10. Inglourious Basterds

I’ve had a bar mitzvah, taken Jewish studies classes at UCLA, idolized Steven Spielberg all my life but nothing and I mean nothing has made me more proud of being Jewish than Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. The film is just way too much fun and I loved every second of it.

9. This Is It

This year we saw the death of the world’s biggest superstar, Michael Jackson. When Jackson passed away in June, he was arguably at the lowest point of his career. He never surfaced after his second highly publicized molestation trial, he was being called a drug addict left and right and he became one of the most made fun of figures of the ‘oo’s. The film ‘This Is It’ directed by Kenny Ortega perfectly captured the genius of Michael Jackson and showed that he still had “IT.” Thanks to this remarkable concert film, Michael Jackson’s legacy will live on. I cried from the opening credits of the film to the very end and I can’t even describe how amazing the midnight showing was. It was literally like the audience was sharing such an amazing experience as we clapped, cheered and cried together.

8. 500 Days of Summer

500 Days of Summer completely caught me off guard, I went into it expecting another melodramatic, mildly funny chick flick but instead I was left completely floored. The movie was full of creativity and originality than reinvented such a tired and dead genre. The movie was at times painful to watch as director Marc Webb perfectly captured the awkwardness, the uneasiness and the pain of falling in love with someone. Zooey Deschanel truly made everyone fall in love with the Summer Finn but it was Joseph Gordon Levitt who represented us all. Everyone has had a Summer Finn in their life and everyone has had an EXPECTATIONS/REALITY scene play out, its something I go through on a daily basis. That brilliant scene alone was why 500 Days of Summer easily finds itself as one of the top films of the year.

7. Up

Pixar hit it out of the ballpark…..AGAIN! I remember seeing the trailer for Up the first time and thinking it looked absolutely terrible. The story in the trailer was one which was sloppy and confusing. Instead of trying to sell the film on its characters and plot line, the trailer highlighted the look up the film. I remember sitting in a theater in Los Feliz getting ready to watch Up and thinking, “This is it, Pixar’s first dud!” Within the first 10 minutes of the film, I found myself crying harder than I have in any other film of the year. The relationship montage is one the most heartbreaking sequences in film history. It proved that animation is not just for kids but is an art form that can instantly connect to your heart.

6. District 9

District 9 is one of my favorite sci-fi films of all time. The underlying political messages as well as themes of poverty, racism, war, government, etc…etc…is unending. I do not think that there is any other film that you can analyze more for deep rooted messages than District 9. Other than being a thoroughly intellectual film, the movie is always ridiculously entertaining. There is nothing better than a film which can entertain and educate and that is exactly what District 9 does. It seems that more than half of the current news stories on CNN directly correspond with something from District 9. Often I lose track of which is imitating the other.

5. The Princess and the Frog

With the exception of many Pixar films, I would have to say that The Princess and the Frog is my favorite Disney 2D film ever made. The message which the film deliver is one about hard work, dreams, and true happiness. Unlike the majority of Disney princess films, nothing comes easy to Princess Tiana. Instead of thinking that all her dreams will come true by wishing on a magic star, she does quite the opposite and overworks herself to try and get to her dreams. The movie is one which is full of hope that anybody’s dreams can come true if they work hard and truly believe. The film also highlight the fantastic culture of New Orleans which includes songs that you will be singing as you leave the theater. The movie is the whole package, it’s funny, charming and will leave you in tears. It’s simply a must see!

4. A Single Man

I want into this film directed by Tom Ford knowing that it would be a beautiful film because….it was directed by Tom Ford. What I got after seeing the film was not only was it a beautiful film but it was also a beautiful story. A Single Man literally left me speechless. The main character of the film George played by Colin Firth is charming, intellectual and views life with a slightly pessimistic perspective. In short, I do not think I have ever related to a character more in cinema that George. In fact, Tom Ford has stated that much of George is based on his life so it sounds a lot cooler to say that I have never related to someone more than how I do to Tom For. This movie and the back story of how Ford made it spoke to me in ways that no film has ever before. It was after viewing this film that I finally had a new zest for life and a newly discovered passion for the arts all over again. I do not think there is anything more powerful than a film which inspires you to live your life to its fullest as well as inspire you to create art. Absolutely beautiful!

