Top 50 DVDs of the Year 2008

Top 50 DVDs of the Year 2008

Looking back on the DVD releases of the last 12 months, the first thing that hits you is the sheer range and diversity of titles. In fact when we first talked about doing a list of the best DVDs, the idea was for a top ten. (Original, I know.) It didn't take long to realise that wasn't going to cut it.

We all have our favourites, and in a few weeks I'll be happy to supply my ten best cinema releases of the year - but sometimes it's more useful to compare like with like. After all, if you're in the mood for a comedy, you don't really care if that Romanian abortion film won the Palme d'Or. And if you have young kids to please, they're probably not going to be too chuffed with the Three hour oil mining epic.

What follows, then, is our selection of the 50 best DVDs released since January in half a dozen categories: Family films, Comedies, Musicals, British, Foreign Language and US. About half of these movies came out in UK cinemas in 2007. The other half were released earlier this year and have already made it to DVD, or in a few cases, will be on DVD in the next couple of weeks.

We haven't gone in to back catalogue releases, because frankly, there are just too many to choose from. And we haven't talked about bonus features, because there are so many competing editions out there it would only get confusing. In any case you probably don't rent or purchase a movie for the commentary track.

One last thing: I've seen 49 of these 50 titles and I'm proud to vouch for them. But if your favourite DVD of the year isn't here please don't take it personally, maybe I missed it. Feel free to drop me an email and let me know! And the one movie on the list I didn't see... Let's assume it's that one you hated and can't believe it ranked so high, shall we?

Tom Charity
tom.charity@lovefilm.com

1. WALL-E For many of us this was the film of the year. A captivating allegory about a lonely, lovelorn trash compactor at the end of the world. Who can't relate to that? £13.93 2. RATATOUILLE PIXAR's other notable DVD release this year: a foodie comedy for the connoisewers. £8.93 3. ENCHANTED This is another great family film, with Amy Adams as a Disney princess finding love in modern Manhattan. Three of Alan Menkin's songs were nominated for the Oscar this year. £6.93 4. THE GOLDEN COMPASS Grand and superbly cast adaptation of Phillip Pullman’s fantasy story, marred by a cop out ending. £7.93 5. THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN Energetic dispatch from Narnia, with Eddie Izzard buckling a swash as Reepicheep. £14.93	1. SUPERBAD The pick of the Judd Apatow litter to date, this Seth Rogen-penned teen party flick places Michael Cera as his generation's Hoffman or Dreyfus... £4.93 2. JUNO Unless that honour should go to Cera's costar here, Ellen Page? The wittiest girl in school, Juno finds the wisdom to go with it. £7.93 3. FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL More from Apatow: Jason Siegel inadvertently stalks his ex in Hawaii. With a lovely performance from Russell Brand as an amiable sex god. (He can't help himself.) £6.93 4. CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR See, US imperialism can be fun! Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman boot the Soviets out of Afghanistan with slush funding from Julia Roberts. £7.93 5. THE SAVAGES Philip Seymour Hoffman again, this time reluctantly cohabiting with sis Laura Linney when their senile old man starts to slide. £15.43

1. ONCE In an exceptional year for musicals this shoestring Irish picture seemed freshly minted; a spontaneous and authentic alternative to overproduced schmaltz. £6.93 2. HAIRSPRAY Talking of over-produced schmaltz, this is the beehive's knees, a candy-coloured camp comedy, and Michelle Pfeiffer's first musical since Grease 2. £5.93 3. SWEENEY TODD Johnny Depp glowers and wields a razor blade with a flourish as Tim Burton sinks his teeth into Sondheim's meaty Victorian singalong. £7.93 4. ENCHANTED This is another great family film, with Amy Adams as a Disney princess finding love in modern Manhattan. Three of Alan Menkin's songs were nominated for the Oscar this year. £6.93 5. MAMMA MIA! Meryl Streep lives up the exclamation mark in this Abba-tastic Mediterranean love fest. At least it doesn't take itself as seriously as Dreamgirls. £12.89	1. THIS IS ENGLAND Want the skinny on the BNP? Shane Meadows's autobiographical tale of teenage peer pressure is honest filmmaking without the hype. £4.93 2. SON OF RAMBOW A charming film about friendship, growing up in the 80s and discovering your first action movie. £6.93 3. EASTERN PROMISES Cronenberg does Russian gangsters in the Old Smoke. Viggo Mortensen shows off his ink. £6.93 4. HAPPY-GO-LUCKY Mike Leigh in chirpy mood, extolling the virtues of optimism and a friendly flatmate. Sally Hawkins learns to drive as primary teacher Poppy. £6.93 5. ATONEMENT Bibliophile romance with Keira Knightley rewriting history and James McAvoy looking for the Dunkirk spirit. £6.93

