A friend was asking me my top movies of the year — I think his favorite was “Batman: The Dark Knight” — and that prompted me to go back to my records to remember what all I’d seen and liked. Then I remembered I presented a similar list here a year ago.

So, I’ll share this year’s list with you.

These are movies I saw in a theater in 2008. A couple were released at the very end of 2007, but I’m just going with what I saw in the calendar year. I watched 26 movies, way down from 41 in ’07, and certainly missed some good ones.

In roughly descending order, here’s my Top 10:

Wall-E, Frost/Nixon, The Visitor, Anita O’Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer, Trouble the Water, Persepolis, The Band’s Visit, Slumdog Millionaire, Batman: The Dark Knight, The Counterfeiters.

The next 10:

Taxi to the Dark Side, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, Iron Man, There Will Be Blood, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Smart People, 4 Years 3 Months and 2 Days, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, The Changeling, A Girl Cut in Two.

So far in 2009, I’ve seen and really liked “Milk” and “Gran Torino,” both of which are likely to make my Top 10 list.

Have opinions on any of these, or want to come up with your own Top 10 list for 2008?