Top Ten Movies of 2009

This is my sixth annual Top Ten list. As before, this list only accounts for movies that were officially released in 2009, and I saw 55 new releases in all this year. I only considered the movies that I actually saw but there are still 61 movies on my future wish list...

[10] Where the Wild Things Are (Link)
This movie made my list because of everything that it didn't do. It didn't use the usual 3-act movie arc; it didn't explain who the characters were; it didn't have a tidy ending; it didn't let you off easy in any way. The director obviously had a very specific idea in mind for this movie, and much of the credit must go to him. I just read the original children's book a few weeks before seeing this and it's quite brief but I think that the soul of the book was left intact. This movie makes you feel the emotions of growing up and the hurts of a modern family, but it does this in entirely unexpected ways. And if you can have some extra Fraggle-like monsters running around, then all the better!

[9] The Blind Side (Link)
This is the standard based-on-a-true-sports-story movie but it has the advantage of being based on a current NFL player. Rather than glory in past achievements, we can flick on the next Baltimore Ravens game (Jan. 10!) and see him in action, and visit a sports website to see his profile. That aside, the movie's quite enjoyable. The central characters are played by Sandra Bullock and Quiton Aaron and they nailed those roles. The downside is that it's tough to know which scenes were Hollywoodized for the sake of drama but I assume that osme of the gang-related scenes weren't exactly like that in real life. Also, the husband's role is strictly yes-man to Bullock's dominating wife, which got annoying after a while and apparently isn't very accurate. Minor critiques aside, it was a good sports flick that worked really well as a date movie.

[8] Surrogates (Link)
I can't help it: My list is heavy with sci-fi flicks. I love reading sci-fi novels and short stories and, if anything, I love watching sci-fi flicks even more. While this movie was sure to include the standard action scenes and finale, it was the technology and social commentary that made this better than the average movie. They didn't just set up the basics of people using remote-controlled robotic avatars. They gave a completely believable "this could really happen" intro for the movie and then played with numerous examples of the effect this would have on people's lives. By comparison, the movie Gamer also had some similar sci-fi concepts but did very little with those ideas. This is a definite Bruce Willis type of movie and it didn't get much box office but if you haven't seen it then by all means, check this out sometime.

[7] Watchmen (Link)
As a serious comics geek, I was paying attention to all of the early hype for this movie. I've owned the original graphics novel since forever and it certainly was a genre-changing book back in the 80's. The movie, however, hardly has that impact. It's a great comic movie but nowhere near the level of The Dark Knight or Spider-Man. I marveled at how accurately the movie portrayed exact scenes from the comic book and I thought the twist ending was an actual improvement over the original plot. Even so, the dramatic heart was kind of missing. The actions scenes were brutal but it was the other scenes that seemed to be missing je-ne-sais-quois. The best part of this experience was external to the movie, actually. My wife decided to read the entire graphic novel, every single word of it, beforehand. I skipped a lot of the boring stuff between chapters but she was able to understand both the book and the movie on a deeper level that I did and I admired her muchly for that. Now, I'm just waiting to see the final super-extended Director's Cut version that incorporates the animated movie between movie chapters. Geeks of the world unite!

[6] The Hurt Locker (Link)
This is the thinking man's action movie. Much credit to the director, Kathryn Bigelow, for putting together this indie flick. Even though this is was critically acclaimed it was woefully underappreciated while in theatres. It's about a bomb-squad guy with serious skills, and it explores his crazy attitude and why he does what he does. Set in middle of the ongoing Iraqi war and it plays real and gritty. To quote the best line in the movie, "The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug."

