Meryl Streep: More than just an actress

I absolutely love Meryl Streep. She is by far my favorite actress. Last semester I wrote this as an opinion article for my writing class in honor of her, so I thought I'd put it up.

Meryl Streep: More than just an actress

Her real name is Mary Louise Gummer and she is far from a typical every day person. Her impact and legacy on the film industry is remarkable, and she is arguably the best actress the world has seen in the past few decades. Very few people know her as Mary though. The cinematic world refers to her as Meryl Streep.

With 16 Oscar and 23 Golden Globe nominations, Streep holds the record for most nominations for both awards as well as the utmost respect from her colleagues and fans.

Meryl Streep sprang back into popularity in the past few years as a result of her impressive portrayal of her character in “Devil Wears Prada,” but she further displayed her wide range of acting skills in subsequent movies. Her characters in the years following have engrossed her fans and drawn them in as soon as she steps into the frame.

I have been enthralled by her performances from the very beginning and in the movies I have seen, she has nailed her performances and the mannerisms of her characters. She makes acting look easy, which tells me it’s not at all.

In the movie “Music of the Heart,” she had to become a master violinist. Some actors might try to fake it to some degree, but Streep did the opposite. She not only learned how to play the violin, she practiced six hours a day for eight weeks straight. That equals 336 hours for merely one aspect of the film, which doesn’t include preparing for the character itself. Streep approaches each role she plays in a similar fashion, which is what makes her so good and regarded so highly as an actress.

From donating her wardrobes to hosting dinners to performing poetry, Streep’s impact reaches far beyond the world of the screen. She has helped serve 15 separate organizations in her free time to help those less fortunate than her. Aside from charity work, Streep also has a strong family, which has withstood her fame and fortune for over three decades. Her husband, Don Gummer, and four children remain a very strong influence on her, which is more than I can say for most Hollywood couples nowadays.

She has had numerous high rankings of magazines’ lists of honoring the best actors and actresses, has been nominated for 90 awards (winning the majority), but her most humbling moment occurred just this week*. Streep was nominated and won a highly coveted and extremely elite spot in the 250-member American Academy of Arts and Letters. By obtaining this spot, she becomes the first actor or actress to do so in the history of the organization. And by the way, it’s been around since before the 1900’s.

They bypassed Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn, Humphery Bogart, Cary Grant, James Stewart and ever other legendary actor ever to be on screen. This spot in this Academy is honor beyond words. Streep cried when she read who else had been on the committee. Names like Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, T.S. Elliot, Frank Lloyd Wright, Ansel Adams, H.G. Wells and countless additional icons in history. Talk about name-dropping.

In the 31 years since being nominated for her first Oscar, she has only won twice, but has accomplished impressively more than Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn. Davis had two wins out of 10 nominations over 28 years and Hepburn had four wins out of 12 nominations in 48 years. Even though Streep’s percentage of winning is not as high as Davis’ or Hepburn’s, she has been recognized to be among the best significantly more and as she gains stature and improves her acting ability, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences cannot deny her extreme and versatile capabilities as an actress much longer. She’s already accomplished more than any other actor or actress since the inception of film.

The more I find out about Streep, the more I respect and admire her poise, emotionally compelling character portrayal and dedication to acting. My award for her? The best American actress in the past four decades. At the very least. And apparently the 250-member board of literature, music and art experts deemed her the best actress to be awarded this elite honor.

*"just this week" is in reference to the week of April 12, 2010

Ten Movies I Want to See

I made a list of some movies coming out in the next few months I want to see. I hope to see all of them at some point.

10. The American
9. Morning Glory
8. Secretariat
7. Kings of Pastry
6. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
5. The Tillman Story
4. Conviction
3. Megamind
2. Waiting for Superman
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I

And here's why...

The American
Most George Clooney movies are going to be relatively safe bets. And even though George Clooney's character is stepping out of the shadows to be with the person he loves. That part has been done over and over again, but it seems like an interesting story aside from that.
Release Date: 1 September 2010

Morning Glory
I have always been interested in movies about tv shows so it's not surprising that I am interested in this one. I also have liked Rachel McAdams and Diane Keaton in some of their previous movies. It sounds like an interesting plot and hopefully the movie will be good.
Release Date: 12 November 2010

Secretariat
Yes this movie will probably be cheesy, but that's ok. I still want to see it. It's about a woman who, with the help of a trainer, raises a horse who becomes a Triple Crown winner, which is not an easy task to do. I look forward to seeing the movie and hopefully the director filmed the races which still creates plausible suspense even though we already know the horse wins.
Release Date: 8 October 2010

Kings of Pastry
I am mostly looking forward to this movie because I have recently been enthralled with cooking shows such as Cake Boss, Iron Chef America, Cupcake Wars, 24-Hour Restaurant Battle as well as experimenting with a little cooking. I have also recently enjoyed watching food related movies such as Ratatouille and especially Julie & Julia. So as you can see, I am already interested. The movie is a documentary about 15 of France's leading pastry chefs as they compete to be declared Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman in France). Needless to say, it is an intense 3-day competition and I look forward to seeing it!
Release Date: 15 September 2010

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Now I haven't seen the first one, but I hear it is good and will be adding it to my 'To Watch' list. The previews for this movie look good and you can't go wrong with Michael Douglas. He always brings a lot of talent to the screen. The plot looks interesting. Now we'll just have to see if it delivers.
Release Date: 24 September 2010

The Tillman Story
The Tillman Story was at Sundance this year about the NFL star football player who chose to leave his multi-million dollar contract to enlist in the Army and was subsequently killed by friendly fire while fighting in the line of duty. The movie explores the Army's attempt at the cover up. I heard good things about the movie while at January and really wanted to watch it there, but unfortunately time did not allow. I hope it lives up to my expectations.
Release Date: 20 August 2010

Conviction
The only word that I think of when I read the summary is dedication. Well that and love so I guess two words. Hillary Swank's character, a single mother, spends almost two decades of law school in order to come to the aide her wrongly accused and imprisoned brother. I'm really looking forward to seeing this because I enjoy seeing a character go after something bigger than themselves. Hillary Swank is a good choice for this role. The only bad thing is I have to wait in 6 months.
Release Date: 24 February 2011

Megamind
I have to say, the previews look really funny and I don't necessarily need to specifically what the movie is about to know I want to see it. It looks fresh and funny. My one concern is whether or not it can carry itself for 90 minutes rather than just the trailer.
Release Date: 5 November 2010

Waiting for Superman
This movie was also at Sundance and we heard great things about it and our group wanted to see, but we didn't have a chance. Ever since then, I have been looking forward to its release. It is a documentary about the United States public school system and it definitely provokes discussion. The filmmaker, Davis Guggenheim, conducted lengthy and in-depth research of schools in America and brings his knowledge to the film. He also follows a handful of kids as a part of his research. I am very excited to see this documentary and see his conclusions.
Release Date: 24 September 2010

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I
I hate to be predictable or unoriginal, but I do have to say that this is the movie I am most looking forward to in the next few months. As sad as I am to see the series close out, I am so excited to see the beginning of the end because it is completely epic. And yes, I am partially annoyed that it is split into two movies, but then again, not really because that is the only way to do the book any amount of justice.
Release Date: 19 November 2010

I do hope more movies in the next few months are of higher quality than the ones in the first half of this year. One can only hope.

