December 31, 2009

2009 Movie Review

Time for a year-end cinephile review! I really started doing a year-end note like this in 2005, once I got Netflix. Seriously, Netflix has changed my world. Many of the movies I rent probably wouldn't be readily available in a Blockbuster, and even if they were, I wouldn't know to get them, since I end up seeing a lot of things based on Netflix recommendations. Some fail me, but most don't. I see a lot of movies per year now -- maybe an unhealthy number?

2005: 69 movies.
2006: 79.
2007: 87 (a record for me so far).
2008: 74.
and 2009: 85. Solid.

But it's not just about how many movies you see -- although that has a lot to do with it: seeing a lot of movies seems like a requirement for educated movie-going -- it's about what you see, and how you react to it. I always like Roger Ebert for his reviews, and he said once: "A movie is not about what it's about, it's about how it is about it." A good movie can have a great story, but a great movie tells that story well.

This year I had a hard time narrowing it down to my top ten -- there were so many good ones to choose from, and they're all so different. How do you compare The Terminator with Wendy and Lucy in terms of effectiveness of storytelling, camerawork, acting, etc.? You can't. But you blog about it anyway.

And I kept coming back to one movie that I think will age well, a movie in which all the elements came together to make a beautiful whole, in which every line and shot had a second, deeper meaning. I hope Jason Reitman keeps making movies like Up in the Air -- if his track record with Thank You for Smoking and Juno is any indication he certainly will. His third feature is much more self-assured and even-handed than his first two, and has become a story for the ages. Well done.
PS: first time in three years that Pixar doesn't top my list. Up is certainly very close to the top of the list. Can't wait to see it again.

My Top Ten of 2009
Avatar
Back to the Future
Coraline
Groundhog Day
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
The Terminator (1 & 2 -- I'm cheating and counting them as one)
Up
Up in the Air (my favorite of the year)
Wendy and Lucy

Runners-Up
12 Angry Men
28 Days Later
Delicatessen
Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In)
Precious

Runners-Double-Up
Happy-Go-Lucky
Mrs. Doubtfire
Norma Rae
Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)
The Wrestler

Amazing Performances
Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary Road
Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler
Bill Murray in Groundhog Day
Melissa Leo in Frozen River
Sally Field in Norma Rae
Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire
Michelle Williams in Wendy and Lucy
Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky
Robert DeNiro in Cape Fear
Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in Before Sunrise
Nearly everyone but especially Michael Stuhlbarg in A Serious Man
Mo'Nique and Gabourey Sidibe in Precious
Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia
Everyone in Up in the Air
Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds

 Great Moments/Scenes/Lines
Kirk Lazarus' monologue about playing retarded (Tropic Thunder)
"Can't I even get away from you in the fucking woods?" (Revolutionary Road)
"I want you to stop seeing her." (Moonstruck)
Katie Cox's tiny laugh at her husband's literary ambitions (Burn After Reading)
"I'm such a dick!" (Hamlet 2)
The bathroom scene (Delicatessen)
Smash the Mirror, just because of how ridiculous it is (Tommy)
"Legend has it there was once a legendary warrior whose mastery of kung fu was the stuff of LEGEND!" (Kung Fu Panda)
The pool (Lat den komma ratte in)
"And get -- permanently -- lost." (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner)
The marriage montage (Up)
The audition sequence (Were the World Mine)
The playground (Terminator 2: Judgment Day)
Drinks with the dangerous neighbor (A Serious Man)
Banana-face dog! (The Thing)
Social worker's office (Precious)
"Paul, Paul, Paul PAUL!" (Julie & Julia)
The fall of Home Tree (Avatar)
Landa's face melts as he changes from frivolity to business in the farmhouse (Inglourious Basterds)

Best Endings
The Wrestler
Delicatessen
Lat den komma ratte in
Les diaboliques
Wendy and Lucy
A Serious Man
Friday the 13th

Worst of the Year
A Little Night Music (this should have worked, but it really really didn't)
But I'm a Cheerleader (maybe the worst ... ugh)
Meet Me in St. Louis (just hated it)
Flight of the Navigator (such a great premise, such a terrible execution)
Spring Breakdown (a close second)

