Top Ten List: Things to Be Thankful For...

Well, it's Thanksgiving. I'm done stuffing myself with food. I'm a little bored waiting for The Birds to come on AMC (that movie scares the hell out of me), so the list lover in me decided to make a Top Ten List. This time around, it's the things to be thankful for this year. It's been a pretty good year for movies, I think. Sure, there have been some disasters (I'm talking to you Captivity and Evan Almighty) but this post is meant to focus on the positive, not the negative. So, here's my list:

10. Low Budget Horror Movies - You can take your Saw IV and your Halloween remake and shove them somewhere. I'll take a couple more low key film releases this year. First, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon was a unique take on the tired horror genre. It was interesting, compelling, funny and just plain well done. Then there was David Arquette's funny, quirky The Tripper which wasn't so much a new look at a tired genre. But at least it felt more fresh than the exhausted Saw series.

09. The Return of Michelle Pfeiffer - Miss Michelle simply does NOT make enough movies. She's been absent from the screen for far too long. But this summer we were treated to not one, but two wonderful Michelle roles! First she was delightfully evil as a former beauty pageant winner in Hairspray. Next she was... delightfully evil as a former pretty witch in Stardust.

08. The Affleck Brothers - First, Casey Affleck was pretty much the best thing about Ocean's Thirteen (although, I guess, that's not saying much since that movie just plain was awful). Next, The Assassination of Jesse James came out in which he is rumored to be Oscar worthy. Then there was Gone Baby Gone. Directed by Ben Affleck, who is a better director than actor, Casey starred and gave a truly riveting, heartbreaking, ballsy performance.

07. Michael Cera - Little George Michael Bluth is all grown up and guess what? He's easily the funniest young man in show business. Not only did he have a hilarious internet who called Clark and Michael, but also he starred in the funniest movie of the year - Superbad. Plus, did I mention ever this little movie coming out next month called Juno?

06. The Cast of Hairspray - I already mentioned my love for Michelle. But let's not forget about one of the best ensemble casts in recent memories: Newcomer Nikki Blonsky might get a Golden Globe nomination, John Travolta dresses as a woman, Christopher Walken is just plain cool, James Marsden and Zac Efron steal hearts, Queen Latifah belts it out like few others can, Amanda Bynes is hilarious and adorable all at the same time, and then there's the unsung hero of the movie: Allison Janney. Homegirl has the least amount of screentime and yet steals the show. Whoever had the brilliant idea to put her in this movie deserves some sort of award.

05. Upcoming December Releases - While this year has been great, let's not forget that some of the possible best movies of the year still haven't come out yet. I probably won't get to see No Country For Old Men or I'm Not There until December. Other December releases include: Juno, Atonement, Grace is Gone, I Am Legend, Youth Without Youth, Sweeney Todd, Walk Hard, Charlie Wilson's War, There Will Be Blood, and Cassandra's Dream.

04. Ben Foster - No one else this year has portrayed crazy characters quite like Ben Foster. First, he played a Meth junkie who does karate and shits on floors in Alpha Dog. Next, he played a crazy bad ass cowboy in 3:10 to Yuma. Finally, he stole the show with his subtle yet over the top Stranger in 30 Days of Night. He's possibly the most exciting young actor working today.

03. Into the Wild - Easily my favorite film of the year so far; it's damn near perfect. Sean Penn directed a beautiful, epic, intimate, heartbreaking, inspiring piece of art. He compiled a damn near perfect cast (Emile Hirsch, Catherine Keener, William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Stewart, Hal Holbrook, Jena Malone). I just simply love this movie.

02. Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon in Bug - I know they probably won't get any love once the awards start pouring out... but they should. Judd and Shannon give two of the gutsiest, ballsiest, fiercest performances of the year. They don't do anything safe in this movie. They shed inhabitions and just simply go for it. They take huge chances. This movie surely isn't for everyone, but the people who like it, will really love it. And most of the reason for loving this movie lies in the performances from Judd and Shannon.

