Top 10 Movies of 2008

My annual top 10 movie list:

1) Slumdog Millionaire
5 out of 5 starts

This movie of the year deserves all the accolades it is receiving. It is suspenseful, dramatic, inspirational, and romantic and teaches an incredible message. The story is set around a game show and a brutal police interrogation. The cops don’t believe that a poor homeless, orphan teenager from the slums, Jamal Malik, could possibly know all the answers he has give on the Indian version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” that have earned him one question shy of the top prize. After being tortured, Jamal explains the dramatic story from his past behind each one of his answers and we go back with him. The film has been called a love affair with Mumbai and I can see why as these flashback stories introduce us to an India that I want to get to know better. This movie is directed by Danny Boyle who normally directs very dark, intense films like Trainspotting, Shallow Grave and 28 Days Later, but who has also shown a softer side with the family movie Millions. Slumdog Millionaire reminds me more of Millions with its upbeat inspiring story (albeit with some very dark and tragic elements). I feel I am a better person for having watched it. It is the best movie of the year.

2) Wall-E
5 out of 5 stars

Once again Pixar, the filmmakers with the most consistently excellent record in the last two decades, has hit a home run. For me, every Pixar film that has been made can be divided into two categories: 1) the well made entertaining movies like A Bugs Life and Cars, and 2) the step above classic, great movies like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Ratatouille. After several months to think about Wall-E, I still put it in the second category. This is an incredibly, wonderfully inventive, sci-fi film, that is also funny and romantic, and with a timely environmental and taking care of our bodies message. Brilliant story telling techniques allows much of the communications throughout the film to be wordless. There are only a couple of spoken lines in the film. The story is simple. In the year 2700 a robot named WALL-E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth class) has been doing the same job of cleaning up garbage for several hundred years since human kind left the planet to live in spaceships after the Earth became uninhabitable due to pollution. While he is a robot, he also has human characteristics such as his friendship and caretaking of a pet (cockroach) and falling in love with another robot named EVE. The film takes us on a great adventure as WALL-E visits the spaceship where the descendants of Earth now live where we see obese humans living in a pampered luxury that enables them to live without even having to stand up, let alone exercise. I have heard criticism that the message of the movie was too in your face and judgmental but for me it worked completely. A great movie for anyone.

3) Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
4.5 stars out of 5

Nick and Norah makes the list of my favorite high school / coming-of-age / romantic / comedy films of all time. Growing up in the 1980s I was able to see some of the best films in this genre such as Breakfast Club, Stand by Me, Heathers, and Ferris Buehler’s Day Off. Recently I would put Mean Girls and Juno on the list. Nick and Norah fits in the group fine. The story is simple; Michael Cera is Nick, the ultimate awkward yet likeable teen geek (really the same character he played in Juno. He’s the straight bassist in a gay band and is hurting over his recent break-up with Tris, his beautiful but shallow ex. Kat Dennings is Norah. She is pretty but not as beautiful as Tris, but has everything that Tris does not when it comes to personality (actually she is supposed to be less attractive than Tris, but I actually liked her better). She has that teenage girl balance between being cocky and insecure down perfectly. The story is a mad cap night of crazy fun as they search the city to find where their favorite band is playing while falling in love. However, the real story for me was the great alternative soundtrack (which is a must for any coming of age film). In this case the music is from Richard Hawley, The Real Tuesday Weld, Chris Bell, and Army Navy. I plan on buying the DVD but first I will buy the soundtrack. A very fun film.

4) Rachel Getting Married
4.5 stars out of 5

Up until now, I didn’t get Anne Hathaway. She kind of bothered me in her early Disney rolls and when she later tried more adult rolls, I kept seeing her as the Disney character. However, in Rachel Getting Married I finally see the incredible acting ability that she has. The story is really a weekend with a dysfunctional family (as if there was such a thing as a perfect functional family). Hathaway plays Kym, nervous and edgy as she re-enters the world after six months in drug rehab. She has come home just in time for her older sister Rachel’s wedding. Overshadowing everything is the pain she caused the family during her years of drug use and it’s not clear whether she can truly be given a second chance. She resents both the grudges and the sympathy she receives and counters with cruel verbal attacks. Sounds like an unsympathetic character, but we come to feel for her. Hathaway is the star but the other performances are good as well, particularly Debra Winger as the icy cold mother. A brilliantly acted great film.

5) The Duchess
4 stars out of 5

I saw the Duchess on an airplane and I was very happy that it was the movie they were showing as it is something I doubt I ever would have seen otherwise. It certainly didn't seem to be my type -other than the fact that the super hot Keira Knightly is the star. However, I was very impressed and was sad to see it end. Keira plays the Duchess of Devonshire, a true life ancestor of Princess Diana. She is married to the Duke, played with emotionless distance by the great Ralph Finnes. He really doesn't know how to show love and only wants a male heir while his wife keeps having girls. Keira is the real star here. It is amazing to see her play this incredible woman who was a political and fashion star, beloved and almost worshiped by a nation, and yet she is at the same time this lonely woman maltreated by her husband. Powerful yet helpless. Very well done and I recommend it to everyone

6) Dark Knight
4 stars out of 5

Dark and complex, this is the best of the Batman films, and maybe the best comic book / superhero movie ever made, at least from an artistic perspective. It is moving, thrilling, exhilarating, well acted and written and excellent while at the same time dark, depressing, violent and real. The greatness in this movie is in large part thanks to the late Heath Ledgers turn as the Joker. It has been said a thousand times by everyone and I can’t really add to it, but it is true that Ledger really does give the performance of his career in this movie as a creepy and menacing criminal who is evil just for the sake of being evil, not for gain. Amazing to watch.

