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Capone's exhaustive and exhausting 30 Best of 2009, plus 15 Best Docs and 20 Worst Films!!!
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
Call me crazy, but I actually waited until the year was over before I finalized my Best Of… list. I managed to squeeze in a few more movies in the last two weeks of the year that were serious contenders for at least one of the lists below. And if you think that a list of the 30 finest pieces of cinema of 2009 in overindulgent or just plain unnecessary, please feel free to stop at Number 10.
As in most years, I simply couldn't help myself; plus there were way too many great movies this year to ignore, and I'm not a big fan of simply piling all of the almost-made-it movies into a list. I've got 30 features, 15 documentaries, and 20 of the worst pieces of dung I forced myself to endure in the past 365 days. With the first 10 of my Top 30, I've included excerpts of my original reviews. I'm sure you're all agree with my choices, so allow me to throw raw meat to the lions and wave a red rag in front of the bulls. Enjoy…
30 BEST FILMS OF 2009
1. UP IN THE AIR
Through its note-perfect use of laughter, tears, and some of the best character building you're going to see all year, UP IN THE AIR is a film that can be watched repeatedly, and each time, you'll discover something new and remarkable. There's an easy flow and dignity to this movie that made watching it the most effortless and enjoyable experience I had all year, but it still made me ponder (and often reaffirmed) my definitions of connections, relationships, family, and friends. There's a genuine pleasure to watching UP IN THE AIR that I got from so few other films this or any other year, and I truly can't wait to revisit Ryan and the circle of acquaintances that clutter his life.
2. DISTRICT 9
This seriously well-made science fiction epic combines politics, social commentary, aliens, extreme cartoony violence, and one of the best classic Hitchcock-ian, wrong-man-pursued plots in recent memory. Above all other things, DISTRICT 9 is endlessly entertaining. I don't even know why you're reading this; you know you're going to see this three or four times in theaters and then go buy the DVD the day it comes. Yes, folks, it's that good. And I think without anticipating it, I've stumbled upon my favorite movie of the summer of 2009. I love when that happens.
3. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
BASTERDS feels like the film that Quentin Tarantino has been building steam toward his entire career, which I guess goes without saying since it is his latest work. But I'm talking about something different. I don't think Tarantino could have made a film with this scope and level of sophistication without having gone through some of the finest trail-and-error exercises a filmmaker in the modern age has ever gone through. There's a patience and elegance to BASTERDS that I simply wasn't prepared for. Sure, the blood flows like a geyser at times, but not nearly as much as I thought it would, which makes the film infinitely better. You are actually able to settle down with the movie's many American, German, and British characters, and get comfortable in their presence by simply listening to them chat and interact with each other. Then, when the violence begins, it breaks the serenity and lets hell rush out until it consumes you.
4. THE HURT LOCKER
How can I put this as gently as possible? Let whatever higher power I believe in help me find the words. Ah, here we go: You're a fucking idiot if The Hurt Locker is playing within a 50-mile radius of where you live and you don't go see it. OK, I understand there might be extenuating circumstances that could keep you from going to see what is one of the best films of the year and easily the finest set in the midst of the Iraq War, but unless you're in a vegetative state, you've really go not excuse. If you don't have a car, start walking. If you're too young to see this R-rated fare, they're doing wonders with aging makeup these days; take advantage of this. Watching THE HURT LOCKER terrified me at times, both for the physical and emotional well being of its characters. My psyche was seriously fractured by watching this movie, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Seek this one out as if your life depended on it.
5. MOON
MOON is one of the finest works of cinematic science fiction that I've seen in a very long time. I've been telling people that it's the best sci-fi work I've seen in five years, but that timeframe isn't really tied to a particular movie. For all I know, it's the best science fiction film made in 20 years. I keep searching my personal databank to think of a film set in the future that I've enjoyed more, and I have to go back to some major league classics to find one. People are going to draw all sorts of comparisons between MOON and such classic films as SILENT RUNNING, ALIEN (more for the ho-hum quality of space living than the presence of any actual aliens), OUTLAND, even 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, but rather than look for plot or tone similarities, look at what great company this film is keeping in the minds of critics and fans alike. This is a film made for people who grew up loving great science fiction films and literature, especially works made during the 1960s and '70s. There's a timeless quality to MOON that drew me in and gave me no choice but to have a deeply emotional reaction to this beautiful movie. I have little doubt this film will end up on my best of 2009 list, and you should see it just as soon as it lands in your neck of the woods.
6. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
Director and co-writer Spike Jonze and co-writer Dave Eggers have given birth to a type of film that defies conventional film criticism. To say you loved, like, were neutral on, or hated their adaptation of Maurice Sendak's WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE doesn't quite get the job done. No, this work demands a far purer emotional response and deep psychological self-examination to get to the heart of why this telling of this very simple story gets to the root of what we are as human beings. Jonze might be better at this than any director working today. He doesn't thrust cold, therapeutic analysis at us. He takes us by the hand and guides us into the often-scary world inside our collective minds and shared experiences as both children and adults. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE is all sorts of glorious wonder in one sweeping package. That said, it was not a life-changing experience. For me, it was a life-affirming one. I'll somehow handle the disappointment. I've already said too much and spilled my guts more than I should have, but fuck it, this one is worth it. Just go see it, and bring with you all the baggage of your childhood, and prepare to have it partially exorcised if you're lucky. This is an incredibly moving and smart trip that I can't wait to watch repeatedly, and hear what others have to say about it.
7. BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS
Holy sweet Jesus dipped in molasses. OK, I had no freakin' idea that this film was going to kick quite this much behind. But knock your ass into your shoes is exactly what happens when you take a familiar title, turn it into a franchise (this is no remake, re-imagining or retread of the Abel Ferrara BAD LIEUTENANT), and hand the reigns over to visionary Werner Herzog, who really has to go out of his way to make a bad movie these days. So here's the upshot: if you claim to be bored with formulaic Hollywood movies, this is a film custom made for you. Nothing about this movie is conventional, acceptable or easy to watch, but, man, is it insanely entertaining. I don't know who to heap the most praise upon--Herzog or Cage--so allow me to bow to them both and hope they make many more films together. They clearly belong in each other's company. And together, the two capture New Orleans so completely, you can actually smell the dank, moldy pockets that existed after Katrina. Just thinking about it gives me the vapors. Just go see this movie if you really need a cinematic experience that will take you way the hell out of your comfort zone and wake you the fuck up.
8. AN EDUCATION
I walked into this fantastic little British production knowing next to nothing about who was in it or what it was about. So as each new layer of the story revealed itself, I was more and more impressed as time went one. The film is, at times, lighter than air and heavy beyond words. For such a small film, it takes you on one of the biggest life journeys I've seen in ages.
9. THE INFORMANT!
Watching THE INFORMANT! is like watching a building fall down one brick at a time, but in rapid succession. The lead character is clearly bipolar and a compulsive liar, and Matt Damon's performance is, without debate, the finest he's ever committed to film. But Damon is only a portion of why THE INFORMANT! absolutely rules. My first thought after watching the film was "How soon do I get to experience that again?" Soderbergh makes smart films look effortless, and that is no easy task. Not all of his films have been great, but he goes out of his way not only to find unusual stories to tell, but also fascinating ways to tell them. Just go see THE INFORMANT!, one of the funniest, most intelligent and entertaining bits of wackiness you'll see all year.
10. FANTASTIC MR. FOX
FANTASTIC MR. FOX might be the single most charming film I’ve seen all year, and I choose that word carefully and specifically. Charm is one of the most difficult things to get across in the film. You can like or love a movie and its characters well enough, but charm is a different monster. It’s about winning over an audience to the point where we’d actually like to hang out more with these characters in the universe the director has created. There’s a comfort element to the experience that you don’t get with many films, even ones you adore. But FANTASTIC MR. FOX is loaded to the gills with charm, sweetness, and humor without abandoning the irreverent wit and distinct visual style that director and co-writer Wes Anderson injects into all his film. This is a film that invites its young and old audiences to find things to love about its homemade aesthetic. Adults will adore the brand of humor and cleverly created family drama, while youngsters will swoon at it for entirely different reasons. Both will marvel at the rich, lush and inviting scenery while getting pulled in by these marvelously layered characters. Now show me the closest bar where a guy can grab a beer with his foxy new friends.
11. STAR TREK
12. THE BROTHERS BLOOM
13. I LOVE YOU, MAN
14. ANTICHRIST
15. (500) DAYS OF SUMMER
16. ADVENTURELAND
17. WORLD’S GREATEST DAD
18. UP
19. ZOMBIELAND
20. A SERIOUS MAN
21. PONYO
22. IN THE LOOP
23. THIRST
24. THE WHITE RIBBON
25. CORALINE
26. AWAY WE GO
27. THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS
28. SIN NOMBRE
29. HUMPDAY
30. GOODBYE, SOLO
MOST FUCKED UP MOVIE I SAW IN 2009
THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE
A Fantastic Fest standout that cannot be explained and almost can't be endured. There was one point during the film where I simply had to remove my glasses AND look away from the screen to simply not acknowledge what I was seeing on the screen. It's not that what was being portrayed visually was so appalling; it was more about the thought of what those poor people in this mad-scientist marvel were going through that I simply couldn't stomach for fear of fainting, vomiting, crapping my pants, convulsing, or some combination of all of the above. Even people that walked out at certain points during the screening I went to thought it was one of the best movies they saw at Fantastic Fest. If there is any way I can screen this awesomely repulsive film in Chicago, it will happen. Please seek this out by any means necessary. It doesn't make the Top 30 list, only because it wasn't officially released in 2009, but fingers crossed for 2010.
BEST DOCUMENTARIES OF 2009
1. TYSON
I genuinely can't remember the last time I felt as torn about a documentary's subject matter as I did after watch director James Toback's penetrating and sometimes scarily intimate profile of former boxing champion Mike Tyson--he of the rape conviction, ear biting and bas-ass face tattoo. It's clear from the extensive interviews that Toback conducts that Tyson, now in the early 40s, is still somewhat confused and torn about his past, and he seems somewhat eager to set the record straight while still confounding us with his views on women, money, boxing, family, and his fractured state of mind. Odds are you won't have a clue how to look upon Mike Tyson, which in no way is a discouragement to this extremely important film. Quite the contrary, you should attempt to see this on a big screen. It's worth it to see such a bold and vengeful piece of filmmaking. Check this one out, even if sports in general and boxing in particular aren't that your favorite thing.
2. ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL
3. BEST WORST MOVIE
4. THE COVE
5. AN UNLIKELY WEAPON
6. THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE
7. FOOD INC.
8. WINNEBEGO MAN
9. HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29
10. THE YES MEN SAVE THE WORLD
11. HERB & DOROTHY
12. WALT & EL GRUPO
13. WE LIVE IN PUBLIC
14. EVERY LITTLE STEP
15. THE BEACHES OF AGNES
WORST MOVIES OF 2009
I'm sure there are many more terrible films that came out in the last year, but these are the 20 that were so bad, I didn't need to consult my list of what I saw in 2009 to remember how much I truly loathed them. And then after I did consult my list, I added maybe two more titles to round this list out to 20.
ALIENS IN THE ATTIC; ALL ABOUT STEVE; ALIVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS: THE (MOTHERFUCKING) SQUEAKQUEL; AMELIA; BRIDE WARS; DANCE FLICK; HOTEL FOR DOGS; I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER; THE FINAL DESTINATION; HALLOWEEN 2; LAND OF THE LOST; NEW IN TOWN; MADEA GOES TO JAIL; NEXT DAY AIR; OLD DOGS; PAUL BLART: MALL COP; PINK PANTHER 2; STREET FIGHTER; THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE
SINGLE WORST MOVIE OF 2009:
CROSSING OVER
The biggest difference between CRASH and CROSSING OVER is that the latter film takes a great idea and compelling structure--exposing the current state of immigration and earned citizenship in America with several stories about different types of legal and illegal immigrants--and then forgets some of the most basic fundamentals of filmed storytelling, like credible acting, editing that makes sense, believable scenarios, and not feeling like the film's message needs to be broadcast from a megaphone atop the tallest building in the land. The biggest surprise about CROSSING OVER is how many of the name-above-the-title actors let us down. They're either sleepwalking through their roles (as Harrison Ford does) or they emote so that those in the third balcony can feel it (Ashley Judd's immigration defense lawyer character is incredibly self-righteous, and Cliff Curtis as Ford's partner is just ridiculous). In a film that should have been about compassion, struggle, family and what it means to be an American, CROSSING OVER spends its running time calling attention to how noble it's being. The end result is a film that skims the surface of the immigration issue, while revealing itself to be nothing more than a heavy-handed, wretched message movie.
-- Capone
therealcapone@aintitcoolmail.com
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truth
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I haven't see Crossing Over, but as I consider Crash one of the worst "BIG" movies of the last decade, CO cannot be good!
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though I would invert the first four, exactly in that order.
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Nice list Capone. Looking at your worst list, I can only say, I pity you man.
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I heard Bad Lieutenant was straight to video fare so im surprised at that high praise. I havent seen it myself yet so will reserve judgement till i see it. I found Moon to be very overated as well. Was disappointed in it.
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OF THE DECADE!!"
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from posting immediately. Dude. I agree with your reviews probably 92% of the time. But what the hell? *sigh* I almost couldn't watch it the first time nevermind repeatedly. I'll go back and read the rest now, but that just shocked me.
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Wow.
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Honestly wasnt that bad to me(actually pretty good), dont understand the hate...:(
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Bad Lieutenant is quite good. Surprisingly so. Very funny and really nuts (in a good way). It's definitely better than any straight to video movie. Btw, was Amelia that bad? I'm not sure I was that interested in it, but I'm surprised it made the worst list.
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Dec 31, 2009 10:29:37 AM CST
Land of the Lost is fuckin' hilarious, you take that back!
by soylentmean
I loved that insano movie! How dare you call it one of the year's worst films (like a bunch of other critics). It was funny. I liked it. All that matters.
