Top 10 Movies of 2008

This review consists of my top 10 movies that I have enjoyed during my free time this year.

Being a Cinema professional I deal with many aspects of filmmaking almost every day.

In this article though I wish to concentrate to pure watching pleasure and leave my professional outlook aside.

Without shame I can admit that my favourite genre for cinema viewing is Romance. I just love to relax and immerse myself into the emotional abyss, to let the characters lead me through their heartaches and happy days. So, here goes: the movies that I have really enjoyed and thus qualify to my top 10 of 2008 are, in no specific order of preference:

Definitely, Maybe (IMDB) by Adam Brooks, starring Ryan Reynolds as Will Hayes and Abigail Breslin as Maya Hayes. Definitely, Maybe is told from an angle of an 11-year old girl, Maya, whose father is envoloping her into a detective story, dealing with his life during the younger years. Three episodes are presented, each dealing with a different phase with a new girlfriend. It is up to Maya to figure out which one of the three became her mother. There is also a substory: Maya's parents are about to divorce and by asking her father to tell about how he met her mother, she feels that she could make her father to rediscover the feelings of how it felt like when falling in love with her and thus to join the family back together. Jack and Jill vs. the World (IMDB) by Vanessa Parise, starring Freddie Prinze Jr. as Jack and Taryn Manning as Jill. Jack and Jill paint such a fairytale through their opposing characters, but the film does have also some deeper tones that I felt were paying homage to the epitomy of all romantic movies, the "Love Story" by Arthur Hiller, released in 1971. Made of Honor (IMDB) by Paul Weiland, featuring Patrick Dempsey as Thomas 'Tom' Bailey and Michelle Monaghan as Hannah. When it is almost too late, Tom finally comes to realization that he wants the eternity with Hannah, his best friend for the past ten years. By then Hannah is already about to marry another. Tom finds himself galloping through the highlands and gets there, just in time! In Search of a Midnight Kiss (IMDB) is, in my opinion, the romantic indie movie of the year! Directed by Alex Holdridge the film features Scoot McNairy as Wilson and Sara Simmonds as Vivian. As the title may reveal the film takes place around the New Year's Eve. Wilson and Vivian meet through an internet matchmaking site, Craig's List. They share a short-lived contemporary love story in Los Angeles, where nothing can be even close to perfection, but yet they still manage to find their perfect Kiss at the threshold to the New Year.

Sex and the City (IMDB) by Michael Patrick King, starring Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw, Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones, Kristin Davis as Charlotte York and Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes. Against all prior prejudice I decided to see the Sex and the City and must admit that it was much better than I previously expected! As 2008 was so poor for romance in film, I must include Sex and the City to my top 10. 27 Dresses (IMDB) by Anne Fletcher starts by the maxim: always a bridesmade, never a bride. The protagonist Jane has 27 dresses in her cupboard that she has worn to 27 weddings as a bridesmade. Jane is very career orientated and secretly in love with her boss, George, who unshamelessly exploits her infatuation without responding to her feelings before it is too late. In a tangle of twists George also almost ends up marrying Jane's sister. But what happend to Jane? She meets Kevin, a reporter, and through quite an emotional rollercoaster these two find that they were meant for each other. Scusa ma ti chiamo Amore (IMDB) by Federico Moccia is my European choice of romance this year. Alex, an advertising professional aged 37 and Niki, a highschool student aged 17 work their passionate way through torments, intimacy and separations, to later find themselves in each others arms again. This time it would seem to be for real. I enjoyed this little Italian flair with all the Canzoni Amore on the soundtrack. If you are a true aficionado, you will perhaps find a nostalgic stir through the voice of Vasco Rossi, when he asks "Quanti anni hai stasera, quanti me ne dai...bambina..." Just add Water (IMDB) by Hart Bochner, starring Dylan Walsh as Ray Tuckby and Tracy Middendorf as Nora. An austere love story, located in a dead-end town near the Death Valley, CA, where one man has to grow and raise the whole community around him as well, in order to find place for true happiness. Pretty in Red "Excerpts from my Life" an autobiographical film by Stella Oliveros presents us with a double-life where the colour Red has the power to turn a young woman, shy and simple into a different persona: charming and sexy. Elegy (IMDB) by Isabel Coixet, so beautifully poetic and touching. The atmosphere of the film is elated by two great talents: Penélope Cruz as Consuela Castillo and Sir Ben Kingsley as David Kepesh. These two have thirty four years in beween them. We are also truly spoiled by having Dennis Hopper joining in, playing the role of George O'Hearn, a poet and Kepesh's confident. Isabel Coixet tells us the unlikely love story in a poignant manner that stays strongly with you. In this view, life is about accepting the changes, whatever the dramatics, come your way.