[5] Sherlock Holmes (Link)
I have always been a fan of the original Sherlock Holmes stories but I haven't seen many movies based on these flicks - possible because there were no recent ones. I'm aware that there were critics originally dismissing this because it was too much of an action flick and it disregarded the original stories, and the fact that the movie makers claimed that this was even more accurate than previous movies. I will agree with both sides of that argument, actually. This movie is more accurate than previous incarnations but it still takes certain liberties. Holmes was a kick-ass strong guy when he had to be and he did have difficulty keeping his intricate mind busy when he didn't have a case, and his sidekick was more than just a portly author. Even so, the books depict him as more controlled than the movie version. Despite the fact that I'm such a fan of the source material, and I give kudos to the director Guy Ritchie for modernizing thigns in just the right ways, I can't move this up any more. It's a good movie that I thoroughly enjoyed and I hope/assume there are sequels to come but I would have enjoyed this movie just as much at home as I did in the theatre. The reason I recommend this so highly is the way the central characters were written, and how they were portrayed by both Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. And it wasn't an "origins" story, either, so it gets bonus points for that.

[4] The Hangover (Link)
This was easily the most hilarious movie of the year for me. I wasn't sure what to expect but it just kept piling on the crazy until you couldn't help but laugh. I'm a fan of Bradley Cooper because of his role in the Alias TV show and the cast was a great band of misfit misfits.

[3] District 9 (Link)
Lo and behold, my Top 3 movies are sci-fi. I loved this little-movie-that-could. On a low budget but with the reputation of Peter Jackson behind it as producer, this was a completely unexpected surprise. The alien effects were superb and the action was bug-nuts but it was the intentional parallel to South African apartheid that really made me appreciate this movie. On the flip side, my wife thought this was a terrible movie. ;)

[2] Star Trek (Link)
This movie is emminently re-watchable. And I say that because I have watched it quite a number of times in the past year. The cleverness of the time travel = parallel universe plot allows this to pay homage to the original TV show and movies while moving in a new direction. The cast was perfectly chosen, the effects were great and it had sooo many memorable scenes. Kirk as a boy, Spock as a boy, Kirk in the bar, the introduction of Bones, Spock and Scotty, Spock enraged... I could go on and on. Kudos to the brain of J.J. Abrams for pulling this quasi-reboot out of his hat.

[1] Avatar (Link)
This film absolutely must be seen in the theatre in 3D. This is the kind of film experience that has to be big and bold. Do not wait for this to show up on DVD or Blue-Ray because it won't do the film justice. James Cameron creates a new world out of nothing, with its own rules and unique beauty, and we can't help but become completely immersed in this creation. It is a straight-ahead sci-fi movie with with a romance at the heart of it. Even if you don't want to buy into the omni-present CGI and the funky aliens, you can't help but be drawn into the story and the planet. Box office records aside, this is the one movie that everyone needs to go out and see in the theatres.

Honourable Mentions:
Up (It has those magic Pixar qualities and it made me cry.)
Zombieland (Three words: Bill Murray cameo.)
Moon (A one-man drama in which Sam Rockwell slowly goes crazy - or does he?)
Taken (Actually released in Europe in 2008, it's way better than expected.)
The Brothers Bloom (I'm always a sucker for a good con-artist movie.)

Top Movies on Wish List:
Monsters Vs. Aliens (Top 10 box office, somehow I missed it.)
Up in the Air, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Fantastic Mr. Fox (All George Clooney movies, all well reviewed.)
Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino and alternate-history WWII are enough for me.)
Cold Souls (Little known, weird & funny sci-fi with Giammatti chewing up scenery.)

My Previous Top 10 Lists:
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008

References:
Film Release Dates for 2009
Top Grossing Movies of 2009

Links & Blinks

Aaaaaand...I'm back! I'm back due to popular demand. And by that I mean, my wife is beautiful and incredible and she likes reading my work, so here I am. Let's see what we have for today, shall we?

Abe has three new tattoos: Faith, Hope & Love. Here are the pics.

Know what my favourite daily blog is? Doug Smith's Toronto Raptors blog. This guy's been with the team since it's inception and he's with the players and coaches constantly. He has great insight and a huge and very loyal following. In fact, he just hit ten million page views last week and that's quite the impressive milestone.