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I think the hate comes because everyone sees Will's career in a sort of slump and it's easy to kick a guy when he is down. Half the haters probably didn't even see it. The other half may have a genuine concern. I thought it was very funny. It wasn't Up in the Air material, but it was entertaining to me.
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Nice to see Ponyo and In the Loop get some love. And I love the double-meaning at the end of Up in the Air, so there's no arguing there. Not sure why anyone loves World's Greatest Dad though. The most unrealistic situations compound on top of each other in slightly humorous fashion. The social point (not commentary really) resonated with folks I geuss.
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I thought Ponyo was a bit boring. It just seemed so whimsical that I really just couldn't get into it. I really liked Spirited Away, I just felt like Ponyo didn't quite do it for me.
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I know many who thought Ponyo was too "kiddie" for them. I was just coming of a viewing of Antichrist so it helped to heal me.
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I agree with pretty much everything on your lists- I'd put a few titles in a different order perhaps, but the one thing that stands out is - Where is Avatar? Even if you don't put it at the top of the list, it's gotta be in the top THIRTY of the year.
This is a big miss, Cap. -
Hmmm, not feeling half as much love for this list as Massa's.
I mean it's not 'Beaks bad', but it's not exactly great.
AVATAR was my personal fave of the year and it doesn't even get a look-in in Capone's top 30. Then you have ANTICHRIST in there... hmm. Nope not feeling this list much. -
If you take a look at my original review for AVATAR (http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43419), I think you'll understand my many reservations about the film. I mean, I call it "hit and miss" in the headline.
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What a ponce.
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Dec 31, 2009 11:07:19 AM CST
I HEART DOLPHINS BUT I HAVE A LITTLE PROBLEM WITH THE COVE
by bringingsexyback
It's not a documentary by any stretch of the definition. It is purely an activist film. I'm a little ambivalent about its execution, but that doesn't diminish how I feel about the dolphin slaughter - it is horrific and I wish I could comfort Hayden Panetierre with a long, tight hug if I could. I think my main problem is with Ric O'Barry. Just because he has dedicated his life to making amends doesn't, in my judgement, absolve him of his guilt and responsibility for causing the problem in the first place. He probably feels the same way though. And I will never step foot in a Sea World ever again.
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Boo. Dumb. 10 years from now, Avatar will still be looked back upon as a milestone of film making (as flawed as it may be) whilst most of the other films in your list will be long forgotten (some of them are already there).
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Every critic on this site lauded it as an awesome film yet it is not on any of your best-of lists???
I poop on you! -
Yeah, and Away We Go was perfection? You're so full of it, Cap.
Now I'm convinced you're just trying to be an asshole. Mission accomplished. -
Dec 31, 2009 11:24:45 AM CST
Wait a second. Hotel For Dogs as one of the 20 worst?
by redegiraahgnal
I'm not saying it's one of the best, but did you even watch it? Are you sure you didn't mean G-Force or something like that?
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I doubt that anybody will remember Hotel For Dogs in 5 years, but just the fact alone that it's a kids movie about dogs, that doesn't rely on poo jokes makes it better then Flop 20 2009!
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Capone, you used to be my favorite critic on this site, but for the past two years or so you somehow lost your ability to evaluate films.
AN EDUCATION is one of the sloppiest and ill conceived films ever. It is beyond terrible. With the exception of the first 15 minutes or so, there is nothing redeeming about that movie.
And any list that rates I LOVE YOU, MAN and ADVENTURELAND above UP is laughable.
Seriously, BEAKS is the last hope of AICN. -
That's in my Top 5 of this year....Imaginarium is there, too.
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...how much I hate Moon. Those of you who haven't seen it yet are gonna watch it on DVD and ask yourselves, "That's it? That's what everyone was jizzing over?" Or not....maybe it's just me.
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On the worst list? I remember how much everyone howled when this came out. Then I saw it. I have to say as a Wolverine fan, this film was a disappointment. What should've been Legends of the Fall meets The Bourne Identity turned out to be a senseless shitfest. Maybe everyone is just eager to forget it.
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He is the only one who clearly see Avatar for what it really is.
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Never heard of moon and no one else I know heard about it either so watched it recently. It reminded me of those slow moving sci-fi movies in the early 70s (pre Star Wars) that will be forgotten if not already forgotten by the majority of sci-fi fans.
Can't fuckin believe though Avatar is not on this. You must either be the Roger Ebert of AICN or you are one of those punks who tries to be cool by being different. Avatar is THE movie experience of 2009 bar none. May not be the most original story but hell Lucas's writing in Star Wars was pretty shitty. Get off the moon and join the rest of us on earth who have seen Avatar multiple times. -
Dec 31, 2009 12:11:15 PM CST
Everyone forgives the "May not be the most original story' angle
by vin_diggler
But for me, story should come first over everything else. For this reason alone, I cannot praise Avatar as much as others do.
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I might have to agree with him...
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Most fucked up movie of the decade. More fucked up than ICHI THE KILLER, all hostels and Saws put together.
That's a fucked up movie.
Can't wait for the sequel that comes next year! -
The Hangover was juvenile toilet humor and sight gags elevated slightly because of its cast. There's nothing wrong with finding that funny, but you can't blame someone for leaving it off their top-whatever list any more than you can blame them for ignoring dumb popcorn flicks.
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Ohhhhhh... I'd actually forgotten about Wolverine. God, that movie was TERRIBLE, and not just for fans of Sideburns. Gambit's fight scene was very cool, but that was the only part of the movie worth watching. The rest of it was boring and a complete mistreatment of just about every character on screen.
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It still deserves to be mentioned, at least in the top 30.
At least above many others who did make the list. -
The Hangover was very funny because the cast we're funny actors. There were no A list actors in it!
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was anyone else disappointed that they didn't throw enough shit toward your eyeballs? I mean, if I paid to see THAT movie in 3D I want the extra $6 worth of cheap 3D effects.
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I haven't seen Avatar (wife is agoraphobic, so we only go to non-busy matinees), or Up in the Air yet. But I love that you have Bad Lieutenant and The Informant! on this list, as well as Moon. Very 70s-style films you don't see much of anymore. Also Wolverine doesn't belong in a bottom list mainly due to Shreiber and Huston, who elevated the material, at least when they were on screen.
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Meaning it's dull and pretentious and even its biggest supporters won't be watching it on DVD a year from now.
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Actually it's the worst movie ever. Avatar should have been somewhere in the top 20, not to have it is just being churlish.
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Yeah, it's probably better left forgotten. I can't imagine what the movie was like for Joe Average Moviegoer. The stuff with Gambit was nicely executed, but wicked fight scenes do not a movie make. Nothing to elevate it above generic action movie fare. An abysmal handling of a story that could've been provocative.
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to put a big studio tentpole on their Worst Of lists cause they want to maintain their press access, hence no Wolverine: X-Men Origins, worst movie of the year IMO.
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Just sayin'
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I customarily don't like to waste time commenting on bad movies, but that one hurt. Also, Land of the Lost was a disappointment. Some funny bits lost in an overall weak production.
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just sayin'
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this is HIS list, HIS perception and PERSONAL feelings/choice. that's why his are different than yours, yours different from John Q. Publics, and mine and so on and so on.... AS FOR "AVATAR".... sure the TECH and VISUALS were nice, but it just didn't do much for me either. It was OK, and that's it, TO ME !!.... and I don't think it would make my top 30 either..... BUT, man, I wish I could see as many "non mainstream" films as you guys..... living in southwestern Indiana doesn't exactly get you a lot of these films........ but oh well..... and please, can we quit THINKING that Sam Worthington is a good actor.... fuck people, i have dishrags with better acting chops.
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after your review, i was expecting to see it on both your best AND worst lists.
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lists? 2009 lists? What's Branaugh doing on Thor? What's Stallone doing on Expendables? What's the newest disgusting Megan Fox pinup? These are the things I check for.
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Terrible. How was David Eggers involved in such a horrible bit of writing? It was painful watching some of the actors try to make the dialogue seem plausible (except Maya, who was the only redeemable quality of the film). Characters staring into space while indie rock plays on the soundtrack doesn't add up to meaning!
Away We Go and 500 Days of Summer belong in the Sideways hall of fame. For every good "cool small indie" (Juno, Adventureland) there are far too many wannabees that try to skate by on style alone. -
Hilarious, but horrible.
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We are in the age of big flash. More and more, our films ask little of us as an audience and yet in payback return more and more surface, surface like miles of veneered desktop with which to stare at with the eyes of the stoned, the hypnotic dedication of one's own reflection. We stare at something with one level of beauty for one reason and one reason only: vanity. These films exalt us because they do not question us. They please us. They are pleasures, pure and simple. Like rooms of chocolate truffles. And yet, the trouble with pleasure is that it ends, and in ending, its rewards vanish, it self-denonates dues to the simplicity of its structure. It is meant, once and for only, for the moment. It replaces awe with the expectation of being unexpected. It contrives emotional depth with the thinnest of archetypes: the beautiful protagonist. It never acknowledges its own ugliness for the plain and simple reason that it does not acknowledge it, and is not troubled by the fact of this as a possibility. It accepts itself purely, and yet it is not a purity but a reaction of its own acceptance by others. It is the place where the alcoholic drifts, it is the gutter where water runs because it has no place left to go because there is so much of it. It is its own abundance. It is abundance. And then we have a film like "Moon." Clean and simple. Even when we began to understand the situation, we are held the beauty of the questions that have risen from it. It is not the situation itself, but the revelation of it, the dawning of the idea. A film about consciousness. And we got to see it. In 2009. Film is our ability to project an idea. Of course, its special style of delivering these ideas makes it immensely attractive to a popular audience. Film engages us as a species, and as a mass, like no other artform. Here, it is the spetacle of the mirror image of one actor. And here is a picture that takes the illusion of one person in two places and asks a great question of that image: what makes us us? Are we truly beautiful and unique snowflakes? Or does our beauty lie in our interactions? When the fates of the two Sam Bells begins to diverge, we begin to get a new feeling for the world around us: the divide between the young and new, the glories of having loneliness comforted. Here was a film that defied my expectations. And when the conundrum of two identical individuals was revealed and answered, the real questions began. A marvel of story-telling and a true example of why "play-acting" is essential to the human condition. A triumphant story. It ended not with blood and death but with understanding. This is not the school of raygun sci-fi, but the world that reflects our's, that represents our world, and its ferocious tests of group and self identity, to come. The essential questions that define us. "Moon" is a film about the soul. And if art can do that, if art can help us examine that quality, well sir, we have truly found something of worth, something to explore, and something to perpetuate. Something that grows with us, not a brand of self-aggrandisement that belittles us, and ultimately, limits us.
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Capone, you're dead on (no pun intended) on how warped this film looks - http://film-book.com/human-centipede-sequence-clip/. Lots of other great films from your list to consider watching as well!
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It wasn't perfect, but Avatar will be the film that everyone remembers 10 years from now. It has changed the future of film the same way that Jurassic Park did. If you want to see how much of a leap Avatar is, just go see a Zemeckis film and compare.
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But I won't begrudge that since everyone seems to like it, for some reason. The rest of the list is pretty dead on.
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Your post about "Moon" is just like "Moon"...dull and pretentious. I kid....(sort of....but not really)
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...maybe that's why I disliked Moon. Maybe because it reminded me of the fact that we ARE all insignificant nothings who are mass produced, do our jobs and live our lives, and then die...and ultimately, have no great significance in any grand scheme. I don't want to be reminded of that. But theme behind the film is a good reason to pursue hedonism.
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Avatar may have been a great technical achievement and it very well may change the way big budget special effects movies are made but that doesn't make it a great movie. It was a predictable retread of pretty much everything Kevin Costner did in Dances With Wolves and feature one of those god awful characters who exist for the sole purpose of providing exposition. It was lazy screenwriting with some fantastic imagery on top of it. I enjoyed it but there's no way it should be cracking anyone's top 10.
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"It accepts itself purely, and yet it is not a purity but a reaction of its own acceptance by others." This kind of sentence make me not want to watch the movie. Your post did more damage than good.
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it just wasn't that great. aside from the tech and visuals, it was just ok, hell you can clearly see all his other movies in there, as well as a couple others. I mean, the "Predator" scene alone had me rolling my eyes. it was good, THAT'S ALL IT WAS, GOOD. to me, at least.
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Cause it played in like 5 theaters.
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And a very strong one. Sci Fi has basically been dead for years as a box office force. That mantle for strong box office going to the comic book films and Harry Potter.
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I found it fun. I loved the sets. Some the jokes were fantastic. I don't personally get the backlash.
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Dec 31, 2009 2:39:48 PM CST
Failure. (A brief one, and one that I do not really concede.)
by chaunceygardiner
No, "Moon" is much better than my post. "Clean and simple" is a good description. A very basic story but one with over-reaching themes. And by Chakraboty's test, it wins; I am greatly anticipating the DVD. As much for it as I did for "Inglorious Basterds." But Chakraboty, see I saw the conclusion of the film in a much different light; while Sam Bell was the pawn of a corrupt and soulless system based on manipulation and enslavement, he was still able to find peace and solace in the company of his replacement, the one individual who meant his destruction. Their relationship is one of healing - and so the end is a victory of sorts. And that's not even getting into Gertie's character arch: I mean, shit, don't you realize that Gertie achieves consciousness within this framework, making him, to my knowledge, one of the first computers in film history to make a moral choice. (Is HAL's decision to destroy the crew in "2001" a moral choice or a sign of derangement, of faulty mechanics? His paranioa is certainly indicative of a certain value system, but it is not a value system that he chose but one chosen for him. Maybe in the moment of his death? Still, he manipulatives human emotion in order to attempt his reprieve - his plea is not one of absolution or for forgiveness, but the desire to survive. And maybe that's at the base of everything. But I doubt it. Self-sacrifice is not selfish, but instead an understanding. It is devotion to an idea. And the idea renounces the individual. It is a sort of faith.) I find "Moon" a great moral fable, dressed up in the guise of futuristic escapism. It is a strange and wonderful film. And thinking, thinking is the key to science fiction. Effects are merely a tool with which to achieve the displacement necessary for thinking to take place by making the film's world seem essential and believeable - in a way, making it feel that what is presented in the film is of worth and consequence.
