14. Drag Me To Hell
Holy crap this was a thrill ride! This first thing this movie did was broke one of the golden rules in Hollywood, kids don't die. A kid has been cursed by a gypsy for stealing something and we are thrown right in to the last moments of his life, a demon has been following and taunting him for three days and now he's here to drag him to hell, and he does. It was a little jolting, but solidified in our minds that this movie is not playing around. Now we meet cute southern belle Christine Brown a loan officer going for a promotion. Little does she know her life is about to suck. A gypsy woman by the name of Mrs Ganush comes into the bank for an extension on her mortgage, but being as she has already had several extensions Christine could not give her one, even after Mrs. Ganush gets down on her knees and begs her. Mrs Ganush has been terribly shamed and places a curse on Christine. This time we get to see the demon's tormenting, slowly driving Christine into madness and desperation for her life. What I loved about Drag Me To Hell is it doesn't pull any punches. Director Sam Raimi really turns the scares, surprises and omg moments up to eleven. This movie is non stop, and doesn't have a fairytale ending, which is why it made this list. If you love horror movies this is not one to be missed.
13. 9
9 was a very interesting animated film. The first thing I noticed about it before even seeing it was that it was PG-13, in other words, not for kids. This is a dark movie, which might be why it didn't do so well at the box office, because for some reason, to most people "animated" means "kid's movie". I'm pretty sure parents didn't like this one, but who cares about them they shouldn't have took their kids to see it anyway. I on the other hand, loved it. 9 gets a tight grip on you from the very first frame and doesn't let go until the credits roll. Taking place in a post apocalyptic world after humans have been wiped from the face of the Earth by machines. We follow these little people made of, I guess burlap sacks, all with different numbers on them. Our main character 9 is our eyes into this strange world. He wonders what happened to the humans and most importantly where he and the others came from. The big reveal in the end made this one of the smartest animated films I have ever seen. Learning what happened to the humans and how these little sack people came to be turn what was already a good movie, into a brilliant one. I'm sure you've never heard of this movie, but trust me this is well worth a rental, and remember, just because a movie is animated doesn't mean that it's for kids.
12. Zombieland
Forget everything you know about zombie movies. Zombieland is something I've never really seen before. Most zombie films start at the beginning of the outbreak, this one starts at the end. The world is overrun with zombies and there are little to no humans left on Earth (the end credits name like six people, I didn't realize there was so few until the credits rolled). The film centers around a nerdy loner named Columbus. The reason he has survived so long by himself is that he has created a set of rules that he follows, I wont go into detail but they make a lot of sense. He decides to head to Columbus, Ohio to see if some family is still alive there. This is why we know him as Columbus, to avoid getting to close to each other the humans left don't call each other by their real names, but where they are headed, I thought this little detail is just one of many little things that make the world of this film feel real. On his journey he meets Tallahassee an all American zombie killing machine played by Woody Harrelson in what might be his best role ever, he's too funny. Tallahassee is the opposite of Columbus, he doesn't have any rules, he's survived so long simply because he's really good at killing zombies, along the way they meet sisters Wichita and Little Rock and also a surprise cameo by Bill Murray, which is the best cameo in cameo history. The reason why I liked Zombieland so much is because it throws all the seriousness of a zombie film out of the window and just has fun, even more so than Shaun of the Dead. I got a kick out of this movie, in a genre that repeats itself over and over again Zombieland is fresh and original and as much fun as a day at the carnival.
11. (500) Days of Summer
In a year full of originality across all genres (500) Days of Summer is no exception. Taking the romantic comedy genre and turning it on its ear, as the poster suggest, this is not a love story, it is a story about love. What that means is 500 Days is essentially telling two stories at once. The first, a story about two people meeting for the first time, learning about each other, having fun and spontaneous moments, a story of new and blossoming love. The second story, a great relationship nearing it's end, how hard that is to deal with and how hard it is to let someone you love go. I know, that doesn't sound original at all you may be thinking. Normally, you would be right, but its that way these two stories are told. Simultaneously about the same relationship, the two stories are inter cut, so at one moment we would see a cute intimate moment in an Ikea and the next moment we would see argument over something ridiculous. On day (35) they would be in a record store looking at music, and on day (355) they wouldn't even want to talk to each other. That is where the title comes from because the girls name is Summer played by the adorable Zooey Deschanel. Also I have to point out Joseph Gordon-Levitt who plays Tom. He shines in this film, he plays his role with such class and such heart that which Hollywood hasn't seen since the days of Gene Kelly, watch out for this kid because if he keeps getting roles as good as this and knocking them out of the park the way he did this one, he's gonna be a force to be reckoned with. I love 500 Days not only for its originality, but also because it tells a really good story that everyone can relate to. We have all loved and lost and this is one of the very few love stories out there that is honest about how that feels.
