I would first like to send my sincerest and deepest apologies to Avatar, The Cove, An Education, A Single Man, and Up in the Air. I did not see these five films, which have all been lauded. I am relatively certain that if I had seen one or all of them, it would have affected this list.
However, I make due with what I have. Away we go!
10.) The House of the Devil: A tense, low budget, horror film that evokes the nostalgia of quality the 1980s. Ti West’s film works because it is minimal in all approaches and never tries to be anything more than it really is. Also, how can you not love its tagline: Talk on the phone. Finish your homework. Watch T. V. DIE!
9.) In the Loop: The satirical take on the United States’ invasion of Iraq is hilarious. Utterly foul mouthed, this movie is blisteringly funny with a top notch cast. Most notably, Peter Capaldi delivers one of the most underrated (and probably under-seen) performances of the year as an offensive British Intelligence leader.
8.) District 9: I did not see this film until last weekend. Neil Blomkamp’s first true outing did not disappoint. What makes this movie action science fiction movie special is that it has a heart and its thought provoking. I also like to imagine that Peter Jackson prank calls Universal Studios periodically and reminds them that they could have had Blomkamp direct Halo.
7.) Sin Nombre: It’s poetic, touching, and beautifully shot. It’s also in a different language, which makes it even more artsy.
6.) Up: The much hyped opening 10 minutes of the film do not disappoint. It sets the tone for a movie that will make you smile and cry, sometimes at the same time. While Up is not the best entry in the Pixar canon, it ranks near the top.
5.) The Hurt Locker: Kathryn Bigelow’s mediation on the tensions that surround war is outstanding. Jeremy Renner breaks out in the most suspenseful film since The Bourne Ultimatum (I feel like Rex Reed when I say something like that). The tension created by Bigelow is mesmerizing and Mark Boal’s script hits all the right notes.
4.) A Serious Man: I enjoy every Coen Brothers’ film (even The Ladykillers). However, what made A Serious Man special was how personal it was. The Coen Brothers tend to focus on subversive people, while this film was about a college professor and his life’s troubles. I may be trivializing the film’s plot with that summation because it also deals with faith, family, adultery, and Jefferson Airplane.
3.) Drag Me to Hell: 2009 will be remembered – at least for me – as a fun year. 2007 had many films that could be called masterpieces, but this year was about being fun. Drag Me to Hell was easily the most fun I had at the movies this year. Raimi’s return to his roots was vintage form and Alison Lohman served admirably as the new Bruce Campbell.
2.) The Reader: I saw it in theatres five times in 2009, but it qualified for last year’s list.
2.) Fantastic Mr. Fox: On any given day, Drag Me to Hell and Wes Andersen’s first animated effort could swap places. However, this was the film I was most excited for this year and it delivered even more than I imagined. The meticulous attention to detail by Andersen proved to be rewarding because it was nice to have a film that was completely done by hand, as opposed to computer wizardry.
1.) Inglourious Basterds: This film has Quentin Tarantino’s pulp fetish fingerprints all over it. From the opening frame, to the screaming conclusion, the film is a masterpiece. The terrific performances supplied by all players, especially Christoph Waltz, rival the enthusiasm with which Tarantino directs. The film, while heavy on the dialogue, may disappoint the purest action fan, but it compares well to another World War II picture – The Dirty Dozen. This is a film that I can easily re-watch over and over again and still find it entertaining every time.
I know you must’ve seen the Oscar nominations and thought to yourself: But what do two random people in the Midwest think of all this?
If for no reason other than having opinions about it, these are the Oscar nominations I would’ve voted for, if I had a ballot. Will I nominate Drag Me To Hell for five Oscars like Dave did? (Spoiler Alert: No. Not that into horror.)
I did give myself the handicap of limiting the choices to only films that I’ve seen (except for original song, because that’s impossible; and animated feature, because I only saw three or so).
Visual Effects
Avatar District 9 Star Trek
Can’t disagree with the Academy here. Can I just say that while the visual flare of J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek was something I immensely enjoyed, I can’t help but feel that it’s the apple version of the ST universe? An “iStarTrek,” if you will. Am I crazy?
Sound Editing
Avatar District 9 The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds Star Trek
The art of loud noises. It’s not a part of the IMAX/Ultrascreen experience that people mention as much as the visual components, but it’s integral all the same.
District 9 Fantastic Mr. Fox The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds Star Trek
While I respect Avatar in the previous category, for creating sound effects for things that don’t exist in real life, the overall mix of sound, score, and dialogue didn’t strike me as artful in any way. Witness the masterful use of tense silence suddenly ratcheted into chaos in both Locker and Basterds, or the raucous opening horns of Star Trek blasting us off into space. And Fox was the best at turning the soundtrack up and down at the right moments, something Wes Anderson films are always wont to do.
Best Make Up
District 9 The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus The Road
Arguably the most surprising scene in District 9 is when a surprise alien prosthetic arm pops out of nowhere, as it were. How AMPAS ignored that for standard paleface period-piece business in The Young Victoria is beyond me.
Best Costume Design
The Brothers Bloom The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Inglourious Basterds Public Enemies Sherlock Holmes
What’s that? You didn’t see The Brothers Bloom and it’s archly complete visual flair? Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll mention it again at some point.
