At the movies, 2008 was a period of transition -- a year when popcorn movies proved they could attain the level of art and when new and established filmmakers took daring, if not always successful, chances.

Reflecting a year marked by the pressures of a crumbling economy, a presidential election and a continuing war, moviegoers heavily favored escapist fare. The 20 highest-grossing films contained not a drama among them and were populated instead by Will Smith, an aging Indiana Jones, a kung-fu fighting panda bear, ABBA songs and the Sex and the City women.

However, the more somber, less-seen films will remind us what the popular culture was preoccupied with in 2008.

Probably the most symbolic 2008 film of all will open on Christmas Day: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, director David Fincher's tender, beautifully crafted ode to the ephemeral nature of life and the way everything, no matter how permanent it might have once seemed, is prone to change.

FILMS' TOP FIVE

1. Slumdog Millionaire: Director Danny Boyle turned the story of two brothers growing up in the slums of Mumbai into the year's most exhilarating and humane movie.

2. Wall*E: Pixar's fable about a lonely, lovestruck robot left behind on an abandoned Earth was pure movie magic.

3. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days: Through the harrowing story of two college students trying to arrange an illegal abortion in 1980s Romania, director Cristian Mingiu illustrated the wide-ranging consequences of life under a totalitarian regime.

4. Gran Torino/Changeling: Clint Eastwood's one-two punch -- one a drama that boasted the best performance of his career, the other an epic look at corruption in 1920s California -- proved that, at 78, he's still getting better.

5. The Dark Knight/Hellboy II: In a year filled with strong comic-book adaptations, Chris Nolan's psychologically complex take on Batman and Guillermo del Toro's endlessly imaginative fantasy were the best.

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