Movie picks

I haven't seen any of NPR's David Edelstein's top movie picks for 2005. The good news is that I have 10 more movies to put in my Netflix queue, but the bad news is that I'm years behind with no hope in the near future to catch up and stay current with newly released movies. By the time I've watched something, it's been too long for anyone else on the planet earth to remember the details to discuss it with me. It's been 12 years since I could step outside my house without finding a brave sitter, and it may be several more years before I can leave for enough hours to take in a film and popcorn alone with my husband. Who wants to babysit an hour away from civilization for three all rough and tumble boys and an opinionated strong five year old girl?
I can only watch DVD's after 10:00, so the movies need to be interesting enough to keep desperately worn out woman nearing fourty awake.
Here are the four movies I enjoyed the most in 2005.

Crash- I found myself yelling like a mad woman outloud alone in my bedroom "No! Please No!" at the television during a particularly poignant scene. The plot twists and turns like a Tennessee country road around conflict issues of race,class, culture, and religion. If you can't deal with sex, language, and violence, tis not a picture for you, but far beyond these things, is the wake up call to America for the harm caused by stereotypes and labels.

Maria Full of Grace- Intriguing, incredible realism of a young girl's pull to become a "mule" to transport cocaine from Columbia to the U.S. Also contains language, sex, and violence, but worth it in telling the whole story behind the story. It didn't leave me with a single question like "How would someone actually do that?" or "What could lead anyone to such decisions?". I was left only with an awe and passion to stop drug corruption on this earth.

Star Wars Episode Three- Okay, I'm a sci fi geek, and I will never forget my Aunt Artful taking me to see the very first SW movie when I was twelve. I longed to grow hair long enough to stick out like giant headphones from my ears and a laser gun to shoot the evil Empire down. So this year, I certainly didn't want to miss the opportunity to make memories with my boys on the big screen opening night. No, we didn't dress up like a family of Ewoks, but several people did don Darth Vader gear. I cannot separate my nostalgia from my opinion, but SW3 nicely tied all the loose ends of all the movies for me while tying my stomach in knots watching Annakin's decent to darkness. Showed how evil can appear good, yet ultimately destroys.


Narnia: Lion, Witch, Wardrobe I am not ashamed to say C.S. Lewis captured my heart as a child and still holds it tightly as an adult. I am a bit ashamed to admit what a big baby I am. I felt tears on on my cheeks when Aslan roared in durn PREVIEWS during SW3, because he was just SO beautiful. At the Narnia movie, my children spent a good deal of time squinting over at me in the darkness of the theater whispering, "She's crying again." Tears started with the opening scene, but intensified with my first glimpse of the wardrobe. I cried seeing Tumnus and his magnificent horse legs for the first time outside my mind's eye. I sobbed just like Lucy and Susan at the stone table. I think the tears came, because Narnia had always felt so very real to me. I look forward to the coming years and sharing the next stories in the series on screen with my children. My favorite book of all has been the Magician's nephew, when the trees dance and when Aslan breathes Narnia into existence.