2009 Film List (Reviews, Discussion & Tracking) (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

Updated to add Knowing, my favorite film yet from one of the most interesting genre filmmakers ever. An independent release from Summit Entertainment (which has been having a hell of a year), I was disappointed that no digital version was made available. The theater I went to is only a few months old and all-digital, so this and Push (another Summit release) have been the only film presentations I've experienced there. Even if they couldn't spring for a digital version, the F/X are anything but second rate. They're not always photo-realistic, but at those moments they're not really supposed to be. A movie that is all about ideas, like predestination and the role of free will with only the trappings of a horror movie. Nicholas Cage is equal parts Family Man and National Treasure (and I mean that as a good thing!) Watchmen is safe at the top of my 2009 list for now (sorry Michael!) and Gran Torino was a better film. But I have a feeling that this is movie that will keep my thinking the most.

 

[Adam_S]

Some quick thoughts on the 2009 films I've seen so far:

Chocolate - the plot is goofy fun in a Bride with White Hair manner, not great, but brilliant fight scenes keep the whole film moving along and constantly entertaining. 8 of 10

Must Read After My Death - a stunning and emotional documentary that is almost painful in the voyeurism it allows you. The reality of this family's story exposes the fakery, overbaked and false melodrama of Revolutionary Road even more. 9 of 10

Taken - completely brilliant revenge thriller. Liam Neeson is spectacularly good in a manner reminescent of Jimmy Stewart's westerns. If Gran Torino was a modern day take on Howard Hawksish male relationships, this is a modern flip of Anthony Mann's lone wolf leading men. my number two of the year - 9 of 10

Tokyo - an anthology film set in Japan by three foreign directors. The last short is the best, the other two are worthwhile, but the middle short is far too long. a little bit disappointing, and overall very uneven. 6 of 10

Watchmen - Entertaining and beautifully designed and produced. The performances are strong, particularly Jackie Earle Haley and Billy Crudup, but I feel for a film about masks, it's really lacking in faces. what I really mean is that there's no charismatic presence (which is what star power really is) that can carry a difficult film through. It's what Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Morgon Freeman and then non-star Christian Bale provided to batman Begins, and it's what is enormously absent from whatever bland no names are playing Night Owl, Ozymandias, Spectre II and basically everyone. they give good performances, but none of them step up to leading star status the way that Bale did in Batman Begins. The film is also hampered by being too faithful to the structure of the GN which gives the film a bumpy up and down feel as we follow the arcs of individual comic book issues rather than a continuous arc of a cohesively built story. It means the film lurches from moment to moment rather than building to the big climax we instead suddenly arrive at a big climax because we're in the last issue of the comic. 6 of 10

Tokyo Sonata - Beautiful film from Kyoshi Kurasawa that is an utter standout piece of work. Wonderful story, brilliantly told with spectacular acting. Loved every second, even with audio issues throughout half the screening. 9 of 10

Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 - Pretty much my favorite movie of the year. Fantastically entertaining, the film does a genius job of retelling the story of one of the most remarkable games in college football history. An absolute must see - 9 of 10

Sunshine Cleaning - Amy Adams gives her best performance, the film is very witty and laugh out loud funny yet maintains its heart with a strong story about this family. One of my favorites so far, and one I liked better than Little Miss Sunshine. 9 of 10

Coraline - well it's not quite the book, but it's a marvelous realization of the book and it captures the tone and feel of the book extremely well. Dakota Fanning does a remarkably effective job with her voice, I was surprised at how real she made Coraline. the 3D was excellent, 9 of 10

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Eligible 2009 films seen so far: 4


He's Just Not That Into You (02/13/09) 2/10
Friday The 13th (2/20/09) 1/10
Watchmen (3/21/09) 9/10
Adventureland (4/17/09) 9/10

 

[Michael Reuben]

Added Duplicity and Sin Nombre.