Notes are Beneficial

Have you ever heard a quote in a movie and absolutely loved it? This happens to me quite frequently and the only times I've captured and remembered them was at Sundance. I filled a regular sized notebook about 2/3 full with notes while watching films in Park City. While they were messy and sometimes going off the page due to lack of light, it really helped me identify what parts of the movie I connected with the most. Not that I didn't connect with more than what I wrote, but it had to be something important for me to write down. For one movie, I took 6 full pages of notes. This is partly because it was just a ridiculous movie and there were so many moments I wanted to remember. There was one moment in the film when a friend and I had an incredibly difficult time keeping our laughter to a minimum. Naturally I took notes on it.

I have found notes help me register what is happening and forces me to step back from the movie for a second to write down what I saw. I once read an article about reviewing movies and the author said something to the effect of 'let yourself get wrapped up in the movie.' I have tried to apply this principle to the movies I watch. At the same time, it's helpful for me to get a partial sense of reality instead of being completely immersed in the world of cinema. I have heard some people say this happens when they watch Harry Potter and after they finish the movie or reading the books, they remember magic doesn't really exist and neither does Harry Potter. This has never happened to me, of course. Ever. I have never forgotten that Harry Potter is a fictional character concocted by the famous J.K. Rowling. (This may or may not be sarcasm).

I watched the movie The September Issue tonight and I took 3 pages of notes. It felt natural for me to do and made me think I was back at Sundance, but then I realized I was still at my desk and very far away from Park City. It was so interesting seeing the process Vogue goes through for their annual issue. The year they filmed, the magazine contained 840 pages of fashion! How do they even have enough information and material to cover that much? Apparently they found some things to include. I discovered this movie was actually at Sundance last year, which of course makes me happy. (I have quite an attachment to anything that was ever at Sundance nowadays). There were a couple good quotes throughout the film and you could really get a sense of what the environment is like while working there. It's stressful, filled with pressure, but also fun to see the outcome.

The editor, Anna Wintour, is quite similar to the character Meryl Streep plays in Devil Wears Prada. Wintour is not quite so harsh or strict, but she has that feeling of she knows she's good and her opinion matters. One major difference between her and Miranda Priestly is that Wintour gives compliments where they are deserved, which is something I appreciated about her. Overall, very good movie and never boring. It was a movie I found extremely captivating and interesting.

What a Movie Should Do

A movie should be more than a 90+ minute experience. Its affect should last beyond the credits. Most movies today are made for just the box office and DVD sales and they don't do much outside of being shown. I would argue most documentaries don't go as far as they could to get their point across and to continue their impact. I have only seen one movie that I would say does more than just has screenings. The Dry Land. A Sundance favorite and was one of the best one I saw. I would say 'liked,' but it's really hard to say I liked this movie because in reality, I really didn't. It was hard to watch, emotions were sucked out of me, and it was not a fun topic to see laid out. There were also a couple explicit scenes the audience didn't need to see (just to get that warning out there). However, this was also one of the movies that has stayed with me since seeing it.

First of all, the issue in the movie: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1981284,00.html

Even though the military has been making steps to help lower the number and save men and women from committing suicide, it's not working how they want it to. Knowing this, filmmaker Ryan Pier Williams decided to make a movie about one man and give an accurate picture of what dealing with PTSD is like.

Williams made this movie for a specific purpose. He wanted it to be seen so people can act on it, which in all fairness other documentarians and filmmakers like this want to do as well. This movie is different though. Yes it got into Sundance, but that wasn't necessarily his goal. His ultimate objective was to travel around military bases showing his movie so soldiers can talk about it. If they can see an example of what it looks like and the steps they can take to help themselves, they will be in much better hands. I've never heard of a movie that went beyond the screen like this one does. For Williams, it's more than just a movie. It's an opportunity to show soldiers, their family and friends a picture of one man with PTSD and to spur on conversation.

After the screening at Sundance, Williams said he ideally wanted to release the movies to theaters mid to late summer because that was when a lot of soldiers would come back from fighting the war. The limited release date is July 30 of this year.

This is a real topic that needs to be out to the public and out in the open so people can begin realizing the effects and ramifications it can have on a soldier and his or her family. It's a movie made to provoke real change aside from the 92 minutes you spend watching it.

A Debate of Movies

I watched Front of the Class yesterday afternoon. It was about a recent college graduate whose lifelong dream was to become a teacher, but because of his tourettes syndrome his options were limited because potential employers couldn't look past it. He finally got a job and he excelled in it, but not without his own trials. It was a heartwarming story about overcoming great personal struggles in order to pursue a dream.

The movie immediately following that movie, was Riding the Bus with My Sister. This movie was about a mentally challenged woman who had struggles her whole life, but somehow still had the ability to enjoy it. Within the first few minutes, I felt uncomfortable. I didn't want to watch a movie about this woman. But then I started thinking about how I had just finished watching a movie about a person with personal struggles, so why was this so different? It's the same basic plot: A person struggles through life, but somehow still finds joy and does what they love. The specific circumstances change from film to film, but it's basically the same. So why is it that certain movies, such as this one for me, make us uncomfortable? Is it because the specifics of a movie strike a cord in us that we don't want to think about or explore? I continued watching the movie because I didn't want to be shallow by not watching it simply because I wasn't completely comfortable. But doesn't living in comfort limit your knowledge and ability to learn? People learn most when their level of knowledge is drastically different than the situation they're in. So why don't we put ourselves in situations where we don't know much? Are we afraid of failure or is it something else?

Movies are made to ask questions, sometimes answer a couple, show a situation audiences would never have experienced otherwise, provide an escape from life, and yes, they also offer a level of entertainment. But movies are much more than that. They ask questions which we can't ask ourselves. Too many times we watch a movie purely for entertainment, which is something I am guilty of myself, but if we aren't asking questions afterwards, then we aren't getting everything we can out of the movie and then we have wasted our time and money. Why not take the time to reflect on what we spent an hour and a half to two hours (or in Lord of the Rings case 3-4 hours) watching? Granted, there are some movies where the only question you can ask is, 'why did I waste my time with it?' But more often than not, you can always ask a question applicable to life.