All 85 Movies I Saw This Year
Tropic Thunder
Back to the Future
Moonstruck
Revolutionary Road
The Wrestler
Burn After Reading
Hamlet 2
The Visitor
Ma vie en rose
A Little Night Music
Weird Science
Encounters at the End of the World
Groundhog Day
Frozen River
Delicatessen
Wo hu cang long
Tommy
Kung Fu Panda
Låt den rätte komma in
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Latter Days
Norma Rae
Kaze no tani no Nausicaa (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)
Mrs. Doubtfire
Les diaboliques (Diabolique)
Hocus Pocus
But I'm a Cheerleader
Brick
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Reader
Bolt
Mysterious Skin
Meet Me in St. Louis
Yossi & Jagger
Wendy and Lucy
Up
Flight of the Navigator
The Interpreter
Happy-Go-Lucky
Were the World Mine
In Her Shoes
Working Girl
Manhattan
Spring Breakdown
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Terminator
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
The Wicker Man (1973)
Troop Beverly Hills
28 Days Later
Quantum of Solace
Coraline
Taking Woodstock
Pretty Woman
The Holiday
Saturday Night Fever
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
The Omen (1976)
Auntie Mame
The Fly (1986)
Before Sunrise
Mulan
A Serious Man
Halloween (1978)
Friday the 13th (1980)
Tonari no Totoro
Where the Wild Things Are
This Is It
12 Angry Men
A Christmas Carol (2009)
Every Little Step
The Thing
Food, Inc.
Precious
Addams Family Values
Majo no Takkyūbin (Kiki's Delivery Service)
Star Trek
Lilies
The Cove
Julie & Julia
Up in the Air
Brüno
Avatar
Inglourious Basterds
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4 comments:

  1. Teej12/31/09, 7:32 AM

    You hated 'Meet Me in St. Louis'?? I'm not totally in love with it, but I'm just curious why. Was there any redeeming factor, or was it just bad all the way around for you? This also leads to my other question about your consideration of movies. Are you considering production design at all, or will you be focusing mostly on acting and story? And if you ever get a chance and you like books about movies check out 'American Cinema: 100 years of filmmaking by Jeanine Basigner' - it really helped me watch films better and helped me to appreciate the art of the film. Can't wait to start reading your reviews!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Max12/31/09, 10:34 AM

    I did hate it, T. I'm not sure why -- it might be my lamentable distaste for Judy Garland's interpretation of songs. It might just be the time period but I don't ever find myself compelled by her emotional journey. I thought the production design was lovely, but there was too much else that I didn't care for. I should try to be more specific, but it was a while ago. :)

    I try to keep story and acting at the front, only because that's where I feel most comfortable making educated comments, but I can appreciate great art direction and beauty onscreen. The one that pops to mind just now is Inglourious Basterds, but looking through the list for quality production designs I'd say:

    Revolutionary Road
    Ma vie en rose
    Delicatessen
    Wo hu cang long
    Lat den ratte komma in
    Up
    Were the World Mine
    Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince
    28 Days Later
    Coraline
    A Serious Man
    Where the Wild Things Are
    Star Trek
    Up in the Air
    Avatar

    Thanks for the suggestion -- I'll look up that book and maybe splurge with Christmas money. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lauren12/31/09, 12:57 PM

    Love this. Love you. Zomgz. It is REALLY fascinating to me that you saw Mrs. Doubtfire as an adult and loved it -- I saw it as a kid, loved it then, and find it all but intolerable now.

    Can we talk documentaries for a minute? I noticed there weren't many on your list from this past year, and I've become newly enamored with them of late -- there's something so appealing to me about the challenge that's presented to the documentarian -- taming and shaping a narrative that's, to an extent, out of your control. I'm disappointed AFI hasn't made any sort of best-of list about documentaries -- if they had, I'd be tempted to start a companion blog...

    Also: do you rewatch movies at all? And do they get listed/counted if you do?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Max12/31/09, 4:41 PM

    Lauren! I hope against hope you'll follow the blog! Many good discussions will be had.

    Doubtfire was undoubtedly (ew) one of my shame-iest shamed-I-haven't-seen-it movies, but seeing it as an adult allowed me to just watch it for Robin Williams' genius, which really can't be denied. I think it stands solidly as a character piece for him, and as a standard romantic comedy of the 90s, one where the man is transformed through love for children.

    I'm disappointed in my doc number this year too -- last year I saw many more, including three that were in my top ten (read the accompanying Facebook note for more) -- and I too am annoyed that the AFI hasn't recognized any of them, but in a way they function as a completely different art form than narrative films, so maybe it's unfair to judge them against standard fare. I have a hard time separating my opinion about a documentary how much I'm made to care about its subject matter.

    Re: rewatching -- rarely do I get to, and when I rewatch, it's usually either for pure pleasure or for introducing a movie to someone else. Now that I've been writing about them there are a lot I'd like to go back and rewatch, if nothing else to compare notes on first and second viewings.

    Love you.

    ReplyDelete

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