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Dec 31, 2009 2:44:23 PM CST
And I drove 90 miles to see "Moon." It was worth it.
by chaunceygardiner
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snicker.
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But the rest of the list is damn good.
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The vikings look like they walked out of Irvine Spectrum.
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I am starrla , chad rogers' scared mascot dog during one of his rebel like millionaire real estate deals when watching that wolverine flick- i am silly putty just molded, molded at the expense of my emotions. I can't help it- that movie needs to be on this best of list. But i digress, it did suck shit. Sarcasm is so noughties- I'm gonna grow UP! And a middle finger to Mr. Beaks for bring it on. How could you! And harry, who is ostensibly a fat man- a middle finger for that Godzilla review. We Will Not Forget! We ... Will Not...Forget!! Happy New Years S crolls
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Dec 31, 2009 3:44:55 PM CST
Once again, Cameron has the whole planet in the palm of his hand
by volllllume3
Pretty much can't call it a fluke this time. The guy knows how to capture the people's imagination. And their dollars. Further evidence how great Avatar is, despite its "flaws."
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People need to get off of Tarantino's dick. He's made two great films and one good film. The rest are fucking shit. Kill Bill 1 + 2 = shit. Death Proof = shit. Inglorious = shit.
Disagree all you want, but you're wrong. -
even if you wrote a negative review on the movie--if you go out of your way (which you did) to purposefully leave Avatar off your list of 30 best films then it's pretty hard to take any of your reviews to films very seriously....
Up in the Air as best film of 2009? Seriously? okay.... -
Capone, I actually have always done a top 30 of the year. Started in 2006 when there was way to many movies to be mentioned that 10 didn't seem to cut it. 2007 was even worse because I was having a tough time narrowing it to 30! Anyways, we agree on many movies in our top 30, just not in the same order. Here's mine:
1. Up In The Air
2. Fantastic Mr. Fox
3. The Brothers Bloom
4. A Serious Man
5. Up
6. The Hurt Locker
7. Inglourious Basterds
8. Precious
9. In The Loop
10. Black Dynamite
11. Adventureland
12. Bad Lieutenant
13. A Single Man
14. Drag Me To Hell
15. Sugar
16. An Education
17. Ponyo
18. District 9
19. Star Trek
20. The Messenger
21. Funny People
22. Broken Embraces
23. Where The Wild Things Are
24. The Informant!
25. Bruno
26. Avatar
27. Moon
28. Invictus
29. Whatever Works
30. Trucker
My list doesn't include documentaries, otherwise Anvil would be in my top 10 of the year for sure (probably at number 8). -
I've had the Salo Criterion DVD just sitting on the shelf because I can't muster enough will to sit down and endure it. I cannot imagine what the fuck Human Centipede is like. My empathy would be on fucking overload in that movie. I just know I'd be wrecked after it. Shit, United 93 left me a shambling mess, whether it was "good" or not.
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... was a very solid film. But best of 09? Not even fucking close.
This is a very strange best/worst list. Is this Capone guy retarded or something? Or is he kidding around? Either way no one can take this list seriously. -
not critics, at least.
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...like a dvd release or anything?
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I gave 38 feature films a 9 out of 10 or better (18 got a 10 out of 10). The other movies left off this list that also got a 9 were: Two Lovers, Duplicity, Harry Potter 6, Ong Bak 2, Sherlock Holmes, The Invention Of Lying, The Road and Paranormal Activity.
I also feel the need to come to the defense of Avatar and take a stand against it at the same time. Obviously I felt it was good enough to be mentioned on my list, and I do agree that any list of the best movies of this year should DEFINITELY include it (based on its importance alone). I even chose to include it not because I thought it was too important to ignore, but rather because I was really fucking entertained by the movie. Unfortunately, the downside is every time I think about exactly what it was that I saw, I like it less and less. That's never a good sign. I felt the exact same way about the first Transformers movie. In the theater watching Avatar I was all like, "Whoa, this is so much fun and I am having an awesome, super-fun time". Now when I think about it I can only remember the awful dialog (SPOILER ALERT**** Remember when Sigourney Weaver gets shot in the stomach and she says "This is really gonna ruin my day!" That line is a parody of itself and it is NOT FUNNY. Also, "I see you" is easily the worst romantic catchphrase of all time, beating "I wish I knew how to quit you" and "You complete me" by a MILE), the one note acting (Sam Worthington went from being generically sad about not having legs but excited to FUCKING FIGHT, to being generically happy about having legs and excited to FUCKING FIGHT) and the anti-climatic ending (are we supposed to be fucking excited that this dude passed through the spirit tree network and became one of them? They play the sequence like they're setting up a sequel. But, seriously, what does that ending even set up?). And the movie tops it all off with the WORST song ever written for a film, that godawful Leona Lewis song.
Having said all that, I totally didn't give a shit about ANY of that when watching the movie, and that's gotta count for something. -
For those of you wanting "Avatar" on the best film list, I ask why. It was nothing more than visually good. You cant reward a movie when all it has going for it is effects. The dialogue was Lucas-worthy, the acting worse than a high school play, and the plot recycled.
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if it sucks so bad why are people seeing it 2 or 3 more times? It's one of the best most rewatchable movies this year. Can you say that about any Tarentino movie?
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it's Juno repacked. we see this film every single year right before award season. yawn. best film of 2009?! WTF?!?!
How many movies like Avatar have you seen in the last 10 years? How many? Bad plot, bad acting, bad dialogue..whatever... it's still one of the top films of 2009. If you leave that off your list this something wrong with the way rate movies. -
Saw it 3 times in the theater. Once at Comic Con, once on opening night in LA, and once with my girlfriend two weeks later. Enjoyed the hell out of it every time.
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Please explain how Up In The Air is "Juno repacked". How are those two movies similar in ANY way other than the fact that they were directed by the same person. And I'd argue that you saw a LOT of the same elements (as far as story is concerned) in District 9 this year as you did in Avatar. Not to mention in John Carter From Mars, The Last Samurai, Last Of The Mohicans and.........wait for it........Dances With Wolves.
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I recognize that John Carter isn't a film, yet. But the stories are too similar for it not to be mentioned.
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I need to see it again in 3D before it leaves the theaters. I want to experience that again. I've kind of wanted to see other films again this year, but I didn't need to.
I don't know that it was the "best" movie of the year, but I don't know what the hell that is anyway. Wild Things was my favorite film of the year, but I don't care if everyone else feels the same way. Why should I care? I don't need to join any fan clubs. -
Was this released only a limited release? I hear great things but its made less than 2 million. Can we expect a wide release in 2010 or is this just a film that slipped through the cracks? When's the last time a Cage movie fared so poorly?
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just so I can hopefully watch Avatar in 3D on it. Can you say that about Up in the Air?
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Also, CAPONE? SERIOUSLY? TF2 IS THE WORST MOVIE OF 2009!
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Especially since there is SO MUCH FUCKING SOURCE material for a good Wolvie flick. Fuck you Fox and FUCK YOU ROTHMAN!
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Easily Cameron's worst film. Some nice visuals towards the end but who gives a fuck when the story is crap and none of the characters are even remotely 3 dimensional or interesting. Not to mention the horrible score, acting from Worthington and Lang, and juvenile shit dialogue. I can't believe anyone would argue against it being left off a top 10 list with so much passion. I'm just sorry Capone didn't put it in his 20 worst.
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above Avatar is insane.
Happy New Year from Scotland everybody. -
Jesus...did you people buy stock in the film or something? Here's a Resolution for you all: move out of your parents' basements this year. You owe it to them.
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Why are people seeing it 2 or 3 times? Because the American mouth-breathing viewing public will spend their hard earned money for mindless spectacle every time. Movie critics are movie critics because they know more about cinematic and storytelling aesthetics than the average movie-goer. What are you, Sam Worthington's brother or something? Cameron's second cousin three times removed? Get over it.
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Hey loser, the WORLD is seeing Avatar. It's already over 400 mil thanks to the WORLD. Go fuck yourself and watch Moon again.
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I love when AICN talkbackers try to paint all the other people as dorks who live in their parents' basements. Dude, you're a dork posting on a geek site!!
You ain't cool, and the movie you like or don't like ain't going to make you any cooler. -
I am confused as to WHY this movie is so loved. WTF? It was stupid and kind of goofy at times. I was so puped to finally get to watch this when it was released on DVD and about half way through I was... bummed. AND shocked! Maybe it didn't "suck" but it sure isn't this "masterpiece" so many here claim it is.
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Not the greatest or most original plot or the best acting but a great ride and a new benchmark for visual effects.
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It was okay, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars on Netflix. But the fanboy love oozing on AICN is beyond me. Nothing spectacular as far as I was concerned.
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Expectations seem to have 90% to do with it. District 9 came out of nowhere and surprised a lot of people so they gave it rave reviews. I read the rave reviews and went in with high expectations, but left underwhelmed. I'm looking forward to Avatar now that these talkbacks have put my expecations in the gutter. Heck, I even kind of enjoyed Twilight after hearing about how awful it was for a year. And that movie was really, really bad.
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...I mean, if you want to see Avatar on a bluray 3d. I could recommend a lot of bluray movies for you, but if you just gonna buy the player for Avatar, hey, no rush, prices are dropping, wait for the memorial day sale. Oh, and I can't quite agree about Crossing Over. Good movie? No way. But the naked australian chick lifts it a bit over the worst of the year.
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The pussification of Ford was made all too real when he refused to use his gun in Crystal Skull, I don't think he ever took a life in that whole movie. Now that he's older he must think it's time to settl down and play heartfelt supporting roles. WRONG! You go out fighting like a warrior! Or at least the guy who the warriors work for. C'mon Harrison, get your balls back. For all our sakes.
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Well, yeah I'm gonna get more movies than that. I want to see Trek in Blue Ray, too. And the LOTR movies when they come out in spring.
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Seriously this website is really starting to go down hill. If you don't "get" AVATAR and or how it changed cinema then you have no business reviewing. It was a perfect package. Classic memetic story boiled down to its core tenants and under a new context. This was willful and crafted simplicity fellas. A story which allows the viewer to fall into the immersive aspects of Pandora. Game changing execution throughout the movie.
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list????
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to Star Wars please?? It's not even close to being on the same level. If anything you should be comparing it to Willow or Tron. Movies with entirely forgettable characters and stories that are only remembered for their visual effects down the line.
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Shouldn't you be comparing Moon to Avatar?
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…sorry…people need to find the comparison…
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Using love as the focus of a time traveling story is at least original, and Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams gave good performances.
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Didn't even bother reading the rest of the list. This man obviously has no fucking clue about movies.
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Dec 31, 2009 7:42:33 PM CST
Fanboy haters are having a hard time figuring out what to hate
by spectrebeeyatch
It seems four sci-fi movies are getting a lot of respect. The dumb ass haters are confused on what exactly to hate on. It's like they go "Okay what is cool right now so I can hate on so I look like I'm against the main stream?" So we have Avatar haters. Then Star Trek haters who defend Avatar. Then we have D9 haters and Moon haters. It's hilarious. I think we can all agree that TF2 and Wolverine are just horrible and all DVD's of those movies should be destroyed.
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I liked the Cove because its the first documentary I've seen where the possibility of it being able to do anything you actually see. Most docs end in ?????? WELL NOW YOU KNOW go visit these websites. Also I liked it because it works even NOT as a doc. Its like a cool spy movie. The whole aspect of Dolphin slaughter could've just been made up and I would've still loved the movie. Much better then that movie that had its balls in everyones mouth last year, Man On Wire.
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Listen, I know this is your opinion, but I really can't get behind any "documentary" that is produced by it's subject. It was boring and one sided. I saw this movie in the theatre on opening weekend. Of the 15 people in the audience, I was one of 3 people left in the theatre.
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yeah, some were disappointing, but I'd still rewatch them cause I had fun with them.
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Yeah I agree. Unless you saw Tyson as some fucking brick wall this doc offers nothing new. I always saw him as a very emotional guy, so him crying isn't a big deal. NOW give me a doc in which Dick Chainey breaks down and apologizes for all his wrong doings and cry's.....that would be some powerful shit.
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let's not be slamming TRON, OK?
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...Trek looks good on bluray. Just bought a player myself last month. I finally jumped when Best Buy put the Dirty Harry collection on sale for 50 bucks(from 109.00). Now that the prices on the discs are coming down, seemed like the time to do it. Wish these redboxes would upgrade now.
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Capone, you really sell out your credibility by trashing on CROSSING OVER - which was actually a pretty decent film given that it had to contend with Harvey Scissorhands at his worst. Out of all the shit on your worst film list, you call out one of Harrison Ford's best performances in recent years, as well as great performances from Cliff Curtis (yes, Cliff Curtis fucking rocks in this film), Ray Liotta, Jim Sturgess and Summer Bishil. Let's ignore the fact that about half an hour of storyline was hacked out of the film by Weinstein, at least this film has some balls to it, unlike half the shit you've listed on your best film list like BROTHERS BLOOM, I LOVE YOU, MAN, AWAY WE GO (my worst film of the year!). There's absolutely nothing wrong with the acting and directing in this one. It's strong on all tech levels and I'd be surprised if any other reviewer puts it on their worst of 2009 list. This is the reason Harrison Ford won't be doing anymore edgy indies like this, because douche bags like yourself can't appreciate a quality drama. I LOVED CRASH, because it got under my skin - and so did CROSSING OVER.
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Inglorious Basterds...WANK
Antichrist? WANK
wank wank wank wank wank wank -
It needed to be said. Just. Fucken. Sucked. Period.
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1) District 9
2) The Hurt Locker
3) Moon
4) Avatar
5) Up in the air
6) Star Trek
7) Observe and Report
8) Bad Lieutenant
9) World's Greatest Dad
10) The Informant!
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I like your thought process. I dont think i saw a bad either. Granted i might not pay to see them in theaters again. But each one was a different experience.
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I see sony ones online for 150, and they seem to have the most features. I will get one next month most likely.
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except for AntiChrist. how the fuck can you put that above Avatar? come the fuck on.