Did God really say...? My dad ponders the original meaning of words like tithe, talents, Sabbath and church. How do we use (or misuse) these words today?

When is an war veteran like a former pastor? When they both suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Read this blog by a long-time pastor as he talks about protecting a wife from her abusive husband - and how doing the right thing just blew up in his face. It's a first-hand account from inside the walls of church, showing the often harsh reality behind the pleasant Sunday morning smiles.

Trente-et-Un: Looking Forward

I hit 31 years of age this past weekend, so now it's time to look forward...

I only have a few goals for this upcoming year. The big-ticket item is that Cam and I are planning to buy a house within driving distance of my workplace in Mississauga. We are considering living as far away as Burlington or Milton, which would involve a minimum 45 minutes of driving to and from work each weekday. Closer would be better, of course, but prices and property taxes in this area are much higher than they would be in London, ON. We would be ready to buy a home now if we were still living in London but we'll need a few more months of saving for the downpayment here. We're strongly considering building a new home, actually, since it may be cheaper to do that in the end.

Ideally, we'll get something in a nice neighbourhood with a fabulous kitchen, ensuite bathroom and a private yard. A big kitchen is key since we are currently in a nice-yet-small basement apartment and the kitchen is sooo tiny. We need a house that will be big enough for raising kids in the future but not so large that it's a pain to manage and finance. Y'know, the average starter-family home. As long as it's not a fix-er-upper 'cause I'm not the handy-man type. ;)

That's our main goal for the upcoming year. Other than that, we have a two-week road trip planned for the East Coast of Canada this summer and then in a few years we want to take a major trip through Vietnam-NewZealand-Australia. Cam and I are practicing our French for our travels through Quebec this summer and then I'll have to figure out how this Vietnamese language works.

Much of my life before marriage was focused on church and worship/music ministry. When Cam and I were preparing for our wedding and our marriage, I consciously decided to step back from all of that. Cam and I do attend a church nearby on Oakville intermittantly (The Meeting Place) and that's fine. No pressure, no schedules, no time away from my wife. That being said, I do get a strong urge to pick up a dijembe or grab a conga and do some percussion once in a while. I also miss singing, playing piano and writing music. I think that I might be happy to wait until we have our new house and I can move my old piano from my parents' place. Simply worshipping with God privately sounds really good to me right now...

As for my career, things are going extremely well. With more than a year under my belt now, I've gained my footing at OSL Marketing and I'm starting to pursue my personal career goals. It remains the best job that I have ever had (and I've had some good ones) and my managers give me plenty of room to learn and try new things. I'm completely comfortable with VB.NET website development and I'm beginning to help out in other areas of our projects. I used to be a director at another software company, overseeing a team of programmers and software testers, and we'll see if I can get the chance to something similar on specific projects this year. Seeing my work advertised in stores and printed on food packages is still quite thrilling!

The rest of life will be spent with numerous visits with family and our close friends. There's a couple of weddings on the horizon and a camping trip or two. Throw that all together with my hobbies of comics and movies and it'll be good times. And as I've said before: The fact that get to share all of these experiences with my beautiful and amazing wife makes everything better!

Top Ten Movies Of 2008

This is my fifth annual Top Ten list. This list only accounts for movies that were officially released in 2008, and I saw 56 new releases in all this year. I only considered the movies that I actually saw but there are still 46 movies on my future wish list...

[10] What Happens In Vegas (Link)
I am shocked - shocked! - that a chick flick made my Top Ten list. The premise is entirely cliche: A drunken night in Vegas leads two people to get married, they win a $3 Million jackpot and a judge forces them to remain married for six months before they're allowed to divorce and claim the money. Yeah, it's an awful cliche but it made me laugh the first time I saw it. That's all I ask from a girly movie so I was adequately satisfied. Then I had to watch it for a second time over the Christmas holidays and I was surprised that it made me laugh just as much the second time 'round. The continual conflict and the precarious balance between the characters of Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher hit my funny bone just right, and the fact that the two supporting "best friend" characters also hated each other was a nice sidebar. I hate that this movie forced it's way in here, and I accept all mockery accordingly...

