Oscar Night

Well, another Oscar season came and went, and this particular one was pretty lackluster overall. The excitement over the nominee list, the winners, there was too much predictability. It's the first sweep year we've had since The Lord of the Rings won 11 Oscars (it wasn't a clean sweep, but still a sweep), which are actually my least favorite years in terms of predicting Oscars, because it takes away from the excitement. I still thought Slumdog Millionaire was an amazing film, and I think it's a worthy addition to the list of Best Pictures. It's an uplifting, hope-filled film, a fairy tale of sorts that leaves you wanting to dance as soon as the final kiss is presented on the film, and then, what do you know, there's a dance number at the end, one that makes me want to get up and dance every time I hear it on my IPod (yes, I downloaded the song into my IPod, I'm a loser). I loved Danny Boyle's speech. He looks to be one hell of a guy, and I look forward to seeing more of his earlier work (already saw Millions and Sunshine), and the Best Picture win, in which everybody involved with the film went up to accept, including those adorable children (they made the film worth it, every second they were on screen), was such a rewarding Best Picture moment, probably more rewarding than having just the producers accept. This film belongs to India, and everybody who was involved. The only thing that upsets me about Slumdog's sweep were the wins in both music categories. I mean, the score was amazing, and I love the winning song, but I wish one of those Oscars had gone to Wall-E and Thomas Newman would finally have an Oscar to show for his career after 10 straight nominations without a win. Plus, I wish Wall-E, my favorite film of the year, had gotten a second Oscar, and maybe a third (Sound Effects Editing should have been a good one for it). I mean, I'm happy it won Best Animated Feature, but that was a given. It's an Academy-Award winner, but it was still a given. I wish it could win just one more Oscar, just for being arguably the best film Pixar has ever made (of course, "arguably" being the operative word).
Now, if I were to pick the winner for Best Picture out of my personal preferences, I would've gone with Milk, which is why I'm happy it won two Oscars, though both of these wins come with some disappointments. And I don't mean the speeches. Dustin Lance Black and Sean Penn gave two of the best speeches of the night, and I was happy to see them win, but this is what gives me pause. In the Best Actor category, I've kept going back-and-forth between Mickey Rourke and Sean Penn, not just who would win the Oscar, but who I like best. It's so hard to choose, they both gave amazing performances. I usually settle on Sean Penn for his energy, his smile and the fact that he gave us such a beautiful human being, but then images of Mickey Rourke's beautifully layered and heartbreaking performance flash through my mind, as well as seeing the man in the person. This guy is always just happy to be there, happy to be welcomed back into the club and given a second chance. Also, this is Sean Penn's second Oscar, and I don't think he deserved his first win. The more I think of Mystic River, the less I like both the movie and his performance. It's one of the times when I wish the Academy had waited to reward an actor, and that they'd given Best Actor to Bill Murray in Lost in Translation back in 2003 (or to make some fanboys and girls happy here, Johnny Depp in PotC, which I agree is a great performance). Anyway, I loved Sean Penn's speech, and I was glad to see him up there for what I believe is his best performance to date.
As for the Original Screenplay Oscar, it was great to see Dustin Lance Black give such a beautiful speech, but in a category with such amazing nominees, Milk doesn not feel like the best screenplay. It has great moments of writing, but it doesn't feel unique or to have a particular voice. Happy-Go-Lucky and In Bruges were both scripts with very distinctive voices and beautifully layered characters, and I know they would never vote for an animated film in this category, but I wish they had started with WALL-E. A film that could express such a beautiful romance with a very limited amount of dialogue is truly an accomplishment. Oh well, I'm glad Milk won two Oscars, showing love for a story that needs to be told and very much relevant to our times (though it can get a little annoying when Oscars get political).

