List: 10 Endings That Made Me Cry (Spoilers!)

I love an ending that makes me cry, but only if it is for the right reasons. The tears have to come because I feels in touch with all the characters and the situation that they have just gone through. And this is not easy to come by these days. Sure, I have cried more than 10 times during the last two years, but sometimes it feels like you have to cry because they are putting down the dog, or because so and so dies of cancer. I’m not saying that I should not cry, but when the movie is over and I analyze what I just saw, the tears weren’t really justified.

So, I thought about the 10 most memorable times I’ve cried at the end of a movie or television show narrowed them down to 10. Most of them are recent movies or shows, with a couple of exceptions, but that’s because, they are fresher in my mind.

So, here are the 10 ending that made me cry (in alphabetical order):

The Decade in Review: The Best and Worst Oscar Winners (Per Category)

Now that we know who came out victorious at the 82nd annual Academy Awards, I thought it was a perfect time to make the list of the best and worst Oscar winners of the decade per category. It wasn’t hard coming up with them since the Academy tends to reward lesss-than-worhty features all time, which makes it easier for the good ones to stick out.

In each category I’ve listed what I think are the best and the worst choices the Academy made, and a reason why they are on the list. I skipped the Documentary and the short categories and I have not seen enough to make a judgement.

Without further ado, here are my pick for the best and worst Oscar winners of the decade.

Review: The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones | Peter Jackson, 2009

Like with A Serious Man, I couldn’t make up my mid right away about how much, if at all, I had liked The Lovely Bones. It is by no means a perfect movie. But after reflecting on it for a little bit, I can say that my most anticipated movie of the year delivered, although it is not quite what I was expecting, and that it did not deserve to be critically panned. However, I can see why people would not like it.

Based on the novel by Alice Sebold, movie tells the story of Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan), a typical 14-year-old girl. However, one day she gets killed by her neighbor, Mr. Harvey (Stanley Tucci). Then we see the rest of the story through her eyes, as she sees things in the “in-between.” We also see how she copes with her murder and tries to move. on.

There are two things that keep this movie from being my favorite movie of the year: the poor character development, and the characterization of Mr. Harvey. In the book, we see the character that are still alive go through years of trying to move on from the murder as well as the father trying to solve the murder when the police has given up.  In the book, the fact that the mother leaves her family has a bigger impact than it does in the movie. Pretty much every character in the movie does not measure up to how they were in the book. The one character the does get enough development in the movies is Mr. Harvey, yet how is portrayed affected the credibility of the script. The way I pictured him in the book, although he is a loner, he is not the type of guy you would suspect to do something like that. Yet, in the movie he is the most obvious pedophile I could not help but wonder why he wasn’t the number one suspect just based on his appearance, creepy hobbies, and creepy behavior. With that said, the good thing outweigh the bad.

First off, Saoirse Ronan is excellent in this. Her work in this, Atonement, and City of Ember show that she is without a doubt the best young actress working right now (sorry Dakota Fanning). The rest of the cast despite the lack of things to do really good work, even Mark Walbergh. As for Stanley Tucci, he was was very good, but his Oscar nomination should have been for Julie & Julia.

Technically, the movie is impeccable. Peter Jackson’s vision, although rough at times, was perfect for the story. The scenes in heaven are beautiful thanks to the great visual effects. The cinematography, the art direction, the costumes, the score, all brilliant.

The Lovely Bones is an extremely flawed film, but the power of the story remains, and that is all that matters. It could have been better, but as it stands it is one of the best movies of the year.

The Decade in Review: Top 10 Scores

A music score can sometimes make or break a movie. It can make it by supporting the story of the film and making us feel what the character are feeling. It can break it by being overpowering and distracting the audience from the screen or for feeling out of place.

There are times when the music not only aids the movie, but also stands on it’s own as something you can listen to often and bring back what you felt during the movie. That is what all the scores in this list have in common. These are the scores that not only sound fantastic, but also made me feel something and made me remember them long after the movie was over

Here are my top 10 scores of the decade:

(click on the links to listen to my favorite track from each score)

The Decade in Review: Top 50 Films, Part One (41-50)

Finally, we are at the beginning of the new decade, and the point where where we look back at what happened during the previous one. One of the things that stand out for me, was the discovery of my love for film. It happened during my first week of 8th grade.

By that point I already knew that films were just more than just entertainment after I read Louis Sachar’s “Holes” and then watched the movie. I loved both and it made me look more into film making. However, it was during that week, after reading a play version of “The Phantom of the Opera,” when we watched the 1925 version of that same title starring Lon Chaney. Most of my classmates dozed off during the movie, but I was fascinated by the sets, the make-up, and especially Chaney’s performance. That same year, the movie version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical came out, and I went to see it the day it opened in my town and I was also fascinated then (eventually I saw it’s flaws, but I still love it).

This led me to follow that year’s Oscar race, which led the watch the Oscar nominated films, which led me to discover the nominees previous film, and so on. Today, I start my review of the 50 films that have made an impact on me this decade. Over the following five lists, there will no doubt be some titles that will rub some readers the wrong way, but they are here because I love them.

So without further ado, here are numbers 41-50 of my favorite movies of the decade:

Review: Pride & Prejudice (2005)

It is exciting to see a new director take on an ambitious challenge because it proves how far their career might go. One such challenge would be adapting a beloved novel that has been adapted many times before, including one that is considered the ultimate, into a refreshing take on the story. Joe Wright decided to take on this challenge by adapting Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, and he succeeded.

P&P is the story of Elizabeth Bennet, a head-strong woman who believes that she will never marry because there will never be a man good enough for her. One day, however, her world changes as Mr. Bingley, a single and wealthy young man, arrives to their town, and with him come his best friend, Mr. Darcy. Mr. Darcy has the same thoughts about marriage. The two of them hate each other from the get-go, but that only makes them love each other more. Then, with help from destiny, and Elizabeth’s mom attempt to make her eldest daughter, Jane,  to become Mrs. Bingley, they will end up together.

As I’ve said before, Joe Wright’s direction makes the movie. He, as well as his screen writer, was able to take a dull novel (in my opinion) into a fast and entertaining movie. Also, it stand apart from the other adaptations because it is not as glamourous. The costumes and sets, although beautiful do not distract from the story or character. The also more fit to the setting, that is a small town in England where things aren’t very glamourous.

The area where he succeeds the most, however, is in getting great performances from the entire cast. No one, from Kelly Reilly to Brenda Blethyn, seems like they are acting. There are no problems with line delivery, no one (that I notice) looks at the camera or over acts because they are in a period piece. The stand out performance, however, comes from Keira Knigtley. Here she gives the best performance of her career so far. She completely embodies the seemingly head-strong and clever, yet sentimentally fragile personality of Elizabeth Bennet. There is no false note in her performance. Her Oscar nomination was well deserved, and she should have won too. Apart from the great performances, costumes, and sets, the film also features breathtaking cinematography from Roman Osin and a great score from Dario Marianelli.

After this, Wright went on to make the even better Atonement. But if he had not decided to take on this project, that would not have been as great a movie as it is. Thanks to P&P, there is a director that is likely to leave his mark in cinema history.