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2008 MOVIE FAVORITES
By Denise Castillón

Since, I didn’t see every film from 2008, so I cannot rightly declare the years’ best. Nevertheless, 2008 was a very good year for film. In fact, there were six especially enjoyable movies I couldn’t help, but watch them twice:

SEX AND THE CITY – More than a Chick Flick, the feature film “Sex in the City”, like the long-running TV show, attracted woman -and men, with its controversially candid sexual content as well as its emphasis on fashion, friendship and the pursuit of love by four fabulous New York single gals.

IRON MAN - The seriously gifted, [despite himself], Robert Downey Jr. as the witty playboy, Tony Stark, who grew a conscious, then suited up as the kick-ass action hero, the “Iron Man”. That’s all I, and the film-going masses, needed.

DARK KNIGHT - Christopher Nolans’ masterful follow-up to his film, “Batman Begins”, stars Christain Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine and, best of all, Heath Ledger. The late Ledger’s portrayal of the viciously unscrupulous “Joker”, was magnificently introduced in the explosive, action-packed opening scene, and certainly deserves a posthumous Oscar nomination. “Dark Knight” was also the summers’ first feature to mix both traditional 35 mm and large-format in one film.

ELEGY - This potent drama, based on “The Dying Animal” by Philip Roth, retained the satirical humor and powerfully expressive language as written in the acclaimed author’s novella. The superbly crafted “Elegy” embraces deliberate plotlines and strong character development fully delivered by brilliant performances from Sir Ben Kingsley, Penelope Cruz and, quite undeniably, Dennis Hopper.

TELL NO ONE – An intensely exciting Foreign Language action-thriller from France. “Tell No One” is a romantic love story woven into a fast-paced, complex suspense thriller. Starring Francois Cluzet, as a grieving husband suspected of murder, Cluzet skillfully conveyes his characters’ restrained emotions with just a glance from his expressive eyes.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - Danny Boyles’ “Slumdog Millionaire” is a harrowing and suspenseful drama juxtaposed with an epic love story set in the shanty towns of poverty-stricken Bombay. An uneducated, street orphan is tortured and interrogated by a police, after he’s suspected of cheating on India’s popular TV game show import, “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”. Through flashback story-telling, the “slumdog” reveals how the hard-earned lessons learned, while surviving on his wits in the slums, enabled him to successfully answer each trivia question. Once returned to the game show, the tension continues to build as our optimistic hero increases his winnings, from which he hopes will finally reunite him with his beloved, despite the repeated and cruel obstacles set up by his cunning brother.

WISHING EVERYONE A HAPPY NEW MOVIE YEAR!