Here are my favourite DVDs of the year:
1. The Lives of Others -masterful, poetic, a German language film with a powerful plot line about love, despair, surveilance and omniscience. This was my favourite film of the year.
2. The Waitress – quirky, sweet but not saccharine take this film, add an evening off and a large apple pie and you have a recipe for a real treat. (Not yet available in the UK – except on NTSC disc). See here for my fuller review.
3. Volver (the return)- Penelope Cruz, a murder and the ghost of her mother – what more could you ask for? This is a fantastic Spanish language film exploring the depth of female friendship across the generations.
4. Babel – so it wasn’t as good as crash – still a powerful global tale of getting lost in translation. Still a haunting movie – see my review here.
5. The Painted Veil – a great argument for making divorce more difficult.
6. Zodiac – chilling and fascinating true life murder mystery.
7. The Hoax -an interesting exploration of identity – starring Richard Gere. See my review.
8. Bourne Ultimatum -OK so the plot wasn’t as good as the first two films – still a taut action thriller.
9. Last King of Scotland – a wonderful study on unrestrained ego and lack of accountability. Very graphic – not for the faint hearted. See my review.
10. 300 – visually stunning.
Best of the Box Sets:
Heroes – my favourite new show of the year. Great suspense. Interesting ideas – what makes us human? How do we relate to the marginalised. Time bending philosophical issues and some good laughs too.
BattleStar Gallactica Series 3 Box Set (if you’ve missed this series – now is the time to buy in – its nothing like the original series with Dirk Benedict from the A-team. There are some big philosophical, moral and political questions being asked each week. The good news is that the first few series are cheap on amazon and there’s a feature length movie episode out now too.) It’s as cheap to buy the triple box set as to buy series 3 at the moment.
24 – Series 6 -still a fan of Jack Bauer – ok there’s too much torture – but the pace and breadth of the plot lines keep me watching. I loved this show so much I wrote a book called Twenty Four to think through the implications of faith for a heroic everyday life.
Lost – Series 1,2 and 3 – it could go horribly wrong just like ALIAS but at the moment I’m still on board for this mystique masterpiece.
House Series 1 - finally discovered what all the fuss was about and now am addicted. OK so they are a little formulaic -just like CSI you are watching the first few minutes to see who is going to keel over and need some challenging treatment from the lovable yet obnoxious Dr House. This series combines the best of a soap opera with the best of ER and Greys Anatomy. A real winner. There is a health warning on this show – you may find yourself becoming a hypochondriac or just become plain addicted.
