Stephen King's Top 10 movies of 2008 - What have been your favourites?

Entertainment Weekly have the horror-meister's Top 10 movies of 2008. He seems to like Jason Statham. Do you agree with his choices?

1. The Dark Knight "This is to cape-and-tights movies what Godfather II was to the gangster movie: a genre-defining event."
2. Slumdog Millionaire "It's been years since the movies have produced such an affecting story about the power of friendship."
3. Wall-E "The first half an hour is an almost wordless tone poem that combines humor with 
an elegiac sadness for our throwaway culture."
4. Tropic Thunder "The funniest, most daring comedy of the year. Thunder is crude, rude, and constantly entertaining."
5. Funny Games "The film is relentless, and all but unbearable. It works as a savage parody of the snuff-porn genre even as it transcends it."
6. The Bank Job "Any doubts that Jason Statham is more than a muscle boy are set to rest in this rich (and often amusing) story"
7. Lakeview Terrace "Jackson's performance deserves an Academy Award nod, but won't get one. Too bad."
8. The Ruins "Five young people are trapped on top of a pyramid, surrounded by carnivorous plants. It could have been ludicrous. Instead, it's unrelenting."
9. Redbelt "Written and directed by the always ferocious David Mamet, this is not your father's Karate Kid."
10. Death Race "Death Race is filled with laconic violence and blasting muscle cars, but just beneath the surface is a biting satire of reality TV."

What have been your top 10 films of 2008? They don't have to be the ones you think you should put, just the ones which you enjoyed for whatever reason?

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Death Race, 2008 - Movie Review

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Starring: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Ian McShance, Tyrese Gibson, Natalie Martinez

Running Time: 105 minutes

Score: 7 / 10

This review by Van Roberts.

"Resident Evil" director Paul W.S. Anderson's "Death Race," a mean-spirited remake of the campy carmageddon classic "Death Race 2000" (1975) with David Carradine, lacks the imaginative of its predecessor but has its share of exciting scenes. "Death Race 2000" depicted a nationally sanctioned, no-holds-barred, coast-to-coast marathon where motorists racked up points for hitting pedestrians. Whereas director Paul Bartel's "Death Race 2000" amounted to a cheesy political satire, Anderson's straight-forward remake is an exercise in sadism that confines its race to an island prison with no innocent bystanders to kill. This nihilistic, R-rated, nonsense boasts a bigger budget, souped-up special effects, and a stellar cast led by lean, mean Jason Statham whose six-pack ripped physique is covered with tattoos. A bullet-riddled, testosterone-driven, high-octane fueled, B-movie motor rally extravaganza, "Death Race" not only pays tribute to the unforgettable Carradine classic but also pays tribute to "The Condemned," "The Running Man," "Escape from Alcatraz," "Goldfinger," and "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior."

"Death Race" takes place in the year 2012 after the U.S. economy has collapsed. Unemployment and crime rage out of control. The government has sold all prison over to the private sector. At Terminal Island, for example, the prison administration began broadcasting pay-per-view cage fights. Audiences, however, lost interest in them, so evil Warden Hennessey (Joan Allen of "The Bourne Supremacy") created a lethal, closed circuit car race. Each auto bristles with guns, rockets, and explosives like those in "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior." The undisputed racing champ is an indestructible legend called Frankenstein. We never get a glimpse of Frankenstein's face, but David Carradine provides the voice. Carradine portrayed Frankenstein in "Death Race 2000." The infamous Frankenstein has been injured so often that he wears a mask. As the action unfolds, Frankenstein dies in a spectacular crash, but Warden Hennessey keeps his death a closely-guarded secret. Some 45 million viewers pay between $99 and $250 to watch Hennessey's three day death race, and she isn't about to jeopardize her high ratings with news about Frankenstein's death.

Hennessey dispatches her vilest inmate, Pachenko (Max Ryan of "Kiss of the Dragon"), to track down former NASCAR driver Jenson Ames. Pachenko stabs Ames' wife Suzy (Janaya Stephens) to death and frames the unsuspecting Jenson for her murder. Six months later, Ames (Jason Statham) draws a life sentence and Hennessey pulls strings to land him on Terminal Island. Terminal Island resembles Alcatraz, except a bridge links it with the mainland. Hennessey convinces Ames to don Frankenstein's mask. Hennessey promises to release Jensen if he impersonates Frankenstein and wins one more race. Jenson had a baby daughter Piper, and the despicable Hennessey holds Piper's welfare over Jenson's head. Nevertheless, Hennessey plants an explosive charge under Jensen's car in case he tries to double-cross her.