A Collection of Pictures

Now that it's been almost two weeks after we've been back at Taylor, I thought I would post more pictures.

This is a heater post. They were all around town for people to stand by and warm up. We all really appreciated it.

A picture of the mountains/some of the ski runs. The mountains in Utah are different than Colorado, but both are beautiful!

This was really cool. It is the same concept as looking at a map on an iPhone where you can move the map with your fingers and zoom in and out with two fingers. This alters that technology slightly by enabling people to move the map with their feet. I didn't get to do it, but we watched a couple people play with it.

This was also really cool. There are five screens in one room. Two guys are playing the same song in different locations with different instruments and they are played together for one song. It was like complete surround sound if you stood in the middle of the room.

This is Rikki (in front) and this is Rikki if she were a boy. Brad pointed that out to us so naturally I covertly took a picture.

This is at the after party. There were a lot of people there and some weird dancing. I took a short video of a lady dancing. I wish I had her whole dance, but I just stood and watched her for a few seconds and then we had to move on.

Another picture of the stage. The music was really loud, but good.

Here's a banner for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Naturally I had to take a picture of it. A lot of the skiing and snowboarding venues for the Olympics were actually held in Park City. I saw the Superpipe from a distance and there were various other Olympic banners around town.

This is at the high school where they filmed all 3 High School Musical movies. Jonathan absolutely loves those movies so we stopped by the school on our way to the airport in Salt Lake City. It took us a few times to get a good picture, but we were all happy with how this one turned out. Plus, I'm pretty sure it was the highlight of Jonathan's week. Not even joking.

I decided to keep a track of what movies I see this year. So far I've seen 36. I feel pretty good about that number even though that's kind of a lot. Oh well.

Sundance Journey Ends, Experience Lives On

The trip officially ended at 2 am this morning. I was sad to say goodbye to the trip, but I also know I will never forget the experience. It was definitely a life changing experience and one I'm glad I had.

Saturday morning was a relaxing morning as most of us were able to sleep in. The first movie I watched was called Please Give. It's loosely about a family waiting for their elderly next door neighbor dies so that they can buy her apartment to expand theirs. However, the plot is much more than that, but purely driven by the characters. It was also a very funny movie in the sense that it was real life humor. I felt the script was well written.

Mother: "They have like 12 children."
Grandma: "No one told them to do that."

Grandma: "You've got a handsome boy there."
Boy's Mother: "Thank you."
[pause]
Grandma: "But he's very short."

Granddaughter [to grandma]: "I'm sure they're going to guy it. You'll be dead so you don't have to worry about it."

They might not make much sense or not very funny, but I assure you, in context, it is very funny. Especially when you see how much of a ball of fire the grandma is. Overall, it was a much lighter film than most other movies we had seen, so that was a welcome change.

Brad and I went on an adventure downtown to find more Sundance water bottles. I also needed to get a deck of cards from Park City for my collection. Both of which we accomplished! After our adventure, the group headed back to the church where we heard Jeffery Blitz talk about his film Lucky and he also directed the Office episode where Angela throws the cat through the ceiling. That was also his idea. So that was pretty cool.

Later that night we presented Ralph Winterwith the Spirit Award from the Windrider Forum. The award is for someone who basically integrates faith into their projects. He certainly does that. He is the producer of the X-Men and Fantastic Four series as well as a lot of others. I met and talked with him for a few minutes on Sunday and I just want to be his best friend because what kind of person he is. He's one of the most genuine and generous people ever with his time and money. He consistently chooses to make time for those around him and I think that's admirable. He also happens to be one of the major producers in Hollywood. So I guess that was the most famous person I saw. Now I want to watch all his movies. Not necessarily because I'm super interested in the topic of movies, but because he made them, I want to see them.

There were six of us that needed to leave the church early in order to go to the Grand Jury Documentary Winner. When we got to the theater though, they announced the winner as Restrepo, which all of us but Brad had seen. So he opted to see it while the rest of us tried to sell off the tickets. After doing so, we ran to the Grand Jury Dramatic Winner, which ended up being Winter's Bone. It's a movie about a 17 year old girl on a mission to find her criminal father so she could convince him to go to court so her family won't lose everything. The 17 year old girl actress played her character beautifully. It was a good movie. It didn't win the audience award, which was understandable, but it definitely seemed like a movie the jury would pick. Here's the director on the right.

After the movie ended, Ryan K, Jonathan, Brent and I headed to the official Sundance after party, which was pretty epic. We were there for all about 20 minutes. We also unexpectedly met Brad there as well. The party was interesting. A lot of different people dancing. I wasn't really bummed that we were only there for 20 minutes though. All the decorations looked pretty cool I must say. You can't really see them in this picture, but they were cool.

Here's a picture of one of the Olympic banners form the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002. They had them posted in various places around Park City. It was cool to see them.

I'll still be posting Sundance, pictures, or other movie related things even though Sundance is over. Still a lot to discuss.

Last Day of Movie Watching

Today was a very exciting day.

1) Most of us got to sleep in
2) Saw two good films, including the U.S. Grand Jury Dramatic Winner, Winter Bones
3) The mountains were exceptionally beautiful today
4) Saw and heard Jeffery Blitz talk, he has directed episodes from The Office and Parks and Recreation
5) Saw and heard Ralph Winter talk, Producer of X-Men and Fantastic Four, among many other things and
6) I walked past Mark Ruffalo and he was about 2 feet away. I almost asked for a picture, but I was in a slight hurry and there were a few people around him, so I didn't.
7) I went to the Sundance 2010 After Party for a grand total of 20 minutes. Enough to last me a lifetime. Plus I recorded some, so I'm good.

Those were the the highlights of the day. I will hopefully be able to post tomorrow at some point before we head on to Indiana so I can explain the movies I saw today.

Another Day of 4 Films

This morning Mark Ruffalo came and discussed his movie Sympathy for Delicious. It was a good discussion. It made me realize that Mark Ruffalo is just like anyone else trying to figure out things in life just like we are. A month before Mark started shooting the film, his brother died tragically and he ended up dedicating the movie to him. The picture of him on the right is not great, but he's the guy on the left. I also learned that Mark Ruffalo had brain cancer.

The first movie I saw was called 3 Backyards and it's the worst movie I've seen at sundance, so I won't spend much time talking about it. I didn't connect with any of the characters, they annoyed me. There also was minimal to zero plot and the movie moved SOOOO slow. Also, the characters made random decisions that didn't fit within the movie. I could have missed the movie though. Maybe if they had taken out the piercing soundtrack, it might have been bearable. It was the place where we started our memorable moments from Sundance, which we have found quite amusing.