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it's not perfect. in fact, it's an A- as a film. But it's such a fucking awesome A-. Avatar is also an A- in my book, not for story but rather for all the blue nipple teases that never quite satisfied. yeah, that's right, that fucking takes it from A+ to A-. We'll see about the Blue Ray. I've watched it all the way thru 2 times in 3D. I've seen much of it dozens of times since my holiday part time extra job is working in the projection booth at the local theater.
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Worst movie lists are dumb and consist of movies that you wouldn't think of seeing anyway. What about the movies you were so excited to see, but were so let down you never want to see them again?
Watchmen, Terminator: Salvation, Land of the Lost, Transformers 2, GI Joe? -
everything else besides moon is shit. anvil blew. i listened to some of their music...there's a reason why they never made it big... they suck! hard work and passion don't mean shit if you suck at what you're doing.
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I was really letdown with TF2 when I saw it in the theater but just recently rewatched it and didn't mind it as much as I had (I saw a midnight screening and at 2a that last battle seemed to drag on). Terminator however, I was extremely let down and gave it another chance the other day as well. I think I felt even worse about that movie afterward. It just felt lifeless.
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I'm still trying to figure out or remember what TINO2 was. The use of acronyms has really gotten out of hand here. I understand nobody wants to write long titles over & over again, but picking a single significant word like Fox, or even Mr.Fox, seems much less confusing
to me than TFMF. Or perhaps you could use the full title, once, when you start talking about the film, then use the the acronym thereafter. It's easier, too, if you're just talking about one film; when you're talking about a top 30 list, the TIODPs & TYMSTWs make for confusion squared. -
I agree that it does seem to have been overused these days. I really was being lazy about Transformers 2. But I can't apologize about making Terminator, T:S, just saying the title of the movie makes me start to gag a little!
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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
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it was a general comment. But I appreciate your agreeing. And if your handle's a reference to a certain Chabon novel, then you're my kind of people.About a half hour till midnight here in the Central Time Zone, so I'm out for a while. Happy New Year to all, and many, many more.
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Dec 31, 2009 11:44:46 PM CST
It's 2010 - Relaying message - http://tinyurl.com/yzmkmta
by orionsangels
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I'm glad you recognized the reference of my handle! California gets a few more drunken hours before midnight!
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Most overrated was The Hangover, biggest surprise was Inglourious Basterds.
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You've "a few more drunken hours" left till midnight? Make them count, my friend, make them count.
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Thanks for the link mate.Very Apropos. Happy New Year. Cheers.
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I never read the book, just figured it was from the movie. Forty-one minutes to go. Happy New Year. Cheers.
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There's a movie of The Adventures of Kavalier And Clay? Or are you thinking of something else? If you're not familiar with it, I think anyone with your handle might like the book. Only fanboyish novel to win a Pulitzer Prize. I take it your handle refers to the film Robby the Robot made his bow in? 'Cause any friend of Forbidden Planet is a friend of mine. Happy New Year, and keep a sharp eye out for Monsters from the Id.
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i agree about avatar too, way too long and predictable I saw the ending from a mile away
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There isn't a movie of Kavalier and Clay yet. I think they talked about it a few years ago but I haven't heard a word since. I would be interested to see a film adaptation of the book, but I think I'm content with just imagining the book in my mind. Anyone who hasn't read it yet, who enjoys a good book, should read it.
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Been drinking and posting, I got you mixed up with Kavalier. I meant your name from the movie, sorry. And yes my handle is from FP. I gladly accept your offer of friendship and offer mine in return. Happy New Year to You and also to Kavalier (may have to check out the book). Too bad about the KRELL. BTW, if you ever cross paths with 'toadkillerdog', he's a fellow Planeteer, introduce yourself and tell him I said hi. Cheers!
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Sorry about the mix-up, by bad. Thinking about checking out the book, who is the author? Genre? Thanks in advance. Happy New Year. Cheers.
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Pulp Fiction and Res Dogs are two of my favourites (top 30, not top 10 though). I loved the writing, the stories, the character interactions, the whole lot. Great films. But everything else Tarantino has done since is terrible. They all feel like someone's trying to write like Tarantino and doing a very bad job. For such a promising writer/director, I now list him as one of the worst in Hollywood. Inglorious Basterds certainly isn't his worst movie. Apart from all the Brad Pitt scenes it generally quite watchable. I have nothing against Pitt, but this is one of his worst movies (along with the Oceans movies and Meet Joe Black). The German actor, the main character is a superb actor and I'd love to see him more stuff. He's certainly a better actor than the majority of Hollywood's leading men and was probably the only saviour in an otherwise strange and ridiculous concept, even for Tarantino. I've never watched Howard the Duck, Swept Away or Battlefield Earth, but I think after Tarantino's last few efforts, I'm fully prepared. How bad can they be compared? On a positive note the 'geeky' films I enjoyed this year were The Hurt Locker, District 9, Zombieland and The Watchmen.
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Happy New Year to you, as well. Although, I still have about 30 minutes left before midnight. The book is by Michael Chabon and it's fiction. I hope you enjoy it when you find it!
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...I've never seen the Val Kilmer movie with my handle as the title (though I surely need to). I'm pretty sure Shane Black (he was the
director-writer, right? If I google him, I'll lose this comment)took it from one of my sources. There was a collection of reviews by Pauline Kael (then the premier film critic in America) called that, which she said she got from an Italian movie poster that she felt summed up the visceral appeal of movies. Also, as one of the guys here on the @ssholes comics column figured out
(I've been drinking, too, and can't remember which one), my handle is a Japanese nickname for James Bond: Mr. Kisskissbangbang. I thought the name struck a nice balance between highflown and lowbrow, as I try to (though I'm afraid I lean more to the former, though not as much as Chauncey Gardiner in this talkback, whose name comes from Being There). Probably more than you wanted to know, but I suddenly realized that just about everybody probably leaps to the same conclusion you did, so I wanted to set the record straight. About the Black-Kilmer flick, though: do you like it? I've seen diverse reactions to it. (And if you're too busy partying right now, feel free to answer tomorrow.)
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I guess my friends and I are in the minority on this one. Thought it was one of the best adaptations i've seen in a long time... I've been surprised to see it only on a couple of lists.
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I think the movie is actually pretty funny. Val Kilmer, especially, is funny. I was excited when I realized my handle wasn't taken (when I signed up for the site). I really enjoyed the book (I read it, in fact, before it won the Pulitzer, the reviews for it were quite good) but I think the name sounds cooler than something like: IveBonedMeganFox. No offense if anyone has that handle! If you get the chance to see Kiss Kiss though, definitely take it!
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I was excited to see the movie like a year ago, but then it got delayed and I wasn't sure it was going to be all that good. The book was very good, Oprah's opinion aside! I guess I should buck up and see it.
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The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is about the two titular characters, who are young Jewish guys who flee the Nazis, and come to America and enter the Golden Age comic era by doing a book about a Houdini-like costumed hero called The Escapist. There's a lot of stuff about the Jewish legend of the Golem, too. Michael Chabon (pronounced Shab-un) is a magnificent writer who's a fanboy at heart, and I still can't believe this won a Pulitzer, but it did. Highest recommendation if you have any affinity for comics whatsoever.(See, this is my kind of post: sharing info about cool stuff. Name-calling & insults, not so much.)Hope this helps.
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Really going nerd here... It was my Dreamcast handle! Chabon also wrote Wonder Boys, which is both a good book and a wonderful movie! I'm pretty sure he helped shape the screenplay for Spiderman 2 (in some fashion).
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Personally, having seen THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE, I thought it was an awesome documentary on the function of the AICN Talkbacks.
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I'm making a New Year's resolution to see it. And since it's after midnight in California now, Happy New Year to you! (I've quite the warm fuzzy glow going now; I love everybody! My roommate's slept through the whole thing, so it's nice to have had someone to wellwish tonight. Thanks to you, too, DrMorbius. Hope I haven't interfered with anyone's partying.)
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I hate going out on these type of nights. It's nice to have a conversation on Talkback that doesn't involve someone yelling at another person or telling them to fuck themselves because they cited a preference that another disagreed with. And Happy New Year to everyone!
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Not knowing your taste in movies, hard to say if you'd like it, but everyone I've recommended it to really liked it too. I concur with Kavalier, give it a go. RDJ, Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Bernsen. Check it out @ imdb.
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Thanks for all the info, be sure to check it out now. Not a big partier so it was a small informal get-together. Black-eyed peas, champagne and a few fireworks. I'm in San Diego, where might you chaps be? How long have you been posting on AICN?
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let's try that again. You're right, Kavalier: Chabon did write a draft of Spider-Man 2, though I understand most of it went by the wayside. One thing I'm pretty sure is still his is Peter delivering pizzas at the beginning. And welcome back and Happy New Year to you, RefutetheHype! I should probably tweak you about a certain movie's grosses, but that's not my style, and I'm in too good a mood. Instead, I'll just ask, Is The Human Centipede really as gruesome as Capone indicated? I've finally reached the point where I'm
just not going to subject myself to staggeringly repulsive movies anymore, no matter how great they're supposed to be. Cronenberg's Fly convinced me that the repulsive can be cinematically meritorious, but the flesh is weak...Mine is, anyway. -
I went Ocean Beach elementary! Point Loma High! I currently live in the Bay Area. I've actually only recently begun posting here. I've read the talkbacks for years though. But it always gets so ugly. I started posting after I was reading the talkbacks and someone ruined the end of orphan! I had planned on seeing it (a little late, I know), and was a little miffed. Enough, finally, to post.
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...but the only Shane Black movie I think I've seen is The Last Boy Scout, which I'm not a big fan of. Still, someone I usually trust told me Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was his best movie, and given my handle, I sort of feel morally obligated to see it now. And you reminded me Robert Downey, Jr.'s in it, which helps a lot. Hell, he salvaged Ally McBeal (for a while)when it started circling the drain. I'll give it a shot. You asked where we were; for my part, I'm in Mobile, Alabama, on the Gulf Coast, where Close Encounters, Under Siege & the most recent Final Destination were shot. As for how long I've been posting...hmm. Got to be in the vicinity of 8 or 9 years or so, though it was mostly on the @sshole talkbacks at first, me being a big comics fan. A little shy at first, but as I got more comfortable here, I started posting on movies, too. As I said, I'm not much on the cut & thrust here, but I've learned that there are others who prefer the eye of the storm, too.
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I know somebody who got to be an extra, and got to meet Richard Dreyfuss. He wanted an autograph, but all he had was a styrofoam coffee cup. He asked Dreyfuss if he'd sign it, and he did; he wrote his name, and added "I usually crush these." Nice little Jaws reference there, and it's my film buff friend's most valued possession. My father worked for the railroad, and was there when they filmed the UFO encounter at the tracks, and I know someone else who was one of the returned abductees near the end. This all probably played its part in my being here tonight.
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The grosses don't lie, and this (AVATAR) will likely mean a new rush of this kind of movie making, hopefully with better results in the future.And while HUMAN CENTIPEDE is gruesome, it's also dumb as a brick and basically just more torture porn. I'm surprised people are praising it. It's about a mad German doctor who connects three people ass-to-mouth. As one shits, the shit goes into the mouth of the other one and then that person shits and that shit goes into the mouth of the other one, the third one basically not getting any nutrition and dying of blood poisoning. Like I said, it's AICN TALKBACK THE MOVIE.
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at HOTEL FOR DOGS. FANTASTIC movie to watch drunk. Dogs doing funny shit is even funnier after your fifth of a fifth.
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Happy New Year to you! Great to see a fellow "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" fan on these boards. The movie "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang" has great energy and really funny one-liners, especially in it's first half. Definitely give it a go…
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Refute: Sweet Jesus. Well, I asked. Pass. But thanks, anyway. Suddenly, The Brown Bunny no longer seems so bad.blakindigo: Nice to meet another Chabon fan, and to get another recommenation on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Definitely going to see it now, and will report back.And to both of you, along with Kavalier & DrMorbius, thanks for making this perhaps the most pleasant conversation I've ever had on this site. Regrettably, it's 430AM here now, and I've _got_ to get some sleep. But I'll be back tomorrow, and hope to run into you all again. Once more, Happy New Year everybody!
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Crossing Over as the worst movie op 09? Wow. Makes no sense. I saw a screening a long time ago (sept 07) of a 140 minutes long cut and I thought it was a great movie. Better than Crash.
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— but, unfortunately that hasn't been released commercially. Most people haven't seen it and it's possible the 'complete'version won't be seen for a long time to come. It probably exists in the Weinstein Company vault, but who knows if or when that version of "Crossing Over" will ever see the light of day…
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D9 gets a pass because it came out of nowhere as many prolly didnt expect it to be that good wheras Joe,Wolvie and TF2 flopped like Whale shit.
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...but you could have included it anyway because, well, you know it makes sense.
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while everyone is in a listmaking mode how about a most over-rated/overhyped of 2009.
I vote avatar as no.1
followed closely by watchemen.
...oh and good riddence to the noughties! -
there i said it.
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The extra stinky hangover turd I just flushed down the toilet is better than ANTICHRIST.
A nasty little wankstain of a movie made for arthouse sheeples. -
Oh and Capone, regarding AVATAR not being one of the 30 best films this year...
The audience has spoken. AVATAR has brought people out to the movies all around the world... a box office take of 3/4 of a BILLION dollars and counting.. it's also united critics in their praise. So young Capone it would seem you are truly out of touch with what others consider 'best' at the cinema.
ps. ANTICHRIST took an utterly dismal $404k at the box. A staggering failure. Didn't even make half a million. Total turkey motherfucker. Total turkey. -
Easily...i'll take a couple of cutie goldfish over a mountain of self indulgent wank ANYDAY.
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...CLAY...you guys make it sound like an obscure text or something. I assumed it's required reading around here...a Pullet-Surprise winning novel by geeks for geeks. Great book.
