Monday, December 29, 2008

Sarah's Top 8 Netflix for 2008

8. Juno
At this point I think everyone on Earth has seen Juno, so I probably don't need to discuss it. It was a cute, funny movie and I loved it.

7. Back to the Future trilogy
Okay, I know that Back to the Future came out when I was really little, and my brother and I probably watched it once a week for most of our early childhood. But I hadn't seen it in years until it arrived at my house. And unlike many movies of my youth, it was just as great now as it was then. Although I don't remember Michael J. Fox as being quite so short, he's still pretty awesome!

6. Enchanted
I love Disney movies and I'm not afraid to admit it, so I thought the idea of a live action movie in the Disney cartoon style was a pretty good idea. Turns out I was right! This was adorable, but then again, I love musicals, so it might not be as enjoyable to others as it was for me...

5. Idiocracy
This was a random movie that Netflix recommended for me, and when I saw Luke Wilson in it, I figured I'd watch it. Not a perfect movie by any means, but I laughed at the premise of stupid people procreating like rabbits, while smart people were putting off the miracle of childbirth because the timing wasn't right, or other reasons. So in the distant future, the world is full of dumb people because of natural selection, and an average person from our time becomes the smartest person on Earth. Kind of horrific, but look around you and it seems pretty plausible!

4. Gracie
I'll admit that Gracie didn't turn out as I was expecting. I was waiting for a feel-good soccer movie, like Bend it Like Beckham. I didn't anticipate a movie about a girl who wanted to play soccer on the boys' team, and the resistance that she faced. But I was born a few years after Title IX made it illegal not to give a girl a chance at the boys' team if there was no girls' team for her to play on. I cried a bit during the movie. Well, actually the crying started fairly close to the beginning, but I won't spill any secrets!

3. Penelope
Penelope stars Christina Ricci as a girl cursed with the nose of a pig, who believes she needs to find true love to have the curse broken. Christina Ricci was so cute that I had a hard time believing that people would be so repulsed by her, but I loved the movie anyway. It had that fairy tale feeling to it, almost as if it could be a cartoon, and it was beautifully made. And because of this movie, I'm developing a little crush on James McAvoy, which means I may have to rethink my dislike of Becoming Jane, where I thought he was too short to play Jane Austen's inspiration!

2. The Corpse Bride
This was one of my "Halloween" movies, which are required to involve something like skeletons, ghosts, or ghouls, but not be scary, as I hate having my sleeping patterns disturbed by illogical thoughts that I'm going to be hacked to death with a chain saw, or locked in a basement by a crazy serial killer. (I have a pretty active imagination that requires little stimulation, so a full-out scary movie could ruin my nights for weeks!) Anyhow, this movie was absolutely awesome, and now is on my list of favorite movies of all time. Despite the fact that Tim Burton himself is a little scary...

1. Bride & Prejudice
I love movies about India, because their culture is so beautiful, and I love anything about Jane Austen, because she's basically just awesome all around. So a retelling of Pride & Prejudice set in modern times in India is about as awesome a movie as you could make, especially since the director was responsible for Bend it Like Beckham, which remains one of my favorite movies ever. Elizabeth Bennet becomes a super smart Indian girl who meets her Mr. Darcy, a super rich American. Pretty much everyone in the book is there in one form or another, and it's really quite wonderful. Unless you hate Bollywood-type movies, or Jane Austen. But how could you?

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