[9] Vantage Point (Link)
I respect this movie so it makes this list even though I enjoyed the others more. The central conceit is that the President of the United States is shot in a crowded square. The film then follows five or six main people as their simultaneous stories play out. It's one story told from each of their points of view and everything crashes together at the end. After seeing the same scene play out for the fourth or fifth time, you would expect the suspense to lessen but somehow it keeps things moving quite nicely for most of the movie.

[8] The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Link)
Yes, it's a splendid movie. Written by the same author as Forrest Gump, it's follows an epic lifetime as a baby is born with the same infirmities that an eighty year old man would have, and then the boy's body grows younger as the boy grows older. The CGI was frickin' awesome since Brad Pitt played the same character at most stages of life. My main problem is that I didn't identify or engage with the main character. Despite the fact that I whine about getting older, old age is still foreign territory for me so this didn't grab me emotionally. Besides that, everything else pays off nicely.

[7] Kung-Fu Panda (Link)
This is the 6th highest grossing of the year, second for animated flicks behind Wall·E. Jack Black is perfect in the role of a fat panda with dreams of kung-fu glory. Lotsa funniness but the main characters are fully realized and the enemy tiger is cool. I always enjoy animated movies and I came away with plenty of smiles.

[6] Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Link)
I enjoyed the first Hellboy movie and I've read some of the original comics, and this movie kicked the first movie's ass. On the DVD, there is a documentary that details all of the incredible work in the now-legendary "Troll Market" movie set. (The forced-perspective alley was an especially great trick.) Throw in the mechano-men, a war between the fairy-tale world and the world of men, some touching/funny relationship stuff and it equals a great summer blockbuster.

[5] Frost/Nixon (Link)
This is a late addition to my list since I just saw it this week. I know only the general details about Nixon's political career and Watergate so it was educational and very interesting. The film revolves around Frost, an entertainment host in the vein of Ryan Seacrest, as he attempts the greatest challenge of his career by self-funding an television interview with Nixon after Nixon resigned as president. The intellectual dual between Frost and Nixon is fantastic and the climax is spell-binding. There are various name actors playing real-life people, which was distracting at first but worked well later on. In particular, I enjoyed the performances of Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt and Frank Langella as Nixon, and I walked around mimicing Nixon's voice all evening. This might seem like a boring talking-heads kinda flick but it was right up my alley.

[4] Iron Man (Link)
Another awesome comic movie, though the climactic fight left a little to be desired. I was tracking this one from it's inception, and I strongly admire the clear vision that director Jon Favreau had for everything. Robert Downey Jr. was ideal as Tony Stark and the notion of a sequel and an Avengers team movie is geek-heaven. It pulled off the requisite origin story and added the same learning-the-ropes physical humour that Spider-Man had. Still, all of the credit for this movie goes to those two men that I mentioned.

[3] Wall·E (Link)
Brilliant. It had humour that worked for both kids and adults, and it had the best love story on this list. The unique sound effects had much well-justified praise, and I only mention that since the sounds were such an integral part to both the characters and the plot. Sure, it was pretty preachy and showing real-life actors in some scenes really rubbed me the wrong way, but the beauty and intelligence far outweighed these minor flaws.

[2] Tropic Thunder (Link)
By far, by far, the best comedy of the year. All of the actors were at their peak and the humour was as bold as it gets. The way it traded between satire and broad laughs was inspiring and it kept me on my toes the whole time. "I'm a dude playin' a dude disguised as another dude."

[1] The Dark Knight (Link)
And here it is, my Number One of the Year. No surprise, and I'll leave the superlatives alone for this one. My fear of the "too many villains" syndrome was thankfully alleviated. Heath Ledger's choices in how he played the Joker really worked, even though I'm not a huge fan of Christian Bale's growling Batman. I saw this in IMAX format and the sense of vertigo made it a rather immersive experience. The. Best.


