Top Ten 2009 Films
Submitted by lbangs on Fri, 02/13/2009 - 13:42
Tags:
- 1) The Secret in Their Eyes
- 2) Up in the Air
- 3) Capitalism: A Love Story
- 4) District 9
- 5) (500) Days of Summer
- 6) A Single Man
- 7) Invictus
- 8) The Messenger
- 9) Funny People
- 10) Away We Go
- Honorable Mentions
- Adventureland
- Coraline
- Inglourious Basterds
- Did I Really Sit Through That Crap?
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
- Avatar
Coraline was pretty fantastic, no?
For my money, it was better than Up!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I've heard some great stuff about Adventureland. Is it similar to Dazed and Confused? Also heard that there's some Husker Du.
I think Adventureland is much more of a drama than that film is. There are some funny parts, but it really isn't primarily a comedy, and the relationships trump any period nostalgia. Great soundtrack, including da Du and lots of 'Mats...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Most of my sources list The Hurt Locker as a 2008 film, or else it would certainly be here...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I'm very glad to see that you were a big fan of Funny People as well!
I'm a little baffled as to the mixed reviews, but then my girlfriend loved the first 45 minutes and didn't care for the rest, so...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
It is a little sad how many movies I watch and how long it has been since this list has changed...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I don't get it. Where are your reviews for recent movies seen? Have you reviewed Avatar somewhere?
Laziness took me down.
I'll try to do much better this year.
I truly hated Avatar with every fibre of my being. Take a bad 80s after-school movie where the evil corporation is going to tear down the playground to build an awful smoke-belching factory unless the kids get together and fight, make the kids 3-D blue people, and there you go...
I bet critics ten years from now will be ashamed they drank the kool-aid, but then I thought they would be a bit embarrassed about all the hoo-haw over Titanic by now also, so maybe I should save my money...
I'm saying this having no idea what you thought of the film. I see Scaruffi liked it. If you do also, please know I'm not intentionally attacking you personally.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Wow, I suspected you wouldn't like it, but I have to admit that's a harsher review that I expected! I don't know if you saw my comments on my list about me seeing it in the perfect environment, which might have boosted my rating a bit, but I think even under average circumstances I would have still liked it.
When I consider the action movie spectrum (a spectrum with more than its fair share of dreck), it's hard for me to imagine slotting Avatar anywhere in the bottom half of the bell curve. I mean, clearly you have, putting it in the basement right next to Transformers II, but wow!
But as much as we agree, this is not the first time we've diverged wildly. *cough*cough*CRASH*cough*cough. :-) I think I just have to admit that my buttons are easier to push than yours, and I'm too often a sucker for cheap sentiment.
You win some, you lose some, eh?
Avatar and the second Transformers were the only two films this year where I very nearly left before the ending. I was bored both times!
The dialogue and story on Avatar were extremely weak, in my opinion. The visual world wasn't as convincing to me as, say, the ones in most of Jackson's films. Maybe I've watched too many 3-D films over the last two years, but it struck me more as a minor refinement over what I've seen recently rather than any great leap forward.
I'm a tree hugging vegetarian, but even I found the Noble Native and Mother Nature motifs silly, simple-minded, and all too much to swallow.
The worst sin an action film can do in my book) is have me checking the time constantly at the two-hour mark, since I routinely watch and love three-hour-long movies...
And for the good of both of us, we'll just leave Crash where it lay... :)
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
PS - Have you seen this funny Avatar letter?
http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2010/01/05/pocahontas-avatar/
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Wow, that's so damn apt! Now I feel a little silly for liking it so much. :-) But that's never stopped me before.
I hate to think the main difference between us is that this was my first 3-D movie since the days of red-and-blue cardboard glasses. Am I really so distractable by shiny things?
Nah, there's still the Crash problem. Sometimes I just love stuff that it's hard to defend based on artistic merit alone.
There's also the South Park episode arguing that Avatar = Dances With Smurfs. Apparently all Native American/Na'vi movies have the same plot.
Wow, those South Park folks are quick!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I convinced that's how it should be. Figure out if it works first, then figure out why or why not. Don't let the cart get before that ox! :)
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I'm very glad to see that you were a big fan of Up in the Air as well. I think there were a few movies this year that had more emotional resonance (Adventureland) or raw power (Precious) for me, but in terms of actual skill of filmmaking, Up in the Air is probably the best-put-together film I saw last year. (I almost typed "this year.")
I had a feeling you'd like it. In other news, I liked but didn't love A Single Man, but I'm actually really curious to know what you think of it. It's definitely worth checking out if you have any interest.
A Single Man hasn't even opened in my town yet! I am interested, though...
I really truly loved Up in the Air. Of course, I also dig Adventureland and Precious. :)
I'm aiming to start up my reviews again. I hope to type up Up in the Air and The Road before the day's up...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Yay!! Glad to hear you're getting back into the reviews game.