Tuesday, December 15, 2009

year end list: my favorite movies of 2009

I consider the year in movies to be a sucess, usually I cant name more than two or three things that really blew me away in the theater but this year I got up to ten! So here it is with a little bit of insight on each film.

This will probably be the only year end list I make as a music one would just be me name dropping all my friends albums (which might not be a bad idea now that I think of it.)

10. TIE! GENTLEMEN BRONCOS/ TERMINATOR SALVATION






















Both of these movies are seriously flawed and while I can't reccomend either as "good movies" I can't tell you that I obnoxiously laughed out loud during both of them.  There are a lot of internet haters of both of these films and my big question to those people is "What were you expecting??" The forth installment of an action series based on AHNOLD as a naked time traveling robot and a followup movie to Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre.  Relax and have some fun dudes.


9. STAR TREK

This movie is similar to the movies above, only it manages to be a decent film while still being incredibly entertaining.  I also liked that it pissed off some Trek fans for being too much fun.  

8. UP



















I, like a lot of people found the opening montage pretty tough to get through, but it was well worth it. Not much to say about this one other than Pixar does it again!

7. BEST WORST MOVIE



















This is a documentary we saw at SXSW about the making of TROLL 2 and the young star of the movie catching up with the entire cast. The real life actors are just as outrageous as the nonsensical mess of the movie they made in the 80s. I had never seen TROLL 2 before watching this and honestly, you dont need to at all. The best way to describe this film would that its like the story of AMERICAN MOVIE told 20 years after the fact. If you have a chance to see this movie, don't pass it up!

6. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Oh boy, I was already a big fan of Spike Jonze, his two previous features, all his music videos and short films. To everyone's surprise (including mine) WTWTA falls inline with all of those perfectly. It just so happens to be an adaptation of a very popular children's picture book.  This movie looks stunning with an excellent soundtrack (Karen O' singing Daniel Johnston!) Getting such an artsy unconventional movie distributed to public is a feat in itself.

5.  MARY AND MAX


I had no idea what to expect going into this one.  I had seen a couple of Adam Elliot's claymation short films before but couldn't imagine them working as a full feature. With mostly grey and brown clay to give it a black and white effect, mostly narration instead of dialog, and an unapologetic sense of honesty, this is one of the most touching little movies I've seen in a long time. Yes, better than UP.

4.INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS and 3.DRAG ME TO HELL






Both of these movies perfectly take the b-movie genre into the realm of fine art. I wasn't as surprised that Tarintino could do it, as much as I was with Rami. The film nerd in me came out while watching DMTH as I analyzed every camera angle and movement in wonder. I saw both of these in the second run theater to get the full b-movie experience and both times the atmosphere was perfect. Especially all the screaming teenagers during DMTH.

2. OBSERVE AND REPORT



















This is one of the darkest comedies I've seen since Bad Santa (a movie I never want to see again.) It's all so wrong but works so well playing out like a comedic version of Taxi Driver. Bravo to Seth Rogen for taking a chance on this one. I look forward to the future work of director Jody Hill.


1. FANTASTIC MR. FOX



















Yes, I love Wes Anderson. This is his first flawless movie since his first couple of films and like Wild Things,  its another indie movie disguised as a children's film. There is so much to love in this one, the detail, the dialog, the soundtrack, the long camera shots! (something very uncommon in stop-motion) Maybe one of the only movies I saw this year that I knew was an instant classic. Plus, it uses one of my favorite songs to end the movie, by Mr. Bobby Fuller.


thats it! what am I missing out on? fill me in!

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