The second movie was called Blue Valentine and it's about a married couple who try to fall back in love with each other. There were a lot of unnecessary scenes, but the idea of looking at a marriage and discovering what went wrong is a topic not widely thought about for a movie. There were quite a few good points, especially about communication between spouses, but there were a lot of things you need to overlook in order to get those points. The director is pictured on the left in the front. One of the Sundance programmers is in the back.

The third movie I saw today was called Nuummioq. It's about a guy who is terminally ill and avoids telling his family for a while. It was slow moving, but definitely better than 3 Backyards. It was dark lighting for almost the entire movie which made it extremely difficult to know who was doing what in close up shots. It could have been a lot better, but I don't think I'd classify it as terrible. Ryan G. and I literally ran to the theater to get there in time. We barely made it.

Lucky was my fourth and final movie of the day and it is definitely in my top five Sundance films. It is a documentary about powerball lottery winners after they have received their money. It was really interesting to see how different people handle large amounts of money. The six of us loved it. One quote the captures it is from a friend of William "Bud" Post ($16 million lottery winner), "Winning the lottery is like putting miracle grow on your character defects." That quote is completely true. They made the point that no one teaches you how to suddenly have a lot of money. Different people went about it in different ways. Some didn't do much with it, others completely changed their lives and moved away, some donated a significant portion, and yet others spent almost all of it. The movie made me question what I would do if I were ever in that situation. It's a good question to ask because it says a lot about yourself. We found out that despite economic downturns, lottery ticket sales increase. Perhaps because it's a small hope of something better. As one woman in the film said, "I will not stop until I get it (lottery)." This woman buys lottery tickets twice a day and has been doing this for 30 straight years. It's an interesting addiction. The guy in the black has directed episodes of The Office, including last year's Super Bowl episode in which Angela throws her cat through the ceiling, but it falls through the ceiling. It was one of my favorite Office moments. These two directors will be coming tomorrow (or technically today) to talk to us about their movie. I'm very excited to hear more about it.

Tomorrow is the last day of film watching. I hope it's good. Now for sleep, which Rikki, Ryan G., and I are currently lacking as we stayed up to blog and write papers. We weren't always successful as we were distracted for most of the time. Mostly by YouTube videos. It's a common problem these days. We watched this one, this one, and this one.

Lessons Learned and Collection of Quotes

3 lessons I've learned at Sundance:
1. I don't have the best balance standing up on the bus while it's moving. I lost my balance last night on the bus. It made a tight turn that I wasn't expecting and hadn't adjusted my weight accordingly, so I accidentally kicked the guy in front of me in the leg trying to catch my balance. Thankfully Rikki and Brad were nearby to prevent me from wiping out. Thanks guys.
2. Sometimes I lack the ability to put up a filter in public. On the bus, a couple sitting right next to us were talking about the venue we were on our way to called the Temple. They said, "Oh cool. It's actually a temple." To which I responded, directed toward Brad, but a little too loud, "Yeah, that's why they call it a temple." I blame it on not enough sleep, too much to think about, and it was getting late.
3. There are certain people who talk a lot. Some people may take ten minutes to respond to a relatively simple question. Interesting.

This morning in class, four cast and crew from The Dry Land came and talked to us about the movie. It was a basic discussion about the cast and crew and what it took to get the movie finished. The director did 2 years of moderate research just for his own curiosity and then worked 1.5 years on the script then the process of making the movie. Total it took 4.5 years from start to finish. Altogether they talked to over 90 soldiers in order to try to accurately reflect a soldier's challenge. The director made a point that the movie is very apolitical. It's a human story after a traumatic experience. It's not discussing the topic of war. A person on imdb.com said, "Warning: This film may break your heart." That's very true. Jason Ritter, supporting actor, said, "It's important to continue to break your heart. You can only have your heart broken if you're open to it. It's good to break your heart." Our group talked to him a couple minutes after it ended. We all commented on his Indianapolis Colts jacket and how much we appreciated it.

A group of us hung out at the church for a while talking, then we grabbed lunch, and headed over to the venue where Life 2.0 was being screened. While waiting to line up we saw an actress from one of the films we saw, a few different directors, and someone important looking being interviewed. It was pretty eventful. When we got in line Jonathan and Alex noticed Entertainment Weekly magazines with LOST on the cover. Needless to say, we got so excited and instantly buried our noses into it. Life 2.0 is about the director, (pictured on right) entering into the virtual world called Second Life and seeing the common stories of users. Numbers of Second Life: 19 million users in 2009, $500 million US exchanged in 2009, many users spend 12-14 hours per day on Second Life. The movie was incredibly entertaining as it was so ridiculous that it was funny. Jonathan and I about lost it once or twice. Some quotes:
"Real life partners don't know what we're up to. they just think it's some kind of game."
"You can have the house of your dreams in Second Life without the real life price."
"My avatar took a life of her own...It affected everything about me."
"I'm... I don't want to say it. It'll ruin my day." (She's married and didn't want to say it. She started an affair with a guy she met on Second Life).
"He says he's getting something out of being a childhood girl. I'm not sure what that is, but he say's he's getting something."
"I'm putting everything at risk right now. My job, life, health, family."
"Ayya (an avatar) has said it herself, if I can't spend my time on here (Second Life), then it needs to end."
"I'm not the only person who have found themselves in Second Life."
"I had given up so much of myself that I started looking for myself in other places."
"The trip to come to Law Vegas has been the longest time I've been away from Second Life."
The director spent 3 years in Second Life to make this documentary-it's an addicting game. Also, they have Second Life conferences. Hmm...

The second and last movie I saw, is called A Small Act which is about a Swedish woman who sponsored a young Kenyan boy through secondary school, how that changed his life, and how he impacts other students now. It was a good movie, but at this point complicated and deep films can only garner a portion of my emotion. The director and producer are pictured on left. Director in front and producer in back. Quotes from this movie:
"If you did not have money, you were kicked out of school."
"What encourages me, is that no matter what your life is like, you can succeed."
"I believe education is a life and death situation."
"Now that I have been given scholarships, the burden is on me to work hard."
"If I get the chance, I will push myself to help others."
"Our point of this movie is to inspire people to look at their own communities for small ways to contribute."
Numbers of A Small Act:
200 hours of footage
2.5 years total
3 months in Kenya
10 days in Sweden and Switzerland
$80,000 raised solely at Sundance to sponsor kids
Production crew sponsored the other two main kids who did not receive scholarships.