Best Art Direction
The Brothers Bloom District 9 Inglourious Basterds Sherlock Holmes Where the Wild Things Are
This may be as good as place as any other to mention that as much as I wanted to like Where The Wild Things Are, it left me a little hollow, and my memory hasn’t treated it very well. Maybe I’ll watch it again, but I really don’t need to be reminded again that it’s confusing and sometimes depressing to be nine.
Every time I see that “The Weary Kind” was co-written by someone named “Ryan Bingham,” I go “where do I know that name from?” before I remember it’s George Clooney’s character in Up In The Air. Anyway, good tune.
Also I scoured the list for some more obscure contenders: if we’re not worried about length, one of They Might Be Giants’ Johns had a fun thirty second ditty in Coraline, some foreign rom-com called Simon & Malou had a rocking (Enlgish) song by Maria Apetri, and forgotten Hal-Holbrook vehicle That Evening Sun had a song by the guy from Drive-By Truckers.
Finally, I much prefer Kareno O’s more somber “Hideaway” from Wild Things to “All Is Love,” but it might be because kids singing in high voices make me want to kick things for some reason.
Best Score
Nathan Johnson, The Brothers Bloom Alexandre Desplat, Fantastic Mr. Fox Clint Mansell, Moon Hans Zimmer, Sherlock Holmes Carter Burwell and Karen O, Where the Wild Things Are
Best Animated Feature
Avatar Coraline Fantastic Mr. Fox Mary And Max Up
Ahem. From the official Oscar bylaws:
“An animated feature film is defined as a motion picture with a running time of at least 70 minutes, in which movement and characters’ performances are created using a frame-by-frame technique. In addition, a significant number of the major characters must be animated, and animation must figure in no less than 75 percent of the picture’s running time.”
Just saying.
Best Cinematography
The Brothers Bloom District 9 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds
In order, for symmetry, shakiness, meltiness, immediacy, and conversational staidness.
Best Film Editing
The Brothers Bloom District 9 The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds In The Loop
Pacing is very, very important to comedies, and the dark tour de force In The Loop knew just what it was doing. Why no Avatar? Because it was about forty minutes too long, that’s why.
Best Adapted Screenplay
District 9 Fantastic Mr. Fox The Informant! In the Loop Up In The Air
Three real nominees, one near miss (Fox), and Scott Burns’ well-crafted farce from a non-fiction book.
Best Original Screenplay
Broken Embraces The Brothers Bloom The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds Moon
Some great original scripts this year, including the inventive sci-fi indie Moon and maybe my favorite from Almodovar so far.
Best Supporting Actress
Vera Farmiga- Up In The Air Anna Kendrick- Up In The Air Diane Krueger – Inglourious Basterds Gina McKee- In The Loop Blanco Portillo- Broken Embraces
Last Woman Out: Meryl Streep - Fantastic Mr. Fox
I felt it important to highlight the work of McKee and an Almodovar player not named “Penelope” here. But when will voice-acting (or motion capture) get its day, anyway?
Best Supporting Actor
Peter Capaldi – In the Loop Anthony Mackie – The Hurt Locker Mark Ruffalo- The Brothers Bloom Karl Urban- Star Trek Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds
Last Man Out: Jackie Earle Haley – Watchmen
A fun one to fill out this year- Ruffalo’s great in Bloom, no matter how stiff he seems to be in the trailer, I promise. Waltz is a force of nature, Urban stole every scene he was in in Star Trek, and Capaldi took In The Loop to a whole new level. And I keep thinking Mackie was nominated, then remembering he got overlooked for Matt Damon’s role in Invictus as a piece of wheat toast.
Best Actress
Penelope Cruz- Broken Embraces Melanie Laurent- Inglourious Basterds Alison Lohman – Drag Me to Hell Leslie Mann- Funny People Rachel Weisz- The Brothers Bloom
Last Woman Out: Julia Roberts- Duplicity
Laurent was submitted for leading, according to my sources (as in, “the internet”), so I’m putting her here. I suppose I’ll help “legitimize” horror by giving Lohman a nod for being game for anything. Funny People is something I think a lot more people would have like if they knew nothing about Judd Apatow, and Mann really holds the middle of it together.
Best Actor
George Clooney – Up in the Air Sharlto Copley- District 9 Matt Damon – The Informant! Jeremy Renner- The Hurt Locker Sam Rockwell- Moon
Last Man Out: Robert Downey, Jr. – Sherlock Holmes
Lost amid the late-act splatters and explosions in District 9 is Copley’s affecting performance of a desperate man. Damon found his Oscar role, but it was unfortunately in a comedy. Renner and Clooney are justly deserving, and you didn’t think I could possibly not nominate Sam Rockwell, did you? He’s Sam Rockwell!
Best Director
Wes Anderson- Fantastic Mr. Fox Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker Neil Blomkamp – District 9 Rian Johnson – The Brothers Bloom Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Last Man/Woman Out: Jason Reitman– Up In The Air
Yeah, that’s right. I think Rian Johnson did a better job directing The Brothers Bloom than Cameron did Avatar. I weighed the technical merits of both against other things like writing, acting, preponderance of thinly-veiled racism, and found myself with a clear victor.
Best Picture
Broken Embraces The Brothers Bloom District 9 Fantastic Mr. Fox The Hurt Locker In The Loop Inglourious Basterds Sherlock Holmes Star Trek Up in the Air
Last Two Films Out:Up and Moon
Hey , AMPAS and I agree on four films, which is more than I expected.