01. The Women of 2007 - Last year was pretty unexciting as far as female performances go. The same five women (Cruz, Dench, Mirren, Streep, Winslet) pretty much ruled the awards circuit with Mirren cleaning up. This year... might not be quite as much of a lock. There are a lot of women giving some truly great performances. If you really wanted to, you could have a Best Actress list full of performances that came out BEFORE summer: Christina Ricci in Black Snake Moan, Ashley Judd in Bug, Keri Russell in Waitress, Julie Christie in Away From Her, Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose (more on that movie coming soon). If the Academy was feeling cheeky, they could fill up the Best Supporting category with women just from Grindhouse. Then there's the performances that I haven't even seen yet: Cate Blanchett in I'm Not There, Ellen Page in Juno, Kiera Knightley and Romola Garai in Atonement, Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh in Margot at the Wedding, Laura Linney in The Savages, Amy Adams in Enchanted. I'm sure I'm missing quite a few. My point is this: it's been a great year for actresses!

Stardust, The Number 23

Stardust - This film isn't exactly an intellectual film. It doesn't exactly have the most substance. It's isn't exactly a great film. But, it is a whole lot of fun. It does everything a fairy tale should do. It has action, adventure, and love. So, Stardust is not spectacular but it is fun. At this point in this summer full of bad movies and even worse sequels, that is more than enough for me. The movie follows Tristan (Charlie Cox) who crosses the Wall into a magical world in order to find a fallen star and bring it back to the fickle woman he loves (Sienna Miller). Well, he does find the fallen star and it looks an awful lot like Claire Danes! If only the movie were so simple. It seems everyone wants the fallen star. Evil, evil witch Larnia (La Michelle Pfeiffer... who is always at her best when she's being bad) wants to find the star, cut out her heart and eat it so she can stay young forever. Meanwhile, two warring princes (Mark Strong and Jason Flemyng) are trying to find the prince because of a necklace she wears around her neck. Whoever can turn the diamond into a ruby gets to become king after their father (Peter O'Toole in a small but solid role) dies. There's a lot going on in this film and lots of wonderful actors like Robert DeNiro, Rupert Everet and Ricky Gervais pop up in small roles. The movie is funny and even though it's a bit on the long side, it's still captivating to watch. The plot is solid and fantastical with all the witches, unicorns and magical candles. The acting is a little hit or miss for me. Well, mostly hit. DeNiro absolutely steals the show. There is one particular scene that will forever change the way you look at DeNiro. Promise. Pfeiffer is fantastic, as always. This really is the summer of Pfeiffer. I love her when she's playing a nice person but I love her even more when she's playing a villain. She does it so very, very well. Cox is a charming, solid actor. The weakest link? Well, unfortunately for a film that relies so heavily on her, it's Claire Danes. There's this thing she does. I don't know how to explain it. It's almost like she uses her face too much to express emotion. Yet, at the same time, she's not really all that expressive. I can't explain it. It used to be an endearing thing when she was younger. It worked for her on My So-Called Life and in Romeo + Juliet and other films. But, she's not young anymore. She's growing up and she should becoming a better actress. Unfortunately, I think she hit her peak at 15 or 16. This thing she does it bothered me in Evening as well. But there she was part of an ensemble and it was more about other characters as much as it was about her. Here, in Stardust, the film relies so heavily on her character that you really can't ignore 'the thing.' The movie is flawed, it's not perfect. It's charming but it's disposable. Will I remember this movie in December? I'm not so sure. However, compared to other films that were released this summer, Stardust is one of the better films.