10. The Taking of Pelham 123
Ok first off this movie doesn't waste anytime getting started, I love it when movies do that. It seemed like almost immediately we're throw into the fray. A few men hijack a subway train in NYC and a man who calls himself Ryder (played by John Travolta in his best role to date) contacts the dispatch center and finds Walter Garber an ordinary everyman (played by Denzel Washington) who's about to have a really bad day. Ryder give Garber an hour to contact whatever city official he can and asks for a ransom of 10 million dollars. Now I seen a whole lot of movies with hostage situations, but this one takes the cake, all the credit goes to Denzel and Travolta, because this movie is essentially one really long phone conversation, and I don't know of any other actors would have held our attention the way these two did. This is Travolta's movie all the way, he is outstanding, he's so good that he becomes one of those villains that you actually root for, and he gives us what I consider to be one of the best movie deaths EVER. If you saw the movie than you know what I mean. Like I said earlier to be a movie that is at it's core a two hour phone call, this is gripping stuff.
9. Coraline
Originality is starting to become a theme in this list, because now we have Coraline. A surprisingly dark tale about a little girl who wants a different life. Her parents ignore her and her life is boring, she finds a small door in the fashion of Alice in Wonderland in her new home and it leads to just that. It is her life in bizzarro world. Her parents give her more attention she can handle and everything is exciting. She loves this world far more than her real one, but if she wants to stay she has to have buttons sewn into her eyes. When she decides that is not what she wanted suddenly her perfect world isn't so perfect anymore, and she now has to fight her way out. I love this film for it's pacing, its very deliberate and still, at first. I could feel the kids in the audience back when I saw this in theaters getting antsy. So many animated films are big loud and fast pace that this one took even me off guard with it's quiet approach to storytelling. Of course once the plot thickens things certainly pick up, but if it weren't for its deliberate pacing earlier Coraline's fight to get back to her world may not have meant as much to the audience or even had the same impact. I also love this movie because it so visual. Every shot in this film is pleasing to the eye, there was never a shot in this film that didn't wow me visually. I gotta give the filmmakers major credit for achieving that, and I also gotta give them credit for making the kids squirm a bit and pay attention.
8. Where The Wild Things Are
Where The Wild Thing Are is a beautiful movie. It's one of those rare films that really captures your imagination and speaks to your inner child. Based on "the most beloved children's book of all time" I put that in quotes because that's what it says on the poster. I personally have never read the book so I have no reference, but if the book is anywhere near as good as the the movie than I can see why its a classic. It tells the story of a kid named Max who is just well, a regular kid, with a great imagination. His big sister doesn't really pay attention to him, and his mom is starting to meet other guys after her divorce. He's a kid who is confused about his feelings and doesn't really have anyone to talk about them. So one night in a fit of rage he runs away from home, and finds a wooded area away with creatures that have a resemblance to animals we see everyday, but still look odd enough to be out of this world. Before I go on I was never certain whether or not these creatures and the world they lived in were real or not, but because the movie never makes it clear I think that was the point. Ok so when Max gets to this new land with these strange creatures he fits right in, because even though they're big and scary looking, they all think like kids. As the film goes on I started to notice that each one of these characters is a different mirror of one of Max's anxieties or insecurities or simply a personalty trait of his own or someone in his life. That is why this was such a beautiful movie, underneath the surface of this fun kids adventure, it really was is a film about dealing with our own problems and ourselves. I love movies that are deeper than whats on the surface, and that's why this is one of my favorites of the year.