3. Sin Nombre

Like many of the movies on this list, Sin Nombre is gritty and almost too realistic. The film gives you an inside look into the world of gang culture as well as shes you the dangers involved in all of it. You see the psychological imprisonment that goes along with being a member of a gang. The film also demonstrates the extremes many go through on a daily basis to try and cross the border and make it to America. I left the theater feeling thankful for being apart of this country as well as having a new found respect for many immigrants especially illegal immigrants that literally risk their lives to get her. The film will scare you, rattle you a bit and give you a greater appreciation for the many advantages that we have even if the majority of us take them for granted.

2. The Stoning of Soraya M.

I have never been to a movie-going experience like the one for The Stoning of Soraya M. As the movie ended and the credits rolled, there was silence in the theater. As the sold-out theater poured out into the lobby, more than 70% of the audience emerged sobbing. As I went to the bathroom, there were grown men with tears rolling down their face. I can only imagine that it was the same reaction a church would have upon viewing The Passion of the Christ. That film did not really speak to me (because I am Jewish), but The Stoning of Soraya M. transcends religions. It is a film about the human condition–how a country is able to treat the women of its population as dirt. The Stoning of Soraya M. is an eye-opening film about the brutal world of radical Islam set in Iran.

1. Precious

Oprah said that “Precious is a film that will split you open.” The first time I saw the film, I did not know exactly what she was talking about. After a 2nd, 3rd and 4th viewing, I suddenly found myself in shambles while watching the film. Precious is quite possibly one of the most depressing and difficult films to watch but there is also such a strong backbone of hope and laughter that comes with all of it. The first time I saw Precious, I was too shocked to cry. When I started going through a difficult time myself, I found myself looking to Precious as a story of hope and strength. If Precious was able to overcome all the obstacles in her way that anyone can, if Precious did not give up then what gives me the right to give up. Out of any film that has come out in 2009, I feel that it is Precious that has taught me the most lessons about life and that will continue to guide me along my journey. It is a beautiful, heartbreaking and difficult film to watch. I often found myself sick to my stomach but by the end of the film, I had hope. Hope that Precious could find happiness and hope that I could find happiness. Thank you Lee Daniels for making such a beautiful film and thank you Sapphire for writing such a difficult story with such a powerful message.

I think that the best premiere I’ve ever been to my entire life has got to be the premiere of “Precious.” It was just on a whole other level and I felt like I was dreaming while I was experiencing it all. Let me start by saying that I want to thank the legendary Eric Mejia for inviting me to the premiere because the only person that could possibly pull off getting tickets to the hottest premiere in town is him.

Met up in Hollywood then waited in a long line to get our tickets. The premiere was the opening night gala for the AFI Film Festival so there was still a lot of kinks in their system. When we got to the Will Call table, I saw person after person being turned away from the screening because of one reason or another. I saw Eric talking to the woman and there was some confusion and it looked as if there was not a name on the list. I kept closing my hands, hoping that when I opened them I’d see him with two tickets but each time I opened my eyes there was just another AFI representative confused at the situation. My heart was beating so fast and I was excessively sweating for some reason because this premiere had meant so much to me. I closed my eyes, counted to 10 then when I opened them I saw Eric holding two tickets right in front of me. I flipped out. It was too surreal, I couldn’t believe we were actually going to be going inside to the most star-studded premiere of the year. It was just too ridiculous.

We headed into the theater where we had amazing seats in the back center of the theater and they were right on the side of the row which is perfect me because of my new-found claustrophobic OCD needs.  We waited in the theater and were a good 2 hours early. The first hour when by painstakingly slow, we were dying just staying in our seats. I kept nervously calling my mom giving her updates. The rumor around the theater was that Oprah might be making a special appearance, I didn’t believe it because it was just too good to be true. I constantly refreshed my twitter search, “Oprah. Precious. Premiere” and the search constantly reflected how skeptical everyone was in Los Angeles. Eric and I were getting sick waiting in our seats, so we got up to go get some popcorn and something to drink. We ran into Star Jones in the lobby. We went back to our seats. Waited anxiously then decided to go back into the lobby.

