by Orrin Konheim

Created on: December 25, 2008   Last Updated: December 31, 2008

Drama isn't really a genre so much as it is a distinction created by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. In their annual Golden Globe Awards, the Hollywood Foreign Press, in the spirit of honoring comedy, makes a distinction between comedic films (and musicals) and everything else. It's a little difficult to make heads and tails of the "everything else" category. After all, drama is a staple of narrative that exists in every story ever told (or at least, every story worth telling). With that in mind, it's difficult to select just one film. Here is a loose top five:

1. Gran Torino, directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Her-The story about a grumpy and somwhat bigoted veteran of the Korean War who copes with the changing makeup of his decaying town and his faith as he enters old age sounds more like a film one would see in Sundance due to its character-centered plot. If it hadn't been for an A-list star like Cliint Eastwood the film might not have ever reached a wide release which is a shame because this is among the most profound and moving pictures in years. Gran Torino is a sweeping exploration at shell-sch, cultural clash, urban decay and especially ageism. At his best, Clint Eastwood's films are very persona and says something about the way the elderly are dismissed. In this film, Eastwood clearly looks like a shadow of his former self, but he plays a hero with the resolve, grit, and firepower of Dirty Harry or the "Man with No Name." When he befriends his neighbors and takes on the gang that threatens their safety, you've never seen an 80-year old hero on screen like this before and that's a tribute to Eastwood as an actor.

2. Frost/Nixon, directed by Ron Howard, starring Frank Lagella, Michael Sheen, Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon: Ron Howard's work is pedestrian in many genres, but when it comes to docudramas, he's at the top of his game. Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind both earned Oscar nominations and it's a fairly sure bet that Frost/Nixon will at least be nominated as well. In 1977, British talk show host David Frost seeks to expand his fanbase to the American audience and successfully goads disgraced commander-in-chief Richard Nixon to sit down for a series of interviews. Both men need something out of the other over the course of the interviews and they engage in a battle of wins with the arbiter being how they come across on camera. It's an allegory for the impact of media in the 24-hour news cycle

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