7. Watchmen
(this pic isn't from the movie, i just think its pretty cool)
They said it couldn't be done, they said it was the unfilmable graphic novel. Well guess what? They were wrong. Very wrong. The source material for Watchmen is the most popular, loved, and critically acclaimed graphic novel (or comic book) of the past 23 years. It even made TIME magazine's All Time 100 Novels list. So needless to say, the hype around this movie was astronomical. I read the book myself, I never considered it to be unfilmable, but I realized that they were going to have to change some things to make it viable for a film. To my surprise they changed almost nothing, this is the closest adaptation of anything. Whether it was a book or a video game or whatever, what is in the movie is exactly what was in the book. Every image, word, and minor detail. The fact that Zack Snyder pulled that off is in itself incredible. Not only is this a faithful adaptation, it's an amazing film, the dark and twisted morals of the film set itself apart from the saturated hero movie pack. Although some people who haven't read the comic book and weren't "in" on some of the things that was happening in the movie, it still seems to be loved all around, and for such a convoluted movie, that says something. If you did find Watchmen confusing I would suggest renting the directors cut, there are some things that fill in some of the gaps that the theatrical release left out, making a little more sense of it all. Other than that Watchmen stands out as a hero movie that asks the questions should people be saved if they don't deserve it, and it is wrong to harm a few in the quest to save many?
6. District 9
When I first was the trailer for District 9 I thought "Wow that's great idea!" then I was disappointed to find that I had to wait until the end of the summer until it came out. Having been mentally fatigued by all the bad action movies that came out, by the end of the summer I was so ready for something different, and with District 9 I got more than different, I got the most original film I had seen since Memento. Taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa aliens find Earth, but not in that Independence Day they're going to kill us way, they're were lost and they're ship was damaged and Earth was the nearest planet. At first humans welcomed these creatures onto our planet and treated them in the fashion of immigrants, but after a while we started to treat them like refugees, banning them out of the cities and containing them to one area District 9. This vastly different approach to a movie about aliens grounds the scenario in reality. Suddenly we're not watching a movie, but in some ways an alternate reality. Humans have treated each other the exact same way many times in the past, so it only make sense that we would treat aliens the same. The film is an excellent parallel to our own reality, a political film that doesn't directly address politics. Not to mention this movie is f**king awesome. Besides the thought provoking and very smart story with parallels to our own human nature and society, there is some seriously kick ass action in this movie. I don't know how the director balanced such a deep and involving storyline with such a fast and relentless pace, but somehow he did and the result is maybe the best science fiction movie ever made.
5. Up
I loved Up. Let me say that again. I loved Up. I generally fall in love with all of the movies that are done by Pixar but I LOVED Up! This is by far Pixar's best to date, and I know I say that every time Pixar releases a movie, but they just keep finding a way to outdo themselves, every friggin time. Up is the story of and old man who blah blah blah, you've seen the trailers, and I'm so glad the trailers didn't tell us the REAL story. It's the story of a man who has lost the only love that he has ever known, and doesn't really know how to deal with that. The first ten minutes of Up is truly Pixar at its best. We meet a kid named Carl who wants to be an adventurer, he meets a little girl named Ellie who also want to be the same. They grow up together fall in love and spend the rest of their lives together until Ellie's unfortunate passing. Imagine going to buy a ticket for a fun filled Pixar evening and ten minutes in everyone in the audience is reaching for a tissue. After this very touching opening of the film it moves on to what we bought out tickets for, and now that we are emotionally involved in the story it makes it all that much better. Carl's journey in coming to terms with losing Ellie is something that we all have to deal with, we sympathize with Carl so we care about his journey. Of course there is the usual Pixar fanfare of laughter, thrills, and chills, but I loved Up because it made us look past what we've come to expect from them and reminded us that the guys and gals at Pixar are the best storytellers in the business.
4. The Hangover
My original review of this film reads as follows:
FUNNIEST MOVIE EVER MADE! Nuff said.
5 out of 5
That was my entire review, and I'm sticking to it.
3. Star Trek
First of all I want to make it clear that I am not a fan of the Star Trek franchise. I always thought that it was so boring it could make me vomit, so I wasn't predestined to love this movie before even seeing it (which honestly might be true in Watchmen's case) I didn't even really want to see this movie. Now having said that OMFG this movie frakkin ROCKS! From start to finish this movie is nonstop, but not only that, it has a great story. A movie can be action packed with a story so bad the action doesn't even matter anymore, that is certainly not the case here. Starting from the beginning of it all, we are meeting the now iconic Star Trek characters for the first time, which was a great choice to introduce Star Trek to a new audience. I would love to explain the story, but its really complicated and has to do with time travel, but trust me its awesome. Director JJ Abrams as humble of a guy as he is, has pretty much said to every Hollywood director alive "Step your game up, bitches." Because this is the most elegant action movie I have ever seen. I use the word elegant because the transition from dialogue to action sequence and back is seamlessly and without effort. I firmly believe that from now on this is how ALL action movies should be done, but in reality that's never going to happen. At least I can trust JJ Abrams to deliver immensely on whatever he does, I'm pretty if he was to do a Strawberry Shortcake movie it would be friggin awesome.
