2009: Movies Sorted By Tier
Submitted by jim on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 13:52
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Loved
- Avatar ... It terms of story, characters, dialog, etc. this is nothing new. All elements are solidly enjoyable, but not necessarily remarkable. I mean, top notch action, and solid characters and charcter development, and when bad things happen to good people you care, but none of that is astounding. More than good enough to not be in the way. And what it is not in the way of is a fully realized world rendered with cinematic technology that immersed me like never before. Not to get all hyperbolic on you, but I have never walked out of a movie so happy to have seen it on the big screen. Never. Don't wait to see it at home. Cameron uses his 3d the way other movies use color. Just like you don't think, "hey, this movie is in color", you don't think here, "hey, this movie is in 3d." Well, you do at first, but then it mostly fades into the background (except for that putting scene, which had to be an intentional dig at the overt look-at-this-ham-handed-3d-effect shot you see in lesser 3d movies). Felt like a kid again, watching magic. Nobody makes the blockbusters like Cameron. Every penny is right up there on the screen. I had my doubts, along with just about everybody else, but he delivered. Sorry to overhype it for you! Forget I said all that, and just go enjoy a great popcorn flick.
- Coraline ... What a great convergence of writer (Neil Gaimen), director (Henry Selick), and animation style. You can almost imagine Selick just climbing into Gaimen's head and filming what he finds there. Fantastic voice work from the whole cast. Beautiful to look at, and you can see the loving detail taken right down to Coraline's hand-knit gloves. The movie isn't scary per se, but it has creepiness to burn. On a personal note, I must regretfully report that the animators nailed not only the awful head and neck posture of a guy who spends too much time working at the computer, but also the workaholicism. That hit a little too close to home!
- District 9 ... What a hoot. Smush together a little Aliens and a lot of a certain David Cronenberg movie (to say which one gives away a little much), combine that with documentary-style cinematography and the silly (but it somehow still works) alien apartheid/"human" rights angle, and you've got the most original alien movie in years. Not without flaws (inconsistent POV threw me a bit, hard to buy some aspects of our lead's character arc), but who cares?
- Moon ... A quiet movie that has it all: mystery, philosophy, heartbreak, and tension. Sam Rockwell is fantastic.
- Up in the Air ... George Clooney answers the question "can a role not stretch an actor AT ALL and still be considered great acting?" Yes, would be the answer. Just a terrific movie all around, performances, themes, pace, ending. An unconventional buddy/road movie (not really buddies, not really road) that works very, very well.
Really Liked
- (500) Days of Summer ... Had me at "Bitch." Joseph Gordon-Levitt has always been good and keeps getting better, and of course Zooey Deschanel is terrific. So nicely captures the struggle of finding the right person at the right time, and the heartache of it all, without getting mawkish.
- 9 ... Nice, dark post-apocalyptic tale. Flies by in 80 minutes, and yet they cram a surprising amount of stuff into the short running time, and a surprising amount of heart into those little burlap bodies.
- Away We Go ... Just a really nice road movie/big life changes movie, with a lot of heart, some low-key off-kilter humor, and a few belly laughs (like when Maya Rudolph convinces John Krasinski they need to argue more to get the baby's heart rate up - total riot, and not just the first time). The leads feel totally genuine, despite the off-kilterness (subjective, YMMV), and the supporting cast rocks. I would single out the big names like Catherine O'Hara, Allison Janney, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, but really they are all good and it would do the lesser known (to me, at least) actors (Carmen Ejogo, Jim Gaffigan, Josh Hamilton, et al) a disservice. Okay, Janney is amazing, as usual, but my point remains. My favorite Sam Mendes movie. Really enjoyed the Alexi Murdoch soundtrack as well.
- Bandslam ... Sweet tweener comedy with a nice indie feel that even little kids can safely watch (nothing even remotely sketchy for my eight-year-old, for example). How hard is that to pull off! I didn't see the trailers, but I understand they misleadingly painted this one as a High School Musical knock-off, which is unfortunate.
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ... Everybody is wearing their roles like second skins now, with Michael Gambon finally coming into his own, and Daniel Radcliff starting to pull away from his peers (or at least pull even with Emma Watson, who opened up a big lead early in the series). I still wish Alfonso Cuaron were directing the final chapters, but I am no longer upset by the choice of David Yates. Best Quiddich scene of the series.
- Inglourious Basterds ... I grappled for awhile with "is it okay that he has Jews committing atrocities with such gusto?" Also with, "why is the Nazi far and away the coolest character?" (probably because Christoph Waltz is just absurdly good). Also, the clear alternate-universe of it all is a little weird. But in the end I had to throw my hands up and go with the flow, the ultimate revenge fantasy by the king of schlock revenge tales himself. I do think the David Bowie song was a rare soundtrack misstep, though.