Now, Kate Winslet's win, I'm going to see it as a career Oscar rather than a win for The Reader, because I do not think it's one of her best performances. She can do no wrong, and in this film she does no wrong, it just doesn't reach the depths that she's reached before, and reached this same year with Revolutionary Road. I wish she had won the Oscar for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (did Hilary Swank really need a second Oscar back then), but still, it's good to finally be able to utter "Academy-Award Winner Kate Winslet. She deserves the title, and I hope she wears it proudly. I loved her speech too. My favorite moment of her speech was her dad whistling to let her know where he is. That was so adorable.
Last year, Javier Bardem was the first Spanish actor to win an Oscar. This year, the first Spanish actress to ever win an Oscar is the lovely and talented Penelope Cruz. I loved her in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. It's hard to give a bad performance under the direction of Woody Allen (unless you're Scarlett Johansson, whose been great in other films, but not under Woody Allen), and Penelope Cruz really sells this exotic spitfire of a woman whom we are told to fear way before she makes her grand entrance, and while she's on-screen, she makes the best out of it. I loved Penelope's speech, her nearly fainting on stage, her nod to previous directors who have made her successful (I especially loved the mentions of Fernando Trueba (director of Belle Epoque, one of her first films in which she's amazing) and Pedro Almodovar (she's been amazing in so many of his films)), and even though some people may say the Spanish part of the speech is obligatory for a Spanish-speaking winner, well so be it, because I never get tired of it (I love hearing that language).
As for Heath Ledger, well, we all saw it coming, but it was still rewarding. I always pictured Jake Gyllenhal accepting the award for some reason, but I am so glad it was his parents and sister who received the award. Three people who were not used to speaking to a crowd of celebrities, and were therefor very humbled by it. I love how genuine the moment felt.
A few obligatory Oscars went to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (it was beautiful to look at, so I can't begrudge it that much), and one Costume Design Oscar went to The Duchess (when will the Academy start valuing costumes that are not period pieces), and The Dark Knight won a sound award. Not that many films won Oscars this year, but like I said, it's a sweep year.
As for the ceremony itself, there were things I really liked, and things I hated. What I hated the most were the acting presentations. I mean, everything that those actors to said to every one of those nominees, that congratulatory crap that was so over-the-top it would earn the Razzie for worst performance (well, I'm exaggerating, but it was still annoying). Why did they get rid of the acting clips. They're rewarding a performance, why not see a piece of that performance. Why not see those actors in character, doing what they're being nominated for, especially with films that only got an acting nomination, we saw no clips of them, like the films didn't exist. It may have been an idea to make the nominees feel like winners, but it was too long, and way too cheesy. I really hope this doesn't happen again (though apparently it will, since people responded to it). One thing I really liked was the theme of the ceremony, presenting the awards in the order that the crafts happen. Start with the screenplay, then build the sets, then shoot it, then add effects, sound and edit, and finally add the music, with the acting and other categories scattered throughout.
Hugh Jackman was an amazing host. Energetic, charismatic, great singing voice, great comic timing, not trying too hard to be funny. He was just being himself. And, the musical numbers were actually quite entertaining. I loved his opening musical number, particularly his dance with Anne Hathaway, and the clips of the year in comedy, animated, action, well, I'm not really a fan of montages during the Oscars, but apparently, they will continue to happen.
Anyway, 2008, was a pretty weak year for films, but there was still plenty to celebrate. I'm kind of glad it's over though, because I really want the Slumdog Millionaire backlash to start dying down (and I want to see how it ages as the years go) and I want to see what 2009 has to offer. Judging by the montage at the end of the show, it looks like we have some pretty good films coming up this year, some people will have great years.
Until next year.

