Published: Tuesday, 23rd December, 2008 12:30pm

It's that time of the year...

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I'm not overpaid, not suspended, don't have a lisp and don't (for the most part) make nuisance phonecalls mocking people for the sex lives of their grandchildren. Despite that I am going to give you my rundown to The Geek Chic Films of the Year.

And yes I know that five of the ten being comic book movies provides some insight into my mindset. Frighteningly the top four are all DVDs on my Christmas list too!

Iron Man - Best comic book movie since X2. Funny, intelligent, filled with heart, lots of gadgets and my film of the year by some distance.

Mamma Mia - I defy anyone not to have come out of this grinning like a loon. Also brings back great Lake Districty memories. :D

The Dark Knight - Ying to Iron Man's yang. So much more than just Heath Ledger's (brilliant) final performance, now if someone could ask Christian Bale to stop doing his BatVoice like he's talking through a broken jaw I'd be all excited about the next one. More Eckhart please.

Gone Baby Gone - Proof Ben Affleck is brilliant. One of those films that at the time is so understated you leave the cinema feeling happy but not mind blown - and yet find yourself thinking about at odd moments for weeks afterwards. Phenomenal. Check it out if you haven't seen it.

Cloverfield - JJ Abrams was supposed to give us Star Trek this year, but we'll let him off for now. Instead we got this well above par monster movie which admittedly was as much style as substance but no more fantastic for that.

Tropic Thunder - That Tom Cruise cameo is worth the price of admission alone (and well done TC for doing something to make us laugh *deliberately*) but the whole thing was a cut above the usual Frat Pack fare. And Robert Downey Jr proves that in 2008 he couldn't put a foot wrong.

Wanted - played fast and loose with the source material but proved a high octane, stylish two hours with some great moments and proof that James McAvoy can (a) be an unlikely action hero and (b) pull off a good American accent.

Hellboy 2 - When I heard one of the twins from Bros was the big bad my heart sank, but Red and friends is even better in the sequel than he was in the first film. Excellent stuff.

Kung Fu Panda - Packed with references to kung fu movies that will sail over the littluns' heads, this is the best children's film of the year by some distance even before you factor in the Panda's dad is a crane...

Persepolis - Brilliant, inspiring, depressing look into life as a woman growing up in Iran inspired by the comics. One of those films that is destined to be overlooked by many just because, frankly, it sounds a bit worthy but for those willing to give it a try it pays dividends.

Should have been on this list but just weren't as great as I'd hoped they'd be

Indiana Jones - bringing us a whole new euphemism for jumping the shark - 'surviving the nuclear blast by hiding in a lead lined fridge'. I know it's hardly catchy, but it may yet catch on.

Quantum of Solace - After the brilliance of Casino Royale this seemed just ok. Better than most of the Brosnan oeuvre, but not as good as Craig's debut. Which is pretty amazing when he spent a great part of the first film playing cards and it was still tense!

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People - Simon Pegg in a film about journalism written by the usually very funny Toby Young. I should have loved this film. Instead I was merely diverted by it, even with hapless hack Sidney Young getting hammered at his US magazine's Independence Day Picnic, and starting chanting 'Engerland Engerland Engerland!' at the sober horrified masses, ending with an entreaty to Mr Bloom - 'Oi! Orlando! You used to be English!'

X-Files: I Want to Believe - I wanted to believe too. Pah. Some things are best left untouched.

Vantage Point - cracking premise, cracking directing, cracking plot... Until the last ten minutes when suddenly Dennis Quaid could outrun cars and double crosses became triple crosses became quadruple crosses, while the audience tried to sum up the energy to care.

Sweeney Todd - Depp, Burton, Bonham Carter, Rickman. Pretty much a dream team. And yet the result was somehow not as good as you expected it could be. Disappointing.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - George Lucas was widely quoted as saying he made the padawan in The Clone Wars movie a girl so his young daughters had a female role model. Right. From where I'm sitting Ahsoka is a whiney, incapable, brattish boobtube-wearing excuse for a merchandising model who at times seems to be almost flirting with Anakin. It's wrong. Stop milking that cash cow I beg you before I turn into Simon Pegg doing his Star Wars Jar Jar rant in Spaced.

Might have made the list but I haven't seen them yet

Frost / Nixon

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Burn After Reading

RocknRolla

Slumdog Millionaire

A Complete History of My Sexual Failures<

Worst film of the year by some distance

The Happening - Do *you* remember when Mark Walhberg was Oscar nominated for The Departed? It's not that long ago for goodness' sake. New rule: Films where the villain is killer grass really aren't worth watching. Ever. Some people have tried to tell me this is so bad it's good. No. It's so bad it's bad. Really bad. Bad baddity bad. Avoid.