Best of the Year:
Inglourious Basterds - War movies is my favorite genre, and this one now ranks in my top five of all war movies ever made; it's the closest thing to Hitler on Ice I've ever seen.
Moon - It's a pity hardly anyone saw this movie, and movie chains didn't give it a chance; unless you live next to a indie movie theater then chances are you'll have to see this on DVD; it's hands down one of the best movies I've seen it recent years. It has a plot that's fresh, and themes that are quite powerful and even moving.
Star Trek - Is it Star Trek for generation Ritalin? I guess--but isn't that the point? To introduce Star Trek to a new generation of fans? It wasn't the deepest movie I've seen, but I preferred it to any of the original Star Treks, which always felt too poorly paced.
Up - Why does Pixar keep trying to make me cry? Next to Wall-e this was the most beautiful movie they've did, but I'm looking forward to seeing a Pixar movie that doesn't spend the first 30 minutes trying to depress me.
The Fantastic Mr. Fox - How does Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs make more money than this piece?! I've never seen a cartoon where I could actually tell who directed it--it was SO Wes Anderson, but that's what made it so grand!
Watchmen - This movie would rank much higher if not for that ridiculous love story; every time I see it, I spend a week complaining to Diana about how terrible it is. The girl is a bigger slut than Tiger Woods--I'm really surprised she didn't sleep with her father, because in the scene where she meets him she seems to be contemplating it. Still, next to Batman, it's one of the best superhero movies I've seen.
District 9 - I appreciate this movie because it was groundbreaking more than because it was good; for a sci-fi move to be this good on such a limited budget was quite impressive; as sci-fi goes, however, Moon was 10 times better.
Food, Inc. - One of the more important movies I've seen this year, and one that every person should have to watch.
Taken - It was a fun move. What more can I say?
The Hangover and I Love You, Man -- Just to round out the list and make it all even, two comedies; they were raunchy and over the top, but fantastically funny.
Guilty Pleasures:
G.I. Joe - I didn't expect this to be great; didn't even think it would be my favorites; I just hoped it would make me marvel a bit in my youth, and it did, so I really can't complain.
Most Overrated Movie:
(500) Days of Summer - What was all the fuss about this movie? It was boring and it really never went anywhere. It had it's moments of charm, but those moments were brief. The Hangover had better chemistry and romance than this movie did.
Julie and Julia - Not a horrible movie, but I would have liked to see more of Julia and less of Julie. Actually, I would have preferred to see none of Julie.
The Hurt Locker -- Interesting movie, but not much of a plot; didn't quite see what the fuss was about
Where the Wild Things Are and Away We Go -- I like Dave Eggers; he's a brilliant writer; but the movies he's writing are not good. His movies so far have been long, boring, depressing, and sort of confusing.
Worse Movies of the Year:
Bridewars - I've seen my share of chick flicks; they're never my favorites, but they're usually entertaining. This? Pointless. Words really cannot describe how bad this movie is, so I won't try.
2012 - It's a blow them up action flick in the grand tradition of Day After Tomorrow. But instead of no brainer fun, it's terrible--horrible--down right bad. The acting sucks; the plot sucks; the action sucks; the special effects made me laugh. I've never laughed so hard because something was bad. With lines like "Download my blog" how can anyone sort of take it seriously?
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
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8 comments:
I'm glad that someone else is showing love to Taken. It might not have been a really deep movie but how can you not love Liam Neeson kicking everybody's ass for 90 minutes straight?
Well there weren't a lot of great movies out this year either...just lots of OK ones.
Yeah, there was just something about "Where the Wild Things Are" that I just couldn't connect with. It had it's good moments, of course; the rumpus scene made me smile. But overall I just couldn't really connect with it.
:/ I have to comment on a few of your choices, because, as you know, it's the internet, and anytime someone makes a list, there are disagreements.
I was agreeing with your 'Best Of' list up until 'Watchmen.' Being a fan of the original graphic novel, I think this was a case where it held far, far too close to the source material. I would have liked to see it branch out into trying some new themes, new ideas, and better acting. Also, it was extraoridinarily poorly paced - I nearly fell asleep, and I had been wide awake when it started.
I think you're right in saying that there were a lot of 'okay' movies this year. I wasn't a huge fan of 'Taken,' but that was because it seemed to brush over the severity of sex trafficking far too much, and made it appear that it was a semi-unique circumstance that only happened on foreign soil. 'Trade,' from two years ago, is much, much better movie on the same subject. I hated how 'Taken' wrapped up everything neatly - completely with meeting that random recording artist. I mean, seriously, what was that?
And '(500) Days of Summer' was probably one of my favorites from this last year - it did so much to play with the conventions of typical chick flicks, clever references to the cliches of that type of film, and great acting. *shrug* But then again, I'm a girl.
Interesting opinion though. It reinforces the idea that I do really need to see some more movies from the year.
Watchman wasn't the best movie I've ever seen, but I liked it because it was dark; too many superhero movies are to pop, and just aren't very complex. It was pretty closed to the book, however.
I think what happened with 500 days is the first 30 minutes all I could think was, "Hey! That's that guy from '3rd Rock from the Sun'" Then by the time that I got over it, I didn't know what was going on.
Any other year, Taken might not have made it...but it wasn't a good year for movies.
I agree with many of your comments here, but I liked Away We Go more than you did. We watched it for Family Night and my husband and our three very differently aged kids all liked it. It was very sweet and entertaining.
My wife liked "Away We Go." I just didn't think it went anywhere.
I should have taken your advice on Bride Wars! I wasn't seeking a brilliant movie, but man that wasn't good at all!
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