This time when we walked in, we saw a beautiful glowing red angel that goes by the stage name of PRECIOUS. Gabourey Sidibe was hanging in the lobby with her various representatives, we slowly approached her and I felt like I was walking on a cloud. I have creepily obsessed over meeting Precious for more than 8 months. I’ll never forget when I first saw the trailer before Madea Goes to Jail back in February, I instantly fell in love with the film’s lead star and knew that I had to meet her one day. I never thought that the little movie trailer before Madea Goes to Jail would become my favorite film of the year and the most hotly buzzed film of the year thanks to a strong push by Oprah Winfrey. I went straight up to Gabby and flat-out told her, “I am so in love with you that it’s kinda scary.” With a bubbly voice she responded quickly with “No, I’m so in love with you!!!” I told her how much I was looking forward to seeing the film and how her performance makes me cry just from the trailer. She was beyond humble and gave me a huge hug. Eric and her did a ghetto booty dance together which involved a lot of “Heyyyy!!!’s.”

Just as we said goodbye to Gabby and continously praised how fantastic and fabulous she was, we ran into Will Smith. I talked to him for a bit about being apart of the Giffoni Film Festival. He’s was unbelievably nice and so genuine as usual.

As we waited in the lobby pretending we were going to buy more food from the concession stand. All of a sudden the entire lobby went eerily silent. A few men in black suits clears a lot of the area in the lobby and assumed they just didn’t want there to be a fire hazard.  The silence became even more silent because though the lobby was quiet, there was blood curdling screams outside. I began to get concerned, there was a storm brewing and Eric and I were standing in the eye of it. I peaked outside and saw a huge entourage of 20+ security guards coming straight at me like a tsunami. I yelled for Eric to run towards me. He asked what was going on, “I pointed and said in slow motion, “LOOOOK.” I’ll never forget the moment when the wall of security guards began to clear up only to reveal GOD standing in between all of them. It was none other than Earth’s most prize possession, OPRAH WINFREY. Everyone that the sea of body guards and Oprah walked by, crumbled at the knees. The whole lobby was left speechless. Literally silence. Oprah scanned the room, stopped at me and scanned me up and down then smirked directly at me. We maintained eye contact and as I stood 2 feet away from the most powerful person in the world, tears in my eyes, hands and legs trembling, I uttered, “Oprah, I love you….thanks for changing my life!”  She looked directly into my eyes and mouthed, “thank you….I love you too” as she motioned to her heart.  Instantly I blacked out. I was standing up right but I could no longer see. The nerves, the words and the overall experience had gotten to me and I was getting ready to faint. As my vision began coming back, I was shaking as I repeatedly kept saying, “What just happened?” “What just happened?” “What the f*ck just happened?”

As we took our seats for the movie to begin, various crew and cast members were welcomed to speak at the front of the theater. Mo’nique was welcomed. Gabby came down. Sheri Shepard. Mariah Carey. Lee Daniels, the director of the film gave such an emotional speech then he welcomed, Oprah Winfrey to come and speak. The entire theater erupted into cheers, screams and immediately gave her a standing ovation. She promised the crowd that the movie would “split you in two.” Boy was she right. As if things couldn’t get any better, Lee Daniels than surprised the crowd by telling them that one of my other heroes, Tyler Perry was in the house. As Tyler Perry and Oprah spoke about how brilliant the film was, I couldn’t take the anticipation any longer, I HAD TO SEE THE FILM ALREADY.

As the lights dimmed, I quickly realized that it was going to be IMPOSSIBLE for me to enjoy the film, I had just met Oprah AND Precious AND Tyler Perry AND MARIAH CAREY were in the theater with us. My mind was going a million miles a minute. Luckily I would see the film 3 more times after the premiere to get a much more balanced viewing of the film. Precious is my favorite film of of 2009.

After the movie ended, Eric and I sat in our seats and were sickened, disturbed and inspired by what we just saw. As everyone was leaving the theater we ran into Mo’nique. Now up until this point, the press that Mo’nique was getting was all about how she was such a terrible person, how she refused to promote the film if she wasn’t getting paid, how she didn’t care for the film at all, how she was a total b*tch. Well when you see her performance in the film, it’s not that hard to believe. Eric went up to her first and right away we knew that all those rumors were untrue when Mo’nique hugged Eric after he told her how amazing she was and said “Thank you so much baby, I truly truly appreciate all of that. Thank you so much.”  I went up to her next and spilled my heart out to her telling her, “Your gonna win the Oscar, there’s no doubt about it.” She held me and said, “Thank you so much.” As I stood next to her posing for a picture, she turned to me and said “Baby, why you shaking?” I told her “It’s because I’m in the presence of such an amazing talent.” She gave me one last hugged and thanked me yet again.

