its way into Calgary’s major theatre chains. Sure, the independent film world produced some fine fare this year, but nothing seems to compare with a big movie done well.

This year’s top film, Wall-E, is exactly that. Pixar, the studio behind Finding Nemo and Toy Story, took a huge risk in telling the story of a plucky robot who also happens to be the last sentient being on a lifeless Earth. Not many kids’ movies start with a dialogue-free first half-hour, nor do they appropriate classic musicals as a means of communication, but Pixar had the skill to pull it off and, equally importantly, the studio has earned enough goodwill that audiences were willing to give them a shot. It’s an example of that most exceedingly rare bird — a flawless film.

The same can’t be said of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Like its protagonist, Nolan’s Batman film has some serious issues. Fortunately, and also like its protagonist, it’s insanely badass. Bolstered by what would have been a career-redefining role for Heath Ledger as the Joker, were it not for the actor’s untimely death, The Dark Knight has it all — it opens with an intricate heist, climaxes with an intense action sequence and has a scene in which a semi-trailer flips end-over-end.

The other films on the list run the gamut from mind-bending exploration of art and life (Synecdoche, NY) to sweetly benign romantic comedy (Forgetting Sarah Marshall). Oddly enough, nearly every movie on the list is a genre picture, but whether they’re twists on the usual themes (In Bruges, Stuck), parodies (Tropic Thunder, Burn After Reading) or outright critiques (Funny Games), they all found ways to rise above their respective genres.