Not much to say about Duplicity. This is an instance where the marketing campaign is a pretty fair indication of the film. It's a stylish star vehicle for Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, who are great together. Reviews (like the first one in the official review thread) that trash the movie, while casually mentioning that "Oh yeah, I don't like Julia Roberts" baffle me. Then what the hell are you doing at this movie, and why should anyone care what you have to say about it?

Sin Nombre is remarkable. It's too bad it won't get wider distribution, but it suffers from the curse of being subtitled. Recalling elements of City of God, Under the Same Moon and Maria Full of Grace, but with a style uniquely its own, the film mixes non-professional actors with assured technique (amazing for a first-time director) to interweave the stories of three teenagers whose paths fatefully intersect on a train carrying immigrants through Mexico to America. Tense, moving and disturbing.

EDIT: Having now reviewed the film on DVD, I realize I made a mistake, because Smiley isn't even old enough to qualify as a "teenager". And having listened to the DVD commentary, I've learned that many of the actors were indeed professional, although quite a few gang members were the real thing. It's all done so seamlessly that you can't tell who's acting and who's doing what they do in daily life.
No need to apologize; I'm sure I'm in the minority. One of the luxuries of not being a professional reviewer is that I'm not obliged to dwell on films I don't like. I only have to invest energy in writing about the ones that appeal to me. Some posters seem to get off on trashing films and raining on other people's parades, but the allure of that has always escaped me.

 

[Craig S]

Added the first big surprise of the year, Alex Proyas' Knowing. This is NOT the Nic Cage/National Treasure wanna-be the trailers make it out to be. It's the rare SF film that's actually about big ideas. For me, this is the best film of the year to date.

 

[Adam_S]

Everlasting Moments, is, to me the years first masterpiece, were this a 2008 release it'd be my number two of the year, just behind Slumdog Millionaire and ahead of Wall*E. The cinematography is sublime, recalling the tone and palatte of the Godfather and it is brilliantly textured to the story.

I could see this getting a city of God like suprise at next years oscars, unexpected nominations for Best Director and Best cinematography. the Film is that good.

 

[Michael Reuben]

I'm not sure whether this would affect future eligibility, but Everlasting Moments was Sweden's official submission for this year's Oscars.

 

[Adam_S]

City of God was Brazil's official submission the year before it was nominated. Because it wasn't one of the five nominees in foreign language and hadn't been released to theatres that year it was eligible in all categories but foreign language film the year it was released in theatres. Everlasting Moments is in the same situation, it wasn't nominated in foreign language but didn't have a qualifying release last year, so that means it is eligible in all categories but foreign language this year.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Interesting.

It's on my "to see" list, but I'm going to have to move quickly. It opened here in two major arthouse cinemas, but it's already left one of them. And people weren't lining up to see it at the other one when I was there over the weekend for Sin Nombre.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Added I Love You, Man, the first dud of the year for me. Ostensibly a buddy comedy, the movie is really a tired romantic comedy with the focus shifted to the male lead and his goofy best friend. Jason Segel's character is ranchy enough to garner an R rating, but still feels like he walked off an episode of "Friends". Paul Rudd's character is whipped and so awkward, the first role I haven't liked him in. And I've always missed out on Rashida Jones's appeal. Jane Curtin and J.K. Simmons are utterly wasted as Rudd's on-screen parents. Still, I laughed quite a bit and that's worth something. Jon Favreau, Jaime Pressly, Thomas Lennon, Murray Gershenz and Lou Ferrigno pop up in bit roles that spark things up a bit. The movie also deserves credit for casting Andy Samberg in the first role that I didn't despise him in.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Added Adventureland, a deceptively simple comedy from Superbad director Greg Mottola that perfectly captures a microcosm of American life at a particular moment in time. The timing of the release is perfect, since a lot of college graduates are finding themselves stuck in a dead end life as a result of the current economic climate. Mottola exercises admirable restraint so that all of the humor evolves organically from the characters and no situation pushes the realms of believability. Everything that happens in this movie not only does happen, but has happened many times before. The characters' triumphs and disappointments are on the scale all of us are achingly familar with. When you're stuck in a crappy summer job, the only thing that provides meaning is the people around you. In such circumstances, their opinion is everything. Kristen Stewart continues to be one of the most interesting teenage actresses working today, and the emotional dance between the two main characters -- who both leave a great deal unsaid -- is perfectly rendered. Jesse Eisenberg and Michael Cera play the same kind of characters, but Eisenberg has an edge and an unexpected steadiness about him that gives his performance greater credibility. On the flip side, this is the first film I've ever seen where Ryan Reynolds wasn't oozing swarminess despite playing a very swarmy character. It's a real performance that isn't the slightest bit comedic.