Grade: B

The Number 23 (DVD) - This is an okay concept mixed with a horrible script, distracting cinematography and mediocre performances. It's been a while since I've been so bored with a film. I had expectations with this film but nothing major. I wanted to see it in theaters but never got around to it. The plot makes little sense and leaves so much to be desired. I don't even want to bore you with plot. Long story short: Jim Carrey plays Walter Sparrow and his wife Agatha (Virginia Madsen) buys him a book for his birthday called The Number 23. In it, a man becomes obsessed with the number 23 and then so does Sparrow. He finds a lot of similarities with his own life. Can you see where the hell it's going? Because I could! From a mile and a half away! The premise is obvious and tedious and not convincing in the least. The story really fails to give a true fact or formula to this whole 23 nonsense. Most of it is such a huge, hugh, stretch (especially the whole 'pink' thing... something about red being a certian number and white being a certain number and when you add them up and divide by 4 (because there are four letters in pink, OF COURSE) then that's 23! Ridiculous. How about the dog. Ned. What? The name has 3 letters and he has 2 eyes so 23? Jesus Christ). 32 is the reverse of 23! What a laugh. I thought this was a drama. There's really nothing there to convince ME (and YOU) that this is genuine. There is never a moment where I (or YOU) thought, "Oh my! This is brilliant! Can this be? Yes, this is genius! The number 23 really is universal." Since it fails to do this, we really can't buy into Walter's obsession with the number 23. He comes off as a lame guy who is either insane or bored or both. As if this obsession isn't enough, he then becomes obsessed with finding the author of the book (who knows him so well *wink, nudge*) to find the answers he's searching for. Turns out the author is a killer and the killer might still be out there so Walter becomes obsessed with finding the killer before he kills more people. The movie lacks a focal point. It's about a book and a man and a man in a book. Suicide Blondes and saxophones and pink and sleazy psyhciatrists and cakes and dogs named Ned and detective magazines and women in red. Trying to be film noir, much? This movie is just plain bad. I'm not going to give this movie an F because Jim Carrey plays a disturbed man very well (somehow that doesn't surprise me). However, his character has no development. You don't care about him or get to know him or have any empathy for him. This review is sort of all over the place just like the movie. Whatever. Now I'm going to go sit down and write a film about the number 5 and how it cursed me in my life. Like... I spent 5 dollars to sit through this terrible movie that a 5 year old could have written in 5 minutes.

Grade: D-

Hairspray, Premonition (DVD)

Hairspray - Hairspray is the kind of movie that immediately puts a smile on your face. It's a charming, well done musical. Is it as glossy as last years big musical, Dreamgirls? No. Dreamgirls surely looked better but as far as story, characters, and substance, Hairspray is far superior. The story follows chubby teenager Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) in 1960's Baltimore. She and her best friend Penny Pingleton (an adorable Amanda Bynes) are obsessed with the dance program The Corny Collins Show hosted by James Marsden. Tracy also has a major crush on one of the stars of the show - Link Larkin (Zac Efron). Despite her mother's (John Travolta!) discouragement, Tracy auditions for the show and Corny picks her eventhough the station manager Velma (a delightful, evil, wonderful Michelle Pfeiffer) objects. Lots of singing and dancing ensues. Queen Latifah, Brittany Snow, Allison Janney, Elijah Kelley, and Christopher Walken round out the stellar cast. Also, look for cameos from some of the gang from the original Hairspray movie: Jerry Stiller, Ricki Lake and original director John Waters. Eventhough Hairspray may seem dated (takes place in the early 60's, remake of a movie from the late 80's), its very much like Grease in the sense that it's timeless. The songs are great (my personal favorite is 'Ladie's Choice' by Efron... and I can see why he elicits screams from young girls - he's dreamy!). The cast is nothing short of amazing. Pfeiffer, making a return to the screen after way too long, is easily the stand-out. She's just having so much fun being so, so very bad. Bynes would get my best runner up award as far as performances go. She's adorable and hilarious. Blonsky is a wonderfully capable newcomer. Walked is mostly being Walken (and there is definitely nothing wrong with that) and Travolta is having the time of his life - especially during hs homage to Tina Turner near the end. The story drags a bit and the cinematography could have been stronger but all in all, Hairspray is one fun movie!

Grade: B

Premonition - What Sandra Bullock lacks in talent (let's face it - she's no Meryl), she makes up for in likeability. I find it very difficult to not like her when she's in a film. She's easy to cheer for and you really want to like the swill she turns up in most of the time. I actually really liked her last attempt at traversing space and time in film - The Lake House - but that made up for all the plot holes with chemistry to spare from Bullock and Keanu Reeves. There is zero chemistry between Bullock and her Premonition love interest Julian McMahan. I like him but he's going through the motions here. McMahon plays Bullock's husband who dies one day and is alive the next. It goes back and forth and things happen that Bullock can't explain. People talk to her like they've met before but she doesn't know who they are. Here daughter has scars all over her face and doesn't know why. There are random dead birds and strange phone messages. So, in short, Premonition is sort of a mess - bad supporting actors giving wooden performances, a script that isn't nearly as clever as it thinks it is, plot holes galore. The only thing it really has going for it is Bullock's likeability factor. You want to root for her. Unfortunately, likeability only gets you so far and Bullock just can't save this movie.

Grade: D+