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EIGHT BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR
(‘Cause I don’t want to break out a shoehorn to make it ten):
1. MOON
2. DISTRICT 9
3. WATCHMEN (Fuck the Squid, the haters and the fanboy snobs)
4. AVATAR
5. CORALINE
6. UP
7. PUBLIC ENEMIES (So sue me…I’m a Mann fan)
8. OBSERVE AND REPORT (Like TAXI DRIVER with laughs)
FOUR 2009 MOVIES I NEED TO SEE IN 2010:
1. THE HURT LOCKER
2. UP IN THE AIR
3. MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS
4. A SERIOUS MAN
TWO MOST OVERRATED MOVIES OF THE YEAR
(And possibly the decade):
1. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
2. STAR TREK
SINGLE MOST WIDELY LOATHED BUT OKAY BY ME MOVIE:
1. TERMINATOR SALVATION
AND THREE TOTAL WASTES OF FUCKING TIME:
1. GI JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA
2. TRANSFORMERS 2
3. FUNNY PEOPLE (Honorable Mention: MOST IRONIC TITLE OF THE YEAR) -
...THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY...if they haven't already. It's written especially for us.
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I laugh at people that think these were great movies. lol
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BurnHollywood, your list is wise and fair. Better than any of the aicn writers imho. Plus it reminds me I have to watch that copy of CORALINE someone gave me for xmas and I havent bothered with yet.
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They were great action flicks that people are seeing more than once. At least it was a Star Trek the majority of humans can sit through without falling asleep. Be honest... you are pissed because your man crush couldn't be fulfilled with a cameo by Wil Wheaton.
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...the only Shane Black movie you've seen is The Last Boy Scout? Surely you've seen Lethal Weapon> If not I strongly recommend you watch that. The first two are very good, the next two, not so much. And as far as your handle, on one of the James Bond dvds, can't remember which one but it might be Thunderball, they feature an alternate title song called, you guessed it, MrKisskissbangbang.
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my dyslexia makes it change into THE AMAZING PANDA ADVENTURE.
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Wishing you all a lot of bum love with you and yours.
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According to you everyone on the planet and their mother loves both of those movies. It strikes me very odd then that the dissenting opinion of a single person on a TB would anger you so. Is it perhaps because you know that our arguments are sound and are afraid of them catching on?
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Capone hates any movies that have animals in them.
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People used to think 1984 was the future. Kathy Bates and i are laughing at those people through a timewarp.
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Jan 01, 2010 11:47:59 AM CST
TOP 10 2009 MOVES I ENJOYED WHILST STONED
by isleptwithkathybatesandallthatigotwasthi
1. Transformers 22. Terminator: Salvaton3. GI JOE4. Land Of The Lost5. Star Trek
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Jan 01, 2010 11:48:39 AM CST
TOP 10 2009 MOVIED I DIDN'T ENJOY WHEN NOT STONED
by isleptwithkathybatesandallthatigotwasthi
1. Transformers 22. Terminator: Salvaton3. GI JOE4. Land Of The Lost5. Star Trek
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KathyBates, but that's only 5 movies. Twice. Short term memory loss is a bitch.
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Don't waste your time with Up In The Air. My vote for most overrated movie of the year.
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What the fuck?
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Everyone should see this movie.
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My blood sugar is low.
I do believe Land of the Lost was underrated.
Happy New Year. -
Jan 01, 2010 12:17:09 PM CST
I couldn't remember the other 5
by isleptwithkathybatesandallthatigotwasthi
I can't even remember where I left my front door keys last night. I've looked everywhere for them.
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Jan 01, 2010 12:27:07 PM CST
...ISleptWithetc...etc...I started drinking half way through...
by flickapoo
...G.I. JOE hoping it would improve.It didn't.
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...= genius.
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...I'd forgotten Shane Black wrote Lethal Weapon. Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of it, either. Gibson & Glover are fine, but the plotting really bothered me, especially since Ebert called it a "thinking man's action movie". (Well, I like to think I'm a thinking man...)Specifically, when our heroes check out a house that they complain had no clues, leaving them no way to further the investigation, said house blows up moments after they leave, confirming they are on the right track. They'd have nothing but a cold trail without the explosion, so what was so smart about setting it off? Also, I remember the climax
bothered me, Gibson's mano-a-mano with Gary Busey, a copkiller, while a bunch of cops stand by without interfering, because Glover asks them to, explaining that "it's personal". Really? LA cops? Hard to believe. (It's possible I'm misremembering this, since it's been so long since I've seen it, but something about it burned me enough I never saw the others.) Still, I try to be open-minded, there's a lot of love for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang here, and it's a little embarrassing not to have seen it given my handle, so I will check it out soon. I know someone with the DVD, so I won't even have to pay for the experience. And thanks for the reminder, Eustis; at least now I know why I never saw KKBB before. before -
...thanks for the info on the alternate James Bond song title. Probably where the Japanese got it from. (Has Black ever said what his inspiration for the title was?)And thanks to you too, Seies7, for seconding everyone else's recommendation. Is there anybody here who _doesn't_ love it?
I know, a silly question on AICN...But I am pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm so far. -
I hope you do enjoy the movie once you see it. One thing i really enjoy about it is the fact it has a sense of humor about itself.
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I finally did what I should have done long ago and consulted Wikipedia
(what a chump I am...)First, check out the disambiguation page: _lots_ of usages to untangle. Very popular phrase.Secondly, Shane Black did get the line from Pauline Kael's book, which is where I saw it first; and she, in turn, got it from an Italian movie poster(this I remember)for a James Bond movie (this I did not). Doesn't say which film the poster was for, but it pretty much has to be Thunderball, doesn't it? It all starts to come together...Now the only question is, If Mr. Kisskissbangbang by Dame Shirley Bassey wasn't used (and I'm kinda glad, 'cause Tom Jones's Thunderball is my favorite Bond song), where did the Italians & Japanese get it from. Are there alternate versions of the film which do use it? Back to the research...And thanks, IAmJack'sSmirkingRevenge, for chiming in with the chorus of other fans. Gotta see this flick. -
Yep. Just You.
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Happy to be part of the great masses on this one i must say
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"It reminded me of those slow moving sci-fi movies in the early 70s (pre Star Wars) that will be forgotten if not already forgotten by the majority of sci-fi fans."
Um, nobodiws forgotten 2001 Space PDyessy except you. -
I would regard them as fantasy films.
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I was planning on checking out Avatar on 3D IMAX again today, but all the showings were already sold out. I'm not saying that ticket sales in any way equal quality (Blade Runner tanked, and the Transformers movies somehow make money), but no film has sold IMAX tickets like Avatar does.
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People are buying tickets for the same reason they buy tickets to theme park rides, it's a visual feat to be sure. I don't care what anyody says, the mtion capture in this is leaps and bounds abouve anything we've seen before, but perhaps they would have beneifited from being a darker, more toned down blue, as I think that the bright colours are why people are saying its cartoony, even though the characters look otherwise very realistic indeed. This is certainly an IMAX experince, but I think the films weaknesses will become more apparent when people watch it again on DVD or Blu Ray
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Apparently, Mr.Kisskissbangbang was a nickname _before_ it was a song title. However, there's a lot of vagueness in the details, and no one cites sources. Several people claim it came from an Italian reporter in 1962, which sounds pretty definite, but nobody gives his name. People say it's a popular nickname in "Italy & Japan", "Europe & Japan", and somebody throws in Spain for good measure. Firmest account has John Barry reading a newspaper story mentioning the popularity of the nickname in Italy and then suggesting it as the title of the new song; but the precise origin seems to be shrouded in mist. Is there some Bond uberfan out there who's got the authentic goods?
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Kiss my ass Potter.
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Let's be absolutely honest about it, they are two (arguably) derivative movies made with one purpose in mine the pursuit of your dollars.
I was nine years old when I saw Star Wars in a tiny little theatre in Hamilton, Scotland in 1977, and I was 41 when I went to see Avatar (twice!) on an IMAX screen last week in Charlotte, NC.
For what it's worth (i.e. not a helluva lot), I think I will remember that Avatar experience for about as long I remembered my Star Wars. Having just had everybody over here for the holidays, I can confirm that my wife is just as bored by my going on about Avatar as my mom was about Star Wars all those years ago.
Avatar is an archetypal story told using the cutting-edge tools of the day, just like Star Wars. Right now, I would rather watch Avatar (IMAX, 3D, 2D) than any Star Wars variant.
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And Avatar or Star Wars didn't need silly fucking websites to promote their movies.
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I will not be surprised in the least if Avatar stays an IMAX 3D presentation for years to come. At least as long as it takes for somebody else to make something that looks that incredible (or better). It's been continually sold out at my local IMAX 3D theater - even the 1:10 AM showings. And that was when you couldn't get tickets online (first two weeks, can't do it). Now that you can I expect it to continue to sell out for weeks to come. Personally, I'm hoping it stays around until I can go see it again with a 2/3 empty theater.
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...Star Wars have to do with Avatar, or Harry Potter with either of them? Let me answer that for you: nothing! Silly people.
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In his capsule review of CROSSING OVER, Quint summed-up how I feel about CRASH, one of the worst TURDS to be up for admiration by this brain-dead country in decades. Talk about a bad-acting-megaphoned-message-movie for the dumbest masses, made by stupid L.A. types (L.A. being the capital of dumb in this country), CRASH is just stupid and I have to say it: those who like it are suspected of being complete morons. But everything being subjective....
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They're all big movie franchises. There's been nothing like Avatar out since Star Wars or Trek. Hell, Avatar may even beat Dark Knight in Box office.
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...okay, looked it up on MI6(the jamesbond website). You were right, the nickname came from an italian journalist while covering Dr No. The filmakers liked the nickname and later on commissioned a song. Shirley Bassey recorded it and later Dionne Warwick re-recorded it. But then the producers were concerned that the song didn't mention the title. So they commissioned a new song-Thunderball. It also said that Bond visits a kisskissbangbang nightclub in the fim, unfortunately al my Bond films are in storage right now, so I can't check it out.
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I did visit MI6, but somehow missed the reference to the nightclub, and like you, don't have immediate access to the movie. Thanks for the tip, though.
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Didn't Ian Fleming write that as well?
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Cher sang 'Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down), but alas, no kisses!
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from the "Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves," when every night, all the men would come around...and put their money down.
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..and thought, "Not bloody likely." And yet... who knows? Think the movie was too late to be a potential influence, but perhaps the book wasn't. If someone was making a joke about the weirdness of the same guy writing both Chitty Chitty Bang Bang & Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang...still unlikely, especially for an Italian journalist, but as Kelly Link would say, stranger things happen.
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in 1964, so that's too late. Still, bit of a coincidence, wot?
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I see many arguments for how great a movie is based on Box office dollars. Since when is that either a requirement or validation for how good or bad a film is? Sure some of the great films have HUGE box office numbers but Alvin and the Chipmunks has made 78 million dollars and its total shit. Transformers, Wolverine...all big money grosses yet they blow. How about a little perspective and quit relying on dollar figures as the only point to back up your arguments.
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"I'm not saying that ticket sales in any way equal quality (Blade Runner tanked, and the Transformers movies somehow make money)"
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...not that anyone cares at this point. I don’t normally do this sort of thing, but I was a vocal AVATAR skeptic…I mostly just voiced my concerns about what I was seeing and hearing in the trailers and clips, but I did fire off the occasional flippant or derogatory remark if it seemed funny or cool enough.
I was wrong.
My only major beef is with the staggeringly incompetent and hopefully soon unemployed person who decided to put any and all questionable material in the trailers and promotional clips. The Charging The Bear scene was hopelessly cliché and has been beaten to death…but at two minutes in a nearly three hour move the irritation it caused was like a tablespoon of vinegar in an ocean of champagne…hardly worth mentioning. Dialogue that sounded corny and trite in the trailer made perfect sense in context. That villain absolutely would say things like “we’re not in Kansas anymore” just as much as he would say things like “hold your position” or “target at six o’clock”…that’s part of what made him villainous…that’s who that guy was, having him spout creatively evil Shakespearian metaphors would have been out of character.
A lot has been made of the familiar and/or stolen plot. Stealing is a dangerous game…it’s a big gamble and you better know what you’re doing. And Cameron did steal. Cameron stole not just from DANCES WITH WOLVES and FERN GULLY and the rest…he stole from the best of everything. He stole from Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jules Verne, Robert E. Howard, H. G. Wells and all the old pulp writers…he stole from BRAVEHEART and old classic war movies, he stole from LAST OF THE MOHICANS…I’m sure he stole from countless sources I’m not familiar with. Maybe I’m getting carried away here, but that kind of stealing doesn’t just get a pass…that kind of stealing is what art is made of. AVATAR rapes pillages and plunders all of storydom and mixes up a thousand recognizable influences into something I haven’t quite seen before.
I’ve read tens of thousands of words about AVATAR at this point, and even the harshest critics acknowledge that the visuals are impressive. I was completely unprepared for what I saw on Pandora. It took me a while to settle in, but by the time night fell and the bioluminescence that looked so cheesy on TV kicked in I was frankly a bit emotional at the majesty of what I was seeing. I’ve only had feelings like that on top of real mountains, in real forests, or in cathedrals in Europe…spine tingling awe and wonder.
A few effects were a little less amazing than others (the horses were the weakest animation) but hardly worth mentioning in light of the overall experience. Our hero’s disability and his wonder and glee at his new body was far more effective and moving than I imagined it would be and fit perfectly with my humbled exhilaration in Pandora’s jungle. Of all the familiar and re-mixed elements in AVATAR something I have never seen is a twelve foot alien that I now love cradling the broken and crippled body of her mate…seeing him as for the puny human he is…and loving all of him for real for the first time.
Strangely, as much as I loved it, I don’t feel an urge to see AVATAR again anytime soon unless it’s to share the experience with someone who hasn’t been yet. I certainly won’t see it in 2D. I have argued that a good movie shouldn’t rely on effects...that it should be just as good in 2D as in 3. Maybe, but I was on Pandora…I was there for real…and I don’t want to see a flat imitation on my TV at home.
Anyone reading this will be able to tell that I just got back and am still riding the high. I would probably be more measured in my praise tomorrow, and I will probably regret this post tomorrow. and I promise I will go back to poo flicking as soon as possible…but I'm a humbled skeptic. Avatar was one of the high points of my theatergoing life.