Totals
Inglourious Basterds – 12 District 9 – 11 The Brothers Bloom – 10 The Hurt Locker – 9 Fantastic Mr. Fox – 6 Up in the Air – 5 Star Trek – 5 In The Loop – 5 Broken Embraces – 4 Sherlock Holmes – 4 Moon – 3 Avatar – 3 Where the Wild Things Are – 3 The Informant! – 2 Coraline – 2 The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus – 2
I have often found myself wondering how this award is not sponsored by Max Factor or L’Oreal.
Best Costume Design
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Inglourious Basterds Nine A Single Man The Young Victoria
For costume design, I have three out of the five real nominees. Basterds gets added because of its scope and costumes for the women. Meanwhile, A Single Man gets added for its dead on fashion of the 1960s and because Tom Ford made it. You know it has to at least look damn good.
Best Art Direction
District 9 Inglourious Basterds A Single Man Watchmen Where the Wild Things Are
None of the real nominees here, convention be damned!
Best Song
Crazy Heart – “The Weary Kind” Fantastic Mr. Fox – “Petey’s Song” The Hangover – “Stu’s Song” It Might Get Loud – “Fly Farm Blues” Where the Wild Things Are – “All Is Love”
Save “The Weary Kind,” the Academy completely fumbled away this category. Songs should be memorable and fun/moving.
Best Score
Fantastic Mr. Fox The Hurt Locker A Single Man Star Trek Up
Best Animated Feature
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Coraline Fantastic Mr. Fox The Secret of the Kells Up
::Nodding::
Best Cinematography
Avatar District 9 The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds A Single Man
Awesome to the max.
Best Film Editing
District 9 Drag Me to Hell The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds A Serious Man
The “It” Category.
Best Adapted Screenplay
District 9 Fantastic Mr. Fox In the Loop A Single Man Up in the Air
I feel that this category, without compromise, is significantly more solid than the real one.
Best Original Screenplay
Drag Me to Hell The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds A Serious Man Up
Solid choices abound…
Best Supporting Actress
Diane Krueger – Inglourious Basterds Melanie Laurent – Inglourious Basterds Mo’Nique – Precious Julianne Moore – A Single Man Lorna Raver – Drag Me to Hell Last Woman Out: Vera Fermiga – Up in the Air
I cannot ignore Mo’Nique’s career altering performance in Precious. The Basterds duo of Krueger and Laurent get my support giving the film a strong female presence. Julianne Moore has replaced Kate Winslet as the actress who always gets nominated, but has nothing on the shelf at home. Lastly, I am recognizing Lorna Raver for her wacky and dastardly turn in Drag Me to Hell. I just gave the horror industry legitimacy.
Best Supporting Actor
Peter Capaldi – In the Loop Billy Crudup - Watchmen Richard Kind – A Serious Man Anthony Mackie – The Hurt Locker Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds Last Man Out: Kylie the Possum – Fantastic Mr. Fox
I feel that Capaldi, Kind, Mackie, and Waltz are self-explanatory. Waltz is easily the most memorable character, with Capaldi in second. The fifth spot came down to Watchmen co-stars Crudup and Jackie Earle Haley. I chose Crudup’s alienated and subdued performance over Haley’s psychotic rendition.
Also, if a claymation possum could be nominated for an Oscar, Crudup gets dropped.
Best Actress
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side Alison Lohman – Drag Me to Hell Carey Mulligan – An Education Gabourey Sidibe – Precious Meryl Streep – Julie and Julia Last Woman Out: Helen Mirren – The Last Station
I just added more legitimacy to the horror genre.
Best Actor
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart George Clooney – Up in the Air Matt Damon – The Informant! Colin Firth – A Single Man Michael Stuhlbarg – A Serious Man Last Man Out: Liam Neeson – Taken
A solid list… Up until you read Liam Neeson as the sixth man. Why Neeson? If you have a role that redefines who you are as actor and it establishes a mindset with pop culture, you have achieved something. After Taken, we all think the same thing when we see Liam Neeson now: Oh snap, Liam Neeson is about to start killing people. Keep in mind, Neeson once played Michael Collins and a psychiatrist in Nell.
Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker James Cameron – Avatar Pete Docter – Up Jason Reitman – Up in the Air Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds Last Man/Woman Out: Neil Blomkamp – District 9
Bigelow, Cameron, Reitman, and Tarantino are not strangers to this category this year. I chose Docter over Blomkamp because too often animated films are dismissed as solely a collaborative effort. Docter had a significant hand in every aspect of Up, and it was not a hindrance at all.
Best Picture
Avatar District 9 Drag Me to Hell Fantastic Mr. Fox The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds A Serious Man Star Trek Up Up in the Air
Last Two Films Out:In the Loop and A Single Man
Nine out of these ten do not need to be explained.
So, why did I put Drag Me to Hell here? One, it is a great movie. It makes you experience fear, sorrow, and sheer ridiculousness. Horror is often a genre – like science fiction and fantasy in years past – that gets overlooked. The Exorcist is the only true horror film to get a lot of accolades, which is a shame. Maybe the trend will be reversed someday for films that truly deserve it.
