Top 5 Movies of 2008.

1) Slumdog Millionaire-Beautiful is the only way to describe Danny Boyle’s epic, Bollywood style film. It’s a film that will make you believe that fairy tales are possible and happy endings can exist even when all hope is lost. Corny, yes, but totally and utterly riveting.

2) W-ALLE- Don’t laugh. WALL-E isn’t just another kid’s movie, it’s a heart warming tale of an adorable robot saving humanity, and it will knock your socks off.

3) The Dark Knight-Despite the hype, The Dark Knight is all its cracked up to be. The IMAX filming and big time action shots were worth all of their scrupulous effort. And need I even mention the late Heath Ledger’s Joker?

4) Revolutionary Road- If Jack and Rose had made it off the Titanic, I hope their life wouldn’t have ended up this troubled. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet give tour-de-force performances that make this the year’s most gripping (and melancholy) drama.

5) MILK- Sean Penn has never been more fabulous, and James Franco has never looked so good kissing him. The politically charged bio-pic is full of heart, great performances, and a doctrine of tolerance that never comes of as preachy. Assassination never seemed so fun.

Honorable Mentions:
Pineapple Express
Burn After Reading
The Changeling
Frost/Nixon
Role Models

Top 5 Albums of 2008.

1) Hold On Now, Youngster, Los Campesinos!
2008 was a big year for the Welsh septet. With the success of their two latest albums (Youngster, paired with the release of We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed just months later) and a fandom that has taken over the blog world, Los Campesinos! may be one of the biggest things to happen to indie pop since, well, ever.

Best Tracks: My Year In Lists, You! Me! Dancing!, We Exhale and Roll Our Eyes In Unison, We Are All Accelerated Readers.


2) Stay Positive, The Hold Steady
Continuing to write songs to live by, Craig Finn and the boys of the Hold Steady followed up last year’s best album, Boys and Girls in America, with an album with almost equal punch. From anthems (“Constructive Summer”) to life lessons (“Stay Positive”) to killer singles (“Sequestered in Memphis”) to genius story-telling (“One for the Cutters”), America’s favorite bar band can officially takes their place in rock music super-stardom.


3) Acid Tongue, Jenny Lewis.
Rilo Kiley front woman took a break from indie super group fame and headed a solo album that proved to be her most successful yet. On Acid Tongue, Lewis banks on the bare minimum of her famous vocals and twanging guitars that would make Dusty Springfield proud. Lewis shows a maturity on Acid Tongue that had been absent in her previous solo work. What results is honest, pure songwriting that is not only heartbreaking, but genius. Highlights include the manic, nine-minute long “The Next Messiah”, the album’s title track, and a bangin’ duet with Elvis Costello.


4) At Mount Zoomer, Wolf Parade
The year’s most underrated album of the year is also one of the best. On Zoomer, Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner take a break from their respective busy music lives and reunite for an album full of insomnia, varied instrumentation, and some of the best songs of the year. The album itself is an experience, bearing resemblance to the pair’s much lauded Apologies to Queen Mary. Listening to At Mount Zoomer is entering a world of some of indie rock’s most acclaimed geniuses.

5) Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
With an aura of afro-new wave and Ivy League lyrical musings, the Columbia quartet created the catchiest album of 2008. Vampire Weekend’s self-titled album let you do what music should do: listen without analyzing. The album has cool and fun vibe that reminds you of why you love music so much in the first place


Honorable Mentions:
The Rhumb Line, Ra Ra Riot.
Made In the Dark, Hot Chip
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
Accelerate, R.E.M

For an old fart, Woody sure knows how to keep it sexy.

Woody Allen: Big pimpin', spendin' cheese.

Movie: Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Rating: B+

Two beautiful women. An exotic man. A beautiful city, and enough alcohol to inebriate a small country.

While this may sound like Cinnemax After Dark’s soft-core feature, it’s not: It’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the latest Woody Allen joint.

The movie follows Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson), college friends escaping to Barcelona for a summer away from their normal lives. They are immediately established as two completely contrasting personalities.

Vicky is conventional and structured. Set to be married to a wealthy businessmen (Chris Messina), Vicky believes that she knows exactly what she wants in life and love. Cristina is free-spirited, restless, and eager to explore the world for every possible equation that life can offer.

The pair soon meet Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a local Spanish artist who offers to whisk them off to the exotic town of Oviedo. Vicky express immediate contempt at the forward offer, but the curious and adventurous Cristina convinces her friend to take the chance.

Oviedo brings out the best in the trio, and both women experience separate passionate encounters with the provocative Juan Antonio. Vicky, ashamed of her feelings, tries to stifle her fondness for Juan Antonio by jumping into immediate marriage upon her return to Barcelona. Cristina and Juan Antonio, however, become lovers and move in together.

Best friends having sex with the same dude? Utter jealousy? Unhappy marriages? What else could one man bring into the drama filled flick?

Oh, that’s right. An insane (and electrifyingly beautiful) ex-wife.

When Juan Antonio’s ex-wife, Maria Alena (Penelope Cruz) attempts suicide, she runs to Juan Antonio for help. Their broken marriage still filled with passion and love, Juan Antonio encourages Maria Alena to accept Cristina’s role in his life and get to know the young tourist herself.

I won’t give the rest away, but I urge you to watch it for yourself.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is not your typical Woody Allen flick. It’s a comedy without a trace of his dry wit and sarcasm. Instead, Allen looks at the comedic spectrum of human life through a specific lens: brutal honesty.

What results is a character study with an array of terrific performances. Shining most vibrantly is Cruz, who chain-smokes and psychotically takes over your mind with her sex appeal and frank dialogue. She’s a vision, and commands the viewer with all the intensity that the character of Maria Alena calls for.

Sharing Cruz’s spotlight is Hall. She delivers the conflict of Vicky with an understated conviction. The viewer is able to see Vicky’s mental battle through her eyes, making her the most believable in the film. Both Cruz and Hall nabbed Golden Globe nominations for their roles, and both completely deserve them. Bardem is also nominated for his quietly cunning, but ultimately loving performance as Juan Antonio.

Woody Allen’s current obsession, Johansson, falls flat next to her dynamic cast mates. While her performance as the forever unsatisfied Cristina is pleasant, it lacks the drive and intellect that the character deserves. Not only that, she looks like a guppy standing next to her shark-like co-stars.

Another flaw in the movie is the narration. The narrator (an unaccredited Christopher Evan Welch) is useless; and makes the audience feel dumb with his “no shit, Sherlock” commentary. He tells us a lot of things we could have figured out on our own (ex, “Vicky and Cristina are going sight-seeing”), and brings down the pace of the movie. The narration is the greasy wheel in what is a vibrant and flowing cinematic machine.

With a series of great performances and a breathtakingly gorgeous setting, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a multi-faceted success that proves that even at 72, Woody Allen is capable of keeping it fresh.

And if that isn’t reason to see this critically lauded film, then just a hint: Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz have a hot make out scene. Not even kidding.