3. Winnie The Pooh
There's something about traditional, hand drawn animation that always feels so right. Disney brings back A.A. Milne's honey loving Pooh bear in a beautifully rendered story that kids will love and parents remember fondly.
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt. 2
It's not often that a film with this much hype, this much anticipation, lives up to expectations. Dark, stunning visuals, powerful performances by the maturing cast, and a villain in Voldemort who will go down in history for the depths he sinks to. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and everybody who has been involved from the beginning have saved their greatest bow for last.
1. Beats, Rhymes, and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest
My favorite film of the year so far is probably more of a personal one. That's not to say that Michael Rapaport's directorial debut isn't a great documentary on it's own merits, but any movie covering what I believe to be the greatest hip hop group of all time, A Tribe Called Quest, is going to speak directly to me. Starting from the group's humble beginnings in Brooklyn, the film follows all four members, all close friends that might as well be brothers, through their successes and internal struggles. And of course, the use of Tribe's jazzy, boom-bap classics pull the whole thing together.
DVD Pick of the Week: Rango
Rango's not going to be like any animated film you'll see all year. That'll become very obvious just from the photorealistic animation from Industrial Lights & Magic. But then once the story begins, it's clear that Rango isn't for kids at all, and was developed purely for adult film fanatics. Johnny Depp voices Rango, a lonely lizard on an existential quest, who stumbles into an Old West town under the grip of a crooked politician and his menacing henchman Rattlesnake Jake. Rango puts on a persona reminiscent of Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name, and bumbles his way into playing hero.
