Sunday, December 16, 2007

Last Minute Gift Idea + Best Movies of the Year

My favorite movie of the year comes out on DVD this Tuesday. In the true spirit of the holidays, I've informed my family that someone *must* get it for me for Christmas.

The movie? Once [amazon]. Anyone who's the tiniest bit romantic should love this movie along with anyone who likes music similar to Damien Rice. It's hard to explain beyond that. It's a romantic musical but it's not a typical romance nor a typical musical. It's just a great story about two people meeting and developing a relationship. (Sort of in the documentary-style spirit of my favorite movie, Before Sunrise, but less romantic.) Very simple and realistic yet amazingly beautiful, along with great musical performances. (Bonus movie gift recommendation: Collector's Editions of Blade Runner come out on Tuesday in DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-ray!)

This seems as good a place as any for a "Best of the year" list, so here's the cream of the crop for films this year. I chose to do a top 3 because no other films I've seen come very close to these picks.

1. Once
2. Away From Her
3. Enchanted

Once was a joy to watch and kept me thinking about it for weeks after seeing it. Away From Her, about a man dealing with the onset of Alzheimer's in his wife, is one of those difficult to watch movies that truly deserve to be watched. Lastly, we have Disney's Enchanted. This is a perfect "desert island movie" that you could watch over and over and never get bored. Amy Adams is funny and cute as the princess-to-be while James Marsden is surprisingly hilarious as the prince.

Two musicals on in my top 3 movies of the year? I'm surprised myself. I'm definitely not a fan of traditional musicals but these films show that the genre can be much more broad than we usually see. (By the way, my favorite pre-2007 musical is The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.)

Lastly, let me say that I have seen No Country for Old Men and it's not the best movie of the year despite what many others have said. It's interesting, for sure, but Stephen Hunter's review hits the nail on the head. It's an amazing display of skill but the joke's on us and it's not that funny.

2 comments:

SL said...

Obviously, I agree with you on Once. We saw it again last night at the St. Francis School (while drinking Irish coffees, a combination I highly recommend) and it was absolutely as enjoyable the second time through. I think it should be required viewing. I'm a little surprised about "Enchanted", but that just means I'll have to check it out, to make sure you aren't going bonkers.

Jason said...

Yeah, despite the great reviews, I wasn't expecting all that much from Enchanted. Kids movies usually do get great reviews even if they're just okay. Enchanted, however, deserves all the praise it has received. You should go see it on the big screen if you still can--with all of the fun songs, it's the type of movie that really benefits from the great sound system.

(However, I should say that the movie's definitely not without flaws. I loved it anyways.)