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(though since there's almost 3000 posts, I can understand if you missed them), no one is saying Avatar's grosses prove it's great. Some are responding to people who predicted it would be a flop, which it manifestly isn't. Some are Cameron fans who are pleased he'll continue to have a career, or Avatar fans who know that only big grosses will allow him to make sequels. And some are people interested in show _business_ in the literal sense. It's a little "inside baseball" for many (not all sports fans care about record-breaking trades of players, but some do), but if you're one of these people, you realize these are pretty historic numbers, that the film's in rarefied territory few movies reach, and so, worth talking about. As for me, though I haven't posted on the subject, I'm interested for each of these reasons, but especially because I don't want Transformers 2 to be the top grossing movie of the year. Clearer?
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That was *snif* beyootyful.
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Jan 01, 2010 8:05:57 PM CST
...sorry Doc. Like I said, I'm going to regret being all...
by flickapoo
...emotional tomorrow.
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Quite right friend. I take it you haven't seen Avatar yet? I will be viewing it a second time this week, I have a Doctors appt. and the IMAX is near it so.....If its not a problem i'll use kkbb for your nick and you can use Morbius for mine if thats OK?!
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Ok, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS? You and Harry both have this on your list. I get it on a personal level. But seriously, if you look at it objectively can it really be a top 10 of 2009? I mean, the whole non-linear storytelling method tarantino uses is so cliche now, it's almost like someone using Bullet Time. And the whole "Would you care to tell me what you've heard people say about me?" Line that is used over and over and over in that movie, didn't that distract you? That did it for me, it was a cheap narrative trick that was so distracting that it took away from the movie for almost everyone else I know. Yeah I get that it saved a few minutes of filmed backstory, but seriously, one of the best?
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I'm so used to your short, light, amusing comments, it's hard to believe this long, awestruck post is yours. Real road-to-Damascus stuff. Wow.
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Jan 01, 2010 8:18:19 PM CST
No one on AICN has Transformers on their worst list
by glory_fades_immaxfischer
me wonders what Bay is offering all of them...
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...I'm multifaceted...like a diamond.And I'm going to be embarrassed tomorrow.
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No problems mate, there were a few emotional scenes that did their job on me as well. Glad you liked it, and ha...you wrote 'flippant'.
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naaaaaaah too big an ego for that.
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is simply not a great movie. It looks amazing, but it should not be on any top 10 lists.
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no need to regret anything, man, intense emotional experiences are what film is all about. You should have seen me after the first time I saw Close Encounters. I walked out of there transported, in tears, overjoyed but anguished it was finished. C.S.Lewis used to talk about sehnsucht, a longing for a beauty impossible in this world that we get glimpses of in moments of awe over nature or music. I'm no Christian (though neither was he when he first felt it), but I know what he meant. I've never been able to watch Close Encounters on television, for the same reason you don't want to see Avatar that way, and try to fit something so vast and overwhelming into a little box. The sublime needs room, and I'm glad I didn't have a car that night; instead, I walked home under a starry sky I couldn't stop looking at. The films which can move us this way are all too rare; rejoice that we have another one.
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Admittedly, neither you nor I are the target audience, but my kids loved it, and I found it less painful than several other things I sat through with them. I can see forgetting it two minutes after leaving the theater, but not hating it.
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...I grew up religious but I'm not anymore...but C.S. Lewis' SURPRISED BY JOY is still one of my favorite books. His description and definition of the feeling you're talking about is the only accurate one I can think of...
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Pretty spot on from where I stand as I was also a skeptic and am now converted. It's not the "greatest film ever made" and may only be "game changing" on a technical (i.e. behind the scenes) level. But I'll be damned if it is a fine, fine film and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. My ONLY (small) complaint would be the back heavy action. Too much too late. I would rather have seen it more spread out, a little less lead in, or a little less "sinking of the Titanic". Still, I'm speaking in minutes - a very small complaint. It also makes the haters who haven't seen it *coughyouknowwhoyouarecough* but continue to bash it endlessly seem completely insignificant. Whatever. Their loss.
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Morbius, you are right. I have yet to see Avatar, due to circumstances beyond my control, and it's killing me. And to make up for it, I've been reading about it, and posting about it (over in Harry's Avatar thread), and I was afraid maybe I knew too much about it, maybe it can't be what I want it to be. That's why it literally thrilled me to read what Flick said, and realize that the map is not the territory. All I've seen so far are charts; supremely detailed charts, but charts. I still haven't been to Pandora, and now I ache to go even more than I did before. To be taken to a whole new world...that's what movies are for, and till I go, I can only tell Flicka what Truffault told Dreyfuss before he boarded the mothership: "I envy you."
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Flicka's post should be published as a full article on the site. It nails the situation perfectly. I'd written off Avatar because it looked like nothing more than a pre-rendered game cinematic. Then I read the NYTimes review, which convinced me to give it a chance. Seeing it IMAX 3D simply blows you away.
As for justanothermoviefan's argument of whether it's "great" or not, that's a stupid question anyway. Does a film have to be great in all aspects, if one of those parts is such a monumental achievement? This film was such a giant leap forward in the visualizing of artificial worlds that it's a landmark film, no question whatsoever. So is a landmark film "great?" Who the hell knows. But should it be in someone's top 30, which is the subject of this talkback? Definitely. -
then we're almost literally on the same page here, aren't we? No more need be said...save that you're a luckier man than I am so far. But soon...soon.
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Jan 01, 2010 9:41:15 PM CST
FreeBeer, that quote you attributed to me in that last post...
by chakraborty
...addressed to me wasn't mine.
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...campaign of all time. I realize the 3D doesn't translate to TV and computers, but they literally showed every possible questionable piece of footage and dialogue.
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Jan 01, 2010 9:46:11 PM CST
...kisskiss, I sort of wish you hadn't read my post before...
by flickapoo
...seeing the movie...I hope I haven't oversold it for you. People I respect told me the visuals were great but the story was crap, so I went in just hoping to be entertained.I did accidentally skip lunch before seeing it...maybe fucking with your blood sugar before seeing helps?
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are we talking about what to call each other in our headings or posts. I didn't think about the length of my handle when I chose, but it is sixteen characters long, and it must be tiresome typing it repeatedly. So, sure, kkbb is fine.
And as for calling you just plain Morbius...well, that was the name of a Saturday night horror movie host who scared the crap out of me
when I was a kid...but I can suck it up. I'm good. -
...because I know how to spell it.
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Avatar. May have helped.
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what I'm referring to is your saying you read tens of thousands of words about it before seeing it, but you still weren't ready for it.I must have read the same or more when I was a kid & saw 2001, I read the book, I didn't see it for a _year_ after it came out because no one in my family wanted to go, I had to beg my father to take me to the drive-in as a birthday gift, knowing he'd hate it...and it still overwhelmed me. (Mercifully, my father fell asleep almost immediately, leaving me alone with the universe for 2 & 1/2 hrs.) Nothing I read could have prepared me, when it was a movie of such visual power or splendor. I never even saw a commercial or preview for it... and it's the same with Avatar. I've _read_ a lot, but I've only seen stills; and everyone agrees that the stills are no indication of what it looks or feels like. So don't worry, I'll be fine.
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I'll just remember that James Horner scored it. That'll do the job nicely.
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Can we really just stop saying this. Its just a lame cop out. No fucking game in the world looks that good. It sounds like something some old person who's never played a video game would say.
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SOMEONE FUCKING DEFEND THIS GOD DAMN MOVIE. With fucking specifics. Stop writing reviews that sound like they are just made up of possible tag lines for posters or trailers. UNLESS I missed some competition saying that Up In the Air will post all positive things written about it.
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...which is how I prefer to shorten your name... The score didn't hurt, nor take away. I know he ripped off one of his other scores, but I can't put my finger on it... anyway, it worked. I had ZERO problem with it, and I pay attention to score. I do wish they had dispensed with the Celine Dion at the end... but fuck it. It's the credits. Celine was hit hard by this economy... Cameron threw her a bone.
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...BRAVEHEART in a blender...but not as good. Fortunately both those scores work for me.
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I have no idea what to expect. I just want to see Clooney in a role that uses what he's good at... this movie looks like that. On the record, loved Oh Brother Where Art Thou. Just for context.
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...imagine playing a game that looks like AVATAR in some sort of darkened booth...I would wait in line to punch some bloody quarters into that machine...just like the old days...
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THAT WAS THAT HORNS TRILL. I could NOT for the LIFE of me place that, I KNEW I knew that. Fuck it, still worked. Also, I need to listen to that LotF soundtrack again... that was good shit.
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Like Flicka said, cut and paste if you like, but you'll notice that sometimes people call me Doc, or Morbs, etc. Not a biggie, if that's what you prefer, kisskissbangbang is fine with me. As for Morbius,that is how Robby usually addresses the Dr. And as for the other Morbius, I remember him fondly. I grew up in Michigan and he was on Saturday night there too. You said you are in Alabama, originally? Or was Morbius that widespread?I enjoyed reading your posts inre CE3K, your Dad and the RR Xing, the styrofoam cup. That is another of my favorite films. This Island Earth, The Day The Earth Stood Still (Orig.) War of the Worlds (Orig.) Blade Runner, 2001, etc., even a lot of B Movies, you get the drift...
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That was Leona Lewis, not Celine Dion
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Really? Shit. I thought that as I was leaving, so I wouldn't have to deal with the shithead who sat behind me and talked through the first 20 minutes, until I turned around and told him to shut his pie-hole. Shit, even Celine Dion is feeling the pinch in this economy. Leona Lewis = Celine Dion, 15 years ago. But browner... and hotter.
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I'd rather see Clooney do a Ted Bundy bio. He was born to play that role. Tired of seeing him not try over and over again.
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Boooooo...
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Jan 01, 2010 10:47:21 PM CST
I dunno, I kinda like watching Clooney do his thang...
by scarywaitress
Do I think he deserves an Oscar? No. But I like him, is all. AND I want to see Up In The Air. Unfortunately, I think this will probably be a DVD renter for me.
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No that is fortunately, because you won't blow as much money on that crap.
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Well, I at least put PUBLIC ENEMIES in MY list about a few dozen posts up...
It would have made my top three, but the screenplay took some needless liberties with established history (notably, the demise of Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson), but watching Depp and Bale face off was just great, Stephen Lang brings a ton of gravitas to his small role as an FBI manhunter (hope he gets nominated for AVATAR), and Crudup is an effectively obsesseive little tyrant as Hoover. And Jeezus Khrist is Cotillard hot.
Very underrated, I thought, like last year's VALKYRIE. -
As I was leaving, the thought occurred to me that no one wins when a movie sucks. I really enjoyed Avatar, obviously, since I've watched it more than once. But I read so many posts that almost make the person seem like they relish when they don't like a movie (and not just Avatar). If you've seen a movie in the theater, paid for it, it doesn't mean you have to like it, but to actively dislike it seems idiotic (unless it was really a terrible movie *cough* Bride Wars *cough*). It just seems like no one should be happy that a movie wasn't good. It's frustrating when I read people who seem to just love to hate a movie. I guess that's old news to some, but I was bored and wanted to chime in!
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...to be had. G.I. JOE is the only movie this year to make me angry at it for existing...and angry at myself for sitting through it. I even started drinking half way through hoping to improve it...I failed.At this point I relish hating it because that's the only joy I'm going to be able to wring out of that soggy turd...
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I've seen Up in the Air (twice, in fact), and while I'm not sure it's my favorite film of the year, I'm just fascinated by Clooney. Get ready to shoot me everyone, but I think he is one of the finest actors working today. I thought he was superb in Michael Clayton! I just think he gets better and better. To quote an earlier post "I like watching Clooney do his thang". In a purely heterosexual way!
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I agree with you about the amount of dislike people seem to have for certain movies. It makes me feel, especially in the case of Avatar, that they should see it before they judge. And Flickapoo, your review strengthens my opinion. I saw Avatar with someone the second time just to see how much they would enjoy it, and that made it worth it to.
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Oh, I definitely understand that feeling! To be honest, I worry that some of the hate comes from people who haven't seen a particular movie. It just bugs me! But you obviously sound like you watched GI Joe and came to the conclusion that you genuinely disliked it (I hated it!!). I just hope that others reach their conclusions in ways that aren't just, everyone likes the movie so I'm going to trash it.
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And in a realistic Hollywood, big BO usually assures monies to be spent on other movies, no matter the genre. And now that Cameron has perfected (or close to it) the process, it'll be cheaper to go that route again, win win.
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I too saw Avatar multiple times with others who had not. It was really nice to see their reactions (positive or negative). It's just nice to share movies! And on kinda the same note, just because a movie grosses a gazillion dollars doesn't mean it's bad. It feels like sometimes, when a movie rakes in cash, that it's reviled even more on this site in the talkbacks.
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The flip side of that coin (GI JOE) BSB really likes it. Me, I've never seen it so I don't have a side to take.
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The bashing of some of the bigger movies seems to be a popular sport. While others "rave" over perceived underdogs. Everyone should have an opinion, but my hope is that its their true thoughts and not just what the crowd seems to be doing
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Just because a movie is made for only 15 dollars, doesn't make it a gem!! Sure, you give it a pass on production quality and the like. But if you don't enjoy it, then has it really done it's job? I don't want to go off on a rant here...
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I used to like James Horner, I really did. I can remember wide swathes of his score for Star Trek II. But over the years, that memorability seems to have leaked away..and I'm in love with Michael Giacchino now. The Incredibles, Up, Cloverfield, Lost...I'm just a sucker for his work. (And, yes, there is no score in Cloverfield ...but he composed "Stomp: The Theme From Cloverfield" to play over the credits, and it's terrific, in both sense of the word. Better than Leona Lewis, I feel sure.
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Had to chime in on the score talk. Giacchino is the new black! Sorry, I've had to watch too much Bravo tv! Bravo is the new red, btw.