- Sherlock Holmes ... A mid-range Guy Ritchie movie (which is pretty good to start) elevated greatly by Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. Among serious actors who eventually went the blockbuster route, has anyone ever struck the balance of taking it seriously while winking and having fun as perfectly as RDJ? I don't think so.
- Star Trek ... Maybe a touch overrated, but who can resist seeing all these old friends in new skins? The cast has fun doing a bit channelling, while at the same time making the old roles fresh again. And my wife pointed out that this movie gives us an explanation for why Kirk, despite his proclivities, doesn't really hit on Uhura.
- Up ... I really liked it, I'd see it again, Pixar's amazing undefeated streak lives on, etc., but I did have a few more issues with this one than usual. Russell's face seemed a bit on the featureless side. Given the villain's history, I was a bit put off by how evil he was. Kinda problematic his character, and the tension between him and our heroes seemed a bit manufactured. The movie would have been better with a more Miyazakiesque shades-of-gray approach to the bad guy. The pacing wasn't quite as tight. Beautiful to look at though, and I did mist up a couple times (the life montage was fantastic), but still, not quite the grand slam I had been led to expect. P.S. the short was the weakest in quite some time, although it helps if you view it as a parenting allegory.
- Thirst ... I had a revelation about Park Chan-wook: I think he makes operas. Highly cinematic operas with no singing and disturbing themes and violence, but somehow operatic. I'm not sure why I think that. Maybe it's that his movies are an acquired taste? Or that the emotions are pitched high and stylized (or at least they tend to be around the straight man)? I dunno, probably crazy but I feel like I'm onto something. Anyway, very interesting movie that captures better than most the intertwined, contradictory sexiness/ickiness of the whole vampire concept. Plenty of religion/morality fun to be had along the way. That bit with the scissors into the mouth sure did make me squirm. Good ending.
- Whip It ... A coming-of-age sports movie with girl power. It's like they made this one for me. Slow build but you can't help but like these characters, and Ellen Page continues to play the teenager everybody loves. Dug the soundtrack.
- Zombieland ... I am enjoying the zombie thing more than the vampire thing. Beat expectations, and was quite a bit of fun. It's hard to say how much less fun it would be without Woody Harrelson, but it would be tangible, 'cause he's perfect. Everybody else is good too. Not sure about the B.M. interlude. Funny stuff, and favorite part of many, it seems, but it kinda took me out of the moment. Not really complaining, just observing.
Glad I Saw
- Astro Boy ... A nudge darker (more with the grief) and a nudge more complex (more with the meaning of life) and this would have been great. As it stands, very fun but lightweight. Quite enjoyable, and my 7yo loved it, and she's the target audience, so I can't begrudge the creators. Really though, I wasn't sure if I should file this as "Guilty Pleasure" or "Really Liked It", so I'm going to stick it here. Oh, any time Nicholas Cage mails it in my wife scores a point in our ongoing debate as to his calibar, so I wish he'd stop doing that.
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ... Fun. I had no idea how they were going to turn such a thin, silly children's book into anything more than a short, but it works pretty well.
- Dead Snow ... Like early Sam Raimi, but from Norway. Makes a nice gradual progression from pretty straight horror to some crazy wacky gory schlock at the end. Nicely done.
- Drag Me to Hell ... Quite fun with some good moments, although for whatever reason I went into this expecting more pure horror, and found the slapsticky moments detracted at bit from scenes that could have been scarier. I loved it in other movies where Raimi's tongue was more firmly in cheek, but here maybe not enough tongue to make intentions clear. Great ending, though.
- The Informant! ... A big chunk of what makes this engaging is Matt Damon, and the other big chunk is that it's based on real events. Take out either of those things and you don't have much to hang onto, but fortunately they are both here, so there's plenty of wow-you-can't-make-this-stuff-up to be had. Scott Bakula is very good too.
- The International ... A decent political thriller, and there's nothing wrong with casting banks as bad guys, these days. I liked Clive Owen's trick of jogging his memory by dunking his head in a sink full of ice water. I wonder if that works?
- Knowing ... The funny-ish thing is that I thought this would be kinda lightish dumb end-of-the-world stuff, along the lines of The Day After Tomorrow, but instead it is very dark. Probably shouldn't have let my 11-year-old watch it, what with the scary-looking high-body-count carnage. I lost two nights of sleep in my own bed due to that one. The movie wants to be taken more seriously than I was able to, but I still kinda dug it.
- Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian ... Better than the original. Funnier, warmer, and with Hank Azaria
- Race to Witch Mountain ... There are a handful of actors I like, not because they are good actors, but because they are good at conveying some intangible thing I find likeable. Kevin Costner, Harrison Ford back in the day, Owen Wilson and, I have to admit, Dwayne Johnson, although it's hard not to think of him as The Rock. Too bad he couldn't have folded that into his name some how. "Dwayne Rockson" or "Rock Johnson". Ooh, no, scratch that latter one, unless he starts making a less family-friendly breed of movie. Anyway, the whole gang had a fun day at the movies with this one, and I have to give Johnson's on-screen persona (as opposed to acting) due credit. But hey, maybe that's what acting is.
Guilty Pleasures
- Law Abiding Citizen ... The first hour is pretty tight, and I was totally down with this guys revenge, but as it keeps ramping things up, it somehow deflates. Of course it's silly, but given that I'm not sure about the choice of making our hero Spoiler: Highlight to viewthe bad guy by the end. You end up with nobody to root for, which if you're making a point about the corrosive nature of revenge, fine, but this isn't that kind of movie.
- Monsters vs. Aliens ... As much as I love her, it's probably a bad sign when I'm allied with the seven-year-old in enjoying the movie, while the savvier 11-year-old and the much savvier wife find it "mediocre" and "terrible" respectively. What can I say? Lots of it doesn't work, but I found myself enjoying it anyway. Our heroine's character arc was as fun as it was predictable (you may find them inversely proportional, don't say I didn't warn you).
- The Taking of Pelham 123 ... Did Travolta need special floss to get the scenery out from between his teeth? Ye gods, some of the giggle-inducing profanity he was forced to spew... Really quite silly, between the annoying laptop girl, the ridiculous racing of the money across town, and Denzel being able to drive like that. I've seen better from Tony Scott, for sure. Still, for a straight up action movie that toes the line between "fun" and "sucks", it comes down on the fun side. Pretty close call though, YMMV.
- Push ... Even going by the bar set by Heroes, this one's pretty nonsensical. How'd our boy get so omnicient? What kind of actions are visible to Watchers again? Is there a superpower harder to be impressed by than the Screamers? Goofy fun though, if you can let all that and more slide.
- Watchmen ... I think maybe you just can't make a slavish movie adaptation of a comic book. All the stuff that works on the page just seems silly on the screen, although Zack Snyder does a much better job with the "unfilmable" source than I thought he would based on 300. I thought Rorshack and Dr. Manhattan came out particularly well. And I thought the liberties taken with the ending were pretty good, actually.
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine ... Much better than I'd been led to believe. I mean, still a forgettable popcorn flick, but enjoyable enough at the time. Be forewared though: the next morning my wife came downstairs with a laundry list of movie stupidities, so the movie also isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Could Have Missed
- 2012 ... Way too long, but as ridiculous disaster movies go it kinda did what it was supposed to do. Kinda. Worst disaster movie science ever? It's gotta be a contender.
- Duplicity ... A smart movie, but unfortunately a pretty dull one. You really have to work at it to feel anything for these characters, or the plot.
- Imagine That ... Sub-par "dad ignores kid until something magic brings them together and then the magic goes away forcing the dad into a deeper examination of fatherhood and, well, you know how it ends" movie, but I can't help being at least a tiny bit of a sucker for the big heartstring tug these movies inevitably yank at the end.
- The Men Who Stare at Goats ... Occasionally amusing, but this is basically a movie without an engine. No plot to speak of, no real character development.
- Terminator Salvation ... About what you'd expect from a McG Terminator movie. One-dimensional work from everybody, maybe that guy distracted the whole cast, not just Christian Bale. Sam Worthington kinda grows on me as the movie wears on, and some of the nods to the earlier movies are fun, but just as many fall flat.
Should Have Missed
- Jennifer's Body ... Why was this in my queue again? Oh right, Diablo Cody wrote it (it wasn't the Megan Fox factor, really!). I think the script is actually okay, there are some good lines and fun to be had, but it never really comes together, and stays just barely interesting enough to keep watching. I can see Sam Raimi really directing the hell out of it, but he must have been busy. Oh well.
- Shorts ... Personally, I could go even lower with this one, but my 7-year-old loved it, and she's the target demographic, so mission accomplished for Rodriguez, I guess. I remember really liking Spy Kids, but I'll have to reconfirm that memory one of these days, because, you know, Sharkboy and Lavagirl? This? Ouch.