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Some of my favorite movies that have been released since the beginning of the new century have been distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Most of these films have been independent films, though some of them have been British films (including The Full Monty and last year's Slumdog Millionaire, both curiously written by Simon Beaufoy). Though it mainly distributes independent and British films, it is involved in production of some of their films. In the last three years, Fox Searchlight has made a strong showing at the Academy Awards with a film that was called "the little film that could" back in 2006 and 2007, and this Sunday, it is predicted (or some would say "it is written") that their nominee will be the winner.
Fox Searchlight is a film division of Twentieth Century Fox, which was established in 1994 to finanace these smaller films. Twentieth Century Fox is one of the six Worldwide major American Film Studios, which include Warner and Universal. Twentieth Century Fox was founded in 1935 with the merging of Fox Film Corporation (founded by William Fox in 1915) and Twentieth Century Pictures, which was founded in 1933 by Darryl F. Zanuck, Joseph Schenck, Raymond Griffith and William Goetz. It's currently owned by News Corporation, which is owned by Austrailian, right-wing magnate Rupert Murdoch. Fox has always been accused of being biased towards the right, in their news reports, in their programing. These right-wing tendencies doesn't affect Fox Searchlight's selection of films.

As we're approaching the Academy Awards this Sunday, I'd like to talk about Fox Searchlight's track record. they have had four films nominated in the last five years. The first one was the 2004 critical darling Sideway, directed by Alexander Payne, starring Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh. Sideways is based on a novel of the same name by Rex Pickett about a Middle School teacher/ aspiring writer named Miles Raymond (Giamatti), who takes his best friend Jack (Church) on a wine-tasting trip around California on the week before his wedding, where he discovers in a beautiful waitress named Maya (Madsen) a chance to redeem his life after his failed marriage and his failure to get a novel published. Sideways was a film that took the critics by storm, nearly cleaning out every major critics award that season, including LA and NY, and it wound up with five nominations including Best Picture, only winning an Oscar for Adapted Screenplay (by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor), losing out to Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby from Warner (I was personally more moved by Million Dollar Baby, but I found Sideways to be an impressive films upon multiple viewings. I don't find it that funny, but I find it very moving and I find the characters, while extremely flawed, very relatable). Sideways did sweep the Independent Spirit Awards with six awards including Best Feature, and awards for Giamatti, Church, Madsen and for Alexander Payne as a writer and Director.

Two years later the awards season recieved a small surprise in the little indie comedy that became a critical and audience darling, with its stunning cast, and it's colorful shade of yellow. This film is Little Miss Sunshine, from an original screenplay by Michael Arndt, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valeria Faris, and starring Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carrell, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin and Alan Arkin. I saw this film in the summer, way before it was getting any awards buzz, and remember loving it so much that it became my favorite movie that year, and to this day, I could see it 50 times, knowing every line, and not get tired of it. It's the story of a dysfunctional family that consists of a failed motivational speaker (Kinnear), his supportive wife (Collette), her suicidal brother (Carrell), his foul-mouthed, heroin-addicted father (Arkin), her mute-by-choice, Nietszche loving teenage son (Dano) and their wide-eyed, plucky daughter Olive (Breslin) who dreams of being a beauty queen. When she's invited to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, the family hops on their busted yellow VW bus and head to California. The film got a lot of critical praise, made over $100 million worlwide, and took a spot in the Oscar's Best Picture lineup (including three other nominations) with a campaign that included driving a yellow VW bus around LA and providing cupcakes. However, it lost Best Picture to Martin Scorsese's The Departed. It did win OScars for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (for Alan Arkin), and it won four awards at the Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Picture.

The following year, released what turned into its most commercially successful film to date, and also nabbed a spot in the Best Picture line-up. That film was Juno, from an original screenplay by Diablo Cody, directed by Jason Reitman, and starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Olivia Thirlby, J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney. It's the story of Juno McGuff (Page) a 16-year-old girl who gets pregnant from a one-night stand with her best frend Paulie Bleaker (Cera) and finding herself unable to have an abortion, she decides to give the baby up for adoption. She finds the perfect couple in Mark and Vanessa Loring (Bateman and Garner), but things get complicated as she gets to know the couple more, and she is forced to face her true feelings for Paulie. The film became a cultural icon that brought upon a new way for people to talk, and it ended up maing over $143 million domestically and over $228 million worldwide. Diablo Cody and Ellen Page got the most praise for the screenplay and her performance. It wound up with four Oscar nominations including Best Picture, and won the OScar for Best Original Screenplay (Diablo Cody). It lost Best Picture to the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men, but it also won Best Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards, as well as an award for Ellen Page and one for Diablo Cody.