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Certain people disown bands when they sign with major labels as well. When something becomes hugely popular it ceases to be cool to some people for some unknown reason. As for the matter of endlessly ranting about things that you hate.. if I hate a movie I generally File 13 it and move on. It's a waste of energy to me to constantly rail on something. The exception being things that I had a large emotional investment in before it was movie-ized. When that subject matter is grossly mishandled and the movie version ends up sucking, that property becomes worthless and it might never get the film treatment that it deserves. THAT pisses me off. Prime example: THE SPIRIT.
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I definitely understand feeling down when you feel invested in something and see it become a hollow shell when it reaches the big screen. On a side note, I never read The Spirit (or was even really familiar with the material), but I found that I enjoyed its zaniness. It was just so over-the-top that I had fun with it. I'm sorry though that you had to be on the other side of that one. Or maybe it's me on the other side! Everyone else hated it too!
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you saw Morbius in Michigan? Interesting. I've been in Alabama all my life (well, since I was one & a half), and always figured he was local. Perhaps he was syndicated, though I thought Elvira was the first to go that route. Never looked into it before, 'cause horror hosts still give me a tingle of that old creepy feeling from kidhood, even while laughing at them.Sounds like we share a lot of favorite old sf movies. My very favorite from the 50s is The Incredible Shrinking Man, though in deference to you, I'll say Forbidden Planet is my favorite...in color.Have you seen Bill Warren's book Watch the Skies? Hundreds & hundreds of pages describing every single sf movie, no matter how cheap, small or lame from the 50s up through the mid-60s. Invaluable reference, and a true labor of love. You need this, if you don't already have it.
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I even think he'd have made a fine Batman, if he'd had a decent movie around him. He's said he killed the franchise, but it really wasn't his fault, it was Akiva Goldman & Joel Schumacher's fault. Manful of him to accept the blame, though.
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succeed, unless they star Pauly Shore. It just seems churlish to root against people & want them to fail. I've been surprised enough times by people I thought talentless that I always strive for an open mind...though Bay is really beginning to test that resolve.
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I lost my open mind for Paul W.S. Anderson years ago! Although I still find myself open for Bay. I enjoyed the first transformers and I still love movies like The Rock and Bad Boys (not high art by any means, but still fun!).
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As far as all the "Best of" lists goes, the one film I haven't seen is Moon.I must watch it (according to so many critics).
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The Rock and Bad Boys are classics to some people (I for one, think The Rock is one the best action movies ever made), so I wouldn't slight viewing those as fun/good movies against anyone.
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We had others too, at different times, one was a guy called Morgus or some such, and SHOCK THEATER.Next time at Borders or B & N i'll give Watch the Skies a look see, ThanksOn another note, do you have a BluRay player and a Big Screen TV? I ask because there was talk in the DVD review section about the CE3K transfer not being up to snuff. I thought that would be a good candidate for me to upgrade but apparently not. I have neither (BluRay or Big Screen) yet, but I let my roommate borrow my LOTR Extended Edition Discs and the picture is very sharp, no way would I need to buy them on Blu. Star Trek 09 will be my 1st BluRay, friends say it has awesome visuals (If you don't like ST09 let the villification be gentle).
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with Bruce Dern, and Huey Dewey and Louie...one of the progenitors of MOON is also an early Sci-Fi favorite. Ever seen it?
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Don't get your hopes up too high for Moon. I was told by many that it would blow me away and that it was a masterpiece of sci-fi. I think it had been built up way too much. I came away underwhelmed (and bored at times). It's not totally the movie's fault, but just a word of advice to temper your expectations on that one.
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I think Star Trek 09 is a great pick for a first blu-ray! As a side to that though, I thought the blu-ray versions of the Picard Treks were visually disappointing. Blu-ray hype has gripped the nation and at a certain point, hd really doesn't matter (except for price!!).
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Jan 02, 2010 1:07:49 AM CST
Kavalier, it is great to see a movie you love with ...
by kisskissbangbang
...someone who's never seen it before, and watch it with their fresh eyes. I must have seen Casablanca a dozen times, but when it was released theatrically on its anniversary a while back, I got to see it with someone who'd only seen clips of it, knew all the famous scenes & lines (she was a big Play It Again, Sam fan), but had never seen it as a film. It electrified her, and some of that voltage was conducted through me, sparking my own enjoyment even higher. It's a wonderful feeling.
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I meant to add.
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Was so excited to watch Harvey with me. He loved it and I had avoided seeing it till I was like 23. I fell instantly in love with it. And I know he was excited all over again. I could tell. It was a nice moment for us.
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Thanks for the input. I have no intention of 'upgrading' everything to Blu. But regular DVD's seem to be going the way of the Dodo (or VHS). Do we REALLY need The Simpsons and Futurama on BluRay, REALLY?
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You're lucky with your Dad, mine wouldn't take us to the movies (luckily we could walk to our towns Theater in 15 minutes), theres only 1 movie he's seen in the last 20 years that I know of, yes i'm a little envious of you. *sigh*
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Thankfully the BluRay players have the dvd upscaling. It means you can hold onto most of your dvds while enjoying a little better quality with them instead of upgrading.
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I've honestly had all the same feelings for "must see" movies all years (as most, friends complain that I am a 'critic'), but something like Up In The Air I enjoyed, but I was surprised by movies like It's Complicated, very fun/not deep but funny. I try to see each movie on its own merit (I thought Crank 2 was genius on it's stupidity).
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My dad actually passed away last January. But!!! We both loved movies so very much. It's a shame your dad hasn't shared more movies with you. I can see why you would be envious! Not to rub it in ( all in good fun, of course:).
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If you read one of my earlier posts, I mentioned I liked The Spirit. At the end of the day, all that should matter is if you enjoy it. The trailer for It's Complicated looked kind of funny, I haven't ruled that one out completely yet (as far as seeing it, I mean).
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Sorry to hear about your Father, friend, my condolences.
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Did anyone see Ninja Assassin? I enjoyed the hell out of that movie. The story was lame. Acting, about the same. But it had ninjas! And a few of them (more like a dozen) assassinated each other. I went in with zero expectations and came away smiling!
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I actually hated bringing that up, mostly because it always feels like I'm fishing for sympathy when I mention it to anyone, but I thank you for your condolences. I'm just thankful he and I connected on movies so well. Like I said, it's just a shame that you and your dad haven't shared the love of movies (not that that's the only thing a father and son can share).
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Nice 'chatting' with you, time to lay me down to sleep, type at you later. Morbius out.
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Goodnight!
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hated... HATED the Spirit (every part of it plus the kitchen sink/toilet) but I thought Ninja Assissan 'fun popcorn' (albeit I hate popcorn), and was delighted by things like It's Complicated...Not bad, but very good when you look at Steve Martin has done... current.
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hated... HATED the Spirit (every part of it plus the kitchen sink/toilet) but I thought Ninja Assissan 'fun popcorn' (albeit I hate popcorn), and was delighted by things like It's Complicated...Not bad, but very good when you look at Steve Martin has done... current.
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sorry for double (dumm-ele) post
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IMHO:
8. STAR TREK: Enter McCoy (Karl Urban). Whatever else I thought of the movie (hated it), Urban stole the show with his uncanny channeling of the dearly missed DeForest Kelley.
7. TERMINATOR SALVATION: Blair (Moon Bloodgood) snuggles up with Marcus (Sam Worthington) for warmth. You do a lot of things with Terminators...shoot ‘em, run from ‘em, trick ‘em, but this is the first time I saw a human cuddling one. I also liked how the character of Blair is shown to be a badass in an A-10 and competent in a firefight, but still very much a woman with human needs. For all the shit this movie got, I thought it was a surprisingly subtle characterization.
6. OBSERVE AND REPORT: Ronnie (Seth Rogen) holds his own against an entire police precinct using just his beloved flashlight before inevitably succumbing and getting the snot stomped out of him. Laughed so hard I almost fell out of my seat.
5. PUBLIC ENEMIES: Billie (Marion Cotillard) reveals to her FBI tormentor that she was only enduring his torture to buy time for Dillinger to escape, that they just missed him, and then mocks him to his face. Fuck you, Dick Cheney.
4. AVATAR: Quaritch (Stephen Lang) is so apeshit fucking FURIOUS at Sully (Sam Worthington) and his friends escaping the base that he barrels outside with a machine gun and tries to blast Chacon’s (Michelle Rodriguez) chopper without even putting on a breather, switching to his pistol when that doesn’t work. I love how the genteel commander so abruptly changes to an enraged beast in that scene.
3. DISTRICT 9: Christopher’s son activates the prawn battle suit, turning the Nigerian gangsters into swiss cheese and giving their leader the ultimate swelled head. After deftly playing with false starts throughout the movie, this is where Blomkamp finally allows the prawns to get a foothold in their struggle.
2. UP: Carl and Ellie’s friendship, love, marriage and eventual parting from the movie’s opening montage. Sitting in a theater full of children, and I’m on the verge of bawling out loud like a little girl with a skinned knee. Goddamn you Pixar.
And my SCENE OF THE YEAR was:
1. MOON: GERTY (Kevin Spacey) throws in with the dying Bell’s cause (Sam Rockwell), punching in the computer password. As I said elsewhere, this said so much with a single act: about how GERTY definitely *wasn’t* HAL9000, about compassion, about man’s (hopeful) future relationship with intelligent machines, about the concern for one “slave” for another, about finding a friend in the worst of times, etc. -
I, too, really liked NINJAS ASSASSIN beause it was a real movie. It wasn't poking fun at the subject of ninjas. It made them cool, legitimately. It was spooky, pins and needles fun from start to finish, and the 'chip in my ribcage!' bit was classic ninja moviemaking.
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Did you just fucking ruin(e) the whole movie 'Moon'?
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I have jst read that Ireland has lost one of its leading film critics and the founder of Irish international film festival. Micheal Dwyer. Dead at 58. from an unspecified illness. He had been sick since May.
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Dude, if you haven't learned to avert your eyes during a yearly rundown like this, no amount of prophylactic !!!SPOILERS!!! are going to insure your plot virginity.
And anyway, I didn't say WHY Bell was dying... -
but I hope you'll see this in the morning. I have neither Blue-Ray nor bigscreen TV, sadly enough, so no recommendations. Someday.I've mixed feelings about the new Star Trek. As Burn Hollywood pointed out, it has some of the most seriously overconvenient plotting I've ever seen.On the other hand, all the Enterprise characters are well-cast(like Bruce Greenwood, too), and seeing them slowly assembled is exciting. Seeing them finally all on the bridge is exhilerating. It's got some problems, but if you compare it, say, to the Shatner-directed ST5, it sings. Hope that's gentle enough. As for Silent Running, it's not a favorite. It's pretty, with the first convincing Saturn (very lovely), and using amputees inside the short robots was brilliant. But being unable to figure out the trees are dying from lack of sunlight in Saturn orbit is awfully thick-headed; on the other hand, the final scene is extremely touching. It's a mixed bag for me. If it's an influence on Moon, than it inspired a better movie than itself. But like 2001, it's one of the few movies to stress how lonely it is out there, and that deserves some points, too.Dang, you type fast, Doc. I finally catch up with you, and you're off to bed. And I need to pack it in, too. Great talking to you, as "always", "always" being a little over 24 hours at this point. See you tomorrow.
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but I rather enjoyed Moon, perhaps because no one told me it would blow my mind. I was told it was a neat little film, a throwback to the early 70s with a superb performance by Sam Rockwell. I'd like to see him get an Oscar nom for this, and maybe if they have 10 noms for Best Actor, we will. (But it's only Best Film that gets 10 noms, isn't it?)Gertie's nicely handled, too. The whole thing bodes well for Duncan's career.And that's it for me, too. More adventures tomorrow, Kavalier.
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no,really
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...but he took me to the early Bond movies, then when I was 13 and my mom was out of town with the younget sibs, he took me to see The Godfather. It was great as that was a pretty adult film and it was like a growing experience for me. We went and saw the sequel 2 years later and it was more of the same. We talked about this last year as I spent most of my life in Decatur Il(where they made The Informant!) but moved to Denver a few months ago. There was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up and I had to take it. It was bittersweet as my dad is in his 70s so you never know how long he may have. I was feeling the guilt that something could happen and I'd never see him again. But on the other hand he could live another 20 years and I could miss this opportunity. So we talked about life and films, got a lot of this said that gave us some closure if something does happen. Anyway, talking about ce3k, I remember seeing that at the theater and being amazed when the mothership comes over devil's tower. I feel sory for those who didn't get to see it that way, and with the advances in special effects, I don't know if seeing it now would be nearly as impressive. We do have an Imax theater less than a mile from us so we'll be seeing Avatar soon. And Drmorbius, I don't have a big screen tv, but I bought an Epson Moviemate projector a couplke of years ago. It has a built in dvd player and speakers(though I added some wireless ones for more sound. It's pretty affordable(about 1000) and it's portable. I have an 80 inch screen for inside and a 10' x 5' screen for outside. It looks pretty good and is a good affordable option, I've hooked a bluray player to it and the picture is pretty damn good though it's only 720p.
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And its one of my fondest memories of him..we were both thrilled..
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so there were 30 (THIRTY!!) better movies this year than avatar? fuck off.
that's is going out of your way not to include it and when you do that is not your unbiased opinion, that's an aggenda. -
I can't believe how off the mark some of you are here on this movie. Have people here forgot how to enjoy movies? Does every movie released have to have an original, intricate plot to even be have a chance of being considered good? Seems that a lot of people forget that cinema is a VISUAL. MEDIUM. Look back at cinema classics in the sci-fi genre; 2001, Star Wars, Alien(s), Blade Runner, The Thing, Jurassic Park. Sure some of the films had strong lead characters and intriguing plots, but they all made the biggest impact on the visuals and the atmosphere. Star Wars and Jurassic Park are two films particularly similar to Avatar...tried and true storyline, archetypal characters, held together by mind-blowing visuals and a true sense of adventure. That is what Avatar is, and it never shys away from that. So what's the problem? If you want a slow-character driven piece, go watch the endless stream of films you own, or are being released which satisfy that...but not every film has to meet those requirements to be considered good. I would still argue the story in Avatar is told well (if still predictable) and it's probably the first movie ever to depict a heartfelt and believable alien romance.
