OK, before I say anything-- SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT.
This is a list of the best movie deaths in 2008, and if you haven't seen some of these movies, you may be disappointed to find out ahead of time who bites the big one. That said, this list is worth reading anyway, and arguing about, since there were so, so many great ones that couldn't be included. I mean, December releases alone could have made up this entire list, though that would have been a little hard on poor Kate Winslet (hey, like I said, SPOILER ALERT).
If you're feeling brave and gruesome, proceed from here.
1. Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan), Tropic Thunder. In a movie full of outrageous and completely insane moments, nothing tops the death of director Damien Cockburn by land mine, the moment when the idiot actors really, really should have figured out it wasn't a movie.
2. Fox (Angelina Jolie), Wanted. If you've got badass skills and need to take yourself out, why not take everyone else in the room with you?
3. Carol (Rosie Perez), Pineapple Express. It's hard to even keep track of all those deaths in that barn, with the explosions and gun battles and fistfights and all that. But when Rosie Perez gets crushed by the car, and we see a close-up of her anguish, we're almost sad to see her go-- but laughing hysterically at the same time.
4. Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood), Gran Torino. Lord knows how many times the guy has taken a bullet onscreen, but none of them have been quite so meaningful as when Walt takes the hit for the sake of the neighborhood, saving lots of lives other than his own in the process.
5. Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It's not spectacular or particularly awesome, but the moment when baby Benjamin draws his last breath is memorable just for how unique it is. Cate Blanchett's character Daisy, an old woman at this point, doubles the heartbreak.
6. Yvonne (Karin Bergquist), Let the Right One In. After she gets turned into a vampire by our heroine Eli, she survives an attack from housecats. But sunlight is too much for this vampire. Screw the sparkly Twilight vampires; bursting into flames is the only way to go.
7. Brad (John Hensley), Teeth. He tormented heroine Dawn her entire life with sexual advances, even though he's her stepbrother (ew!) But when she discovers her vagina dentata, a.k.a. teeth down there, she knows exactly how to get her revenge. It's gross even before the dog gets a hold of the dismembered... member.
8. Everyone in Central Park, The Happening. OK, everything else in this movie pretty much sucked. But the opening scene, in which people in Central Park start spontaneously offing themselves, is the one saving grace-- spooky and effective without the heavy-handed obvious stuff that killed the movie later on.
9. Strawberry Fields (Gemma Arterton), Quantum of Solace. Sure, it's really just an homage to Goldfinger, but what a way to go regardless. Even completely drenched in oil, oil that wasn't even at the center of the conspiracy, Arterton looked fantastic, and became an instant icon in the process.
10. Unnamed hoodlum (Brady Corbet), briefly, Funny Games. I hated every minute of this cheap, sadistic movie, but the one moment of joy came when Naomi Watts managed to blow away the chubbier of her tormentors. Then Michael Pitt picked up a remote, rewound the movie, and brought Corbet back to life. Damn I hated this movie.
For more of Cinema Blend's BEST OF 2008 click HERE.