This year, the little film from Fox Searchlight that has taken the season by storm is Slumdog Millionaire, based on the novel Q & A by Vikas Swarup, directed by Danny Boyle, and starring Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor and Irfhan Khan. It's the story of Jamal Malik (Patel) a slumdog from Mumbai who is one question away from the grand prize in "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?". This leads to an investigation on how this slumdog cheated on the show, but Jamal reveals how he knew every answer on the show by linking it to a different even in his life. Up to now, the film has won almost every precursor award that has mattered, including the Golden Globe, the Critics Choice award, the NBR, and with 10 nominations including Best Picture, it seems to be poised to win the Oscar, which would make the first Fox Searchlight film to win this award. To think this films almost wasn't released in theaters. IT was abandoned by Warner Independent, and was about to go direct-to-video, until Fox Searchlight picked it up. Now it's become a phenomenon.
One thing you'll notice about these films is that Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine and Juno won OScars for their screenplays. That's one of the reasons I love films from Fox Searchlight, they are first and foremost, great stories. Stories that might be very funny, or very moving, or very affecting, but the studio looks for good stories to distribute. They're also the studio behind the distribution of In America, Thank You for Smoking, Waitress, Once, The Darjeeling Limited and The Wrestler just to name a few that I've loved. They also distributed Danny Boyle's Millions, Sunshine and 28 Days Later. It's a studio that is always on the lookout for something original and breathtaking, and actively campaigns to have it notices by the Academy and other voting bodies.

Coraline

This last weekend I saw Coraline, the new stop-motion horror/fantasy film by Henry Selick, the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. Coraline Jones is the daughter of two workaholic parents who just moved into a house out in the middle of some untended woods. Coraline is unhappy with her family. Her parents don't pay her any attention and she misses her friends from home. She wishes she could lead a different life. Her wish comes true when she finds a small door that leads to a world that looks similar to the world she lives in, only everything she ever dreamed about is true. Her parents are more lively and more attentive to her, and they give her everything she wishes. There's a giant garden outside, and her neighbors own a theater and a circus that put on shows that are a wonder to behold. The only thing she finds odd is that everybody on this world has buttons for eyes. She soon realizes that everything she ever imagined is just a trap to lead her away from what is important.
Coraline is the first feature film from Laika, a studio owned by Nike co-founder Phil Knight, and specializes in commercials, short films, music videos and now feature films. It used to be called Vinton Studios back in the 90's. It's comprised of 30 animators and their characters include M&M's, Frosted Mini-Wheats, and Hostess Penguin. Henry Selick previously worked on their short film Moongirl. Coraline was distributed by Focus Features, which is the art house film division of NBC Universal's Universal Pictures, which is owned by General Electrics. It has distributed films such as Brokeback Mountain, Lost in Translation, Milk, Gosford Park and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, as well as several foreign films in the United States.
The film is based on a novel by Neil Gaiman, author of novels such as Stardust, The Sandman and The Graveyard Books. He paints an unpleasant world with characters that are not necessarily pleasant. Coraline is a brat, which is apparent from the moment she speaks. I found her initial scenes in the real world and with her parents to be extremely unpleasant, and I was ready to give up on this movie, but I knew that there was fantasy coming, so I decided to wait and see what that had to offer, and as soon as Coraline walks into this "Other World" where this film comes to life. There's so much imagination, so much playfulness and so much at stake in this world, that it simply sucks you into the adventure and you start caring about Coraline, because no matter what kind of brat she might be, no girl deserves to go through what she's forced to go through.
The film has a really hard time finding its focus when it stays grounded per se, which includes the writing in alot of the aftermath (not to spoil what actually happens and the trap that is set in the film), but all I have to say is that this film is most at home when it's relying on visual spectacle rather than story, and there are those moments where it can handle both quite well, but without the visual spectacle and the imagination is when this film feels a little weak. It's a very worthy film for me to open the year 2009 (I skipped everything that came before in order to catch up on some 2008 films), with some flaws, but when it marvels, it marvels.