Coach (British actor Ian McShane of HBO's "Deadwood" with his sinister raccoon eyebrows) and his multi-cultural crew maintains Frankenstein's Ford V-8, fastback Mustang that shares many features with James Bond's Aston-Martin. Hennessey imports buxom babes from a nearby women's prison to serve as navigators for the drivers on an elaborate race course that she has laid out on the prison's premises. Frankenstein's closest rival, Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson of "2 Fast 2 Furious"), is a pugnacious black homosexual who draws his navigators from the prison's all male population. Machine Gun has triumphed in three races. Joe needs only two more wins before he can obtain his freedom and retire to Miami. The problem is that the treacherous Warden Hennessey hates to keep her word to anybody.

"Death Race" wallows in violent, anti-social behavior. Armor-plated automobiles careen through the prison grounds with desperate drivers blasting away at each other with rockets and machine guns galore. Life in cheap in Terminal Island and the most perfidious person at the prison is Warden Hennessey who abhors profanity but spouts her fair share. Unfortunately, this predictable story has been retreaded so often that the complications outnumber the surprises. Whereas Paul Bartel's "Death Race" was funny but ferocious, Anderson's spin is simply ferocious with characters scheming to defeat their rivals. The hero, Jenson Ames, wins our sympathy on two counts. He has an infant daughter and we know that Pachenko framed him for his wife's murder. Everybody else on Terminal Island hasn't a shred of dignity. The guards are baton-wielding sadists and Warden Hennessey rivals Linda Fletcher's Oscar winning turn as Nurse Ratched in the Jack Nicholson masterpiece "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Clocking in at a ballistic 89 minutes, "Death Race" runs only marginally longer than its 82-minute predecessor. Anderson never squanders a second and delivers thrills, chills, and a surprise or two along the way. Unfortunately, he seems to have set his sights lower with this formulaic $45 million epic after helming superior sagas such as "Resident Evil" and "AVP: Alien Vs. Predator." While the "Death Race" women aren't the primary focus of the plot, Anderson has cast talented Joan Allen as a sadistic, domineering prison warden. She rules her realm with an iron hand and a double-barreled, sawed-off shotgun concealed in the knee-hole of her desk. "Death Race" suffers from at least one inconsistency. A warning sign on the wall of the prison dining hall proclaims the warning that no warning shots will be fired. When the guards quell a fight between Jensen and Pachenko, they warn them that they will fire. Nevertheless, despite its flaws, "Death Race" qualifies as an adequate popcorn movie for people who love big, dumb, action epics.
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Death Race in Court

There has been a lot of whoo-hah over Watchmen possibly being delayed due to disagreements between studios. Now it looks as if Paul W.S. Anderson's latest may be hitting the brakes (see what I did there?)

That's right. Death Race may be going to court.

Filmstalker have the story:

Adam Stone is a writer who is claiming that he pitched his script for a film called Joust to Paul W.S. Anderson and the producer Jeremy Bolt, after which they made a copy of it, returned it with a no thank you, and then made Death Race from it.

Stone claims, according to The Hollywood Reporter through Bloody Disgusting, that Death Race has been copied from his script and that he can prove it with at least thirty nine elements which mirror his screenplay.

Interesting news, especially due to the fact that the movie appears to be getting the best reviews of any Paul W.S. Anderson movie.

Discuss in the forum.

Death Race - Red Band Trailer and Dreadnought clip

Discuss in the forum.

Death Race - Poster

Here is the new poster for Paul W S Anderson's Death Race and can anyone spot the fatal mistake the two heroes have done? If they do that in the final film then it is going to be mighty short. My current thinking on this is that it will suck...although it has got Lovejoy in it!

Discuss in the forum.

Death Race (2008) Trailer

Here's the trailer for Death Race. Looks a lot like the old Dark Future game by Games Workshop.

Death Race - Poster

Here's a look at the poster for Paul W.S. Anderson's remake of Paul Bartel's 1975 classic, Death Race 2000. If you've ever been sat in a car with someone and they've cried out "20 points" as they pass an old person then they've seen the original.

The remake stars Jason Statham (The Transporter, Crank) as the eponymous hero, Frankenstein. It also stars Tyrese Gibson, Joan Allen and Ian McShane.

I enjoyed the original starring David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone, but I'm not at all optimistic about this remake. Paul W.S. Anderson directed Soldier, Alien vs Predator, Resident Evil and Event Horizon so that may well colour your expectations.