Totals
Inglourious Basterds – 12 District 9 – 9 The Hurt Locker – 9 A Single Man – 7 Avatar – 6 Star Trek – 6 Drag Me to Hell – 5 Fantastic Mr. Fox – 5 A Serious Man – 5 Up – 5 Up in the Air – 4 Crazy Heart – 2 In the Loop – 2 Precious – 2 Watchmen – 2 Where the Wild Things Are – 2 The Blind Side – 1 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – 1 Coraline – 1 An Education – 1 The Informant! – 1 Julie and Julia – 1 Nine – 1 The Road – 1 The Secret of the Kells – 1 The Young Victoria – 1
Some more mini-reviews of films I’ve seen this year. If I keep doing this from time to time, it should be much simpler to quantify my top ten once the end of the year rolls around, since I’ll have an on-the-record star-rating to work with (note: I reserve the right to capriciously change my mind at any moment, about anything).
The Hurt Locker
What I Liked: Man oh man, where to begin? This film grabs your chest and squeezes, right from the start. Pulse-pounding, teeth-clenching. A brutally simple story of three soldiers in Iraq in an Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit, meaning a bomb squad. And that’s pretty much it: they wake up, they go disarm Intentional Explosive Devices, they die or they don’t die. In between the scenes of the various ways that they try to unwind the untenable tension each assignment brings, we get quietly chaotic moments of the squad doing a dangerous job in an already dangerous place.
There’s a scene with an anticlimactically realistic sniper-battle that emphasizes what an awful place for a war a desert is (not that there’s a great place for it. Maybe it emphasizes what an awful place a desert is to wear full combat gear). In the third act, a tank explodes in the dead of night, and as the team rushes to investigate why I realized I had forgotten about night-time! The day scenes were already harrowing, it didn’t occur to me that it could get worse.
What I Didn’t Like: Not very much. The scenes with leading man Jeremy Renner’s wife and child seemed a bit out of tone, but that’s sort of the point, I think.
The Verdict: Another Four Star movie! Quite the busy pre-September we’ve been having, at least for me personally.
(500) Days Of Summer
What I Liked: A bright, summery film if there ever was one, buoyed by some fun greeting-card gags and commendably twee performances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. It’s pretty inconsequential, as it turns out, but oddly hard to fault for it. I don’t mean this in an entirely bad way, but it felt like an extended commercial for something, at least in design and visual presentation. A commercial for ‘love’? Who knows? Plus there’s a scene with karaoke, which is awesome.
What I Didn’t Like: It was, in the end, more forgettable than we all hoped back when we heard that indie-poster-people Levitt and Deschanel were involved. Deschanel is a Manic Pixie Dream-Girl to beat all the others, with no ambitions and very little background of her own. There’s also an annoyingly mature younger sister, and good old reliable Wacky But Pathetic Best Friend.
The Verdict: Two Stars- I’m torn between two and two and a half. But it’s really just Eternal Sunshine-light.
What I Liked: Sam Rockwell! He played two distinctly different Sam Rockwells, which was great! Also the plot sort of straightforwardly goes where it says it’s going, which is both refreshing in a way, but also kind of anticlimactic. Hard to say, really. The film looks great, and the score (by Klint Mansell) is one of my favorites of the year). Plus: Sam Rockwell!
What I Didn’t Like: There were a couple of plot holes (or questions, rather) that sort of gnawed at me afterwards, not to get into spoilers or anything. It was a bit…stagey, I guess. I hoped for a little more expressionism from a touted ‘psychological thriller,’ but there’s something to be said for straightforwardness.
The Verdict: Three Stars! (One of these stars is brought to you solely by Sam Rockwell)
Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like: I’ll get into this when I cover this movie for an upcoming feature. It’ll take a few weeks to get there, though (it’s the sixth installment said feature. Can’t imagine why…)
The Verdict: Three and a Half Stars!
Public Enemies
What I Liked: Johnny Depp was pretty slick as John Dillinger, and the cast was littered with ringers in nearly wordless parts (Stephen Dorff? David Wenham? What?) Christian Bale was pretty badass, and his accent was hilarious (as I have often visited South Carolina (where Melvin Purvis was from) and it was not very accurate). Mann’s orange-lit documentary style lends itself well to historical movies- it’s like he’s been emulating the poor lighting quality of footage from the thirties all along.
What I Didn’t Like: There’s a gun battle in the middle of the film that must last twenty minutes, and unlike in Heat, the real-life inspiration was a skirmish that lasted all of three minutes. I then read Bryan Burrough’s fascinatingly detailed book of the same name, and was just left asking why certain historical events were changed for the film, even beyond timeframe and narrative reasons.
The Verdict: Two And A Half Stars.
Bruno
What I Liked: Plenty of laughs from an extended tv show in the theaters: he gets Paula Abdul to talk about how helping people is very important to her while sitting on a Mexican worker in place of a chair- he interviews parents who whore out their babies for photo-shoots about the various hazards they have no problems exposing them to. He gets a lot of mileage out of homophobes of various types, culminating in a hilariously over the top finale.
What I Didn’t Like: Some of it was a bit far (poor Ron Paul), but really, I knew what to expect.
The Verdict: Two Stars- didn’t impress, didn’t do less than I expect either.
The economy being what it is (which to say, terrible) and myself being who I am (which is to say, a former English major), I’ve seen disappointingly few movies in theaters this year. Fortunately, that’s kept the quality to quantity ratio of 2009 pretty high. Mini-reviews follow, reverse order again:
The Hangover:
What I Liked: The long-overdue stardom of Zach Galifiankis, and the less overdue but still enjoyable stardom of Ed Helms. Those two, along with generic every dude Bradley Cooper, elevate what pretty much is an hour and a half “What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas” commercial into an enjoyable farce from the director of Old School. It’s telling that my sides hurt not during the ridiculous farce, look-how-Vegasy-this-is moments (A tiger in the bathroom! Que ridiculo!), but during the character moments, like when Helms tells Galifianakis he is “literally too stupid to insult.”