Top Ten of 2008

Before I dive into my ten favorite films of the year 2008, I want to explore a few films that I thought were quite ambitious and therefore are worth a look, but some flaws kept me from considering them in my top ten.


Synecdoche, New York: Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut is clearly an ambitious project, and it's hard not to admire it. I looked forward to this film for a really long time, ecause I'm a big fan of Charlie Kaufman's earlier work. Being John Malkovich and Adaptation are brilliant films, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my all-time favorites, and while this film has most of the thematic quirks I've come to love from Kaufman, I realized that he needs someone like Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry to reel him in. This film is very slow, and overreaching, even though it' saved by a strong cast (led by the always amzing Philip Seymour Hoffman, and a sandout performance by Samantha Morton). For a first film, it's a valiant effort, and it leaes many questions to ponder, which is why I still recommend the movie.


The Fall: I just recently saw this beautifully shot and constructed film about a little Romanian girl in a hospital with a broken arm who listens to a suicidal stunt actor tell a story of five warriors seeking revenge. The imagination that goes into this film is breathtaking, and I love the colors and the sights, but I did feel some of the fantasy scenes were rather lifeless, especially compared to the scenes between our protagonists Roy and Alexandria (beautifully played by Lee Pace (from Pushing Daisies) and newcomer Catinca Untaru). The relationship between these two characters is what kept me into this film and the reason why I include it in here.


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: 13 OScar nominations are nothing to sneeze at, and I can see where this film got them. It's beautiful to look at and the score is a pleasure to the ears, so all technical nominations are richly deserved, but I felt that beyond that, the story had a lot of problems. It's large in scope, but it feels cold and empty at points. In fact, while I was watching it, I couldn't help thinking about Forrest Gump and how many of the same plot elements were much more enjoyable in that film. But I still think it's a film wort watching, particularly because of its amazing third act when the film comes into its own themes. I also feel the scenes in the middle of Act II with Tilda Swinton are a delight.

Now, on to the Top Ten:


#10. Frost/Nixon: Peter Morgan is a master at dramatizing real life. He did it two years ago with The Queen and what came out of that was one of the most enjoyable films about a real person I've ever seen. Peter Morgan doesn't write biopics, he writes portraits of real people by using important events, and what he does is he takes everything he knows about the people involved in the story he's telling and then uses his imagination to fill in the blank. I'm sure many writers do this, but in his case, the results have been entertaining as well as informative, and Frost/Nixon is not an exception. In this film, the tension is always up and in every interview, you watch how the power shifts between the interviewer and the interviewee. Frank Langella and Michael Sheen have both mastered these roles for years, and I can't think of better actors to interpret these roles (Michael Sheen looks a lot like David Frost). Ron Howard may not be the bravest director out there, but he knows how to tell a story and he knows how to make us care for characters, even if one of them is Richard Nixon.


#9. Revolutionary Road: I don't how many people out there still love Titanic, but I'm one of them, which is why I was excited to watch Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet together again, especially after the years these two have had after Titanic and the performances they've given (and, as a friend pointed out, they were awesome even before Titanic). This is a tougher film to watch though. It's about marriage and shattered dreams. It asks the question, how much of ourselves do we have to sacrifice for our marriage, and are we capable of sacrificing it? The film leads to devastating results, and it shows Leo & Kate, both at the top of their game, with Michael Shannon stealing a couple of scenes away from them. It's a shame this film was mostly overlooked by the Academy, because I was more impressed with Kate here than in the snoozefest that is The Reader, and I do believe the film leaves a lasting impression.


