A big win that was really needed.

More lists...

Perhaps it's just the New Years hangover (or the fact that the BCS Championship was over after the 2nd quarter), but I've got a little time and, like my friend Mike, I enjoy making lists at the end/beginning of a new year.

So below, I'm offering up the 10 movies that I'm most excited to see in 2008 (that have been announced thus far).

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TOP 10 MOVIES TO SEE IN 2008:

10. Wall-E - The next Disney/Pixar film that I'm hoping will be stellar after the disappointment that was Cars. The allusion to 'Short Circuit' is undeniable and the trailers that have been released thus far look great. Plus it seems that the titular character doesn't even speak, so that would be quite a feat to pull off (the trailer says the name, "Wall-E," near the end, but it's unclear as to who or what utters it). Keep your fingers crossed...



9. 21 - After watching a special on the MIT Blackjack Team (of whom this film is based on) and also discovering the World Series of Poker and NBC's Poker After Dark, I'm all in for seeing this film as soon as it's out. I've never been to Vegas before, but am itching to go sometime, and am also sure this film will do it's fair share of encouraging (and discouraging) that.




8. Get Smart - Steve Carell is in dangerous territory of becoming the next Jim Carrey in that he made some successful comedies and then just kind of dropped off the radar (Eternal Sunshine and....uhm....what else has he done?.....besides Jenny McCarthy?), so I'm hoping that this franchise will keep him in popular public opinion. Following the poor showing Evan Almighty had and yet to hit something as solid as 40 Year Old Virgin, Carell is in desperate need of a hit here.


7. Untitled X-Files Sequel - It's been awhile since Mulder and Scully graced a screen of any kind, but this long-awaited sequel is trying to re-discover an audience that has been engrossed in LOST and similar fare for awhile now. Can tales of the black ooze and aliens recapture our imagination? We'll all find out in July.





6. Semi-Pro - Similar to the situation mentioned above with Steve Carell, Will Ferrell definitely has his built-in fraternity-minded audience that will make his films do respectively at the box office. But after trying films like Stranger Than Fiction, will he ever rediscover the cult status of an Anchorman? Another strong trailer makes this film look good, but trailers are built to make any Hollywood schlock look good (hello The Day After Tomorrow).


5. The Incredible Hulk - Following Ang Lee's way-too-cerebral and critically panned outing with the big green guy, an interesting casting choice was made that had many a jaw hit the floor. Edward Norton steps into the role of Dr. Bruce Banner and, rumor has it, that the storyline established in the previous Hulk film will be acknowledged. So, if that's true, it will be an interesting justification for the screenwriters to make. Sadly, Jennifer Connelly was also lost in casting this updated version.

4. Iron Man - Speaking of shocking casting moves, who ever saw Robert Downey, Jr., stepping into Tony Stark's shoes in the big screen adaptation of one of Marvel's most popular characters? There is an excellent animated Iron Man film out there that explains his origin story and this film looks to follow that template pretty closely. Meaning, we'll get to see many incarnations of the Iron Man suit and see it develop as Stark starts to figure out little nuances and tricks to make it more effective and streamlined. I'm hoping this one will be good...

3. Cloverfield - This one is on its way in just a few short weeks and, pretty much anything with the name, "J.J. Abrams," attached to it seems to be gold right now. Any fan of LOST will undoubtedly be there opening weekend for this film, whose production team spent no money on high-tech cameras or on actors (using all unknowns, thus amping its believability factor - anyone see The Blair Witch Project?) and blew the entire budget on amazing special effects and editing to make this film the most talked about film in a long time. It's also got the momentum to be labeled the 'blockbuster of the season,' unseating current favorite, I Am Legend, which was strong, but the lame final half-hour really hurt it.

2. The Dark Knight - With the long-awaited screen debut of the new more 'realistic' Joker, people have been salivating for a sequel to the very strong Batman Begins for some time now (whom some state was even a better Batman film than Tim Burton's). Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes as love interest Rachel Dawes, but no one seems to be up in arms about that at all. And has everyone out there seen the new trailer where we get to hear and finally see Heath Ledger's take on the sadistic Joker with that insane laugh? C R E E P Y....and I can't wait to see it.

1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - The long, long, LONG awaited sequel that no one thought was going to come - especially when you're following a film titled, "The Last Crusade." But at long last and after rumors galore, the stars aligned, Harrison Ford approved, a script was finished, and filming finally began on what will be the final film in the Ford-era Jones movies. Rumors abound as to what role current Hollywood "it" actor Shia LeBouf will play in the film, and the great wonder is if there will be a passing of the fedora to a new generation or if this is the real feather in the cap on one of the strongest film series ever made. At any rate, while not having quite the mystique as the Star Wars releases, this franchise will hopefully fair better critically and in popular opinion than Lucas' last three outings.
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HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Rambo - The ONLY reason this is on here is because I'm curious to see if Sylvester Stallone can do it again or if this is going to the well one too many times. I have this gut feeling that Sly was able to reconnect with his creative side as well as his audience with the great Rocky Balboa film from last year - and I think he should've made that his swan song and been done with it. It left a great impression with everyone and with its subtle weaving of the original Rocky story in there really made us respect the fact that Sly created this character that also earned him the Oscar for Best Film. Now.....we've got Rambo again. I'm just not sure that it's going to resonate as well as his other franchise did and I'm afraid instead of walking away from this film with a nostalgic smile, people will be rolling their eyes.

