10 Best Films of 2008: Lisa Schwarzbaum's Picks

EW critic ranks a Ben Stiller comedy, a stunning Katrina doc, a biopic, and an animated robot among the year's best. Plus: Her picks for the five worst films of the past 12 months

By Lisa Schwarzbaum

Updated December 16, 2008 at 08:10 PM EST

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Credit: Merie Weismiller

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Credit: Simon Mein

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Credit: Stephen Vaughan

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13. MILK (2008) SUBJECT: Harvey Milk

Credit: Phil Bray

A fixture of 1970s San Francisco politics, Milk was assassinated in 1978, less than a year after winning a seat on the city's board of supervisors as the first openly gay man elected to major office in the U.S. Director Gus Van Sant and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, though, wisely and poignantly focus on Milk's life, on his uncanny ability to make politics personal and the personal political. Aided by Sean Penn's transformative performance, the film delivers a remarkably timed homily on the vital importance of community organizers. —Adam B. Vary