We met a few other familiar faces on the way out and got attacked by Mariah Carrey’s entourage. Anyone that even almost tried to say hi to the DIVA was pushed, punched and thrown to the side. She was in her only little loony world so I guess they didn’t want anyone to pop her bubble. Thankfully she is fantastic in the film, just not very bright outside of the film and in real life.

Ended the night by talking to Forrest Whittaker.

Overall the night was one which I will always cherish for the rest of my life. I feel blessed to have been able to be in the company of Oprah. Thank you so much Eric yet again for the invite. A truly life changing night!

GO…SEE….PRECIOUS!!!!!

This is pretty dam fantastic. It’s actually a really good song. Who knew that so many of the top songs of 2009 mentioned the word “down” so many times.

The above video was part of a presentation that my friend Kevin and I did for our film symposium class. Our assignment was have 15 minute presentation which taught the class about a certain aspect of the film industry. We chose to teach our peers how to stage the perfect fight scene by reviewing the fundamentals of stage combat. Our presentation was beyond over the top and one of the things that I’m most proud about in my academic career.

Shortly after returning on my cruise from Mexico, I rushed over to Kevin’s dorm where we began brainstorming like crazy what we would do for our presentation. We began on Sunday at night and our presentation was on Tuesday morning. We broke down a bunch of activities that we wanted to do but the concept of actually including a video was something that I immediately dismissed just because we did not have much time. In class on Monday, Kevin expressed extreme interest in doing a video portion to really sell our idea. I was reluctant because of our time constraints but kept a tough exterior. Before I knew it, it was 10 pm Monday night and Chelsey, Sarah, Kevin, Steve and I were in a parking lot filming the most ridiculous fight scene ever made. We filmed for about an hour and a half and just made it up as went along. At 11:20, Chelsey and I busted out of there to meet up with Brittany where we ran to Dave’s house in the valley to surprise him at midnight for his birthday.

I got home at 1 am where I edited like crazy and prepared everything that we would need for the following morning’s presentation. I slept for under 30 minutes. So here’s a mini-breakdown of our presentation.

Intro: Our class is set up like a mini movie theater with a door at the back of each corner. The light were dim. Soon, the Rocky theme began to play in the surround sound speakers….”LADDDDIES AND GENETLEMEN, WELCOME TO THE LAST DAY OF SYMPOSIUM. YOU ARE HERE FOR THE MAAAAAIN EVENT. Coming from the San Francisco Bay, at a height of 6′4 foot, KEVINNN “THE BEAST” CASTRO!!!

Kevin comes running in front the right corner with his boxing attire and his trainer Sean.

“ORIGINATING FROM THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY, AT A HEIGHT OF 5′10, NOAAHHHH “THE BEAR JEW” REICH”

Noah comes running in and screaming from the left corner with his trainer Barrack.

We stood at the front of the theater face to face, getting ready to knock each other out. The two ring girls Meredith and Chelsea walked by in their skimpy outfits each holding a sign strutting across from opposite ends of the room. One read  THE ART OF THE FIGHT, the other reading PRESENTED BY KEVIN “THE BEAST” CASTRO & NOAH “THE JEW BEAR” REICH.” The crowd did the wave multiple times thanks to Sarah Jo.

The announcer continued, “BILL, ALETHEA, FILM AND TELEVISION CLASS OF 2011, LETS GET READDDDYYYY TO RUMBLE!!!!”

The bell sounded and just as Kevin was about to knock Noah out….”AND CUT!!!!!”

We then introduced our topic with an amazing montage of some of cinema’s greatest fight scenes which we edited and compiled by the amazing Adam Reich.  We went step by step into the world of stage combat. Go over the string snap theory which is the idea that when you get hit your head snaps back and forth as if there is a string attached to it. We demonstrated the hot iron theory which is the idea that your body should react to punches the same way you would react to get burned with a hot iron. Thankfully Kevin demonstrated with an ACTUAL hot iron that was on. Not staged and not planned whatsoever. Thanks Kevin haha  We then showed our video demonstrated all our theories put together which is what “Don’t Cheat on Tina from the Block or Else” is.  Kevin talked a bit too long at the end of the video so I broke 2 x 4 piece of wood over his head. It hurt a lot from what I hear. Payback for the hot iron!

Thank you to Chelsey, Sarah Jo, Meredith, Chelsea, Barrack, Sean and everyone else who helped us with our presentation!

-N