2. Avatar
I know some of you are reading this and thinking "What? I was sure Avatar was his number one pick." and after the way I talked about it you would be right to think that. Trust me, I had a really tough time choosing between Avatar and my number one pick, but I'll get to that later. Avatar. What can I say about this movie? Whatever I say it won't be enough. Avatar is simply stunning. Awe inspiring. Breathtaking, and every other cliche thing you would hear in a commercial, and in this case all of it is true. The world that James Cameron has created in Avatar is astounding, and almost to much to take in at one time, this films begs for multiple viewings. To say it is excellent is an understatement, but unfortunately when a movie is this good its hard to find the right words to describe it. Even right now I'm still second guessing my decision to put this at number two....but in a moment I wont....
1. Inglorious Basterds
Holy s**t this is a good movie. In usual Quentin Tarantino fashion this film is multi-layered, but never before has he put these layers together so perfectly. Inglorious Basterds is a perfect movie. Flawless. Starting with what has to be one of the best opening scenes in film history and ending with the best 35 mins ever put to film, this movie isn't near perfect, isn't almost perfect, it IS perfect. The film plays out in five chapters sort of like the way Kill Bill did. The title of the first chapter is the tagline of the film "Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France..." Where we meet our villian, who is more far cunning than he lets on, and in the second chapter we meet the Basterds lead by Lt. Aldo Raine played by a Brad Pitt who seemed to love this character so much it only took four minutes for me to realize he deserves the Oscar for it, and Lt. Aldo Raine has put together a small team of Jewish American soldiers who's mission is to ambush the Nazi's in different areas, and in a way exact their own personal revenge. There are a few other plot points that I don't really want to give away, but Quentin Tarantino is at the top of his game here, with a script that explores so many different characters and storylines that seemingly don't have anything to do with each other, until that 'aha' moment brings it all together in your mind. Tarantino doesn't just slow down after the 'aha' moment either because now that you realize what is going on and how it all comes together you are brought into the best film climax in recent memory. That last 35 mins of this film is perfection, and as one of the characters says in the very last line of the film "I think this just might be my masterpiece." Yes it is Mr. Tarantino, yes it is.
Honorable Mention: Paranormal Activity
None of the things suggested in the poster are true. It's not the scariest movie ever made, its not going to make you lose you mind with fear, its not going to keep you awake at night. Yet, what I did like about this film was its execution. Paranormal Activity had a minuscule budget of only $11,000 , and every penny was put to good use. There are some genuinely creepy moments that had me thinking "How did that do that?" Most of it was pretty straight forward with bumps and noises, yet the film was still able to create an atmosphere of tenision, and for that I give it credit for achieving its ultimate goal. Even if the ending was kinda lame.
Honorable mention: Ninja Assassin
Ok so the story in Ninja Assassin isn't the greatest, in fact it's kinda silly, but this movie kicks so much ass that doesn't even matter. It's violent, it's gory, it's balls to the wall high octane nonstop action and I loved every single second of it.
The 5 Worst films of 2009
I know its kinda backwards to do this list after the best of list, but these movies don't deserve their own post, and since I made you read all that other stuff I will keep this list down to two word reviews.
5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Childhood ruined.
4. Fast & Furious
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Seriously why?
3. My Bloody Valintine
Stupid Gimmick.
2. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Corbra
Stupid everything.
1. New Moon
TSo mind numbingly boring I wanted to burn down the theater just so it would end. (put on a shirt douchebag)
So there you have it, the movies I loved, and the ones that were like a terrorist attack on my cerebrum. 2009 was an extraordinary year in film and in a way change a lot of things about the way movie's should be made. Originality was the theme for 09 and I hope it only gets better from here, and that the Twilight franchise would burn in hell.
one luv, Toinne.
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