Movies of the year?

The Common Room Film, Television, Music & Books
#21


  1. Up
    I posted a wordy review of this film on my Pixar blog (see signature).

  2. 500 Days of Summer
    Lives up to the adorableness of its trailer and two leads (!!!). This is one of the few movies from 2009 that I plan on purchasing.

  3. Where the Wild Things Are
    The general consensus a year ago was that WTWTA’s trailer was the greatest thing ever. It made me tear up, it gave me goosebumps that I couldn’t rub away. Now, I had really, reeeeally high expectations for this film, and they weren’t exactly met. I adored the cinematography and imagery, the acting, and the original book. But I felt that the storyline held the film back. Max gets to the island and… now what? They build something. There could have been more, in my opinion.

  4. Up in the Air
    I want to rewatch this, because it didn’t exactly have my full attention, but I do remember admiring the screenplay and the directing. Jason Reitman sort of reminds me of movie directors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. He makes pretty enjoyable movies while remaining a dignified artist, and that’s hard to do.

  5. Coraline
    This is, hands down, my second favorite animated film not made by Pixar, Studio Ghibli, or Disney (the first being a little gem directed by Brad Bird). I’d like to write a more in-depth review of this sometime, but what I found really outstanding was the animation, character designs, and overall art direction. I also think it’s Selick’s best directorial effort to date. Oh, and I heard Jan Pinkava is developing something for Laika! Omg!

  6. District 9
    Yeeeesssss. A breath of fresh air for its genre.

  7. Inglourious Basterds
    Oh, Quentin. You complete me.

  8. Big Fan
    Can you tell I’m giving up on my comments at this point? Patton Oswalt impressed me in this film; he should have been nominated for an Oscar. Oh well. Some of the writing caught my attention.

  9. Julie & Julia
    I’m allowed at least ONE guilty pleasure on this list, and I have to award that to J&J. In my defense, I’m not crazy about chick flicks. However, this movie is just too adorable and sweet to pass up. Meryl Streep’s performance was uncanny, and the food almost made my tummy grumble.

  10. Moon
    Good. Haha. I don’t really care anymore. I got four hours of sleep and now I’m ready to take a nap.

Honorable mentions: Tokyo Sonata (this is 2009 for the US, right?) The Hurt Locker (well-crafted, but just not my taste), Adventureland, The Princess and the Frog, Zombieland, The Hangover, Ponyo, and yeah, I guess Star Trek and Avatar. Pffft.

Movies I’m still interested in seeing: Crazy Heart, An Education, A Single Man, A Serious Man, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Precious, blah blah.

#22

Yeah, the story is unbelieveably bad. (i’m just kidding). But please don’t say it’s the only movie this year. That’s an insult to ‘Up in the Air’ :wink:

#23

No top-ten list from me, unfortunately, as I have only seen five films in theaters last year (although one of them ten times - guess which one :wink:):

  1. Up - “Married Life” and “Memories can weigh you down” alone make this the clear winner for 2009, although it ranks only at #3 Pixar-wise, behind WALL-E and the unbeatable Ratatouille
  2. The Princess and the Frog - Disney rocks the 2D animation world again, finally!
  3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - puts the franchise back on track after the dreadful “Order of the Phoenix”
  4. Coraline - could have made the #2 spot, if it weren’t for Spink / Forcible, somehow they annoyed the heck out of me

Worst of 2009:
Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs - way too heavy on the immature jokes side, that one

2009 films I intend to see when I get the chance:
Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Secret of Kells (both not yet in German theaters), Ponyo (was MIA last year, supposedly has a new distributor and release date now), Star Trek, Where The Wild Things Are, Julie & Julia, Cloudy with a chance of meatballs

Edit: forgot “Cloudy…”

#24

Other worst of 2009: Transformers 2.

#25

Oh goodness, did you HAVE to ask that? :open_mouth: There were so many good movies in 2009! But if I had to name 5…’

1. UP
Well, since it’s Pixar, it’s no doubt it’s number one on my list. :laughing: I laughed at Russel, cried when [spoil]Ellie died in the beginning[/spoil], and who could resist Dug? Or Carl? It was a movie full of humor, sadness, and of course, adventure!

2. Avatar
You know, I was convinced that Avatar would be bad, but once I left that theater, I was speechless. If only 2 words could describe that movie, it would be these: Epicly Awesome. (Even if ‘epicly’ isn’t a word. :laughing: ) The graphics were amazing, the characters had great personalities, and it’s was just…awesome.

3. Coraline
I was DYING to see this movie the moment I saw the trailer. Any animated movie by Tim Burton is a friend of mine. :slight_smile: I loved all the characters, especially Wybie. (I don’t know why. Probably the slug part. XD) And Coraline’s personality sort of matched mine. :laughing:

4. Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakual
I love AATC for some odd reason. They just crack me up. XD This movie was very interesting, with the Chipettes, and high school, it was great. :smiley:

5. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
I loved this movie! It gave me good laughs. Steve was hilarious, along with Flint and Sam. I just loved it, XD

–Honorable Mentions–
(In order)

9
I didn’t get to see this movie until January, but I guess it stills counts as a BMO09’. :slight_smile: (Reas what I said about Tim Burton’s animation movies in Coraline). I was saddened at the part where [spoil]5 got his life taken away. :frowning: He was 9’s closest friend…[/spoil] And a the end, [spoil]where 9 released the deads spirits’s. It touched my heart. <3[/spoil]

Princess And The Frog
I only saw it because I wanted to see 2D again, but I actually enjoyed it. It wasn’t just one of those ‘boring princess movies’. It was waay more than that. Because [spoil]Navine and Tiana’s relationship developed more and more during the adventure, which is better than ‘love at first sight’, which is in a lot of other princess movies. (Cinderella, Snow White, etc.). It makes me happy.[/spoil] Plus, it had good laughs. And I cried at the end when [spoil]Raymond died, and his star was right next to Evangilene. :cry:[/spoil]

Marley And Me
The only reason it’s not on my top 5, it was almost NOTHING like the book! It had cursing, ‘adult’ scenes, and they rated it PG. :unamused: But I liked it, anyway. Marley was hilarious, though the ending was so sad. :cry:

Shorts
Well, not the best movie in the world, but not the worst. I enjoyed it, I guess. I didn’t choose to see it, though. I saw it because it was my friends birthday, and she chose that movie. So… I would give it 5/10.[/b]

#26
  1. Avatar
  2. Where the Wild Things Are
  3. Up
  4. The Princess and the Frog
  5. Ponyo
#27
  1. Up
  2. Avatar
  3. I Love You, Man
  4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
  5. (500) Days of Summer