Alex, Brad, me, and Brent in front of the Egyptian Theater. It's the picture of Sundance and the most recognizable connection to it.

Powerful Films Equal Broken Heart

As excited as I was to come to Sundance, I knew it would also be a time of intense emotions and discussions. Today was no exception. Rikki, Josh, Jonathan, and I went to 4 intense movies today, all right after the other. The films had themes of PTSD, abortion, war, and end of the world and all need to be thought about and processed through.

The first movie we saw was Dry Land, which was about a soldier returning from war, adjusting to home life, and dealing with PTSD. It was a very intense movie and required a lot of emotional strength to watch it. The movie showed the guilt and stress soldiers can feel after going to war and how they deal with it, which usually was drinking. It definitely took the audience on an emotional journey and kicked us in the gut and stomped on our hearts. The director, on the left side of the picture with the main two actors on the right, made this movie to help soldiers in their readjustment period back home and to know that it's ok to ask for help. He said even though it's a dark movie, it's meant to inspire hope, which it did, but only after our hearts were mutilated.

The next movie, 12th & Delaware, did not help our emotions whatsoever. It was a movie about the conflict of an abortion clinic and a pregnancy resource center on opposing sides of the streets of 12th and Delaware. The directors merely wanted to be a fly on the wall and they fulfilled their goal with representing both sides. Within the first two minutes of the film I was fighting the tears because it was so sad to see these girls walk into the abortion clinic knowing what they wanted done. I don't have a picture of the directors, but they will be coming to our class either tomorrow or the next day to discuss the film further. It was just a very hard film to watch and once again my heart was ripped out. Here's a picture I took of the ticket while waiting in line today.

The third film was called Restrepo, which is about the film directors spending a total of 15 months with a platoon in the Korengal Valley in the middle east and just seeing what happens. They wanted an authentic picture of army life and that is precisely what they got. They interviewed multiple soldiers about their experiences and you could just tell it was hard to talk about and you could see the emotional stress they have and the burden they have carried. After a few comrades from another post died, the platoon's captain said, "I want you guys to mourn and then I want you to move on and do your job." This is the approach they need to take in order to survive, but to see grown, strong, Army men break down in tears after one of their own dies, is heart wrenching, to say the least. They did a great job with the film, but the story is just so powerful.

The last film was called Obselidia, which can be found in a previous entry here. After the 3 incredibly powerful films throughout the day, I was exhausted and may have fallen asleep for 95% of the movie. And I may have been sitting in front of the filmmakers. Oops. The team had mixed feelings about the movie, but the main consensus was that the idea of appreciating what we have now, is extremely important. Most thought it was long winded and boring (which is part of the reason as to why I fell asleep), but there were a couple who genuinely liked it. The center two in the picture are the lead actor and actress. From what I hear, they did an ok job. In my moments of consciousness, I was able to fully appreciate the musical score added to the film, which, in retrospect, may have further induced my sleepiness.

After the films we went to Flippin' Burgers for dinner, which was very good. We had discussions about our various positions on abortion and whatever other topics came up relating to the films we saw. Tomorrow won't be as intense so hopefully we'll be able to catch our breath and repair our hearts.

Frozen, Freedom, Dreams, and Toads

This morning was our first official class time at the church. We met with students from Biola and Fuller and discussed films and learned more about Sundance. It was a good class. We then watched a short film called Joburg, which is about a young pregnant woman and a young black man and how their lives intersected and differed from each other. It brought up a couple good questions, but I've seen better. Treat, Kathy, John, and I needed to leave right after the film ended in order to get to our film

The first film I saw was called Frozen. It is coming out in theaters February 5th. It's about 3 college students (actors pictured on right) who scam their way to get cheap ski lift tickets. They convince the chair lift operator to let them up for one more run and that's when they get stuck on the lift. It's a very intense movie and quite gory (I covered my eyes for certain scenes) with these 3 college kids in an impossible and quite honestly, hopeless situation. It was a very well done movie for the kind of movie it is, but I just didn't care for it. The actors were actually on a physical chairlift 50 feet in the air to do all the filming. They said it was brutal because of the cold and they could only get down about every 6 hours since it took so long to get the chairlift down to the ground.

The four of us went out to Quizzno's for lunch and then we waited for what seemed like forever for a bus to take us to our next film, Freedom Riders. It is about the freedom riders who rode buses through the south in order to try and stop segregation. It was very well done and incredibly well researched. The director, Stanley Nelson (pictured left) and his team researched the freedom riders and were able to find a kid that had video taped a bus bombing on his 8 mm camera, which was taken away and the team acquired it again from the government after a long hassle. I liked it, but I felt it went a little long. The audience was very moved. During the Q & A session after the movie, Nelson brought out two freedom riders who were apart of the groups of people standing up for equality. One of them, Jim Zwerg, was a pretty famous rider as he was one who got extremely beaten up and probably most people would recognize when he was younger. It really added to the affect of the film.

John, Kathy, Brad, Rikki, Ryan G., Josh, and I all went out to dinner at a mexican restaurant and talked about film, but specifically Freedom Riders and what issue we would 'ride' for. Other topics and questions were brought up as a result of that causing the conversation to be full of quality thoughts. It's conversations like this that make me fully appreciate films and what can be taken away from them. They cause us to ask ourselves questions we probably would not have asked ourselves otherwise. Also in conversations such as this, it makes me appreciate the people who are on this trip and their contributions and thoughts in our team. The team has the ability to stay up and talk for such a long time about family, life, and of course film, but a lot of other things as well.

After dinner, Rikki, Brad, and I went to the church where we were expecting to relax for a little bit until our next film, but we were unable to fulfill that desire. We walked into the church and realized they were played a documentary called Dreams. It's about interpreting dreams with a Biblical foundation. It was fascinating. It felt new agey, but at the same time there were so many situations that were true that it's hard to disregard what they were saying. There was this one guy who had such a vivid dream about all the teeth on the left side of his mouth falling out that he woke up and instantly started looking for them. He called one of the dream interpreters in the film and asked for her opinion. She said she thought he was biting off something more than he could chew without looking at all the details. That afternoon he had a meeting with his lawyer to thoroughly review a contract he was about to sign for a new salon he was going to open. They found a loophole that would have cost him $50,000 dollars. I realize this sounds absolutely nuts, but it's an idea worth giving a second thought to. All three of us agreed it had at least some truth to it, but we're still trying to figure it out. It's such a weird idea that we can't fully wrap our minds around.