1. THE EDGE OF HEAVEN The German film of the year takes a handful of intriguing characters in Bremen and Istanbul and makes us care what happens to them. £15.43 2.PERSEPOLIS And the French film of the year is the autobiographical account of a girl growing up in Tehran and Switzerland. And it's animated. £8.43 3. THE ORPHANAGE Old school Spanish ghost story; tense, atmospheric and surprisingly poignant. £7.93 4. 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS & 2 DAYS The Cannes 07 prize-winnner. This intense Romanian drama shines a spotlight into those dark places where angels fear to tread. £8.43 5. MAD DETECTIVE Brilliantly bonkers Hong Kong thriller, a hall of mirrors mystery featuring at least two crazy cops, one with multiple personalities. £13.93 6. THE BAND'S VISIT Deadpan, slow burning charmer about an Egyptian brass band making friends in an Israeli backwater £8.43 7. DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY Julian Schnabel's inspired movie about a man breaking free of paralysis to communicate with his own working muscle, an eyelid. With Bond baddie Mathieu Amalric. £7.93 8. THE COUNTERFEITERS Gripping true story about a Nazi mission to undermine the pound (this was back when there was a pound to undermine). £12.93 9. STILL LIFE Slow but memorable Chinese film about transient workers dismantling the towns alongside the 3 Gorges as the world's greatest dam goes up. £15.43 10. YOU, THE LIVING Roy Andersson's 50 surreal and sometimes hilarious vignettes add up to one wonderfully bizarre, melancholy and unforgettable movie. £15.43	1. THERE WILL BE BLOOD Paul Thomas Anderson's lacerating epic about the birth of the Oil Age: Daniel Day-Lewis is extraordinary as the prospector entirely consumed with his own enterprise; Paul Dano the evangelist who may be his nemesis. £5.93 2. INTO THE WILD Sean Penn's sublime end-of-the-road movie invests the Christopher McCandless story with beauty and spirit - in a strange way it's a very heartening tragedy. £4.93 3. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN Brilliantly shot by Roger Deakins, the Coen brothers do right by Cormac McCarthy's compelling thriller, a kind of lament at the new nihilism. It's boasts an all-time badass dog and Javier Bardem's killer hair. £5.93 4. THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD Filmed in languid, wispy vignettes by Roger Deakins, this is an elegiac, rueful evocation of the death of the Western hero, a slow passing that occurs long before Jesse (Brad Pitt) draws his last breath. £8.43 5. WE OWN THE NIGHT The most sorely underrated cop thriller of the year, James Grey's film about ill-matched brothers, one good, one gone to the bad, plays with archetypes but undermines our moral certainties. £6.93 6. HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY Guillermo Del Toro's was the cheapest but also the richest blockbuster of the summer, a more playful but equally imaginative companion piece to last year's art house fave Pan's Labyrinth. £10.93 7. BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD It’s that man Philip Seymour Hoffman again, with a full-proof scheme to rob a jewelery store with his brother, Ethan Hawke. What could go wrong £8.93 8. PARANOID PARK While we're waiting for Gus Van Sant's acclaimed biopic Milk, this is a taste of the "alternative avenues he's been exploring in recent years, a mazy skateboard saga with a MySpace cast. £15.93 9. AMERICAN GANGSTER Ridley Scott's black and white true crime epic, with Russell Crowe as a straight arrow cop and Denzel Washington, in top form as an import/export self-made man. £6.93 10. IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH Tommy Lee Jones was rightly Oscar-nominated for his tremendous performance as a military man trying to find out what happened to his son, AWOL on return from Iraq. Paul Haggis directs. £5.93 11. MICHAEL CLAYTON George Clooney is the legal firm fixit man who gets himself in a fix when a friend and colleague goes off the deep end. Stylish conspiracy thriller with Tilda Swinton. £7.43 12. THE DARJEELING LIMITED Wes Anderson's passage to India. Bill Murray misses the train, but brothers Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson seek enlightenment. £6.93 13. YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH Tim Roth also heads for India in Coppola's mind-boggling immortal thoughts. Pretentious, yes, but also poetic and genuinely odd. £15.43 14. THE MIST Frank Darabont's third Stephen King adaptation was a box office dud, but it's well worth catching up with, not just for the devastating ending. £10.93 15. CLOVERFIELD Handicam horrors when a giant monster pays a visit to the Big Apple. Gimmicky but effective. £6.93 16. MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS Wong Kar-Wai's first English language film could have used a script doctor, but it's an eyeful (not just for Jude, Natalie, Norah et al). £7.43 17. MARGOT AT THE WEDDING This acidic comedy isn't exactly audience-friendly but Nicole Kidman has rarely been better. £7.43 18. IRON MAN The last half hour is a bit mechanical, but Robert Downey Jr is great fun as billionaire arms dealer Tony Stark. £12.93 19. GONE BABY GONE Ben Affleck makes his directorial début with this moody, too clever by half Dennis Lehane adaptation. His brother Casey stars. £15.43 20. THE DARK KNIGHT It's not quite here yet (the DVD is released December 12), but there's no getting around the box office phenomenon of the year. Not a bad flick either. £11.89