Here are haiku reviews of the 6 best movies I saw in 2008. This list is comprehensive in that it considers everything I saw. It is not comprehensive in that I did not come close to seeing all the movies released in 2008. (I did see The House Bunny.)

Encounters at the End of the World
Iridescent fish
meet Burning Man meets Herzog
in Antarctica.

Happy Go Lucky
Poppy is happy.
This makes some people angry.
Happy is Poppy.

Wall-E
Chaplin-bot in a
G-rated apocalypse -
Pixar gets darker.

The Wrestler
O, Randy the Ram
O, tragically flawed grappler
O, hidden razor

Momma’s Man
When life is too much,
Delay your flight forever…
return to the womb.

Man on Wire
Way way way up there:
A smiling man, 2 buildings.
What perfect balance.

Jeff Stern is a Boston-based filmmaker, screenwriter and actor whose work has screened at numerous film festivals. He is the co-producer and host of Open Screen, a monthly forum for independent, underground films held at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA. He is currently at work on "The Romantic Possibilities", his first feature film. He works at Bentley University, where he teaches Media Production.

Jeff Stern is a Boston-based filmmaker, screenwriter and actor whose work has screened at numerous film festivals. He is the co-producer and host of Open Screen, a monthly forum for independent, underground films held at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA. He is currently at work on "The Romantic Possibilities", his first feature film. He works at Bentley University, where he teaches Media Production.

George loves Brad loves Matt.
And Soderbergh loves them all.
Hey. What’s not to love?

In with the In-crowd.
A-listers on a joy ride.
Fellas! Wait for me!

Split screens and jazz-funk!
Silk shirts! Slick banter! Gadgets!
I feel kind of used.

Reflected starlight.
Nothing under the surface.
A shallow ocean.

Jeff Stern is a Boston-based filmmaker, screenwriter and actor whose work has screened at numerous film festivals. He is the co-producer and host of Open Screen, a monthly forum for independent, underground films held at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA. He is currently at work on "The Romantic Possibilities", his first feature film. He works at Bentley University, where he teaches Media Production.

Ironic homage
to buddy action thrillers:
British meta-cops.

A tough London cop.
A towne with a dark secret.
Somethin’s gotta give.

A village shootout:
bullet-shattered plant pot shards
float in a beer pool.

Miniature towne:
a former James Bond impaled
by a church steeple.

Aware of itself.
A movie about movies.
A film about films.

Jeff Stern is a Boston-based filmmaker, screenwriter and actor whose work has screened at numerous film festivals. He is the co-producer and host of Open Screen, a monthly forum for independent, underground films held at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA. He is currently at work on "The Romantic Possibilities", his first feature film. He works at Bentley University, where he teaches Media Production.