10,000 B.C. - From the crew that brought you the patriotic Independence Day and the debacle that was The Day After Tomorrow comes the story of how our great, great, great, great ancestors survived mammoths, large reptiles, and each other. Expect spectacular effects for the graphics-whore in all of us (me included), but also expect a weak story, an alphabetical checklist of emotions, a predictable ending, and so-so acting by talents trying to pull out decent performances from a scattered script.

Star Trek - This is in the honorable mentions because I've never really been a big fan of this franchise as, when I was little, there was a Star Wars camp and a Star Trek camp - and the two never mixed. I found myself in the former. But this update to the franchise is actually a prequel and with J.J. Abrams attached, it's already got a ton of positive buzz surrounding it and it's the only real holiday movie I've heard about that coming out near 2009.
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There are some other films out there that piqued my interest, but couldn't put on this list as I'm just not that sold on them. For example, Speed Racer. It's made by The Wachowski Brothers, of The Matrix Trilogy fame, but it's clearly geared towards children - as evidenced by its almost seizure inducing trailer (plus LOST's Matthew Fox is Racer X? What's up with that?). There's also the Will Smith film, Hancock, whose trailer makes it look like a cross between My Super Ex-Girlfriend and Men In Black 2 - and its just not clicking with me yet. It's got potential, however.

And finally, there's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. I barely enjoyed the first movie and it's blatant Christian overtones, but couldn't stand any of the actors chosen as the four children. Not one. And I'm the type of person that tries to find something redeeming or enjoyable in every film that I see. The trailer for this next film is taking a nod from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by showing us nothing but big battles and action scenes, so I imagine I'll go see it......but only with a group.....and with an extremely critical eye. I have this itchy feeling that this franchise will go through a major overhaul - be it casting or something - before it makes it through all of its stories. Something the Harry Potter franchise has thankfully avoided so far (which, I believe, has Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince coming in 2008 - which would, subsequently, add it to my list - but there's been nothing to confirm that yet).

As I said earlier, these are all the movies that have been announced thus far and, looking at the calendar, there was nothing yet advertised for the 2008 X-mas season. However, I'm sure there will be many great films on the way by then and we'll readdress and alter this list at that time.

Hope you all are doing well!

Here we go a-caucusing...

O.k., I've never been one to push politics onto someone nor voice my opinion on them as I've been blissfully politically ignorant for many, many years and wasn't even a registered voter until the last election. Also, I don't want others' views to be pushed on me as I don't push mine onto them and have always viewed the topic as one of the "big three" that you don't discuss with people. I'm going to briefly amend that rule now, however will not let this turn into a political debate on here and, should you choose to post your feelings and beliefs on the comments page, they will not be edited.

At the behest of some friends of mine and as a resident of Iowa, I went to the local caucus tonight to participate in something I've never done before. It was pretty exciting, even for the small farm town where I currently reside. Not knowing much about the democratic candidates, I perused their respective websites prior to attending the caucus to see their viewpoints and stances on various issues.

I got to the venue as an independent, but then made the choice to stand for Barack Obama.

It was an interesting experience as the initial votes came in and then the woo'ing began as the smaller parties had to choose which larger party to be absorbed into. It went from a simple discussion into an eventual argument between a Clinton rep and a young Edwards rep trying to each bad-mouth and put the other candidate down, while the Obama rep would calmly and quietly interject at varying points (this display is one of a multitude of reasons that I've avoided politics like the plague until now).

I also noticed that as the Obama side of the room continued to slowly grow, the Clinton side of the room looked almost shell-shocked and dumb-founded as to what to do. As each group gave their updated numbers, only the Obama side had changed as we gained two independents as well as absorbing the entire Richardson group and the Dodd group. When asked for the Clinton update, there was just silence for awhile before the representative finally repeated the same number she had given a half hour earlier. A cheer erupted from our side of the room as that result meant Obama would receive two of the delegate votes and the other candidates would each receive only one. There was even a reporter there from Washington D.C. who was doing a live blog (how she drew covering a small farm town, I'll never know) and there were quite a cast of characters there for her to go on about.

80% of the Clinton party were all at least 60 or over and it was revealed later that many of them had to be bussed in to participate or else they wouldn't even have been there. The Obama and Edwards groups were a mix with many of the youth on the Obama side.

Upon returning home, I quickly flipped on the various news stations and watched as Obama won the state in an upset and the favorite Clinton dropped to a shocking third place finish overall. When Obama gave his victory speech, I actually got goosebumps as I was very impressed, but at the same time am so personally soured on politics in general that there's also a genuine fear in me that he's simply saying what needs to be said so that he'll win.

Obviously, I hope that's not the case, but I am thinking it and it would be a lie not to acknowledge it. I'm doing something I haven't done in a very, very long time - putting my trust and faith behind a candidate that I want to believe in and feel can actually make a change if he were given the opportunity to do so. I hope he won't let me down.

Our state did its part for that to be a reality, so I can only hope New Hampshire will answer the call as well.

I also found it interesting that Obama was the only candidate to acknowledge and applaud his wife in his speech.

I'm also a bit relieved as I just realized that we'll be without political advertising airing every five minutes.....at least, for a little while. :-)

Moving forward, I will not be pushing my political views any further on here (with the possible exception of when the elections actually arrive should Obama hopefully be the Democratic nominee) because I don't want to be judged for what, I think, is a topic that is so vast and has so many different viewpoints that people can believe whatever they wish and should not be judged for it. If I see any of you in person, I will respect your privacy on this issue and not bring it up, but will also accept whatever your views are should the topic come up.

Vote for whomever you want to vote for, but just make sure that you get out there and vote.