Honourable Mentions:
Traitor (Should have made my Top Ten but I forgot about it 'til the end.)
Rambo (Bloody old-school action flick.)
Quantum of Solace (The previous one was better.)
Leatherheads (Too clever for it's own good.)
Gran Torino (So much racism it was unintentionally/intentionally funny.)
War, Inc. (B-level pseudo-sequel to the excellent Grosse Point Blank.)

Movies I Missed The Could Have Made This List:
The Wrestler (Mickey Rourke's comeback miracle.)
JCVD (Jean Claude Van Damme acts as a version of himself caught in a robbery.)
Che (Lots of award talk...)

Most Frustrating Movie:
Seven Pounds with Will Smith. It was a mystifying premise while Will's character ran around doing weird things for no apparent reason. My wife Cam figured it out early on but the full explanation didn't kick in until the very end. Soooo annoying.

Worst Movie Of The Year:
Max Payne with Mark Whalberg. I don't know what Whalberg's problem is but it was like he smoked some pot and then did a rip-off impersonation of his previous roles. Weird plot, terrible casting, freaky demon-things for no reason at all, predictable plot twists, bad acting, etc. You get the picture.

My Previous Top 10 Lists:
2004, 2005, 2006 & 2007

References:
Film Release Dates for 2008
Top Grossing Movies of 2008

Couple of Snowflakes

Questions for Couples:

• Do you want or need time apart from each other?
• How much money/time is devoted to each of your hobbies?
• Is it important to share your spiritual beliefs?
• Who takes care of the cleaning, the cooking, the bills, the planning?
• How often to you see family and friends, and are you together or apart?
• How many kids will you have, and when? If you do, how will you raise them?
• How do you deal with conflict?
• What makes your partner feel good? How do you show your love to them?
• How has your relationship or how have your views changed over time?

It's fascinating to talk to friends and other couples about how they view romantic relationships and marriage. Whether or not they're single, every person has their own perspective on these things. And each couple seems to have a very unique set of "ground rules" that they live by, a common understanding about how to live together and how to relate to one another.

This personal perspective is developed by many things. It's based on our values, the things that we believe in and expect. It's based on our personality, the way that we communicate and listen, the things that make us feel good or bad. It's based on how we grew up, on our experiences, on our history. It's based on everyday things, like how much money we have or where we live. Everything that makes us so distinctly us drives how we see relationships.

That's where things get interesting. The lessons that we have learned and the rules that we live by may not work very well at all for someone else. The spoken and unspoken guidelines that we use (or will use) within our own romantic relationship may give us a lifetime of love but those same guidelines may cripple another couple.

And when we discuss these things with other people, we may be shocked to learn how they look at things. We may try to convince them that we have it figured out. We may analyze their relationship to spot potential dangers and explain their actions. We have gained some wisdom and we're confident that everyone would benefit from it.

Just look at the first question at the top. Some couples love being together constantly. At home, at work, at play, with friends...they're hardly ever apart. Some couples relish their time apart, showing that absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder. Some couples live with the fact that their careers keep them away from each other for extended periods of time, and some couples would prefer to change careers rather than be apart for weeks at a time. The thing is, a healthy relationship is possible in any of these scenarios.

As I continue to learn and grow as a married man, I'm always discovering things about myself and about my beautiful wife and about our relationship. I want to write and explain some of these things. Sometimes it's practical ("Take out the trash before it stinks") and sometimes it's more philosophial ("What about her love languages?") but the goal is to deepen a healthy and passionate love for one another.

And as I continue to write about what I/we have learned, it's tempting to turn these insights into dogma and present it as wisdom from on high. That's just not how life works. We're all unique, we're all a little normal and we're all a little odd. We're a couple of snowflakes - or just some flakes, if you will. Each relationship is an incredible combination of two individual souls and we need to appreciate that and learn from each other, applying whatever works without dismissing the rest...