 

[amidcars]

I have seen many this year but i dont know when they were released..

1. SAW( all the four parts)
2. Transporter-3
3. Black Hawk DOWn
4. Jason Bourne(all the parts)


I think they might be older but i am revising the old director heads..

 

[Michael Reuben]

Latest updates:

Shall We Kiss? (Un baiser s'il vous plaît) : A lightweight but engaging confection that could only work en francais. A man and a woman meet during a business trip and share a dinner. At the conclusion of the evening, he goes to kiss her good night, and she hesitates. To explain her hesitation, she relates a story, and the story-within-a-story is the bulk of the film. For those who fondly remember the films of Eric Rohmer, this will be familiar territory.

The Great Buck Howard: From Tom Hanks' Playtone production company, starring Colin Hanks as a young man who drops out of law school and takes a job as an assistant to a faded stage performer loosely based on The Amazing Kreskin and played (brilliantly) by John Malkovich. Tom Hanks plays the disapproving father who shows up periodically to urge his son to go back to school and follow in his footsteps (an ironic note, considering that Hanks has said in interviews that a lawyer is the last thing he'd want to be). The film is partly a coming-of-age story, but more a closely observed portrayal, from an unlikely vantage point, of the allures and disappointments, the petty vanities and surprising fulfillments, of show business.

Goodbye Solo: A simple but gripping story of a Senegalese cab driver in Winston-Salem, NC, who forms an unlikely relatonship with a client, an elderly man who says little, wants no friends and is clearly fed up with his life. Nothing about this film feels expected or standard-issue.

Sugar: Challenging, but worth it. A young man from the Dominican Republic with a mean pitching arm gets his big break at pro baseball in the U.S. and has to do a lot of growing up very fast. There's a lot of baseball in this film, but it is not primarily a sports movie. It's a film about leaving home and going out into the world -- and then discovering how different things are than what you imagined. Algenis Perez Soto, the first-time actor who plays the title character, goes for long stretches without saying much, because his character barely speaks English. But his face is an expressive canvas that the directors, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, use effectively to register the character's growing understanding of his place in this strange new world in which he finds himself (New Mexico, then Iowa, and ultimately The Bronx).

Monsters vs. Aliens IMAX 3D: Silly, funny.

 

[filmfandan]

I am going to rate my films out of 10 and write a bit about them and write a bit about what I thought of them.
Films Seen: 18

January
The Reader - 4/10 - Disappointingly lifeless and not as effecting as it could have been

The Spirit - 6/10 - Not as bad as I had feared it was going to be. I actually thought it was pretty decent with some great comic book moments and Scarlett Johnson and Samuel L Jackson where on fine watchable form

Slumdog Millionare - 7/10 - Pretty good film if a little overated. It feels a bit predictable towards the end but its still a good uplifting film.

The Wrestler - 9/10 - The most beautiful acted film I have seen in a while. Micky Rourke is simply outstanding and the others are females are superb too. A brilliantly directed, moving, outstanding and emotional film.

Role Models - 8/10 - Great fun with excellent performances from all 4 leads and a hugely entertaining battle at the end

Rachel Getting Married - 7/10 - Although the story is simple and a couple of the wedding speeches drag a bit this still manages to be funny and touching with a excellent performance from Anne Hathaway. I also liked the way it was filmed.

