Mule's Correct Picks for Movie of the Year

I do not consider myself to be a film buff, however I do enjoy going to films. The notion of owning movies or DVD's is an act that is completely lost on me. I'm a book owner and while I can appreciate the irony of my statement when put into the context of books, I somehow feel more comfortable surrounded by books than by DVD's. My notion of cinema isn't strictly due to something as deep and complex as thinking that my imagination is fantastic and books allow me to take off and find new worlds; no, my dislike for DVD's is actually far shallower than that. I really don't like standing up, removing the DVD from the case, putting the DVD into the DVD player, then waiting for the menu to come up followed by the frustrations of trying to move the stupid cursor over the stupid piece that I wish to hit.

That said, the military operation that comes into the act of going to the theater seems like an act of God. But, nonetheless here is the list that I found myself at this year. I enjoyed all of them, some more than others, hence the list in descending order with one being the best and ten being still a solid movie, but not the favorite. Or, in better English, you're all winners, some of you just won more than others. Regardless, below is the correct list of the best movies this year.

10 Wallace and Grommit

9 Sin City
From the storytelling aspect, I've always been a big fan of this book. And this was, without a doubt one of the best adaptations from book to movie that has ever been done. Why more movies don't use comics as a storyboard, or why they don't try to emulate the stories that are good, that have already been written down is a mystery to me. This is a violent comic, a violent movie. And that's my problem with it. I don't want to come across as a bleeding heart liberal that doesn't appreciate violence but... So much of the beautiful art of the movie is lost in the violence that continues to hit the audience over the head with a sledge hammer.

8 Kung Fu Hustle

7 Constantine

6 Wedding Crashers

5 Syriana

4 Goodnight and, Good luck

3 Walk the Line

2 Batman Begins
This is the greatest comic book movie ever made, and it's because they didn't make a comic book movie. This movie made good on all of the promises that were given to us with X-Men. Batman has never really been a superhero, at least not in the classic sense of the word. He's always served as the anti-superhero, a normal person but much more disciplined. This movie captured the spirit of humanity more perfectly than any other superhero movie ever made. The ensemble cast worked well together, none of them seeking to one up the other, but all of them playing the roles that were given to them.

1. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Simply put: an amazing collection of great things all put together into one movie. Discovering this movie was like finding plutonium, by accident. It's such a combination of all of my favorite things, violence, comedy, violence. Dark comedy is such a difficult art to do right and most writers and film makers are wise enough to stay clear of it. This movie does hit it on the head though and will be one of the few DVD's that will find it's way into my collection.