Over the last few weeks, I've given you a lot of lists. We've talked about the best actors, the best actresses and the best films. This week I'm gonna give you one more.
It seems with all the best ofs I've done, my good karma meter is getting a bit too high so it's time to bring it back down a little. Here are the Top 10 things I hated in 2008.
10. "Meet Dave": You know who stinks now? Eddie Murphy. Since the first "Nutty Professor" film, Murphy has been on a warpath of ineptitude. Let's count them: "Norbit," "Daddy Day Care" and "Pluto Nash." When you toss in this clunker about an alien spaceship that takes the shape of Murphy, you have an actor who stinks in multiple galaxies.
9. The Jonas Brothers: These guys would make this list in any year. Did they do anything specific to make it in 2008? Nope. They just belong here.
8. "The X-Files: I Want To Believe": How excited was I to hear that one of my all-time favorite shows was coming back for another spin on the big screen? And then ... absolute junk. For a former New Jersey resident, the best part of the film was enjoying the snowy background. Other than that, blech.
7. "My Own Worst Enemy": Christian Slater. Nothing more to say. What's that? Christian Slater playing two people on NBC? One's a hitman you say? Okay, I'll check it out. Oh wait. Canceled.
6. Ringo Starr: Ringo, Ringo, Ringo. You're everyone's least favorite Beatle. George and John are dead and they get more mail than you do. So do you really want to tell the fans you still have left that you no longer want their correspondence? Guess you need more room in the mailbox for those Publisher's Clearing House letters.
5. "The Happening": The trees are killing people. The trees, M. Night Shyamalan? This has to be one of the most poorly scripted, poorly acted films in recent memory. I love ya, Mark Wahlberg, I do. But how do you follow up "The Departed" with this piece of tripe? Are you just trying to stick to films with "the" in the title?
4. The death of VHS: As a child of the '80s, I have a slew of VHS tapes still in my possession. This year brought the news that the last big VHS producer would be discontinuing its line, putting the final nail in the coffin of reel-to-reel film.
3. "The Love Guru": There is no way that this wasn't the worst film of the year. And Ben Kingsley? Sir Ben Kingsley? What are you doing in this film? Sometimes I sit back and reminisce about a time when Mike Myers was funny.
2. Chinese Foolery: I love the Olympics. And this year's summer games were terrific except for some trickery by the Chinese government. First off, remember those beautiful opening ceremony fireworks? There was more CGI there than in a George Lucas movie. And then there was 7-year-old Yang Peiyi. You don't know who she is? Neither does anyone else. That's because the Chinese deemed Peiyi "not cute enough for television" so 9-year-old Lin Miaoke pulled a Milli Vanilli to Peiyi's audio.
1. Heath Ledger's passing: On Jan. 22, the world was stunned by the news that 27-year-old actor Heath Ledger had passed away from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs after completing what might go down as one of the best villain performances ever put on film. And while 2008 began with tragedy, 2009 may pay its respects in the form of a February Oscar for Ledger.