We soon ventured off to our last film of the day called, Cane Toads: The Conquest 3D. And yes it was in 3D. It was probably the best 3D movie I've seen in terms of actual 3D, beating Avatar by the way. I was wondering how the heck they were going to fill enough time for a feature length film all about toads. But they did it and I must say, it was really funny. It's about the cane toads in Australia and how they have basically taken over the country. All of us really wanted to keep the glasses, but they made us give them back. In return, they gave us cane toad pins. Oh boy. Director, Mike Lewis is pictured on the right.

At this point we are all fairly exhausted and tomorrow will be our most emotionally draining day. 4 of us will see 4 films pretty much back to back. Thankfully we'll be finished by dinner. One of the filmmakers said about her movie, "I hope it haunts you for the rest of your days." I'll reveal what movie it was said about tomorrow. And now time for some much needed sleep. We all were a bit loopy by the end of the night...

Sundance Happenings

Thankfully we all got a good night's sleep tonight and Kathy is feeling better, so we're all ready for the craziness of Sundance. This morning Kathy and I dropped off Ryan K., Brad, Brent, and Jonathan off at their film, Wasteland. Then we ventured off to Main Street of Park City to find the box office. We needed to exchange a few of our tickets. Here's what the box office looks like.

Kathy and I picked up the rest of our tickets and attempted to exchange or sell 4 of them. We asked everyone we came across who might be at Sundance and want them. We exchanged two and sold two. It was a little bit of an adventure as we drove around trying to get rid of them. We stopped at a bus stop with a crowd and got rid of the other two.

We also walked around Main Street and saw lots of people wandering around. We talked to a group of filmmakers that made The Imperialists Are Still Alive!. That was kind of cool. They were trying to get us to go to their film, but we had to get going so we declined. We also saw a large group of paparazzi hanging around a building waiting for someone to come out. We never found out who, but it must have been someone pretty important. I know Ryan Gosling was around there at some point so it might have been him. Here's a picture of someone being interviewed. Maybe it was someone famous, but I was too far away to tell.


2 of the 4 of us who were supposed to watch the Shorts Program IV opted out of it because of what the others had said about it, so we had a pretty chill afternoon. We had lunch at Pizza and Noodles. It was a good place to eat and we met up with another portion of our group. The rest of the afternoon a group of 4 of us walked around Main Street. We saw a couple groups of paparazzi throughout the day. In the afternoon we saw a rapper walk by and the paparazzi take a bunch of pictures, so we assumed it was someone famous. We also saw Kerry Washington who we didn't really know who she was until I looked it up when we got back. We encountered a few other directors and actors of short films throughout the rest of the day.

After lunch we went to the filmmaker lodge, sat, and watched the live feed of a discussion about war from the filmmakers Restrepo, which we will be seeing soon. After sitting around for a while trying to find something to do, we went to the Sundance House and there were a bunch of different vendors there such as Honda and HP as well as a few others. We walked through the HP center and saw a massive all touch screen. It was about 5 feet by 3 feet. It was awesome. We also took some pictures on the Sundance backdrop, which made us look really official and important. I'll post those pictures later.

When we were finished getting our pictures taken and walking through the Sundance House (pictured on right), we ventured to the Music Cafe where they only let a few people in at a time. It was nothing to really get excited about, but I guess it was a good experience. I got a free cd of theirs, so that was pretty cool. On our way back to the church on the bus, we got in a hit and run. The bus driver thought the car in front of was moving, but that was not the case and hit him. The driver of the car apparently didn't feel it or didn't want to stop so they drove off while we sat in our position for about 15 minutes so we could wait for the authorities.

At the church we ate dinner with a large group of people from Fuller Theological Seminary and Biola University. The table I was at met and talked to Father Willie Raymond, who works for the Family Theater Production company on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. He told us his company coined the phrase "The family that prays together, stays together." Cool little fact. After dinner we watched 4 short films from the Angelus Student Film Festival. It is considered the best student film festival.

The first film we watched was called On the Road to Tel Aviv which is about someone who profiled an Arab in a bus, causing the rest of the passengers to get out. They insist the bus driver search the suspicious woman, but he refuses because he is Arab as well and hates it when people profile. It was a good film. It's still a sensitive topic so I felt the room was a little tense, but it is still a good issue to bring up. The second is called Kavi and it's a story about slavery, which was very powerful. The third is called Desert Wedding and it's about one incident that drastically changed a bride's view of love. It brought up a couple good questions, but I didn't feel it had adequate character development and transformation. The last film is called Waiting for a Train and that is a documentary about a Japanese guitar player who sings American bluegrass. It was a funny film, mostly because of the main subject.

I still haven't seen a film yet, but we did lots of fun things today. 3 films will come tomorrow!

Early Morning Travels

We left Taylor at 3 am this morning to catch our 6:30 flight. It was a late night/early morning, but a lot of us just ended staying up. Here's a picture of the group minus John and Kathy, our professors.

Top row left to right: Ryan K., Brad, Josh. Middle row: Me, Treat, Jonathan. Front row: Ryan G., Alex, Brent, and Rikki.

We were all pretty tired as we traveled to the airport and thankfully we had no real issues boarding the plane. Other than a slight name mix up and a couple pulled aside at security for additional security measures. Almost all of us slept some portion of the trip either to Denver, to Salt Lake City, or both. Here's a picture on the way to Denver outside the plane.


We had a very short layover in Denver, but it was so beautiful to see the sunrise and the mountains combined. Unfortunately, at by the end of the plane ride to Denver, Kathy started having bad motion sickness. Our flight to Salt Lake City was quite a bit shorter than the one to Denver and it was mostly over mountains, which was beautiful. The plane wasn't full at all and a lot of the team had a row all to themselves. After we landed in Salt Lake City, we took our time getting out of the airport as Kathy didn't have much energy.

We made our way to Park City and stopped for lunch at Ruby Tuesday's. They had delicious fries and definitely filled us up quickly. Our condo wasn't going to be ready for a few hours so we had some time to kill. We stopped at the church where we will be having our morning discussions with Fuller Theological Seminary and Biola University. We crashed there for at least an hour and a half, probably more though. My time has been slightly off with the time change. After we all crashed on the comfy chairs the church had, a group of eight went to go see their first film. Or a collection of short films rather. That left Jonathan, Alex, Kathy, and I to do the grocery shopping. We made dinner and then played some intense games of Catch Phrase and Mad Gab. A couple of the guys are going to wait list the movie High School tonight. The four of us are going to watch the Short Programs tomorrow as well as a few student films. More to come on that tomorrow. Overall, it was a really long day with beautiful mountains and snow. I was a little bummed not to see anything today, but tomorrow will be our first official day at Sundance with watching films, so I'm excited

1 Day!

I thought I would take a break from packing to update the blog. I have to say, I still can't believe I'm going to Sundance. This experience will be fantastic and I'm excited to spend time with the team from Taylor. There are 7 films we will all be seeing at various times and we ranked 8 other films.