Film Of The Month: The Wrestler

Febuary
Bolt - 8/10 - Brilliantly animated and manages to be cute, exiting and very funny throughout.

Revolutionary Road - 6/10 - Excellent acting but very depressing and some humor would not have gone a miss.


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 10/10 - Proof that David Fincher is one of the best directors around today and ranks with Fight Club as his best work. A beautiful, fascinating, wonderful, amazing piece of cinema with brilliant performances and is very truthful about life. A masterpiece

Vicky Cristina Barcelona - 8/10 - Just a great piece of undemanding entertainment that has excellent performances from everyone and looks great. I loved it.

Doubt - 7/10 - A film that is helped by a great cast that make it as watchable as it is

Film Of The Month: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

March
The International - 3/10 - Pretty poor action film with no chemistry between the leads

Gran Torino - 7/10 - A fairly formulaic film witch is a tad bit disappointing considering its Clint Eastwoods finale role as the hero. Still though the man himself is as excellent as always witch lifts the film and makes it as watchable and at times funny as it is. The ending did not work quite as well as I had hoped though.

Watchmen - 9/10 - A unique, brilliantly made, spectacular, astonishing, great looking and very thoughtful film that has a outstanding choice of music and some wonderful acting. This is a masterpiece of the superhero genre that manages to avoid all the usual predictable cliches and despite an almost 3 hour long running time it doesn’t drag once. Amazing.

Marley & Me - 5/10 - Painfully average movie making. It fills the time in a pleasant enough if nothing special way and is very short on laughs. The main problems I had with the film was that the dog being a naughty puppy soon wore thin and it just did not amuse me. I also thought that when it got quite sad near the end whilst it was moving it went on far to long. They where the two things that bugged me most with the film and whilst they did not make it completely terrible they certainly did not help lift it above episodic.

Lesbian Vampire Killers - 2/10 - A strong contender for the worst film I see this year. Its cheap, unfunny and dire rubbish.

Film Of The Month: Watchmen

April
Monsters VS Aliens 3D - 5/10 - It was alright but nothing special. The 3D was impressive but the animation is average at best and the amount of laughs in this are very disappointing for a Dreamworks film. Definitely a step down from there last effort Kung Fu Panda.
Let The Right One In - 8/10 - Although not quite deserving its comparison to the masterpiece Pans Labyrinth its still a excellent piece of world cinema. The scenes of terror are very well crafted coming across as terrifying and shocking. The performances are all excellent, even of the bullies who have a small part and its beautifully shot in places. Its a film I would highly recommend even if its not quite the masterpiece like Pans Labyrinth that some people have claimed it to be

Tony Manero - 9/10 -Was really impressed and found it a compelling, harrowing, original, stylish and thought provoking watch with a terrific performance from Castro the leading man. Also thought the ending worked really well in terms of making it disturbing and imaginative.

In The Loop 7/10 - Often funny with the occasional laugh out loud moment but not quite as often hilarious as its been getting praised for. Still the script is pretty impressive and the performance of the Scottish guy is excellent. Good if a little overrated.

Film Of The Month: Tony Manero


May
X-Men Origins: Wolverine 7/10 - There is no doubt about it. This is a flawed movie. The romance interest is bland, parts of the story are rushed and there is plenty of of interesting characters that get killed off within minutes. So yes quite flawed stuff. Having said that I really liked it. Its probably because I am a superhero fan and Wolverine is my favourite X-Men character but it was just great getting to see him get his own movie and as always Hugh Jackman was great as him. I also thought director Gavin Hood did a good job with keeping the same feel of the previous X-Men films and he also delivered some good action and quite good supporting performances. A very flawed movie but if your a fan of Wolverine and liked all the other X-Men films then you will probably like this as well

 

[Michael Reuben]

Latest update. Will try to add film descriptions later this weekend.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Updated with:

The Soloist: Spectacular work from Downey and Foxx; honorable in its rejection of a Hollywood ending; disturbing in its despairing potrayals of homelessness and madness.