What I Didn’t Like: The “villain,” of the film, such as it is, is an Eddie-Murphy-in-Norbit level Asian stereotype, and there were plenty of other cheap attempts at laughs here and there, but it wasn’t as if I had expected to see Woody Allen type sophisticate humor.
The Verdict: Two And A Half Stars. Maybe I’ll kick in an extra half in hindsight if it elevates Galafianakis, who’s nearly an Andy Kaufman-level comic persona, to bigger and better things.
The Brothers Bloom:
What I Liked: Everything.
Every time Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenabums, The Darjeeling Limited) releases a movie, critics tend to rouse a chorus of minor variations of the theme “He does the same thing every time!” And while I agree whole-heatedly that yes, he does, I hope he keeps right on doing it. It’s not as if whimsically detached, artfully symmetric pastiche-pieces are clogging the screens at the Majestic every week. And if more filmmakers dive headfirst into the Anderson indie-twee style of filmmaking (like Rian Johnson with his sophomore film The Brothers Bloom), then it will still be a long time before I start complaining.
On the heels of his new cult classic Brick, Johnson got the funding for a beautifully shot ode to con men and European intrigue, and brought the same raw energy to a twisting, bantering screenplay for stars Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brody, and Rachel Weisz to work with. The plot might get a little too cutesy for some near the end (mostly leaving us guessing whether or not people have been shot), but The Brothers Bloom is too much fun to ask questions, and too well-made to get mad at.
All that and a great, rambling score had me waltzing out of the theater.
What I Didn’t Like: There were two songs in the movie that weren’t on the soundtrack I downloaded from Amazon? Seriously, the combination of Rian Johnson’s raw enthusiasm for film with an Andersonian (Andersonish?) sensibility hit all the right notes for me.
The Verdict: Four Stars, and one derby hat slickly rolled onto my head. Watch the first seven minutes of it here, and then tell me you don’t want to catch it at the Downer Theater before it’s gone.
What I Liked: Again, pretty much everything. As a casual fan of the original series, and only a fan-in-general of later incarnations (except for Star Trek: Voyager, which premiered whilst I was in middle school and I briefly thought was the BEST SHOW EVER), I was more than ready for J. J. Abrams to re-imagine the Star Trek universe, unlike some older critics more tied to the past, perhaps.
ST reminded me a great deal of Pirates Of The Carribean: Curse Of The Black Pearl in the way it seemingly effortlessly accomplished the introduction of several characters, incorporated several different action set pieces, maintained a break-neck pace, and kept the audience laughing or oohing and aahing at all the right points. The cast was largely spot on, although that depends on your attachment to certain characters since they were all different levels of homage to each original portrayal- they ran the gamut from Karl Urban’s absolutely spot-on (and scene stealing) Bones, to John Cho’s largely businesslike Sulu.
Without getting too much into the plot, the writers also explained the reason for a new look at Star Trek in a way that not only made sense, but provided an excuse to include Leonard Nimoy.
What I Didn’t Like: The film’s villain, Eric Bana’s Nero, was reasonably well-done, but I was left wishing that the Enterprise might get involved in more than a conflict with a very traditional Star Trek trope: the lone despot with a powerful ship. Doesn’t the Federation function as a galactic peace-keeping organization?
I suppose that might be best left for some other series, however. But what would it be called? “Star Galactic Peace Keeping Operations?” I feel like it’s on the tip of my tongue.
The Verdict: Four Stars! I’ve seen fewer movies, but rarely do I find three of my year end top ten (probably) before it’s half over (Bloom, ST, and Coraline, if you’re counting with me).
The Soloist:
What I Liked: Robert Downey, Jr. as a journalist at the end of his rope, delivers another quietly solid performance, opposite Jamey Foxx’s more obviously dramatic schizophrenic homeless cellist. I enjoyed the script, at least in the way that it patiently depicts a friendship that falters as often as it grows, and doesn’t overdo any redemptive element- Foxx’s character never has any sort of Hallmark life-turnaround, nor does Downey reconnect with his ex-wife.
Joe Wright continues to develop as a visual filmmaker, abandoning the sweeping tracking shots of Atonement for grittier montages of Los Angeles street-life: The Soloist is about the plight of the homeless and mentally handicapped as much as it is about music. I also loved a scene mid-way through the film when Foxx hears an orchestra rehearse- he closes his eyes and Wright brings us on a journey with him, punctuating each crescendo of the music with bright visual flares on a blank screen. It might qualify as an indulgent touch, but I’m a fan of the orchestra (I’m even a sucking for the cool “warming up” noise) so it worked well.
What I Didn’t Like: Despite admiring the unhurried way the plot moved, The Soloist could have been paced a bit better- it makes the most of it’s nearly two-hour runtime. The minor subplots (the ex-wife, the animal urine (?) Downey orders to protect his garden from scavengers) weighed it down, and the brief looks at Foxx’s childhood and subsequent unraveling were more voyeuristic than they were necessary.
The Verdict: Two And A Half Stars. It might have been higher if there were more Bach and less Beethoven. Personal preference, sorry.
State Of Play:
What I Liked: A passably fun thriller about evil corporations, idealistic reporters, and possibly corrupt politicians. Russel Crowe was gravelly, Helen Mirren was a fun mean-spirited editor. Jason Bateman had a fun cameo. The plot twisted and turned.