Guaranteed Films:
-Shorts Program IV (A collection of short films)
-The Dry Land
James returns from Iraq to face a new battle-reintegrating into his small-town life in Texas. His wife, his mother, and his friend provide support, but they can't fully understand the pain and suffering he feels since his tour of duty ended. Lonely, James reconnects with an army buddy, who provides him with compassion and camaraderie during his battle to process his experiences in Iraq. But their reunion also exposes the different ways that war affects people-at least on the surface.
-Obselidia
-Dramatic Grand Prize Winner (Yet to be determined)
-Cane Toads: The Conquest
It's all about toads. In 3-D...
-12 & Delaware
-Restrepo

I will reveal the other films as I see them. I'm looking forward to seeing The Dry Land because I feel like it will give us a picture as to how those in uniform adjust to life back home, which I think is invaluable. We will be apart of the Windrider Forum which takes place in a church. The church opens their doors during Sundance and we'll be apart of the discussion as filmmakers come in a talk to us about what we've seen. Both filmmakers from 12th & Delaware will be there one morning and we'll be able to interact with them, as well as the other directors who come talk to us.

Over the last two days the team has been together most of time getting to know each other and learning how to digest and discuss films. It's been a very good two days because of what all we've learned. We also had two professors come talk to us about Mormons since Salt Lake City is Mormon-central, so to speak. It was very interesting. I'm not sure how many Mormons will be around Sundance, but it's good to know anyway.

We leave for the airport in about 12 hours exactly! Now to finish the packing...

3 Days!

It still seems weird to me that I am going to THE Sundance Film Festival. It's such an incredible opportunity to take advantage of. Today and tomorrow will be orientation related activities and getting ready for the trip. Then Saturday is a free day and then we leave 3 am on Sunday!

This morning has mostly been getting to know each other more than just recognizing everyone. We also heard from a few students who had gone in the past two years, their experiences, and what to expect. It was a very informative time. The condo we have is also very nice. On January 4th we found out the condo we they had signed for us in July was taken because they had cancelled our reservation because of miscommunication, mostly on their part. So we got a better condo for the same price as a result, which is nice of them to do.

This afternoon we'll be watching a movie or portions of a couple movies. I'm not quite sure. And then I believe tonight we will be looking at all the films we have tickets for picking our top four we want to go to. All the tickets that were purchased in our name go into a 'pile' so to speak and then we can choose our top 4. So the ones I had previously listed as ones I'm going to might not necessarily be the ones I am going to. We should know what we're going to watch by tomorrow or Saturday at the very latest.

Most, if not all, of us will actually see a film Sunday afternoon after we get there so we get right into things! We'll be watching 14-15 films during the week and we will probably only have room for one or two more if we really wanted to see something. It'll definitely be exhausting, but it's such a great experience, so I'm perfectly fine with that!

8 Days

4 movies to reveal. Like I said in my previous post, I know of two movies in my top 5 list that I will be seeing. It includes #4 Restrepo and #1 A Film Unfinished. I'm very excited to see what these movies have in store and what I can learn and experience through them. I will also be seeing the grand prize for the dramatic section. I do not yet know what movie this will be, but I assume it will be after judging and we'll know later. Here are my next two movies I will see.

Small Act (U.S. Documentary)
As an impoverished boy in Kenya, Chris Mburu's life was dramatically changed when an anonymous Swedish woman sponsored his primary and secondary education. Now a Harvard-educated human-rights lawyer, he hopes to replicate the generosity he once received by founding his own scholarship fund to aid a new generation. The challenges Mburu faces instituting his new program seem at times insurmountable but lead him down the path to discovery. Who is Hilde Back, the person who signed the checks that gave him a chance to succeed? With clarity and grace, Jennifer Arnold's film bears cinematic witness to the lasting ramifications of a small ripple of human kindness. Using a strong narrative thread, she unearths fascinating accounts and weaves them together seamlessly. It doesn't hurt that her subjects have pure motivations and back stories to match. The secret of A Small Act was destined to be discovered, if only to remind and inspire others to take such a chance-and change a life.

Skateland (U.S. Drama)
It's 1983, and Skateland, the roller rink and local hangout of a small town, is becoming a fading memory of an earlier time, when disco and roller-skating were king. The party scene is getting stale, and 19-year-old Ritchie's romantic life is as cloudy as his future. He struggles to make sense of it all, and decisions do not come easily to the carefree young man. When tragedy strikes his friends and family, Ritchie must face the music-and make the biggest decision of his life. Without the benefit of a studio budget or name casting, Anthony Burns and Brandon and Heath Freeman captures the '80s in startling detail. The result: a cinematic scrapbook of a time and place, a visceral visual, and an aural experience that reclaims the decade for those of us lucky enough to have lived through it once. While the atmosphere is time specific, the themes of the joys and pains of growing up are universal.

Small Act is one of those films made for a greater purpose than perhaps two hours of entertainment. That kind of generosity is not unheard of, but it's special when you do. It reminds me of the movie Pay It Forward. I'm hoping this movie will be just as good. It's an interesting idea and I hope they can pull it off well. Skateland sounds interesting. I'm intrigued by it. It sounds like it could be good. I guess we'll have to see.

The days get closer and I becoming more and more excited.

12 Days

I know of 8 movies that I'm going to see at Sundance so far. After reading the summaries, I have to say, I'm pretty excited about it. Two of the 8 were in my top 5 and I'll reveal those and the rest of the movies I know next post.

Obselidia (U.S. Drama)
Believing he's the last door-to-door encyclopedia salesman in the world, George decides to write The Obselidia, a compendium of obsolete things. George believes that love, among other things, is obsolete. In his quest to document nearly extinct occupations, he befriends Sophie, a beautiful cinema projectionist who works at a silent movie theatre. Sophie believes the world's population will be obliterated by irreversible climate change by the year 2100, the two must face the question, if the world is going to disappear tomorrow, how are we going to live today? Obselidia offers a rare and humane lens through which we can view a world increasingly preoccupied with and inhabited by extinction.

Life 2.0 (Documentary Spotlight)
Every day, across all corners of the globe, hundreds of thousands of users log ont Second Life, a virtual online world not entirely unlike our own. They enter a new reality, whose inhabitants assume alternate personas in the form of avatars-digital alter egos that can be sculpted and manipulated to the heart's desire, representing reality, fantasy, or a healthy mix of both. Within this alternate landscape, escapism abounds, relationships are formed, and a real-world economy thrives, effectively blurring the lines between reality and "virtual" reality. Director Jason Spingarn-Koff digs deeply into the core of basic human interaction by assuming his own avatar and immersing himself in the worlds of Second Life residents, whose real lives have been drastically transformed by the new lives they lead in cyberspace. In doing so, he manages to create an intimate, character-based drama that focuses us to question not only who we are, but who we long to be.

