Best villain: Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight. R.I.P.

Silliest villain: The mastermind forcing Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan to do ''her'' bidding in Eagle Eye.

Most insidious villain: The inexorability of time in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Most effective descendant of The Blair Witch Project: Cloverfield. Like a first-person Godzilla flick.

Best proof ABBA is forever: Mamma Mia! The Movie's astounding $572 million worldwide gross.

Best gratuitous musical number: The Bollywood song-and-dance extravanganza during the end credits of Slumdog Millionaire.

Funniest musical number:Dracula's Lament from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Best extended cameo: A hilarious Tom Cruise, loosening up and getting down in Tropic Thunder.

Most preposterous action sequence: The set piece aboard a speeding train in Wanted, cheerfully defying all known boundaries of credibility.

Most preposterous action sequence that really happened: Philippe Petit performing an incredible high-wire walk between the two towers of the World Trade Center in 1974 in the documentary Man on Wire.

Best smackdown: Anne Hathaway vs. Debra Winger in Rachel Getting Married; years of resentment between mother and daughter explode to the surface.

Biggest tearjerker: Marley & Me, making Old Yeller seem like a feel-good romp by comparison.

Most eloquent reminder movies are primarily a visual medium: Wall*E.

Biggest scold: Bill Maher, wagging his finger at religion in Religulous. OK, OK, we get it.

Best forgettable B-movie we'll always watch a little bit of whenever it's on cable: Paul W.S. Anderson's Death Race.

Most effective use of music: James Horner's horrible, beautiful score during the devastating last five minutes of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

Most convincing proof red states and blue states aren't that far apart: Liberals and conservatives alike ignored the self-serving right-wing comedy An American Carol.

Worst movie: Bangkok Dangerous. Even worse than 88 Minutes. Even worse than The Love Guru.

Most anticipated 2009 movie: Zack Snyder's Watchmen.

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