Top 10 movies of the year is BACK!

You all didn't get this feature last year, but we are switching over to a more lighthearted topic now, my top 10 movies of the year, with a special appearance of my husband's favorites!

10. Oculus
For once, an original horror movie!  This featured a brother-sister pair who tried to reconcile childhood trauma perpetrated by a piece of antique furniture.  Sounds silly, but it had me looking around me when I left the movie...in broad daylight.

9. Interstellar
It wasn't perfect, and it took a little long to end (for my taste), but it was suspenseful and heartwarming, with flawed but endearing characters you could relate to.  Worth seeing, probably on the big screen.

8. Sharknado
HEAR ME OUT!!  We saw the RiffTrax version, and it made it EVEN FUNNIER.  There is no better movie to mercilessly make fun of.

7. Guardians of the Galaxy
Quick confession: I didn't really like The Avengers that much.  I went into GOTG thinking it would be similar to that, but I was WRONG!  It was cheesy and hilarious with characters that you couldn't help but falling in love with, including a giant tree that doesn't speak plain English and a tough-talking raccoon-thingy, all set to 80s music.  What's not to love?

6. 22 Jump Street
If you saw 21 Jump Street, hopefully you agree with me that it was a pleasant surprise in terms of "dumb" comedies.  Most of the funny parts were not in the trailer.  The same can be said of 22 Jump Street, which is just plain fun, and self-aware enough to make merciless fun of itself at the end.

5. Gone Girl
I picked up the book in the airport so I could read it on our flight to Hawaii.  It was hard to put down--even in Hawaii!  The movie didn't quite live up to the book, but when does that ever happen?  The book was detailed and layered and it would have been impossible to include everything in the movie.  However, the movie was well done and managed to capture the essential details and then some and had great pacing and casting.  It is a hauntingly disturbing tale, kind of the antithesis of The Gift of the Magi.

4. The Judge
I hadn't seen much about this before seeing it, and didn't expect to like it as much as I did.  Robert Downey Jr.'s soulful brown eyes help him perfectly portray both the ambitious charisma and vulnerability necessary for the role of a hot-shot attorney who comes home for the first time since childhood to see his estranged father after the death of his beloved mother.

3. The Edge of Tomorrow
Tom Cruise must repeat the same day again and again, under the guidance of Emily Blunt, until he gets it right.

2. Nightcrawler
Jake Gyllenhall has always been a great actor, but I think this movie is proof that he just keeps getting better and better--his tics and facial expressions say it all, he barely needs a script in this movie about a sociopathic news filmer who will go to any length to capture the story.

1. Dallas Buyer's Club
Matthew McConoughey's character finds out he has AIDS in the early 90s, and finds a way to obtain the best possible treatment for it, making unlikely friends in the process.

Honorable Mention: The Giver, partly because it was a favorite book from my childhood, and partly because I thought the film adaptation was spot on.

Bonus: Zach's Top 10

10. The Purge 2: Anarchy
9. Tusk
8. 22 Jump Street
7. Gone Girl
6. Judge
5. Dallas Buyer's Club
4. A Walk Among The Tombstones
3. Birdman
2. Guardians of the Galaxy
1. The Edge of Tomorrow

The blessedness of sorrow at Christmas

I got married in September 2013, and it was a dream come true for me.  On the outside, I might look like a career woman (and I am, indeed, deeply invested in the work I do.  I love it and it is a part of me!) but in actuality, that was really how I kept myself busy doing something I had full control over, while deep down I always knew that I wanted that life partner, that soul mate.  I found him a few months before my 25^th birthday, and the whole thing unfolded at a fairly slow pace, but I did get what I had always wanted.  And it’s amazing.

Prior to that, I did keep my life happy and busy with school, work, and lots of amazing friends.  In retrospect, I am very grateful that I spent the first half of my 20s single (for the most part).  It lent itself to some adventures, and to be honest, some extremely memorable shenanigans.

However, that season of my life was not without its difficulties.  I often lacked confidence and felt unwanted.  Valentine’s day could fly by and I’d be fine, but for some reason Christmas felt particularly difficult.  To this day, I maintain that Christmas is the most difficult time of the year to be single as a young adult, even when surrounded by amazing family and/or friends.

Throughout my early 20s, my brothers and I would attend Midnight Mass together (my parents bowing out of the tradition once our church switched to actual midnight midnight mass, as opposed to 10pm midnight mass).  Every year at midnight mass, it seemed I would encounter something profound.  My feelings of worthlessness, unwantedness, and loneliness made room for the Christ Child.  It’s something so difficult to explain, but I usually felt profoundly sad, and at once so close to God that it made me feel warm, protected, comforted.  It did not diminish the sadness, but it added something to my life.

I feel that more that other years, 2014 has been a year of great loss for so many.  The last few weeks, my heart has especially felt for two women in their 20s whose husbands have passed away.  Each faces a unique struggle that seems almost unbearable, and yet both have in ways demonstrated a faith in God and a closeness with Him that is unshakeable.  One of them is an especially good friend of mine, and gave someone else the words "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted" Psalm 34:19.  I can only imagine that she is living those words daily, and that she knows them better than I ever could.

Christmas is a time of year that can feel magical and wonderful, but it can also sometimes highlight what (or really, WHO) we do not have.  If you have experienced great loss, or are waiting around for something you desperately want for your life, I do not believe that feeling sorrowful is a sign of weakness.  I pray that in your sorrow, you can encounter the Christ Child, and feel His presence; that instead of taking your trials from you, He walks beside you through them, and shows you his mercy in a plentiful way.

Whether or not your Christmas is merry, I pray that it is blessed, that it is sacred, and that your joy runs deep.