It's a Wonderful Afterlife (World Premiere, Comedy)
with nods to Frank Capra, ghost stories, murder mysteries, and screwball comedies, Gurinder Chadha whips up an irreverent caper about the pressures on Indian women to tie the know. Set in West Londong, the film centers on Mrs. Sethi, a doting Punjabi mother obsessively seeking a suitor for her appealing, but (heaven forbid!) rapidly aging, daughter, Roopie. When a string of curious murders involving poisonous curries and chapati dough begins to rattle the neighborhood, things really start to heat up. Detectives and ghosts trample through the Sethi household, Roopie's love live gets an injection of excitement, too. Nothing in this supernatural escapade is as it seems as spicy truths unspool and fate takes its madcap course.

All of these movies sound interesting, but I'm especially interested in Life 2.0. I think it will be an eye-opening movie about how significant number of people use this world to be what they wanted to be in their real life. It will bring up a lot of questions no doubt about role playing games in general, but especially Second Life. Obselidia sounds interesting in that I'm curious to see what is considered to be obsolete and the questions the movie raises. I can't say I was jumping up and down about It's a Wonderful Afterlife, but who knows, it could be a good movie. I'll just need to wait and see.

16 Days

And to think I started my countdown at 90. It's taken a long time to get to 16 days, but it makes the wait seem more worth it.

I've watched a lot of movies throughout my break and I must say, the more I see, the more I have grown to love movies. They can give you a small picture of a life you might not experience otherwise. It can show the director's unique style or the cinematographer's artistic skill and mastery. But above all, it can cause you to learn more about yourself. I'm not saying watch movies 24/7, that's not healthy, but by watching movies you become more knowledgeable with life's situations and you learn a little bit more about yourself as you see various characters on screen that remind you of you. It's an interesting position, but take advantage of a movie and what it has to offer, even if it might not be much.

Some of the most interesting films/TV shows I've seen in the past few weeks:
The Blind Side
At first, I was skeptical going into this movie because I'd heard so many good things from a variety of people. You'd think I would the more good things I hear, the higher expectations I would have for it, but that's not the case. Usually when I hear a lot of people like a movie, I ask why and they might say the story, or the actors, or the action, or just one dimension of a film. What makes a good movie, is all of those put together. A movie cannot rely on just the action or just the actors or else it lacks and is not a complete story or adventure. I had only heard it was a moving story, so I wanted to see what else The Blind Side had to offer. I was surprised as I sat and watched the film and became immersed into the plot and the emotion involved. At the end I sat there for a second thinking about the movie and finally said, "that was a good movie." But then I started to think about why I thought it was good. The movie tapped into your emotion and gradually began pulling it along for the ride, which surprised me. I was continually touched by Sandra Bullock's character and the love she showed Michael. I wasn't expecting the family to be so accepting nor so loyal through the trials they faced. Bullock did an excellent job of acting and being her character, which is partly why the movie was as good as it was. The screenplay and plot were built with thought and care, which is reflected in the final product. Overall, it was a surprising movie filled with funny moments, good characters, and great story.

Julie & Julia
I loved this movie. A lot it had to do with how fantastic of a job Meryl Streep did as Julia Child. Her performances continue to astound me. She deserves an oscar for her performance. If she doesn't get it, I won't be happy. I read somewhere that she should just be guaranteed to get one and then pick another actress as well. I completely agree with that statement. Meryl Streep perfected Julia Child's mannerisms and the plenty other quirks she had. It was a joy to watch her on screen and to see Julia Child's journey. Amy Adams played Julie Powell quite well and was able to convincingly play a housewife going through Julia Child's cookbook. The only part I didn't care for was how they wrapped up the movie. I felt they could have done a much better job with more of a distinct ending. Other than that, I felt it was done well, especially with Meryl Streep. I would definitely recommend it to anyone, but especially anyone who loves Meryl Streep.

August Rush
It's a few years old, but August Rush is one of my favorites and I hadn't seen it in a long time. I absolutely love the music. It's one of my favorite soundtracks. It's creative and upbeat. I love the story of this movie. It's so beautiful to have a boy do what he loves in order to find his parents, which is what brought his parents together in the first place. My only gripe about the movie is at the end when everything is building up, it's a little anti-climatic when that moment finally arrives. It's still beautiful, don't get me wrong, but I was expecting a little more. I tried not to give too much information if you haven't seen it. The story and the music together definitely make the movie and a good any time movie.

I just thought I'd mention a couple highlights of things I've seen. Next post I'll talk mention a few of the movies I know I will be seeing. I'm getting pretty excited for it!

Top 50 Films of the Decade and 20 Days

In honor of a new decade, I thought I'd create my top 50 movies that came out between 2000 and 2009. It took quite a while to make this list, but after completing it, I feel it accurately describes my favorite movies. It was hard to make and rank because there are so many good movies out there, but it was also fun to do.

1 The Dark Knight
2 Slumdog Millionaire
3 Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
4 State of Play
5 Catch Me If You Can
6 A Beautiful Mind
7 August Rush
8 Pearl Harbor
9 Bourne Ultimatum
10 Iron Man
11 Gladiator
12 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
13 Ocean's Eleven
14 The Italian Job
15 The Holiday
16 The Prestige
17 Julie & Julia
18 Law Abiding Citizen
19 There Will Be Blood
20 Freedom Writers
21 Counte of Monte Cristo
22 Pirates of the Caribbean
23 (500) Days of Summer
24 Minority Report
25 Cinderella Man
26 Million Dollar Baby
27 Mystic River
28 Breach
29 Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince
30 Remember the Titans
31 The Incredibles
32 Cars
33 Crash
34 Enchanted
35 Casino Royale
36 Dan in Real Life
37 Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire
38 The Blind Side
39 Harry Potter and Sorcerer's Stone
40 Frost/Nixon
41 Seven Pounds
42 Batman Begins
43 Paycheck
44 Lord of the Rings: Two Towers
45 Ratatouille
46 The Majestic
47 Munich
48 Bolt
49 Taken
50 The Pianist

So that's my list. I haven't seen Avatar yet, but when I do, I imagine it will make this list. I hope you enjoyed my list. If there are any movies you think I should have put in my list, let me know and I might reconsider. My next post will be about Sundance again previewing another movie I think would be interesting to see.