#8. Let the Right One In: While everyone was obsessing over Twilight (I had enough of that reading the book), this superior Swedish vampire love story was floating under the radar, and it sure was a treat. It's about Oskar, a bullied 12-year-old boy who finds a friend in the new girl next-door who only comes out at night, barefoot in the snow, and her arrival seems to have come with some suspicious Deaths. Oskar soon suspects that Eli, the new girl, is a vampire, but he doesn't care because he's already in love with her. I loved the film because of how it handles themes of puberty and loneliness and isolation, without having to resort to a cheesy love story. The attraction between Oskar and Eli feels natural and innocent. Eli is played in an impressive debut performance by Lina Leandersson, who has a very unique look for a vampire that makes her look vulnerable and dangerous at the same time. There are some scenes of gore and violence, but not enough to overshadow the central relationship.


#7. The Wrestler: I didn't follow Mickey Rourke's downfall, so I'm not familiar with his history leading up to this film. All I know is that the performance I saw come out of him in this film is one for the ages. Randy "the Ram" is a man who is only comfortable in one place, and that place is the ring. Inside of that ring, he is the king, but outside of it, he's a bum. No doubt borrowing from his own experiences, Rourke displays every bruise, every scar, he lets the character be raw and vulnerable without any big theatrics or gimmicks. All he knows is that his home is in the ring, and when he's told he can't go back to that ring and tries to compensate his life by building a relationship with a stripper who understand him better than anyone (the amazing Marisa Tomei, sexy as hell in her 40's), trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter who doesn't want to acknowledge his existence (Evan Rachel Wood, also outstanding in her few scenes), and working behind the counter at a deli, he realizes the ring might be all he has. It's a hard film to watch, and there are scenes that made me close my eyes, but I couldn't look away.


#6. In Bruges: I remember seeing the trailer for the film and thinking it was just another gangster film trying to be clever, but then a friend recommended it to me, and because there was nothing else to see at the time (it was somewhere in early March I believe), I decided to give it a try, and I was pleasantly surprised. The star of the film is the screenplay, which finds the right balance between offensive and dark humor, irony, action and poignant moments. I felt deeply for the characters in this film. Colin Farrell (who won a deserving Golden Globe for this) plays Ray, a rookie hit man who screwed up on his first job and is sent to hide out in Bruges with Ken (Brendan Gleeson, also outstanding) and sightsee while they await instructions, and as circumstances change, these two men will have to face their demons and make difficult choices, while looking at paintings, climbing up towers and meeting midgets. It is no surprise to me that writer/director Martin McDonagh is a playwright, since characters like these feel like they should be in the theater.


#5. Slumdog Millionaire: I'll admit, there are a couple of plot points in this film that bother me and some of the contrivances stand out the more I think about them, but then I remember how the film made me feel when I left the theater. I applauded when the film was over. I found myself rooting for Jamal to win and for him to find Latika. What grabbed me about this film at first was the message that we can learn just by being alive. Formal education is not the only kind of education. Living gives us the tools to learn and we learn from every experience we live, which is why I loved the structure of Jamal telling the detective how he knew the answer to every question he was asked, linking it to a different part of his life, and all he did was live that moment. The fate angle that was later introduced was where the film almost lost me, but if it weren't for the charismatic characters (I thought Jamal's brother Salim was a particularly interesting character, always conflicted between his will to survive and his loyalty to Jamal), and the colorful, fast-paced direction by Danny Boyle (who is really the star of this film) is what kept me in this film. The best way to describe it is that it's a classic Frank Capra film with the Danny Boyle touch.