Every Little Step: Great documentary on the casting of the current revival of A Chorus Line, intercut with archival footage of the original production and interviews with its creators, notably Michael Bennett, who died of AIDS in 1987. Most gripping are the excerpts from the audiotapes of the lengthy session in Bennett's apartment, where he gathered a group of dancers for a nothing-held-back discussion of their lives from which the show was born. Essential viewing for any fan of Broadway musicals.

 

[filmfandan]

Latest Updates.
Tony Manero - 9/10 -Was really impressed and found it a compelling, harrowing, original, stylish and thought provoking watch with a terrific performance from Castro the leading man. Also thought the ending worked really well in terms of making it disturbing and imaginative.

In The Loop 7/10 - Often funny with the occasional laugh out loud moment but not quite as often hilarious as its been getting praised for. Still the script is pretty impressive and the performance of the Scottish guy is excellent. Good if a little overrated.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine 7/10 - There is no doubt about it. This is a flawed movie. The romance interest is bland, parts of the story are rushed and there is plenty of of interesting characters that get killed off within minutes. So yes quite flawed stuff. Having said that I really liked it. Its probably because I am a superhero fan and Wolverine is my favourite X-Men character but it was just great getting to see him get his own movie and as always Hugh Jackman was great as him. I also thought director Gavin Hood did a good job with keeping the same feel of the previous X-Men films and he also delivered some good action and quite good supporting performances. A very flawed movie but if your a fan of Wolverine and liked all the other X-Men films then you will probably like this as well

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Tried a drive-in across the Hudson and caught a double feature of 17 Again and Wolverine. The former was a really pleasant and entertaining surprise, the later was an often uncomprehendable mess that muddied the character's backstory and severely dumbed down a lot of formerly interesting characters.

 

[Adam_S]

some quick thoughts on what I've seen lately:

Monsters vs Aliens IMAX 3D - 6 of 10 - decent, not great, a film that struggles to be funny and struggles to be interesting. moderately entertaining.

Fast and Furious - 7 of 10 - never seen any of the others, but the film was entertaining enough to leave me feeling pleased rather than annoyed. Nothing special, it's a solid B movie.

Observe and Report - 5 of 10 - when it's on, the film is really good, but it's off just as often as it's on. So it's incredibly uneven as it falters and lurches from one situation to another. Rogen does a great job, though, and the ending is something to be seen to be believed.

Sugar - 7 of 10 - The first two thirds of the film are beautiful, outstanding near flawless filmmaking. Then it loses focus, the sense of pace and starts drifting into less well made territory in the film's final third. this somewhat reflects Sugar's own life but the film doesn't live up to itself, in many ways.

The Soloist - 9 of 10 - a gorgeous and incredibly well made (and well acted film) about a reporter coming across an unlikely subject. The reporter smells a bigger story and doesn't just one off his subject and forget about it, he starts digging and following up, but as a side effect he starts to fall in love with his subjects talent, and eventually he has to discover how to be his subject's friend rather than just his champion. The film and story are much more meaningful and complex than the film has been given credit for and it admirably avoids cliches and sermonizing in the film. The craft on display truly is impeccable, the only other film this year (so far) that lives up to the high standards set by Everlasting Moments.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - 3 of 10 - a film that continues to go down in my estimation almost daily. Idiotic and bad, with somewhat decent, vaguely entertaining set pieces. But the overall awfulness of the film overwhelms the positives. ugh.

Star Trek - 9 of 10 - a rather brilliant reinvention of the original concept. The new genesis here works really well, probably more so if you're not a Trekkie, but for the first time I was thoroughly entertained by a story in this universe. I know just enough of the original cast to be delighted by all the new things that harken to the old things but not enough to be annoyed by any changes. The film was very much elevated by a small role from a surprise (to me) guest actor, beautifully pulled off.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Added Star Trek, easily the most entertaining and cinematic film in the franchise's history. That doesn't make it the best, necessarily, but it's nice to care about characters again.