My Favorite Movies Of 2011

There were a lot of amazing tributes to the films of yesteryear. It's nice to see Hollywood remember itself. Nostalgia is a good thing.

1. Hugo - Martin Scorsese
2. The Descendants - Alexander Payne
3. Bridesmaids - Paul Feig
4. Drive - Nicolas Refn
5. Rango - Gore Verbinski
6. Young Adult - Jason Reitman (Ivan Reitman's kid)
7. Limitless - Neil Burger
8. Source Code - Duncan Jones (David Bowie's kid)
9. Melancholia - Lars Von Trier
10. Crazy, Stupid, Love. - Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
11. The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius
12. Midnight In Paris - Woody Allen
13. Contagion - Steven Soderbergh
14. 50/50 - Jonathan Levine
15. Take Shelter - Jeff Nichols
16. Weekend - Andrew Haigh
17. Lincoln Lawyer - Brad Furman
18. Attack The Block - Joe Cornish
19. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes - Rupert Wyatt
20. Captain America: The First Avenger - Joe Johnston

My honorable mentions were good films, but I also felt were massively overrated: The King's Speech and Tree Of Life. And let's not even discuss Meek's Cutoff.

My Favorite Movies Of 2010

1. The Social Network
2. Exit Through The Gift Shop
3. Inception
4. Toy Story 3
5. The Kids Are All Right
6. Kick-Ass
7. 127 Hours
8. Inside Job/The Tillman Story
9. Greenberg
10. Catfish
11. How To Tame Your Dragon/Tangled
12. Blue Valentine
13. Ghost Writer
14. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Pt.1
15. Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
16. The Town
17. I Am Love
18. Black Swan
19. Enter The Void
20. Winter's Bone

Honorable Mention: Never Let Me Go, Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work, I <3 You Phillip Morris, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Senna, The Fighter

WINTER CHILL 2012 - An Indie Music Playlist

I made such a stink this whole year about how weepy indie bands had gotten, how nobody rocked anymore, and how no songs reminded me of summer. All my friends acted like mopey heartbroken bastards, and I kept telling them to listen to happy upbeat music to lift their mood. Well, now I'm in the thick of that dull thing called heartbreak and all I wanna do is curl up and play songs where it sounds like somebody's feeling my pain. What a smug hypocrite I was. Please enjoy this pretty little playlist. In most cases the songs were released in 2012 (a couple were overlooked in 2011).

My Favorite Movies Of 2009

1. Up In The Air
2. The Hurt Locker
3. District 9
4. A Single Man
5. Fantastic Mr. Fox
6. Avatar
7. Moon
8. Zombieland
9. Coraline
10. Inglorious Basterds
11. Star Trek
12. Crazy Heart
13. Anvil: The Story Of Anvil
14. Food Inc.
15. Drag Me To Hell
16. Paranormal Activity
17. Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince
18. Adventureland
19. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
20. I Love You, Man

Honorable Mentions: Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call - New Orleans, World's Greatest Dad, Bruno

My Favorite Movies Of 2008

Another great year for movies. Anything on this list I'd be willing to see twice.

1. Milk
2. The Wrestler
3. Let The Right One In
4. Dear Zachary
5. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
6. The Visitor
7. Man On Wire
8. Slumdog Millionaire
9. Iron Man
10. Dark Knight
11. Wall-E
12. Tropic Thunder
13. Rachel Getting Married
14. Forgetting Sarah Marshall/Role Models
15. Religulous
16. The Bank Job
17. JCVD
18. Frozen River
19. Transsiberian
20. Shine A Light
21. Synecdoche, New York
22. Hancock

The New Romantics - Synthpop of the 1980s

Last year I started a Valentine's playlist for my girlfriend highlighting love songs from 1982, the year she was born. It was to feature lush synthpop orchestrations of New Romantic/New Wave pioneers. Anyway, we broke up this year so the list changed; it's not strictly songs from 1982 anymore, and I tried for more obscure tracks. And there's perhaps a little more melancholy and mystery than love. Regardless, there's something special about the period where men wore make-up, hairstyles like neon Nagel prints, donned tuxedo jackets and faux-crooned like retro-Sinatras from outerspace. Lately Ive been listening to these songs on my iPod every day and find they're helping me through this dark and difficult time. Maybe you'll like them too.

My Favorite Movies Of 2007

This was a banner year for movies, which I found very encouraging.
1. Zodiac - David Fincher
2. Michael Clayton - Tony Gilroy
3. There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson
4. No Country For Old Men - Cohen Bros
5. Charlie Wilson's War - Mike Nichols
6. The Diving Bell & The Butterfly - Julian Schnabel
7. Sweeney Todd - Tim Burton
8. Sicko - Michael Moore
9. The King Of Kong - Seth Gordon
10. Into The Wild - Sean Penn
11. The Orphanage - Juan Antonio Bayona
12. Rescue Dawn - Werner Herzog
13. Lars & The Real Girl - Craig Gillespie
14. Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
15. I'm Not There - Todd Haynes
16. The Lookout - Scott Frank
17. Away From Her - Sarah Polley
18. I Am Legend - Francis Lawrence
19. Gone Baby Gone - Ben Affleck
20. Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix - David Yates
21. Knocked-Up/Superbad - Judd Apatow/Greg Mottola