What I Didn’t Like: Not to say that it was predictable, but it certainly felt rather familiar. In fact, the only unique part of the film was the most overblown and hackneyed- a constant emphasis on the death rattle of print journalism and how sad that is. Rachel McAdams plays the young reporter who runs the newspaper’s blog, and just doesn’t get how things should be done, Crowe uses an ancient DOS-based black-screened thing, and the film ends with a big story being printed, step by step, on an industrial printing press and delivered to newsstands. I get it. End of an era. Yawn.
The Verdict: Two Stars. Kept me watching, didn’t go anywhere unexpected, could’ve taken itself a little less seriously.
Observe And Report:
What I Liked: There’s a certain amount of downright insane edginess you just sort of have to admire, in that you wonder how they got film studio’s to agree to fund it. I’m sure it mostly had to do with Seth Rogen’s still rising star, and he does an admirably believable job as a suburbanized Taxi Driver-style psychotic mall cop.
What I Didn’t Like: With that edginess always seems to come a pervasive distaste for every character in the film, or at least that’s what we’re left with. Even cameos from some of my favorite comedy stars (like Patton Oswalt!) usually are for little purpose other than to act awful and expect laughter. And even though the abrasive wackiness gets laughs, it’s nice to have a straight man here and there.
The Verdict: Two Stars. Seemed a little too proud of itself for being risqué, with lots of musical montages and slow motion, but honestly the trailer sold that sensibility pretty well.
So as you may have heard, yesterday the Oscars (or AMPAS, if you prefer) announced the decision to increase the field of Best Picture nominations from five to ten.
With various reactions around the internet (Spout always does a great job rounding up the consensus), I find myself mostly liking the idea. Why, you ask? Let’s make a list.
1. Nothing Should Get Skipped Over Now, Finally
Right?
Some years we’re lucky enough to get well more than five films that deserve inclusion, but usually we only see three of them make it, while the rest get skipped over for whatever the studios have politicked into the field (like The Reader last year, or Juno the year before).
Now, theoretically, nothing should be relegated to the perennial sixth contender.
2. The Ratings For The Telecast Could Improve
Everyone seems to think this move is in response to the outrage over The Dark Knight’s snub last year, but honestly anyone who was really mad about it was probably the type of person who still watched the Oscars anyway (like I was, and did).
I would bet that this is more of an inclusive way to cast a wider net for the telecast- if they were worried about just certain films getting overlooked, they could have gone with six or seven nominations, or made the number conditional on some sort of voting rubric (both of which make more sense than randomly doubling the total).
But by increasing it to ten, AMPAS is more or less guaranteeing that a random moviegoer will have seen at least one of them.
3. It Doesn’t Really “Dilute The Prestige” Of A Nomination
Just saying. Actual films nominated for Best Picture since 1990: Ghost, The Godfather Part III, Scent Of A Woman, Four Weddings And A Funeral, Babe, Jerry Maguire, American Beauty, The Sixth Sense, In The Bedroom, The Hours, Seabiscuit, Ray, Sideways, Crash, Little Miss Sunshine, Juno, and The Reader.
Now, clearly this is all my opinion, but not one of those screams “Best Picture” to me, even though they’re pretty good (except Crash and The Godfather Part III, which are awful by all accounts).
If you insist on thinking that a nomination is now half as noteworthy, then at least undeserving nominees are only half as egregious. Those who have the free time already decide which of the five nominees are also-rans as soon as the field is announced, now they just have five more to add to that list.
4. It Makes Me More Excited For This Year’s Oscars
Hey, it’s the first time since Casablanca that this has happened! At least it’s novel. Plus, with no frontrunner at this early stage, it’s fun to imagine the possibilities. As many speculate, this seems to push things like Star Trek and Up into the “likely contenders” category, instead of crowd pleasers that would certainly have been neglected.
Now I have to completely revise my likely Best Picture nominees list, which has just been in my head until now. For fun, here it is after yesterday, in no particular order:
Invictus (Eastwood film about Nelson Mandela) The Informant (Soderbergh film starring Matt Damon) Shutter Island (Scorsese film starring Leonardo DiCaprio) The Road (Pulitzer-winning book made Viggo Mortensen movie) Biutiful (Javier Bardem starrer from the director of Babel) Star Trek Up Broken Embraces (Almodovar/Penelope Cruz collaboration du jour) Brothers (Jake Gylenhaal vehicle from the director of In America) Avatar (James Cameron’s new Sci Fi epic).
And I had to actually look things up to think of ten! That’s the crazy part. This is to say nothing of films that I am iffy about (for BP, anyway) that become contenders if the reviews are good, like Public Enemies, The Time Traveler’s Wife, The Lovely Bones, Nine (the musical, not the CGI rag-doll apocalypse thing)- and even the crazy longshot odds for Where The Wild Things Are must’ve just doubled.
So you’ve got a tentative thumbs up from me, Academy, but I was already gonna watch anyway. Hopefully such a major move makes you less afraid to overhaul categories that need it even more, like Original Song, Original Score, and Foreign Film.
My only real “aw” thought is how sad it is for the entire field in 2007, the only year that I’ve been following this stuff that could’ve sustained ten real nominees. You had the Academy’s five, which included two masterpieces (No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood), one near-masterpiece (Atonement), an awesome throwback thriller (Michael Clayton) and the fun but happy-to-be-there Juno. But it was such a great year that it would have been nice to add The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, Sweeney Todd, Zodiac, Away From Her, and something actually popular like The Bourne Ultimatum or Ratatouille.
