Entertainment Today and Beyond

10. Rocky Balboa – 2006. Thirty-one years after the 1976 original classic, Sylvester Stallone comes back in style to create a perfect bookend to one of the great characters in America’s pop-culture. The film’s big highlights include Rocky’s speech to the boxing commission on the state of his boxing license and the montage training sequence featuring a 59-year-old Rocky Balboa which is priceless. I must admit I got chills watching it in a movie theater! Please Sly go out on a high note and keep your promise of no more Rocky movies! This is the way it should end.

9. School of Rock – 2003. Jack Black certainly made a strong impact throughout the decade and the one movie that fit him like a glove was School of Rock, a highly entertaining film that was to Black what “Animal House” was to John Belushi and what “Back to School” was to Rodney Dangerfield. A perfect fit to a comic actor’s talent. It’s one of those movies that you can’t help but watch with a grin from ear to ear. School of Rock is a pure pleasure. 

8. Dawn of the Dead - Zack Snyder’s 2004 re-imagining of Romero’s classic doesn’t define the greatness of the original but it was quite good
and one of the very best horror efforts of the decade. While Sara Polley and Ving Rhames turned in solid performances, I thought actor Jake Weber gave the film a surprising heart. I find myself watching this move a few times a year.

 7. Moulin Rouge - This 2001 romantic musical film by Baz Luhrmann is a wildly inventive concotion that entertains throughout. It tells the story of a  British poet/writer, Christian (Ewan McGregor), who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman). Not all of it works but what does (a majority of it) is tremendously entertaining and very original in its approach.

6. There Will be Blood – 2007.  A totally compelling tale of obsession with Daniel Day Lewis giving perhaps the performance of the decade. While many actors get into a role, Lewis simply consumes the character of Daniel Plainview. A compelling and fascinating watch.

5. Unbreakable – 2000.  I hate to call a movie ‘misunderstood’ but, in the case of Unbreakable, it’s quite appropriate. This is perhaps the greatest and most original superhero origin story ever put on film. The problem is that it was never marketed as a superhero film and that really perplexed many moviegoers upon initial release. Bruce Willis and Sam Jackson are in top form here and the score is just brilliant. M. Night Shylaman certainly had his mojo going strong when he made this. While underappreciated by the masses, many movie buffs regard it as a classic and I’m in that camp. “THEY CALL ME MR. GLASS”

4. Gran Torino – 2008.  Clint Eastwood’s Walt Kowalski character is truly memorable and should go down in movie lore the way John Wayne’s John Bernard Books character is remembered for his last film, “The Shootist”. There is certainly one major similarity between the two characters and that’s the way they chose to go out in both these film’s last act. As a lifelong Eastwod fan, it’s hard not to love this movie.

3. Million Dollar Baby – 2004.   Clint Eastwood’s Oscar winning tragic tale about the bond between a veteran down and out trainer and an amateur female boxer looking to prove herself. Hilary Swank was born to play her role as Maggie Fitzgerald, a part that won her a second Academy award and Clint’s never been better! I saw this three times in the theater – I liked it that much.

2. Sicko – 2007.  Easily one of the most important films of the decade, Michael Moore’s look at the U.S healthcare system is a fascinating and one film I can watch over and over again, and get something out of it each time. No matter what side of the aisle you are politically, this film deserves to be seen by everyone.  

1. The Dark Knight – 2008.  In my opinion Chris Nolan should have won the Oscar for best director as this was the best film of 2008 – period. It was a thoroughly compelling, brilliantly realized effort and pop art in its highest form. The late Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker is nothing short of brilliant. While I can’t wait to see a further installment from director Nolan, it will be a mighty feat indeed if he can equal the greatness of this mov