2009: Movies Sorted By Tier
Submitted by jim on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 13:52
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Loved
- 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?
Really Liked
- 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 Cuarón 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.
- 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.
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.
- 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 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
- 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.
Could Have Missed
- Shorts ... Personally, I could go much 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.
Should Have Missed
- None Yet
El Sucko Grande
- 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
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