El Sucko Grande
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel ... I take my 8-year-old to Avatar and THIS is how she repays me, by insisting on seeing this on her birthday?! Selfish brat. :-) She liked it, so I'd give it points for that, but I can't overlook the sexism. Pretend I'm willing to forgive the offensive behavior of the bad guy because, after all, he's the bad guy. But to have the whole high school be composed pretty much of football players and cheerleaders, and have every girl in the school moon and coo helplessly over fucking CHIPMUNKS, and then to have one of the football players walk up to a table where said girls are mooning and cooing, and dismiss them with "ladies, private session" or some similarly brusque command, and to have them just pout and walk off in docile, dutiful fashion? Fer fuck's sake.
- Bitch Slap ... It doesn't matter how much cleavage you flash, you can't be stupid AND predictable. If nothing else, this movie proves that, because good god, cleavage central. I actually started fast-forwarding that stuff (which made the movie significantly shorter). Maybe if I were still 15 years old. It's always a tricky thing, sending up something that is pretty much a spoof in the first place.
- Underworld: Rise of the Lycans ... What the hell was I thinking?! I didn't like the first one at all, I hated the second, and yet here we are. Without even the consolation of Kate Beckinsale. I hate myself.
Unranked
- None Yet
Cloned From:
Reading this (and enjoying, even if you obviously liked some films *coughAVATARcough* much more than I did), I found myself amazed at one dumb point.
Wow, did Watchmen really come out this year?
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I know, seems forever ago! I think Zack Snyder movies tend to get March releases, which is probably not an accident. Better to be a big fish in a small pond, I suppose.
Funny, I thought of you after Avatar, and guessed you wouldn't like it (that is a compliment). Viewing conditions were perfect for me, which I'm sure helped. It was my first time in Pittsfield's new theater, a beautiful independent six-screener, all digital, and around which many hope the downtown will finally start to rejuvenate after GE downsized so devastatingly in the 70s. We had great seats, and I haven't seen a 3-d movie since the bad old days of red-and-blue glasses. I confess, I was swept away.
Wow, such heavily mixed reviews on Avatar around here. I'm sure I'll end up seeing it, although I will admit some trepidation.
So true! I read your review, and what surprised me most was how unimpressed you were with the effects. It's like we saw different movies.
Well, I did end up giving it a C-, and the reason why the grade wasn't lower is certainly not because of the screenwriting or acting. Normally special effects wouldn't raise a grade that much, but when you make a movie that, in my mind, was made pretty much only as an excuse to create special effects, it seems more important. The world of Pandora was certainly dazzling, although I couldn't shake the feeling that I was watching a great-looking video game rather than something intended to take place in a plane of reality. Additionally, there were some really dumb elements of the animated world, but nevermind.
The live action 3D was a huge disappointment for me though. I had heard everything about the movie was a technological marvel, and I found the live action 3D barely even a step up from the 3D movies at Disneyworld. Sure, Cameron chose to make it less gimmicky, but that's about it; the technique makes the people look massless and their motions look awkward, and it makes different parts of the screen look blurry.
P.S. I also have a tendency to get really bored with long, CGI-heavy action sequences, especially war sequences. I don't just want to sit at the screen and look at explosion after explosion, it's not interesting to me. That's part of why I hated the third Matrix movie, and it's also one thing I didn't like about District 9.
Also, I feel confused at how many people dub Avatar a masterpiece even when they've acknowledged that the screenplay and/or acting are mediocre to bad. To me, a great movie is one that is strong in all attributes (story, dialogue, characters, acting, etc.), not one that is middling-to-weak in all of them except one attribute that is remarkably high. I think calling the latter type a great film seems like an act of cognitive dissonance, but it must just be that most people have a different way of thinking about films.
Hmm. Thought I replied to your post, but it appears I started a new thread. See below...
I am normally very distracted by uncanny valley problems, so I'm surprised I didn't have the same problems with the live action 3D scenes as you did. I wonder if your 3D projector was a touch out of tune? Or you could just be even more sensitive to stuff like that than I am.
I hear you on the masterpiece thing. I just loved it, I make no claims regarding masterpiecehood.
P.S. District 9?! That's just crazy talk, man! :-) Great action scene, so much the better for being invested in the plot and characters, and thus having so much riding on the outcome.
I'm actually curious if your 3D experience depends on your seat in the theater. Were you sitting towards the back and dead center of the row when you saw it? I was sitting closer to the front and off to the left a bit.
I was close to the middle, but a bit to the right. I was also probably in the middle from a front-to-back perspective. Pretty small theater.