27147182
Every year at this time, I trot out my 10-best list and every year I have the same problem: What do I put on it?
Some movies cry out to be included and others have to wrestle for the privilege. Each December, I trot out the same disclaimer too: I only see 52 movies a year, so don’t burn me in effigy if your favorite isn’t here.
In the Valley of Elah
Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron and Susan Sarandon. Directed/written by Paul Haggis.
One of the first of this year’s much-ballyhooed antiwar movies isn’t antiwar as much as pro-family.
Jones, in an Oscar-worthy performance, amazes as Hank Deerfield, a retired Army sergeant whose son has just returned from Iraq and is now missing. When his son turns up dead, Hank wants answers.
Theron, who also is great, plays the police detective who helps him find what he needs, while Sarandon shines in a relatively small role.
Gone Baby Gone
Starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman and Amy Ryan.
Ben Affleck’s auspicious directorial debut is nothing short of the best neo-noir film to come down the pike in a long time. OK, it’s not "Chinatown," but it is a beautifully crafted, well-cast piece of storytelling.
Ben’s brother Casey also does well playing Patrick Kenzie, a small-time Boston private eye who gets the case of his life when a little girl goes missing. Watch for Ryan as the girl’s less-than-loving mom.
August Rush
Starring Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Terrence Howard and Robin Williams. Directed by Kirsten Sheridan.
A moving, modern-day fairy tale, "August Rush" is one of those movies that, if you let it take you where it wants to go, you’ll be amazed where you end up.
Highmore plays musical prodigy August Rush, whose parents have a one-night stand and never see each other again. August is on a quest to find them, and this takes him to a lot of amazing places, all of them in New York City.
Waitress
Starring Keri Russell, Adrienne Shelly and Andy Griffith. Directed/written by Shelly.
Shelly was murdered in her Greenwich Village apartment more than a year ago. That is tragic unto itself, but what makes it more sad is she could have been a major force in movies. Exhibit A is "Waitress," which is a whimsical but not frothy examination of a life well-lived and the choices we all must make sooner or later.
Music and Lyrics
Starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. Directed by Marc Lawrence.
Whoever said romantic comedy is dead didn’t see "Music and Lyrics," a delightful example of the genre.
Grant plays a has-been 1980s’ British rock star reduced to playing high school reunions and amusement parks. All that changes when a teen vixen superstar (think Britney without the baggage) asks him to write a song for her new CD. Barrymore plays the substitute plant-waterer who wins his heart.
The Kingdom
Starring Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper and Jennifer Garner. Directed by Peter Berg.
Although ads portrayed "The Kingdom" as a high-octane action movie, it’s more like "Syriana" on steroids.
Foxx plays the head of a crack team of FBI agents given permission to secretly slip into Saudi Arabia when a terrorist attack shatters an American community. Berg’s surprisingly thoughtful film has a lot to say about current events and how we’re all really the same, as trite as that may sound.
Blades of Glory
Starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. Directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck.
Yet another magnificently silly movie that works, despite or because of how silly it is.
Ferrell, who probably has a huge following in France, is like Jerry Lewis minus the pretense. He is one of the most fearless comedians out there, if not the most fearless. Here, he plays a banned figure skater who pairs with another banned figure skater (Heder) to take on the ice world. Silly, but wall-to-wall funny.
![](http://ftp.gmnews.com/images/media.southphillyreview.com/images/spr-6451-Movie-pix.jpg")
Ratatouille
Starring the voices of Patton Oswalt, Peter O’Toole and Lou Romano. Directed by Brad Bird.
Yet another smash from our friends at Pixar.
Bird, the semi-genius behind "The Incredibles," gives us a charming look at Paris that resembles an old MGM musical from the ’50s — except they usually didn’t have realistic-looking cartoon rats in them.
If you can get past the rodent factor, "Ratatouille" is a funny, utterly magical movie. The kitchen scenes are Warner Bros. meets Rube Goldberg.
Redacted
Starring Izzy Diaz, Rob Devaney and Kel O’Neill. Directed by Brian De Palma.
After floundering for what seemed like years, De Palma is back with a vengeance with this highly charged movie that makes no bones about his stance on the Iraq War.
Centered around a small squad of soldiers whose job is to monitor vehicles and pedestrians coming through a checkpoint, "Redacted" is brutal and hard to watch, but it also has guts, which is something we don’t see enough of.
The Simpsons Movie
Starring the voices of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner and Hank Azaria. Directed by David Silverman.
I debated whether or not this should go on the list. Is it as artful as "Ratatouille"? No, but it’s one of the funniest movies of the year.
The producers of the timeless animated sitcom waited years to get this on the big screen and it was worth the wait.
