2009 in film, your best/worst

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Sy

Time-Traveller
The year is coming to its close and it's actually been a really good year for movies in my opinion! So what are your top picks for films released in cinemas in 2009. I'm very interested. :)

Here's my top 3...

Moon
Sci-Fi as it should be done. This is basically a one man show where Sam Rockwell is isolated on a base on the Moon for a 3 year stretch. With only a couple of weeks left he thinks he's starting to lose his mind and only has the computer, GERTY, voiced by Kevin Spacey for company. With a low budget they managed to make a movie that looks better than the millions poured into crap like Transformers 2. This is old school film making, a return of the model shots with CGI only to touch up certain elements. The thing about models is that they give it more weight whereas no matter how well done it is, you know that when you see something CGi it's not really there.

Where the Wild Things Are
I loved the book when I was younger but this has taken the picture book to a whole new personal level. Melancholy and thoughtful, the movies strolls along at its own pace with an innocence to it's characters. Beautiful filming locations and the CORRECT way to use CGI to animate the faces of the people in suits make it one of the more interesting and attractive films that's been released in a while.

Seven Pounds
People didn't appreciate this movie because they didn't understand the characters actions but that's one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much. Will Smiths character acts with so much precision and with an obvious goal it's hard not to be interested in the unraveling. Will Smith probably turns in his best performance here.

Honourable mentions...
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
State of Play
District 9
Gran Torino
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man

And just for the sake of it some of the worst this year...
Dragonball Evolution
Blood the last Vampire
Watchmen
Bruno
X Men Origins Wolverine
Transformers Revenge of the Fallen
Avatar, though it did look good.
 
CitizenGeek said:
Gran Torino is absolutely phenomenal, but unfortunately it's technically a 2008 film :p
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I'm going by UK release dates so both Gran Torino and Seven Pounds count as 2009 since they didn't come out until well into January over here.
 
I didn't see that many films this year compared to usual (Moon being one of the ones I missed, I do mean to pick it up on Blu-ray), but I doubt there were any that were better than District 9.
 
Both Where The Wild Things Are and Moon are both destined to fall into my favourite films of 2009, once I've seen them. Wild Things especially, because from all the clips I've seen, it looks magical. I'd chuck (500) Days of Summer into the mix as well.

Zombieland isn't a movie I would have expected to be one of my favourites of the year, at all, but its simple message of family and what it takes to make or break one is brilliance. The zombies are there, yeah, and its a hilarious film (particularly the use of the Rules) but the characters reigned stronger than a lot of the stuff I've seen this year.

My favourite blockbuster, without a shadow of a doubt, was Star Trek. One of the prominent things I remember (and like) looking back on this film is the lens-flare. I'm not normally a fan, but it made the Enterprise so damn awesome. I think the casting is pretty nailed as well, with only Simon Pegg slightly falling behind. Chris Pine is amazing, and I can't wait to see what his career holds.

And, dear God, I'm not going to do this - Jennifer's Body is my third. Everyone but me hated this. I get why the majority hated it, though - it's not a proper horror. To quote what I said in the other thread: "[its not a horror, its] a women empowerment movie thing (which is awesome)". Amanda Seyfrield and Diablo Cody are terrific fun.

...After looking at all the movies that have come and gone this year, I've concluded that they are my most memorable with some of my special mentions going out to: Adventureland, District 9, Avatar and Slumdog Millionaire with the downright terrible being: Terminator Salvation, Transformers 2, G.I. Joe (Kinda so bad its good) and Surrogates.
 
My top two this year has to be Moon and District 9 both by first time feature film directors and so well written especially Moon.

I really enjoyed Avatar, it was my first 3D film and it really does bring something different to the cinema experience.

Another film i really enjoyed this year include Gran Torino, how on earth wasn't Clint Eastwood nominated for that!

The worst...

Watchmen - I take my hat off to Zack Synder for trying, it has some great scenes and cinematography but it just didn't work as a whole in my eyes. I'm a huge fan of the graphic novel and everytime I re-read it still grabs and shocks me even though i know what's coming. Watching the film it wasn't the same, the film just didn't do it justice but there's so much to put in to do it properly it needs to be a mini series. By taking out the smaller characters and scenarios it lost a lot, the book is the perfect social satire of the time.
If you liked the film, please read the book i'm sure you'll love it too.

Wolverine - I love x-men, i love Wolverine this film ruined everything i know and love about his backstory :( as an action film it had it's moments but as a fan I can't forgive any writer/director that is so bad he can ruin Deadpool...and don't get me started on the CGI
 
SundayMorningCall said:
best film: Star Trek
worst film: Transformers: Revenge of the **** awful movie
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Transformers 2 was pretty poor, even Megan Fox couldn't make it worth while. I tried so hard to hate the first one as i didn't like what they did with the character designs but i really enjoyed it. The 2nd one for me though was faaar to long and just plain average. I couldn't even tell half the robots apart.
 
Best two films,
District 9 and Gran Torino, both quality productions.

Worst film,
Public enemies, utter bloody crap.
 
I can barely remember what was released this year, but the two films I do remember watching polarised my opinion enough to call bests and worsts...

