I consider myself a fan of movies. Film, even. I like to watch movies. I like to talk about movies. I have an innate ability to “date” a movie and tell you its year of release (normally exact, sometimes within a year) just because I seem to keep my ear to the ground when it comes to that sort of thing.
So in the vein of movies, I present to you, dear reader, my first movie list from 2009. Yes, I realize we are now squarely in February of 2010, but these things take time. We’re coming into awards season full-on with Oscar nominations to be announced tomorrow. My first list, no doubt, includes some likely Oscar noms in it:
The Moves I Missed from 2009
These are movies I fully intended to see. I really wanted to get to them, either because they looked good in commercial, I’d read about them online, or they featured actors I love. For some reason or another (laziness, cost-cutting, forgetfulness, inability to drag anyone else along with me, etc.), these are the movies that I never made it to from 2009, in order of release.
Dakota Fanning voices a young girl that navigates her way through a surreal and creepy netherworld of sorts… in full 3D stop-motion animation!? There aren’t enough movies that aim this high anymore, and the allusions to The Nightmare Before Christmas are many. This was playing in 3D a few places in the city, and I never made it. Verdict? I’ll be catching up on DVD soon.
When the previews sold it accurately as a band of post high school nerds reunited over a plan to break in Skywalker Ranch heading up to the release of 1998′s The Phantom Menace, I became very excited. A period piece about Star Wars fans with mad cap antics, guest cameos, and all sorts of other fun can’t go wrong. Then I couldn’t find it listed anywhere and before too long forgot it had come out in theaters. The film didn’t do well (and wasn’t reviewed very well to boot), but there’s still a part of me that plans to seek this one out. Verdict? Probably DVD, maybe catch-up on TV.
I think Amy Adams and Emily Blunt can light up the screen, so that’s excuse enough to see a movie that features both of them. That the producers are those from another well-received movie with “Sunshine” in its title (2006′s Little Miss Sunshine) is another push in the right direction. In the film, the two start a business cleaning crime scenes and learn a lot about their roll in helping others cope with loss. Throughout, they are confronted with their own unresolved feelings regarding their mother’s suicide. It’s heavy subject matter with a sunny title, and I’m still interested. Verdict = Definitely DVD.
This horror movie is based on true events and I’ve seen enough specials about the house and family in question to know that it’s some real, serious stuff. A family moves into a former mortuary. That’s the setting. Add in a gateway to hell, the possession of a son who moves into the basement, and a boatload of creepy imagery and you’ve put together a pretty adequate horror movie. Now that I think back to this one, I’m not sure it’d be worth seeking out, but I’d stop on the channel for a while should it pop up on TNT or FX in a year. Verdict? Won’t try to not see it.
This has been described to me as “Superbad without all of the jokes,” but I’ve also heard a lot of good things about it from trusted movie-opinionated friends. The key thing is that I’m a sucker for most movies Ryan Reynolds is a part of (save for Smokin’ Aces… ugh) and Jesse Eisenberg seems, to me, like Michael Cera if Michael Cera didn’t get all annoying. So, cool. Verdict? I’ll probably Netflix Instant it.
Has anyone before ever resurrected a career the way Robert Downey, Jr. has resurrected his career over the past couple of years? He’s a personality that really owns a movie when given the chance, and this always looked like a serious movie that was going to happen in. Jamie Fox, we’ve seen, is surprisingly better in serious roles, and seemed like excellent casting in this drama about a homeless cello prodigy with schizophrenia looking for an opportunity to succeed. That sentence sounded right out of the trailer, just put “In a world” in front of it. I tend to catch up on comedy faster than drama, but perhaps this one will get seen soon. Verdict? Good to go for Netflix Instant sometime down the line.
As we’ve already covered, I’m a sucker for some good horror (see Haunting in Connecticut, The). This movie has the doubly good fortune of being a Sam Raimi flick. Yes, he of The Evil Dead fame. The plot seems about as shabby as you’d expect — a banker denies an old lady an extension on her mortgage and is cursed for eternity in response — but plot’s not the point. This movie looks like it features a lot of good quick scares, makeup, and visuals that help prop up the lesser plot. And let’s be honest, that’s a good enough plot to lean on for a horror movie these days, anyway. Verdict? I’m sure this won’t take long to get to cable.
