Boyhood review

My top-10 films of 2009

Many people have asserted that this has been a somewhat lackluster year for film, and while I have a fairly large list of movies I personally enjoyed, I can't exactly not support that sentiment. Its really strange really, because we had so many great films, including most of the 10 nominations (maybe with the exception of the might-as-well-be lifetime movie The Blindside), as well as other lesser known films such as Moon and Adventurland. Rather,I think peoples interest in film was just a little lower this year, which may sound funny given that James Cameron broke his own records with Avatar this fall. But that is exactly my point, for many people (myself not included) the major flagship for American cinema was a slightly generic 3D sci-fi epic about blue alien catpeople. And it doesn't help that many of the years supposed blockbusters like Watchmen and GI-Joe turned out to be duds or in the case of Transformers 2 and Wolverine Origins they turned out to be abominations of film.

Having said and in the spirit of the oscar season I wanted to go over what films I will always remember as being the highlights of 2009. First is my official top 10, which includes some of the nominees for best picture.

01 – The Hurt Locker – Emotionally complicated and brooding, this slow burn of a war thriller sets new expectations for the genre. A fully realized character study with something to say. Shot with confidence and skill, this movie will stand well along the likes of Platoon and Apocalypse Now .

02 - Up in the Air – Jason Reitman swings another home-run that cuts right down to the core of the human condition. A wonderful adult dramedy.

03 - District 9 – Socio-political sci-fi action thriller. Brings to mind the greatest in its genre but brings something new to the table as well. A love or hate experiment in genre perhaps, but one that I can’t stop watching.

04 - Inglorious Bastards – Tarantino’s tightest script since Pulp Fiction set in a fictitious WW2 nazi occupied France. This has the Tarantino stamp of aproval which comes with great characters and dialogue you can always depend on. Here he single handedly rewrites well documented history and basically makes an american foriegn film. Twisted take on history that makes you remember why it’s fun to go the movies.

05 - Away We Go – Best movie by Sam Mendes since American Beauty and a great coming of middle-age story about two young lovers trying to find a place they can call home. Some critics hated it, and for the life of me, I can’t see why.

06 – Up – Another home run by Pixar, a heart melting piece about aging and young ambition. Equally funny and melancholy, but nevertheless entertaining and eye catching.

07 – Where the Wild Things Are - Spike Jones turns a classic children’s book about running away from home and chilling with some furries into an art-film for kids. This movie fully realizes a fantasy that warns kids about escapism instead of encouraging it.

08 - Star Trek – One of the summers true highlights and testament to the notion that J.J. Abrams is truly a sci-fi force to be reckoned with. Humor and action briskly handed to you in equal servings makes for the ultimate popcorn movie and in mny humble star-wars biased mind it outshines/outdates all of the previous films in the well established franchise. Personally I think this movie is far more reasonable then the heavy handed and bloated Avatar.

09 - I love you Man - Somehow forgotten already, this might be the most heavily quoted movie of the year, alongside The Hangover. The ultimate bromance; Jason Seagull and Paul Rudd’s chemistry makes for a hilarious and enjoyable comedy. The third act is a little dissapointing as it really tries to force conflict on a movie that probably doesn't need it, but in the end you still come out of the film happy and wanting more. But I am not asking for a sequal as it would drain the lifeforce out of this film like an evil twin fetus.

10 – (500) Days of Summer - Both funny and painfully real, this movie is the best break-up movie since Eternal Sunshine and Zoe Deschannel and J-lett make a wonderful pair of lovers who can never seem to get comfortable. It's slightly unbeleiveable that someone like Joseph Gordon Levitt would be so insecure about women, but he playes the role well, and this is arguably Zoe's carreer defining role. This movie playes around with gender reversal as the man is seen as the heartbroke romantic, and the girl is detached and aloof.

Why I Hated Transformers 2

Why do the people who hate Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen love to be so vocal about it? The reason is because this movie so perfectly encapsulates the trends and inclinations some of us have been hating about modern film making in recent years. There has a been a string of movies that have had some of the bad elements from this movie (Wanted and Wolverine Origins come pretty close).. But this movie concentrates all of those elements for almost 3 hours. If I taught at a film school this would be the movie I would use in describing all of the modern film making techniques NOT to use.. including but not limited to...

Choppy "Mtv editing"

Overly kinetic and disorienting camera movements

Over use of/dependency on CGI

No character development

Bad Acting

Style for the sake of style with no rhyme or reason

Awkward and poorly composed plot

Absurdly inappropriate/unfunny "humor" ( inappropriate in the sense of not-fitting-in with the overall tone of the movie)

Subtle racism, sexism, and homophobia (used in a way that is supposed to be all in “good fun”)

And that’s only a few of the factors that come to mind right now. There are plenty more. Believe me.

However, I won't lie when I say this movie is a bit fun to hate. In fact, that might be the movies only saving grace. Some of it's detractors, like myself, tend to stir sh*t up with people because honestly it’s so easy. There's so much to go on.

In my observations I can see that there are two types of "Bad Movies".. The Ed Wood type of bad movie.. Meaning, the people behind the camera are simply inept. The film is under-budget for what its trying to achieve and the filmmakers have no artistic capability and/or no grasp of aesthetics. Simply they should not be making movies. Most people can recognize this type of bad film-making. Examples would be your straight to DVD b-horror flicks, Uwe Boll joints, or the movies you see made for the Sci-Fi channel... But honestly this type does not bother me as much as the latter because they stay out of the pop-culture radar for the most part and therefore can't cause any damage upon the film making world by having no realm of influence, and they are generally made with a certain sense of naivety that I can’t get too upset with.

Then there is the THIS type of bad movie. They get the full Hollywood treatment, have more budget than they need/deserve, compromise any artistic merit for the sake of appeasing a mass audience, and are annoyingly advertised and marketed to death. Only a few seem to be able to recognize how over-hyped these movies really are. This would include movies like Transformers 2, Alien vs Predator, the last few Star Wars movies released, and most of these remakes that has been pumped out of the Hollywood system for the last decade. It's like an annoying splinter in my eye that people are so easily swayed by "good graphics" and name actors and can't realize that just because a movie is slick and expensive, does not make it any good.

My First Post

I decided to start this blog as a continuation of the blogging that i began at my now deserted Myspace page. Here I may decide to post anything I wish to talk about. Those things usually include movies, music, comic books, Sci-Fi, and whatever other geeky things that I may be interested in. I may also post links to other blogs, videos, or other random media that find interesting. Every once in a while i may also post something personal about my self, in the form of a diary entree... But usually that is not my thing. Anyway, if your interested i hope that you subscribe to my posts and I will try and keep this updated as much as my limited free time will allow.