Best: Up
The first 10 minutes or so were masterfully executed and the film truely has some of the peaks of animation history in it. And like every other Pixar film that excels, it manages to trough pretty badly as well. Talking dogs flying bi-planes? It's an idea so bad that Dreamworks haven't even done it yet. Movie-Shatteringly retarded, 'being for the kids' would be a weak defence in a film that didn't already trust kids to deal with some very weighty issues. Here, it's like watching two entirely different movies, and very disappointing.

Worst: Dorian Grey
Like Stephanie Meyer defecated in Oscar Wilde's lap. Colin Firth did well with what he was given, though most of us would use that much wood to build a barn. Unsurprisingly, Dorian turned out to be pretty combustible at the end.
 
memorium said:
Public Enemy was really confusing, it doesn't tell you what's going on half the time
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The film was gorgeous but there was no historical grounding to it. I know about the prohibition era and the 1930's but there should have been more of a commentary on it. I was kind of unsettled by the digital camera at first but then I felt like it was transporting me to the scene as every detail was sharp.

As far as my five best films, I have seen a lot in the cinema but the ones that stand out for me are:

The Hurt Locker
This is a film that showed the current conflict in gripping detail. The documentary-feel made me feel like I was there and could understand or at least try to understand what the soldiers were going through. Every bomb defusal and firefight was edge of the seat stuff with all of the gritty details of the situations seared onto the cinema screen thanks to the great cinematrography and soundtrack.

Moon
The simplicity of the story highlights the great performance and the set and special effects. Sam Rockwell proved himself a great actor.

An Education
Great story. Very funny and well directed. Carrie Mulligan was astonishing in this film.

Let the Right One In
A Swedish Vampire film. The atmosphere is crushing as you watch characters trudge around in the snow and suffer abuse. The final ten minutes is a brilliant release and brilliantly filmed.

Joint fifth goes to Avatar and Zombieland. Avatar was visually stunning regardless of the story and Zombieland was just plain hilarious in every way. Woody Harrelson was great.

I'd say 2009 was one of the best years for film.

Worst of the year:

Bruno (shudders). I was embarrassed throughout the film and walking out of the screening room past the staff.
 
Genkina Hito said:
memorium said:
Public Enemy was really confusing, it doesn't tell you what's going on half the time
Click to expand...

The film was gorgeous but there was no historical grounding to it. I know about the prohibition era and the 1930's but there should have been more of a commentary on it. I was kind of unsettled by the digital camera at first but then I felt like it was transporting me to the scene as every detail was sharp.

As far as my five best films, I have seen a lot in the cinema but the ones that stand out for me are:

The Hurt Locker
This is a film that showed the current conflict in gripping detail. The documentary-feel made me feel like I was there and could understand or at least try to understand what the soldiers were going through. Every bomb defusal and firefight was edge of the seat stuff with all of the gritty details of the situations seared onto the cinema screen thanks to the great cinematrography and soundtrack.

Moon
The simplicity of the story highlights the great performance and the set and special effects. Sam Rockwell proved himself a great actor.

An Education
Great story. Very funny and well directed. Carrie Mulligan was astonishing in this film.

Let the Right One In
A Swedish Vampire film. The atmosphere is crushing as you watch characters trudge around in the snow and suffer abuse. The final ten minutes is a brilliant release and brilliantly filmed.

Joint fifth goes to Avatar and Zombieland. Avatar was visually stunning regardless of the story and Zombieland was just plain hilarious in every way. Woody Harrelson was great.

I'd say 2009 was one of the best years for film.

Worst of the year:

Bruno (shudders). I was embarrassed throughout the film and walking out of the screening room past the staff.
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I forgot about Let the Right One in, it's amazing, a really fresh take on a concept that has been shoved in the lime light recently.

Unfortunately have you heard they are remaking it for US audiences?
It's going to be called Let Me In i believe and directed by Cloverfield director. Don't worry though, they aren't teenagers in this and it's not set in Orange County, he's sticking very close to the Swedish version but i just have no desire to see it. The Swedish version is perfect, if they're that funny about subtitles just dub it.
 
Am I the only one who disliked let the right one in?
I've heard that if I've read the book, I would love the movie, but as I've only seem the movie, I couldn't make sense of a lot of things and I had to resort to wiki for a deeper understanding.

The impression that I've got out of it is that people enjoyed that because it wasn't from holywood.
 
chaos said:
Am I the only one who disliked let the right one in?
I've heard that if I've read the book, I would love the movie, but as I've only seem the movie, I couldn't make sense of a lot of things and I had to resort to wiki for a deeper understanding.

The impression that I've got out of it is that people enjoyed that because it wasn't from holywood.
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I liked it because it departed from the standard Hollywood interpretation of Vampire and explored other themes and details such as what it is to be an outsider.

It had some great scenes to such as the one where you see her walk into Oskar's apartment without being invited. It is tense and set a new precedent for vampire films (at least I can't think of a movie which had this aspect of the folklore explored). The ending is the perfect release for the audience who may have identified with Oskar or any other character wrapped up in cold isolation.


I did hear about the remake and I can't say I'll watch it unless the reviews are stratospherically brilliant. Seems pointless... kind of like the remake of [rec].
 
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