John Travolta and Denzel Washington, together at last! Yes, this is a remake. And yes, I’ve heard the original is quite good. But still, seeing John Travolta play the creepy bad guy instead of the heartwarming good guy gives me shivers of 1997 as it gets me thinking of the switcheroo good-guy/bad-guy Travolta from Face Off. Verdict? I’ll take it all the way to Netflix, eventually.
It’s important to note this list is just as much as list of movies I *wanted* to see as it is a list of movies I now *want* to see. We’ve all heard the reviews that slammed this movie as sophomoric and stupid. I am not deaf to these claims, but point out that Michael Cera and Jack Black as cavemen with a guest appearances by McLovin and David Cross can’t be all that bad. Can it? Maybe it can, now that I think about it. Verdict? I’ll catch it on cable.
Having recently spoken to director Kathryn Bigelow in person (albeit not about this movie, but instead about my crack, on-the-spot, improvised role in a recent showing of Point Break Live), I’d much like to see this movie. But even before that chance encounter, this movie was something I wanted to give a good look. Military dramas are not often my thing, but this movie is a highly-acclaimed film detailing the painful exposure to war-time situations in Iraq, as well as issues of re-deployment and more. Verdict? Definite DVD soon.
Johnny Depp as John Dillinger. Gunfire. Bank robberies. Explosions. Prison escapes. Excitement. Verdict? Streamed over the Netflix tubes.
I don’t think anyone needs a reason or excuse to see Sacha Baron Cohen performing as any one of his characters. Friends had mixed reviews, but I’m going to have to see for myself sometime, yeah? Verdict? Can’t wait for the censored version, so I’ll have to Netflix it, but I’m not in a rush.
File this as another “I’m a sucker for horror films” entry. The concept, though it is very The Omen-esque, is just a creepy one. This was heavily advertised, and that’s either a good thing or a bad thing. Verdict? I’ll see it when I see it, but I will definitely see it.
This is the movie that every geek was going crazy over this summer. Early in the year, it was Watchmen (stay tuned for that movie’s appearance in another list of mine), then it was this one. “Peter Jackson has done it again” was a frequent comment. The entire concept and its storytelling links to South African Apartheid make this a culturally relevant story worth tracking down, whereas the content and style make it a summer movie worth checking out. The verdict? I’ll catch it at home on DVD soon.
I hate to say it, but Jeremy Piven is becoming less cool to me. He seems like he’s always playing Ari from “Entourage” these days, but then again maybe he always has been. That this movie seems like a cheap remake of one of my all-time favorite comedies, Used Cars, is another subtraction for this one. However, if this movie gets anywhere near the classic Used Cars in quality or quantity of laughs, it has a lot going for it. I’m sure to point out that it’s a different movie, but I’m still going to see how it stacks up. The verdict? It’s in the Netflix Queue.
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The shocking and exciting conclusion to this list is now up! Check out Movies I Missed from 2009, Part Two.
I’ll be sure to follow later this week with more 2009 lists, so stay tuned.
I missed most of these, too, but I would never be so bold as to call myself a fan of film. I don’t go out of my way to watch movies, if that makes sense.
Anyway! Sunshine Cleaning was so, so good. That was an impulse DVD rental, which hardly ever works out in my favor, but it was such a good surprise.
I was torn about Public Enemies. On the surface it looked like a standard Hollywood hatchet job: a great bit of source material (that also included Bonnie & Clyde and Machine Gun Kelly) pared down to only the shiny bits, plus some over-the-top action sequences to keep the ADHD average movie-goer interested. So I skipped it. And yet I still second guess that decision. It’s Michael Mann & Johnny Depp, it’s bound to be GOOD, even if it doesn’t do the book justice. And Dillinger himself was rather flashy and in your face, so maybe that’s ok.
I, too, am a sucker for a horror film, but I tend to prefer mine more on the psychological side. Sadly those are harder to find these days.