7) Iron Man
4 stars out of 5

This is the type of movie like Star Wars or Indiana Jones that made me fall in love with movies as a kid. In some ways it is the stereo-typical summer blockbuster with fast paced action, dazzling special effects and dramatic and suspenseful energy. However, in many other ways it transcends the typical blockbuster mainly due to the talented Robert Downey who is having so much fun.

8) Burn After Reading
4 stars out of 5

Many critics panned this movie, even those who normally like the dark and quirky Coen brothers. I had a great time however watching these people who act like morons who find themselves in a madcap, screw-ball comedy, spy thriller. Frances McDormand gives her best performance since Fargo.

9) Changeling
3.5 stars out of 5

Critics were really disappointed in this Clint Eastwood directed film but I found it satisfying for a number of reasons. Both Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich appear in two of the movies that made my top 10 list. They give outstanding performances. Jolie gives the best performance of her career as a mother who’s young son goes missing. She was very believable. But what I liked best was the way Eastwood used color and ambiance to make this film, that took place in the early part of the 20th century, look and feel very much like an old Ingrid Bergman or Joan Fontaine film noir one might have seen in the 1940s. I loved those movies and this one too.

10) Wanted
3.5 stars out of 5

OK, this one is the 14 year old inside of me (although it is too violent for a 14 year old). It is a thrill ride, action pack escape type movie. You are on the edge of your seat the entire time with some of the coolest special effects I have ever seen. It is not great film making , but I had a really good time. Sometimes that is good enough.


Runners up – Gran Torino, Saving Sarah Marshall, Body of Lies

Tyler's Birthday

For Tyler's birthday Grandma Karen and Opa took us out to dinner at Rodizio Grill. It was Uncle Levi's birthday also so we all went together. It was a lot of fun eating all the Brazilian food and everyone had a great time.

Philosophical Showdown

Happy Birthday Tyler

Happy birthday to my son Tyler. He is 9 years old. Tyler is the coolest, most lovable guy and makes everyone happy. I hope you have a great day buddy. You deserve it.

Movie Review - The Duchess

On a plane ride to Chicago last week I saw the Duchess. I was very happy that it was the movie they were showing as it is something I doubt I ever would have seen otherwise. It certainly didn't seem to be my type -other than the fact that the super hot Keira Knightly is the star. However, I was very impressed and was sad to see it end. Keira plays the Duchess of Devonshire, a true life ancestor of Princess Diana. She is married to the Duke, played with emotionless distance by the great Ralph Finnes. He really doesn't know how to show love and only wants a male heir while his wife keeps having girls. Keira is the real star here. It is amazing to see her play this incredible woman who was a political and fashion star, beloved and almost worshiped by a nation, and yet she is at the same time this lonely woman maltreated by her husband. Powerful yet helpless. Very well done and I recommend it to everyone.

Review - Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

Over the weekend I read President Obama's autobiography, "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance". It was a good way to get to know the next president a little better. The biography was written about a decade ago before he was married so it is outdated, but it was nice to learn about his childhood and the experiences that shaped him. He decided to write the book after he was elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. He was offered a book contract, and he wrote the memoir of his life to that point. It is a life that let him experience a great deal of the world and diversity. He was born in Hawaii in 1961 to a white American woman and a black Kenyan student. He was raised in by his mother and her parents after his father left to return home to Africa. We learn about his years in Indonesia after his mother remarries, experiences in school and his visit to Africa to visit his father and relatives.

We also get to learn about his early career days. After college, Obama became a community organizer in Chicago before going on to law school followed by a career in civil rights law and politics. I think I was most impressed learning about his quest to learn about his family and his identity and the conclusions he came to. Let me know if you want to borrow the book.

Review - The Mansion

I just finished reading the short story "the Mansion". In a talk by President Monson, he said:

"In a few days my family knows that I will read again my Christmas treasury of books and ponder the wondrous words of the authors. First will be the Gospel of Luke - even the Christmas story. This will be followed by A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens and, finally, The Mansion, by Henry Van Dyke. I always must wipe my eyes when reading these inspired writings. They touch my inner soul, as they will yours."
President Monson's address delivered at the Tabernacle on Temple Square, Sunday, Dec. 6, 1998.

Never having heard of it, I found it interesting that he listed it with A Christmas Carol and Luke which most everyone have read, so I decided to read it. It is a traditional Christmas story that reminded me of A Christmas Carol where a few small things remind someone of changes they need to make in their life. Let me know if you want to read it and you can read my copy. I don't think it is much more than 20 pages.

Funny New Year Story

New Year's Eve was basically pretty low key. We didn't go to any parties and we didn't have anyone over. Andrew spent the night at his friends house so it ended up being Jana, Tyler, Kayla and I. Kayla crashed around 10:30 so Tyler decided to go to bed and Jana and I just watched movies and the food network challenge. However, a couple minutes before midnight I heard a noise downstairs so I went down and Tyler was under his blanket with a light watching a countdown to the new year on his Nintendo game system. He was getting excited, 54, 53, 52 . . .then when it got to 0 he jumped out of bed and started jumping up and down and said "well dad, that's it . . . zero one, zero one, o-nine. Time to celebrate". It was pretty cute.

Poor Kayla

We got a letter last week from the school district saying that Kayla somehow missed one of her immunization shots and so she can only stay in school through the end of the week unless she gets the shot. So we scheduled an appointment for today with the doctor. Poor Kayla is so freaked out she talked about it all last night. "Dad, I don't think it will hurt, at least not much", "Dad, you know I have to get a shot" over and over and you could see in her face that she is worried. It will be nice later today when it is done so she can go back to focusing on how much she loves school. Andrew would rather stay home than go to school, Tyler is ambivalent either way and Kayla LOVES it.