Reel picks & pans

Between the two of us, we’ve seen 88 movies this year, 46 in common. At n average of two hours per movie, that’s approximately one full week spent watching the year’s cinematic releases.

The films of 2008 ranged from the inspirational to the disgraceful. We’ve been privy to the offbeat humor of the Coen Brothers and Kevin Smith and stunned by the continued cinematic prowess of Christopher Nolan and Gus Van Sant, among others. We’ve also seen some films that belong in a movie hall of shame. And we have no qualms about placing them there. As the year closes, travel back with us for a look at 2008 at the movies.

BEST SURPRISE

Holly: “Bottle Shock” — I feared a poor man’s “Sideways” but got a rich film about good wine and a little piece of the past with which I was unfamiliar. A complex performance by Bill Pullman made this an entirely pleasant surprise.

Casey: “Bottle Shock” — A sun-soaked cinematic orgy about the birth of California’s wine region, which we went to see on a hunch and because Alan Rickman is my personal hero.

MOST DISAPPOINTING

Holly: “Leatherheads” — I like sports movies, romance and ’20s and ’30s screwball comedies. This tried to be the first two and emulate the third and failed at all three. It wasn’t bad; it was just flavorless.

Casey: “The Happening” — One, because Mark Wahlberg is capable of so much more depth. Two, because angry trees aren’t a scary plot twist/antagonist, unless you’re an orc in “Lord of the Rings.” I’m not.

BEST ACTOR

Holly: Sean Penn in “Milk” — This is the guy from “Dead Man Walking?” Better yet, this is Spicoli?! Penn is an utter chameleon, and his unself-pitying performance of California’s first openly gay politician is bound to sweep awards season.

Casey: John Malkovich in “Burn After Reading” and “The Changeling” — Penn’s performance was undeniably stellar, but I also appreciated how Malkovich’s roles as an overthe-hill CIA analyst and a socially active radio pastor displayed serious acting clout.

BEST ACTRESS

Holly: Frances McDormand in “Burn After Reading” and “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” — With these two very different roles, McDormand once again demonstrated her versatility and ability to immerse herself in a role.

Casey: Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” — People made a big deal about Jolie doing this role sans makeup, but it was the determination and fierce emotionality she evoked that made this performance so memorable and praiseworthy.

BEST FAMILY MOVIE

Holly: “Nim’s Island” — Little Miss Sunshine’s still got spunk. In her trifecta of movies this year (“Definitely, Maybe,” “Nim’s Island” and “Kit Kittredge”), Abigail Breslin pulled out her strongest performance as Nim, in this imaginative family adventure movie.

Casey: “Bolt” — With its lush, computer-generated visuals and some gut-busting, witty repartee between a dog with illusions of grandeur and a down-to-earth, scrappy cat, “Bolt” is Disney storytelling at its finest.

GUILTY PLEASURE

Holly: “27 Dresses” — Hey, I’m the girl here. Plus this strawberry milkshake of a movie has Edward Burns, who I’m a total sucker for.

Casey: “Rambo” — There’s something undeniably cathartic about 90 minutes of plotless drivel as an excuse for a blood-spattered gorefest with a higher body count than the audience’s collective IQ.

THE JAR-JAR BINKS AWARD

FOR OVERHYPED MOVIE OF THE YEAR

Holly: “Sex and the City” — I would say “Twilight,” but it was established that we’re just the wrong demographic. So I’ll go with “Sex...” Thanks to women flocking to the theater in droves, it opened at $55.7 million, which is about what the characters spend on shoes. The problem? The movie was unnecessary, flabby and lacked the panache of the TV show.

Casey: “Cloverfield” — The combination of tight-lipped silence over plot details and a mysterious viral market- i n g campaign online put the nation at fever pitch over “Lost” writer/producer J.J. Abrams’ super-secret project. The payoff? Verizon does “Godzilla.”

THE-CRITICS-SAW-ITSO-YOU-DIDN’T-HAVE-TO AWARD FOR WORST MOVIE

Holly: “Love Guru” — If it wasn’t clear in our June review, “Love Guru” was appalling. Everyone involved should be embarrassed, including the elephants. It was crass and tasteless. And I felt sorry for the elephants.

Casey: “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” — The cringe-worthy plot combines Israeli secret agents, geriatric bedroom antics and buckets of hummus, which somehow manages to be even worse than it sounds.

THE-WORTHY-OF-A-JAPANESEANIMÉ-PLOT AWARD

FOR STRANGEST MOVIE

Holly: “Teeth” (did not play in Chattanooga, seen in New York) — Every rose has its thorns, indeed. “Teeth” is about a repressed teenager with a set of unusually placed teeth. It’s a bit feminist, a bit misogynistic, and depending on your point of view, a bit empowering or a bit scary, but this independent takes a bite out of mundane cinema.

Casey: “The X Files: I Want To Believe” — The last 20 minutes consists of doctors playing Mr. Potato Head with human cadavers, which is completely off-the-wall, even by the standards of a show about paranormal activity.

BEST SOUNDTRACK

Holly: “Cadillac Records” — Actors keep singing on-screen (“Walk the Line,” “Mamma Mia”), and “Cadillac Records” continues that trend with style. Beyonce Knowles (OK, she was a singer first), especially, gives a smashing performance of Etta James’ “At Last.”

Casey: “The Wackness” — This summertime comingof-age story in New York honors the ritualistic exchange of mix tapes and features a stellar soundtrack of late ’80s/early ’90s hip-hop artists like Wu-Tang Clan and Notorious BIG.

THE SLEEPY-DWARF AWARD

FOR MOST FORGETTABLE MOVIE

Holly: “Vantage Point” — When perusing the list of movies that had played this year to refresh my memory of what I’d seen, I had to ask myself “Wait, which one was ‘Vantage Point?’ ” before I could remember if I’d seen it. That qualifies as pretty forgettable.

Casey: “The Day the Earth Stood Still” — After 90-plus minutes of waiting for justification of the unwarranted hype, you’ll walk away recalling little more than Giants Stadium and a semitruck dissolving. The trailer was more memorable.

NOTE:

(Reviewers’ note: The Top 10 lists are current as of Dec. 23, when many of the season’s most anticipsated releases had not been distributed to Chatta-