The 23 Greatest Scenes Of 2008

There Will Be Blood . "There it is, that’s a straw, you see? You watching?” Oh yes, Daniel, we are.

Iron Man . Pepper plays Operation with Tony’s arc-reactor. Funny, touching and not to be tried at home.

Chocolate . JeeJa kicks arse high up on the window ledges of an apartment block. Ouch.

Cloverfield . The most daring image in Hollywood since Independence Day blew up the White House.

Rambo . Lots and lots and lots of blood.

Lust, Caution . Were they? Weren’t they? They had to be. Ang Lee takes passion to the edge.

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead . Even Sidney Lumet was left in awe by Philip Seymour Hoffman’s emotional dam-buster.

Tropic Thunder . He swears! He dances! He’s Tom Cruise! The comedy performance of 2008.

The King Of Kong . No-hoper Steve Wiebe busting the Donkey Kong record score. Most thrilling thing we saw all year.

No Country For Old Men . A truly weird, wonderful chase sequence that could only have come from Coen country.

Sex And The City . Carrie sticks it to Big... And Charlotte explodes!

The Strangers . Film-school types would say, “Effective mise-en-scène.” We’d say, “Clean trousers please!”

Wanted . If The General had been directed by Bekmambetov.

The Diving Bell And The Butterfly . Our helpless protagonist’s eye is stitched up.

Horton Hears A Who! A jolt of bizarro genius from the Ice Age makers, as Horton lurches into an eye-popping anime fantasy.

Quantum Of Solace . Best of the Solace set-pieces: shattering glass, swinging ropes and clattering scaffolding.

Be Kind, Rewind . Glorious one-shot homage to home-movie love.

The Mist . Se7en times four. Even author Stephen King was staggered by Frank Darabont’s gut-punch finale.

The Orphanage. Best shock-shot of the year, as roadkill old lady gets her face about the place. Mmm.

Happy-Go-Lucky . Eddie Marsan’s powder-keg driving instructor makes his Hancock villain look like a softie.

[rec] . Waiting in the darkness at the end of this terrifying shocker is… Well, we’re not even going to show you.

In Bruges . Colin Farrell karate-chops a midget...

Hunger . Two men, 18 minutes of riveting chat and one astonishing unbroken shot..