Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Happy New Year!!

Its been a few weeks since I posted. I've been busy with Christmas and getting ready for the new baby. Yep, in case you didn't know, I have my second li'l 'un coming in May! The first is one and a half years old and a complete handful. I can't imagine what two is going to be like! (Tiring, I'm guessing).

But my boy is a joy (that rhymed).

He likes dinosaurs, The Wiggles, dancing, climbing, and generally getting into mischief. Here is a voice mail I got today from my wife:

"Hi. I just wanted you to know that your son is throwing a fit because I wouldn't let him throw his dinosaurs in the toilet."

Ah...parenthood.

Did you ever see the movie "Parenthood" with Steve Martin? Remember the kid that likes to wear a bucket on his head and run into walls? Yeah, that's pretty much my son.

So anyway, I guess I should do the standard "Best of 2008" list, right? Okay, I'll give it a shot - and I'm just going to go off the top of my head because if you have to think about it your lying to yourself. Too many "Best Of" lists are academic. You should write down the first 10 movies you think of that you saw last year and BOOM - there's you're "Best Of" list.

Here we go!

1. Hellboy 2
2. The Dark Knight
3. Iron Man
4. The Incredible Hulk
5. The Orphanage
6. Rambo
7. Hancock
8. Yes Man
9. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
10. X-Files: I Want To Believe

Interesting list, isn't it? Not a lot of substance or drama. This, my friends, is what a "Best Of" list looks like when you are a parent to young children. In other words, I haven't seen much this year. Of the Top 150 Grossing Films of 2008, I've seen only 19. So this is the top 10 of that 19. So I'm not what you might call a "well-informed" expert. But these movies were good, so if you haven't seen'em, go see'em.

The one suprise might be Rambo. Admittedly, I am a sucker for 80's nostalgia. But this film played out much better than I expected. Interesting subject, good action. This was essentially an independent war film - if it was treated as such and didn't have the name "Rambo" in the title, it might have got more attention from people. Plus the DVD feature on the shooting of the film was interesting, since they chose to film it next to a war zone.

Anyway, that's my list - if I was smart, I would just do a review of all the movies I saw in 2008, not just the ones that were released.

Because when you can't get a babysitter, you watch a LOT of films on DVD...from the previous year.

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