My Five Favorite Films So Far This Year

Awards season is upon us again, and that means every newspaper and critic is going to roll out their top ten list. So far, I only have five. There are a lot of good films that could fill in the remaining slots, but only five deserve special mention:

1. The Fantastic Mr. Fox - The most enjoyable and ridiculous heist movie I've seen is also a fascinating piece of eye candy. Wes Anderson's imperfect throwback to stop-motion puppet animation is endlessly detailed and utterly addictive. I could watch it a hundred times and still find new things to look at.

2. Up - Pixar scores again with yet another computer animated adventure that cares as much about its characters as it does about its eye-popping action sequences. Just when I thought it had run out of gas, it throws a bunch of talking dogs and a zeppelin into the mix. I never thought I'd say this, but here's a talking dog movie that gets my full recommendation.

3. The Hurt Locker - Wall to wall suspense. A full-throttle thriller laced with teeth-grinding, gut-wrenching horror. Scene after scene builds to almost unbearable levels of anticipation. A lot of movies blow things up; The Hurt Locker knows that a ticking bomb is much more exciting.

4. Disgrace - Disgrace is so intelligently written and brilliantly acted, it disgraces most other films. John Malkovich turns in one of his most complicated performances as a professor in South Africa who is fired after having an affair with a black student, and goes to live with his liberal daughter and her black neighbors on their ranch in the middle of nowhere. Unpredictable events ensue that test Malkovich's idea of racial relations at the end of apartheid.

5. An Education - A simple coming-of-age story that contains some of the best performances of the year, including the much lauded breakout performance by Carey Mulligan. She deserves the praise she is getting, and the film is so swift and well-executed, some of its themes might slip right through your fingers. It's slick, sleek, and beautiful.

I have yet to see Up In the Air, Nine, Avatar, and some of this season's other highly-anticipated movies, but the five films listed above will be hard to beat. Stay tuned!