Mini reviews of all the 2009 movies I’ve seen so far, in reverse order:
Adventureland
What I Liked: First of all, Adventureland was filmed in Pittsburgh, PA (where I grew up) and parts of the fictional amusement park "Adventureland" were filmed at real-life amusement park Kennywood (where I went growing up and is the awesomest place EVER), so I felt warmly nostalgic already. The movie has a great naturalistic feel to it, a la Dazed And Confused, tracing its central characters while letting the others wander through the fringes (as opposed to presenting them one a time like “Here’s this guy! He’s the wacky dude who always plays the air drums! Yeah!”). And I admired the work of pretty much the whole cast (Eisenberg, Stewart, Staar, Reynolds, you name ‘em. Even Wiig and Hader scaled it back nicely).
What I Didn’t Like: Well, it’s hard to tell any coming of age story ever without treading familiar territory, I guess.
The Verdict: Three Stars- Kennywood! It’s a magic factory where dreams are made!
Duplicity
What I Liked: Clive Owen sort of gets to play the James Bond type he never got cast for, and Julia Roberts didn’t bother me as much as I predicted she would (what? I just don’t buy her as a femme fatale. Sorry). Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti (who gets “and” credit, ooh) have fun as loudmouth CEOs. The plot is reasonably twisty.
What I Didn’t Like: It’s fun and all, but you just spend the entire movie waiting for the big reveal, to see who’s been playing who. And while I can’t say I called all the shots on what would happen, I can’t imagine needing to watch it ever again. Tony Gilroy seemed like an auteur capable of visual restraint with Michael Clayton, but he gets bogged down in Ocean’s style musical scene cues in Duplicity- the movie’s pretty proud of itself for being as inconsequential as it is, you could say.
The Verdict: Two and a Half Stars- what the hell, the dialogue is snappy and the movie passes quickly. I’d just rather see Gilroy get serious again for his next feature.
What I Liked: Paul Rudd, after playing wise-ass supporting parts, nails a sort of over-eager awkwardness endemic to any new friendship. Jason Segel is just awesome in anything. The name “Lou Ferrigno” is always funny to say. Rashida Jones got third billing, good for her.
What I Didn’t Like: Meh. The whole storyline sort of followed a bunch of movie clichés, but with a best friend in place of a girlfriend, as in “Boy meets friend, boy loses friend, boy regains friend.” But there were a surprisingly lack of gay-panic jokes, so kudos.
Verdict: Two And A Half Stars
Watchmen
What I Liked: The opening montage is pretty much awesome. Jackie Earle Haley for Best Supporting Actor? Billy Crudup and Harry Dean Stanton were also well-cast. It was of course fun to see so many panels recreated exactly on the screen, and so many moments (“I’m not locked in here with you…”). The story mostly survived intact, and the new ending didn’t bother me.
What I Didn’t Like: Malin Akerman was a cinematic black hole (in addition to her character getting rewritten into a mental patient). Most of the soundtrack cues were obtrusive and/or ridiculous. Zack Snyder gets WAY too much of a hard-on for limb-snapping violence. Matthew Goode was terribly miscast and Patrick Wilson had little time to be anything other than milquetoast. The love scene. Carla Guigino acting like she was in a Tennessee Williams play. The tenement fire-scene getting way overblown. I could keep going for a while- the thing is, I liked it okay the first time, enough to see it twice, but the second time through the negatives really started to wear on me (more than the positives grew on me).
Verdict: Two Stars- A for effort, but the spirit got lost somewhere. And it’s not because, like Alan Moore, I think it’s impossible to tell Watchmen in movie form. It’s just that Zack Snyder seemed to like Watchmen for its grisly violence and Dan Gibbons’ art (really?) instead of, you know, themes of Cold-War paranoia and psychological complexity, which is why everyone else IN THE WORLD likes it so much.
Coraline (3D)
What I Liked: Uh, how about everything? The 3D added to the story, Dakota Fanning’s voice didn’t drive me up the wall for once, the textures and detail in Selick’s claymation are always indelible. There was a short song by one the They Might Be Giants guys! The father was voiced by John Hodgman and the upstairs neighbor by Ian McShane! After the likeable but not terribly Gaimanish Stardust, Coraline completely nails the source material, departing only to flesh the story to feature length.
What I Didn’t Like: Uh, how about you not going to see it? Seriously, what’s your deal?
Verdict: Four Stars- It’s looking like an honest cage match (or dance-off) between Coraline and Up for the Best Animated Feature statue come Oscar-time.
Taken
What I Liked: Taken doesn’t feel the need to waste time. There’s maybe ten minutes or so of Liam Neeson’s former spook taking some part time work as a security guard and reluctantly agree to let his daughter take a trip to Paris before she’s kidnapped (while on the phone with him OMG) and he sets out to kick ass. And seventy minutes of ass-kicking ensue. What else do you need?
What I Didn’t Like: Uh, not much, really. I didn’t exactly pay (cough) for my ticket (cough) to see Taken, so I have no interest in harping on thin characters and nonsensical Paris law-enforcement logistics. There was ass, it was kicked.
Verdict: Two and Half Stars- delivers exactly what the trailer promises, with an extra half star for Neeson’s admirable badassery.
Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans
What I Liked: Sometimes you just gotta watch things that don’t take themselves too seriously. Or maybe things that take themselves so seriously that it’s funny- I can’t decide which one the Underworld prequel was. A friend of mine wanted to see it to complete the Underworld “trilogy,” so we went, and what I can I say- some werewolves fought some vampires, everybody came out a winner.
What I Didn’t Like: Not having seen the other two films, I figured I be okay since this all happened before those things occurred, but Rise Of The Lycans didn’t expect any non-fans to be interested whatsoever, and thus didn’t really bother explaining the particulars of the vampire/werewolf mythos in its world- thus I spent a good portion of the film asking Jacob annoying questions like “how come those vampire foot soldiers are incapacitated after one blow?” or “Can the werewolves change anytime, or does it have to be a full moon?”
What I Took Away: Respect for Michael Sheen, who was ripping out throats as the head werewolf in front of me while nebbishly interviewing Richard Nixon in the next theater over in Frost/Nixon. That’s an Oscar season juxtaposition nearly on par with Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls/Norbit.
The Verdict: Two Stars- again, delivers exactly what you expect, not particularly memorable.
All in all, two films with three stars or higher is like a crazy winning streak for this third of the year. Could 2009 be as stacked as '07?
A three part look at the year ahead, now that the Oscar have happened. Today: January to April!
The Only Movie This Year You Should Have Seen Aleady: Coraline
We all know January and February are dead months at the multiplexes. The only film worth your money so far has been Henry Selick’s masterpiece Coraline- it’s like The Nightmare Before Christmas without songs (except for one fun piano tune from one of the They Might Be Giants dudes), but more colorful, technically flawless, and with actual creepy moments.
If you can make it to a 3D showing, it’s well worth the extra $2 to rent the glasses- it’s the first film I’ve seen to use 3D as a way to enhance the storytelling instead of a “aaah! things in your face!” gimmick. Plus, it does a wonderful job of adapting a novella by my favorite author of all time, Neil Gaiman (I’m in a facebook group called “I may or may not be stalking Neil Gaiman.” Seriously, he lives in Wisconsin, too! I could have a sleeping bag outside of his house by tomorrow!).
The Weekend of February 27th: Nothing!
It’s a slow time. You can either go see the Jonas Brothers 3D Concert Experience, even though it might be a sign of the apocalypse, or Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun Li, because if there’s one film that needed a spin-off/sequel/whatever, it’s the 1994 Jean Claude Van-Damme vehicle Street Fighter.
I don’t think, after The Dark Knight’s stigma-busting success, there’s an excuse not to go see what looks to be an as-faithful as possible adaptation of Alan Moore’s graphic novel Watchmen. It’s one of the best 100 works of literature of the last century. There are midnight showings. Get out of your house.
Unless you just don’t like movies. Or violence. Or blue people.
The Weekend of March 13th: Nothing II: The Quickening!
Seriously, March is a wasteland. Will your life be improved in any way by watching Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the remake of Race To Witch Mountain? Perhaps it will help you realize every moment we spend on this earth is precious, and not to waste a single one.
Or you could see another remake, of Wes Craven’s The Last House On The Left, and learn that humans are nothing but annalistic savages that torture one another in an endless cycle of blood. Or you could read a book, or something.
There is one reason to see I Love You, Man, and it isn’t the dubious track record of Director John Hamburg and screenwriter Larry Levin- its cast is a veritable comedian highlight reel, lead off by the trio of Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, and Rashida Jones (who I miss on The Office). Small parts by Andy Samberg, Aziz Ansari, Nick Kroll, Joe Lo Truglio, Jane Curtin, and Lou Ferrigno (not a comedian, but come on- Lou Ferrigno!) promise to make it a worthwhile trip.
Let the record show that this weekend Nicolas Continues his war against good movies with Know1ng, and Tony Gilroy follows up Michael Clayton with Duplicity, which I’d be excited about if not for the questionable casting of Julia Roberts as a femme fatale. We’ll see how that one plays out on RT first, thank you.
Greg Mottola, fresh off the hit Superbad, decided to go for the mulligan and essentially make it again with his next film. Jesse Eisenberg takes over the Michael Cera nervous guy role as a recent college grad putting his dues in at an amusement park.
Monsters Vs. Aliens might be passable entertainment as well, if only for the 3D novelty and the voice of Seth Rogen as a blue blob.
The Weekend of April 3rd: Nothing With A Vengeance!
Although I bet, if you asked him nicely, Dave would save a seat for you when he lines up for the first screening of Fast & Furious.
Based on the trailer, it looks like Paul Blart: Mall Cop for people with brains. Maybe wait for review, but has Rogen steered us wrong so far?
Alternate options include Hannah Montanna: The Movie (because remember, normal girls are brunettes but rock stars are blondes) and Dragonball: Evolution (or as I like to call it, Speed Racer 2: Electric Boogaloo).
It looks like it could be good. If you’ve got nothing else going on, give it a shot. Plus there’s Crank 2: High Voltage, which is so Least Common Denominator is almost ironically highbrow.
I know, it was delayed, so it must be bad, right? But RDJ in the trailer hooks me, as does that one bit of Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 that you hear everywhere. Or if you like to look at Beyonce without hearing her sing, go see Obsessed, where she tries on her “acting face.”
And so wraps the pre-summer preview. For the record, that’s pretty only one movie I’ll definitely see in theaters (Watchmen). But a few more to catch up on, at least.
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