20 DVDs recommendations in under 2 minutes

For the second time in my last three blog entries, I am resorting to cutting and pasting from an old email to keep this blog going. Survival is key!

This time, I present 20 DVDs that have my stamp of approval. In parentheses, my one-line review/thoughts of each video.

1. persepolis (awesome and enlightening comic strip. dvd extra = press conference = A+)
2. into the wild [don't we all wanna escape sometimes? soundtrack (lots of vedder) is incredible - especially if you're lost in life!]
3. american gangster (denzel and crowe at their finest - powerful stuff)
4. michael clayton (clooney takes on corporate giant with beautiful northeast feel/backdrop)
5. 25th hour (few capture nyc's spirit like spike lee. ed norton's frustration-infested diatribe is classic)
6. march of the penguins (ok, mother nature is seriously freakin' amazing)
7. juno (amazing cast and dialogue. cast interviews on youtube are cool too - who knew jason bateman was so funny?!)
8. gone baby gone (bean town thriller)
9. arthur (dude is a straight alcoholic - cracked me up! superb acting and cool 80s nyc feel)
10. batman begins (just rewatched it - so inspiring!)
11. born into brothels (kids from the motherland. so sad yet so empowering. human spirit is amazing. cried at end.)
12. sicko (america's healthcare fiasco - get rid of private health insurance companies!)
13. saving face (lesbians/asian americans/generation struggle/nyc. light and funny. joan chen is gorgeous.)
14. arrested development - tv series (who knew jason bateman was so funny?!)
15. weeds - tv series (mary-louise parker - who said suburbia can't produce strong, beautiful women?)
16. devil wears prada (nothing wrong with a good chick flick. hathaway is brilliant.)
17. hoop dreams (long but good. hardwood struggle in chitown)
18. menace II society ('what the fu*k you say about my mama?!' made 10-year old vilas want to be a gangster).
19. fellowship of the ring (life-changer. at some point, you just gotta get out there and run for your life!)
20. garden state (sometimes, we spend so much time trying to build new, fairy-tale lives in faraway lands that we simply overlook all the great people and things lurking around our own childhood backyards)