Film in 2008: Who was top of the heap? A talking tin can

As we critics do every year, we shredded our garments and gnashed our teeth and lamented that they don't make 'em like they used to. But anyone who can look back at 2008 and claim that cinema isn't in a state of rude health is simply deluding themselves. It was a very vigorous year indeed and, best of all, rich in surprises.

Face of the year

Indisputably, WALL.E – which was saying something, since that face was little more than a metal box with a pair of binoculars on top. But the pensive tilt of his lenses and the little plaintive glints of light painted in by Pixar's technicians made the little tin guy the great tragic-comedian of the CGI age.

Comeback of the year

A joint honour. Terence Davies re-established himself as a British master with Of Time and the City, a rich Liverpudlian symphony of voice and image. But the honour is shared with British art cinema, which made a Lazarus-like return: notably, in the shape of Steve McQueen's ferocious, controlled Hunger; Joanna Hogg's tautly uncomfortable Unrelated; and soon-to-be-released films by Duane Hopkins (Better Things), Molloy and Lawlor (Helen) and Gideon Koppel (Sleep Furiously). Fingers crossed for 2009.

Actors of the year

There weren't many who could compete with the demented intensity of Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood, but another commanding feat of acting as all-consuming body art was Michael Fassbender's punishing performance in McQueen's Hunger. France's Mathieu Amalric was tormented and poignant in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and coolly corporate in Heartbeat Detector. But for pure pleasure, and comic mischief, hail Eddie Marsan in Happy Go Lucky and Robert Downey Jr's outrageous blackface Method turn in Tropic Thunder. ("I don't come out of character till the DVD commentary.")

Actresses of the year

Talk about an embarrassment of riches – and they say no one's writing good female roles. Most commanding of all was Kristin Scott Thomas's tetchy, complex career best in I've Loved You So Long. Other great performances came from Kathryn Worth in Unrelated; Romola Garai in Angel; Tilda Swinton in Burn After Reading; Sally Hawkins in Happy Go Lucky; Anamaria Marinca in 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days; and Asia Argento as an outrageous heritage vamp in The Last Mistress, stopping the show with a flash of her fan and a muttered "Adios!".

Newcomer of the year

And, talking of stopping the show, this goes to Hafsia Herzi, whose belly dance in Couscous was just the grand finale of a fiery, big-hearted turn.

Most overrated ...

The Dark Knight. Yes, it was dark – was there really that much else to say about it?

Most underrated ...

François Ozon's Edwardian costume folly Angel: maybe British critics simply distrusted a French johnny playing fast and loose with our costume-drama heritage. But it was a smarter, slyer and more audacious film than anyone gave it credit for.

Auteur to watch

Turkey's Reha Erdem, whose elemental, rhapsodic Times and Winds was old-school bucolic art-house, vintage stuff.

Catchphrase of the year

"En-ra-ha! En-ra-ha" – from Eddie Marsan's demented driving instructor in Happy Go Lucky.

R.I.P.

A farewell to the good guys – Paul Newman and Anthony Minghella.

And R.I.P. (but not quite yet): Heath Ledger, who troubled the box office from beyond the grave – and may well do the same for the Oscars – with his Joker emerging as the saving grace of The Dark Knight.

Birthday of the year

Portugal's prodigious director Manoel de Oliveira, 100 this month, and currently working on his next film. His latest release Belle Toujours showed him blazing away, faculties (and mischief) unimpaired.

Surprise of the year

Ben Affleck directed Gone Baby Gone – which was a corker. Who would have thought that he had it in him?

Turkey of the year

The Wachowski brothers' Speed Racer: possibly the most aesthetically repellent film ever made, with a boiled-sweet colour scheme that would have shamed a Woolworths' pick'n' mix counter.

Film of the year

For intensity, strangeness, unexpectedness, and the likelihood of its going down in the history books, make it Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood – and make Jonny Greenwood's score the Best Soundtrack too. Meanwhile others not mentioned above, that also kept the torch burning were: My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin); Import Export (Ulrich Seidl); Gomorrah (Matteo Garrone); Diary of the Dead (George Romero); Waltz With Bashir (Ari Folman); Let's Talk About the Rain (Agnes Jaoui); Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Guillermo del Toro); Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud); and (the year's maddest film, bar none) Eric Rohmer's The Romance of Astrea and Celadon: nymphs and shepherdesses cavort awhile with a hey-nonny-no and a cross-dressing dalliance on the side. Now that's what I call heritage drama.