#4. Rachel Getting Married: This was a great year for female performances, and Anne Hathaway gave one of my two favorite female performances this year. She plays a drug addict who is yet to be forgiven for many of her sins and mishaps by the members of her family, including herself. Kym is the black sheep of the family. A girl with a reputation for being dangerous, for making everything around her about her problems, but she's really just looking for a love that she lost a long time ago, but Hathaway doesn't give the only impressive performance in this film. Rosemarie Dewitt plays the title character, whose wedding is this weekend and she has to deal with her sister coming home, as well as her absent mother, and her vulnerable father (supported by a new wife). Some of the filmmaking aspects of the film, such as the hand-held camera and the long moments away from our characters (i.e. hearing all the toasts and being in the middle of the wedding dancing) bothered me at first, but looking back at it, it's all part of what makes this film brilliant, and they are all attributed to director Jonathan Demme, with the characters provided to Jenny Lumet (daughter of director Sidney).


#3. Happy-Go-Lucky: This is my other favorite female performance this year, and looking back, I think I'm a better fan of this one. Sally Hawkins is Poppy, a woman who looks at the bright side of life no matter what. She takes everything in stride and believe in the good in people as well as making people happy, not because she's naive or stupid, but because she made a conscious choice to take life with a sense of humor and a level-headed joy that guides her through difficult situations, which include driving lessons with her pessimistic instructor Scott (a frighteningly accurate performance by Eddie Marsan). Some people find Poppy annoying, but one thing that always strikes me about people is that we've come to believe that bad things are the norm and good things are miracles, so we react negatively to a positive person like Poppy. But I wish I could be more like her. I wish things didn't stress me out and I wish I could take things with a smile or with a brush off. Poppy knows how to handle difficult situations. She's a teacher, and she knows how to deal with children who have been abused. Poppy is a woman who wants to spread happiness to everyone she meets, but as an audience member, I can see people are immune to it, and that is a shame.


#2. Milk: Biopics are a tricky formula. It's hard to make one that doesn't feel like you're just going through the motions and showing someone in the best light possible. Most biopics have an admiration for the subject they are presenting, but I think the thing that Milk has above all other biopics is a love for its subject. Director Gus Van Sant as well as Sean Penn who plays him, they both seem to love Harvey Milk and that love is contagious in this film. He's not a perfect man, but he's a man with a lot of love to give, and I felt welcomes into the world of Harvey Milk, and I think Sean Penn's warm performance had something to do with that. I've never seen him smile so much in a film, which is something that drew me in from the get-go. Also strong performances by Emile Hirsch, James Franco, Diego Luna, Allison Pill, and particularly Josh Brolin who plays fellow city supervisor Dan White, a man slowly eaten away by inner demons. He's the guy we're supposed t hate, but it's hard not to feel some pity for Dan White. It also feels very much like a film of our time. Harvey Milk is like Barack Obama, a man who inspires hope. "You got to give them hope". That seems to be the motto of the times to come. "You got to give them hope."


#1. WALL-E: Yes, for my number 1 film, I went with the cute little robot. Seriously though, I've always admired Pixar, and have loved everything they've done to this day, but I feel with WALL-E they outdid themselves (even with masterpieces like Toy Story, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo and Ratatouille). WALL-E is a film that doesn't just tell a great story and is beautiful to look at, but it's a film you can marvel at. I love that the first act of the film is mostly dialogue-free, which reminded me of Chaplin and his many attempts to get the girl, and the message of the film, while not told in the subtlest way possible (it is rated G after all), it's handled with so much class and it is integrated into the story seamlessly. I also think it's a film we can all reflect on, and think that what we're looking at in this film could be our future. It seems plausible that one day our Earth won't be livable and that we'll all end up living on chairs like obese babies, sucking on liquid food and pushing buttons, not because we're bad people, but because it's all we know. But, above everything, this is one of the most moving love stories I've seen in a long time, and I believe it will be as timeless as most (if not all) of Pixar's previous and future efforts.

Well, that's my impression of 2008. I still thought it was a weak year, especially compared to 2007 which was an amazing year, but there was still plenty to watch and plenty I'll be wanting to watch again.