My Personal Top 10 Films of the Year

It is hard to make a top 10 out of this year, there were so many good films. Let me see if I can pull together a nice top 10 of my own with explanations why each film is in MY top 10:

1. Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - beautiful, funny, poetic, dramatic, great story telling with a plethera of characters to enjoy and fall in love with. Possibly the most perfect film of the year.

2. Finding Neverland - the first film in a while that succeeded in bringing me to tears

3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Charlie Kaufman's best script so far adapted by a great up and coming director, any film that makes you feel like you're in a dream always wins my heart.

4. The Aviator - Scorsese's best film since Raging Bull (why Raging Bull? Because it's similar as far as having a character arch and similar theme of a tortured soul). Beautiful cinematography, a great performance by Leo, a great story of one of the past century's most important icons and it was given to the perfect man, Scorsese. I hope he finally gets his Oscar.

5. Kill Bill Vol. 2 - Despite people's opinions about the controversial splitting of the movie into volumes for marketing reasons, both films can stand alone. Volume 2 being my favorite with all the extreme gore behind us and only her true enemies ahead of her. Quentin Tarantino has mastered his craft.

6. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow - Highly underrated, did OK at the box office, a great first film from a young director who has worked mainly in effects. It's fun, adventuresome and nostalgiac.

7. Garden State - I connected with this film on a personal level, the main character is going through a lot of the same things I have or am going through. And if anybody calls it a GenX film, it's not, Reality Bites (10 years ago) was a GenX film.

8. A Very Long Engagement - Jean Pierre Jeunet has done it again, I've loved all his films thus far, and this one continues the streak. A WWI epic with a romance that is accomplished outside of cliches and mushy moments. Includes plenty of the Jeunet like characters, fantasy and surrealness.

9. Spiderman 2 - One of the best sequels to an action/adventure flick in a while. Plus some classic Raimi objects (i.e. the chainsaw), we know he's still got it! Could have done without the happy ending though, the middle movie always has to end with suspense and hope for a resolution in the 3rd. Oh well, I still enjoyed it thoroughly.

10. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - I don't read the books and don't care about where they strayed from the storyline. It was a great twist on the Potter series with better acting from the kids and a real director this time.

HONORABLE MENTION: Napoleon Dynamite - If you're well versed in Mormon Culture and understand how things are done and all the absurdities of the Midwest, then you'll appreciate this movie as I do.

FILMS I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO: "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Tim Burton, "Tideland" & "The Brothers Grimm" by Terry Gilliam