Like FlickaPoo said, Avatar takes a tremendously wide array of influences and molds into a completely unique experience. Sure the story presented is the familiar yet "classic hero meets girl and turns native" tale, but if that's all your dismissing this movie as, I feel sorry for you. Yes, the film has a strong message, and some very strong motion-capture performances, but it's beauty IS in the visuals. There would never be an Avatar without the visuals, so to discuss the movie without them is completely pointless. Pandora is the most spectacular land of imagination ever realized in cinema. The film contains so much sheer beauty that goes way beyond mere imperssive visuals. Moments that are more artistic and lyrical then a mountain of indie movies. Moments no amount of dialogue could ever compare to or satisfy as well. Moments like the sacred seeds gracing Neytiris arrow, or the oft-mentioned 12 foot alien holding a crippled war veteran.
It's the many moments like this that elevates it beyond mere eye candy (TF2, 2012 anyone?) and sucks audiences in to Jake's journey, and keeps them on the edge of their seat regardless of predicting the ending. Jim Cameron is a master of this...he did it 12 years ago with a story we all knew, and he's just did it again. Sure the masterfully shot and edited action sequences don't hurt, but Avatar truly is a benchmark of cinema, todays "Star Wars" for the younger generation. We should be so lucky to get cinema of this quality, such an enriching and unique experience that requires one to see it in a cinema...movies that tap into our imagination and never let go. A blockbuster film that dares to have a message, have a heart, and actually make sense. This film is a rare breed, the type of film that cinema exists for, and probably the type of film that turned most of the people here on to cinema in the first place. For that alone it deserves at least a mention on any year-end best of list. -
New computer and I'm just getting used to the keyboard.
But either way, for Capone to dismiass Avatar from his list is a HUGE mistake. As I said, for it's revolutionary technical achievements alone it should not be overlooked. I'm not saying it should be #1 or even in his top 10, but to completely ignore a film that is shaping the future of cinema is just silly. I mean...I Love, Man, over Avatar? Bye bye credibility. -
I Love You, Man, is what I meant.
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...I was five. I was wearing this blue pullover shirt, and to commemorate the high point of my little life I called that shirt my "Star Wars Shirt" until the damn thing rotted off my back.Weird sentimental little kid...
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Are you daft?!?!
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THose who love Avatar really love it with a passion. Then there are the rest of us who refuse to bow down and praise this film simply because we've been told we have to. This debate will never be won so I think we should just move on.
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But there's fuck all wrong with Paul Blart Mall Cop. Funny is funny.
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...I'm a bit of an anti technology grump, so I'm amazed at my reaction to AVATAR. I think falling hard for it or not depends on whether the story was just good enough to allow the 3D to work its magic on you.I was skeptical for the first twenty minutes or so, but at a certain point I started caring about the characters and my eyes adjusted to the 3D...both things happened at about the same time.If that sense of complete immersion happens for you then you're done for. Every time something happened on screen that maybe I've seen before or read in a book before...or that seemed familiar, my reaction wasn't "that's cliche, Cameron stole that!!!". My reaction was the same reaction you have in real life when you see something for real that you've seen before in a movie...my reaction was "HOLY SHIT!!, THIS IS JUST LIKE A MOVIE!!! I CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVE I'M SEEING THIS!!!".Then of course I'd remember that I WAS watching a movie...but it was already too late...movie magic had already done it's dirty work on my pleasure parts...
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I reserved all judgement until seeing it and really did think that there's just no way that the movie could live up to ANY hype, let alone the game changer shit. Same as you... FUCK ME, WAS I WRONG. I work as an editor in television, have shot an indie film, and have worked with vfx before, so I said to myself, "Only if you really feel it... don't force it," with regards to looking to see if it actually fooled the eye, if the facial expressions were spot on, and if there were moments that felt genuinely game changing. As corny as that sounds! Anyway, I was totally unprepared for the number of times I found myself going, "holy shit, this is a whole new thing." There was a point early on when Sigourney's avatar was turning out the lights and telling everyone to get some sleep in the scientists quarters and it REALLY fucked me up. I said to my wife, "this is fucking BIZARRE..." because it's almost like we DON'T want to be fooled THAT much. As uncanny as the uncanny valley is, I think we're comfortable there, in an odd way. I was genuinely uncomfortable at times watching Avatar because I said to myself, "How can these blue fucking people NOT be real?" WHAT THE FUCK IS FAKE IN THAT FRAME!? AHHHHAHAHAHAA!!!!! But thankfully, that quickly gives way to an exhilaration I haven't felt watching a movie in a long time. Sometimes, I found myself just staring at odd things like Natiri's necklace or the Na'vi's hair, or a piece of bark on a tree. That world is so complete, it's practically insane. And people talk about what would this movie be like without 3D. Well, what would the Wizard of Oz be like in black and white? Would it be ANYWHERE as interesting without the change to color? The point of this movie IS the 3D. It was made purposefully to be seen that way, just like the first movies with sound were meant to be heard. You take away the 3D, you're taking away a vital, visual component integral to the way Cameron directed and shot this movie. It's like watching Lawrence of Arabia in pan-and-scan. I agree that the story has been done to death, but I"ll tell you what... with a universe that complete and detailed, I don't know how much more story I could have handled. Cameron was holding our collective hand saying, "This is what is now possible." Granted, it took him 12 years and $500 million to do it, but fuck me if every penny isn't on that screen. My question after seeing it is, "That's all it cost?" There are movies that just have a bunch of CG characters onscreen that cost nearly as much as the effective budget (non-marketing and R&D budget) on this movie and they look like dog shit. To me, Hollywood with regards to FX movies is in a state of flux right now... you have two extremes this year. At one end, you have District 9 showing that photoreal effects are possible at budgets way lower than Transformers 2... and at the other end of the spectrum, you have Avatar, imho, raising the bar for these big budget spectacles so high that I think they'll all appear boring in comparison. Their cg will DEFINITELY seem like a joke. I also wanted to add that it's not just the Na'vi that I noticed in this movie... it was stuff like reflections, tree bark, leaves, metal, the compositing of real people into the digital realm (what about the scenes looking into the cockpit of Quaritch's gunship?). Also, the fire, explosions, and smoke were the most real I've ever seen in a movie like this. Actually, for all intents and purposes they may have been real... and if they're not, that's my point. I also think that 3D and mocap is now at a stage where we're on the cusp of getting maybe 5-10 groundbreaking new types of previously impossible filmic experiences/stories that will be told in the next 25-30 years. What an exciting time to be a lover of film.
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I was a grump about Avatar too, and how people can say, "we're not going to bow down like we're told to" sounds like a load of anti-'sellout' horse-shit. You're like the people who won't listen to a band you claim to love once they find a bigger audience. I have to wonder how old you are... probably too young to have experienced REAL disappointment in life. If you can't enjoy just the sheer visual aspects of Avatar and get lost just by LOOKING at Pandora, then I'm not mad at you... I feel sorry for you.
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It was just SO international, SO deeply EuroLiberal, SO BBC. It honestly felt like watching the lie of AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. I just sat there and kept hearing "hearts and minds" and things like that, stuff culled right out of Cheney and Bush, stuff culled from every angry disenchanted Viet Nam veteran, so many bad liberal history books for kids ("The Early Explorers Were Terrible People and the Natives Lived in a Paradise, Part 3: Columbus Nabs Him Some Slaves"). I am by no means an Aunt Jemima. I just think that the real world is more complicated with more subtlety than this story's 1-2 Porky Punch (get it?) portrayal. There's much more going on in the real world than just one side or another being right or wrong. It's about shades of context, shadows between colors, subtlety. And that's what Cameron missed. For instance, how about a scene where Quaritch yells at Sully about the damage that will be done to Earth without Unobainium, the lives lost that might have been saved by FTL travel, the weight Sully must measure of protecting this culture or helping his own people, or the psycholost being capable of seeing both sides and worrying that Sully is losing his mind from being in the Na'a'a'vi body, or Sully being shown to REALLY lose his mind so you're not sure if it's the Na'a'vi body making him crazy or if he really is having spirit visions. These little touches might have brought me more into the story. But the absolute one side is right one side is wrong thing is something I grew out of when I still wanted to kiss Disney princesses.
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I just don't think it is as mindblowing as some of you believe it to be. I am not "anti" anything. I never claimed to love this film and then turned my back on it. It's just an opinion, like I said, we all need to agree to disagree and don't get so full of yourself when others don't agree with you. Peace and Happy new year!
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Anyone seen Avatar yet?
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The Hurt Locker. That seems to be the critical darling, even more so than Up in the Air. I saw it a few months ago and liked it. I'm not sure I liked it enough to give it the Best Picture Oscar though.
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Great BEST list, Capone-for me, at least, it was the best of the AICN 'Best' of 09 lists.
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Seeing as that you seem to be the only one who's seemed to seen Up in the Air. Outside of your man crush of Cloondawg (nothing wrong with that, I like the guy, i just wish he would try harder. Like I would personally love to see him as a bad guy or a serial killer). What is good about that movie. The way its cut is just terrible everything is cut short of anything actually happening, so it comes off as a bunch of commercials. And Cloondawg is playing the head of Men's Warehouse.
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Jan 02, 2010 2:20:57 PM CST
REFUTETHEHYPE - I FELT THE SAME WAY ABOUT STARSHIP TROOPERS
by bringingsexyback
I really wanted to know why the bugs were our enemies. Maybe they needed our planet to survive and we were quite simply in their way. Perhaps we were the bad guys? I really wanted to see both sides of the conflict.
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You ever get tired of all these "artsy films" that only these film buffs on the net get to see and then they poist 'em on their top lists and we have no idea what they're talking about? I do. So, if you'd like to see a list of the common man who really likes film, go here: http://matteddie.eblogus.com/
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And I couldn't place 'em until I just read flicka mention it. Damn.
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...THE FALL...blend until slightly lumpy and serve warm.Not as good as either, but I actually love both scores, so I was happy...
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...and own both films on DVD. I'll admit my man crush on Brad Pitt, but I haven't watched Legends in a minute, so I wasn't thinking about that one. Braveheart used to be a wallpaper movie for me. I love(d) it so much that I would just put it on to have something on. But I got off the Mel kick for a while - might be time to watch that one again. But to the point... When watching Avatar, whenever a point of tension would start growing deeper there would be some near ambient orchestral stuff mixed deep into the background that would soon build to a totally recognizable horn stab. mmmmmmmmmmmMMMMmmmmmMMMDUUUUUUUUUU! It's actually sucked me out of the movie a couple times because I was positive I'd heard it before. I couldn't place it at all, but I do believe you're 100% correct. Horner uses the same trick in both Legends and Braveheart to great affect (done back to back in 94 and 95, coincidentally). I'm pretty sure he does the same trick in Apocalypto, too. Must be something those directors like.
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Jan 02, 2010 4:27:01 PM CST
...yeah, that little build and then ...du-dudi-duuuuu! horn tril
by flickapoo
...is "trill" a word? Sounds right.I've been working to the LEGENDS score a lot recently...fits the mood I need to be in.
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I figured guys in spacesuits with vikings versus alien monsters could not be beat, so I almost bought the blu-ray sight unseen. Man am I glad I only rented that piece of flaky dried up diarrhea.
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..it's actually a real music word. The trill (or shake, as it was known from the 16th till the 19th century) is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart, which can be identified with the context of the trill.[1] (compare mordent and tremolo). It is sometimes referred to by the German triller, the Italian trillo or the French trille.
Sometimes it is expected that the trill will end with a turn (by sounding the note below rather than the note above the principal note, immediately before the last sounding of the principal note), or some other variation. Such variations are often marked with a few Appoggiaturas following the note that bears the trill indication. -
Just might be my favourite movie of 1997. I'm almost embarassed to say that the other pick is Dante's Peak. DP was my seminal "get high and go to the movies" movie... before that, I could never quite get it right.
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...words are cool.
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Lame ass gross out torture porn for future fucking serial killers. "Dude it was so awesome the one guy was shitting in a chicks mouth and she was eating it and shitting in another dudes mouth and they were sewn together!!! Awesome man!!! " The people behind that film company should be drug out into the street and shot. You're just encouraging the fucking apes amongst us to keep up there dumb ass ways. Film something remotely entertaining for once.
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Unfortunately I have and use a brain...damn.
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So, are you saying that Amelia was worse than the big turd that was Year One, c´mon!
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My brain could kick the shit out of your weak mushy brain. In 3D!
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Sadly there are still a LOT of the seminal "best of 2009" movies that I need to see, most notably "Moon" and "The Hurt Locker"... but your list isn't too far off from mine, Capone. I don't really get the love for "I Love You, Man," though. is it because it was a BNAT piece? or am I just jaded by the over-saturation of Apatow casts? I could barely get through it, and found Jason Segel's character to be really, gratingly annoying.
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I don't get the hype. It has great effects, but that doesn't make a movie. The plot "twist" was so poorly hinted at that I had assumed as much by about 20 minutes into the movie. To remain spoiler-free: The way they dealt with it was too much like the exact same situation in the first Matrix movie. The second Sam asked for sunglasses, any chance of giving the viewer a startle as they realize what is going on is absolutely gone. I'm surprised that so many sci-fi buffs are all over this, because it just seemed like a rehash of a million other sci-fi stories.
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I saw Up In The Air the other day and liked it, but I really wasn't blown away by it (although the neck-tie scene was good).The idea of Clooney playing a bad guy is interesting.
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Wasn't the effects that made it great (although this movie may be remembered as one of the siren songs of practical SF effects), wasn't the twist. And with respect to Dum Guy:
MOON SPOILERS! DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT!!! MOON SPOILERS!
...But the idea of conning clones into thinking they're the originals, and letting them just work to death over their three year lifespan? Similar to BLADE RUNNER's Rachel, or elements of THE CLONUS HORROR (ripped off in THE ISLAND) but a totally new, exploitative hook.
But the reason I adore this movie is the level of humanity on display...the second Bell desperately wants to help the dying Bell, as does GERTY, but his situation becomes too dire and he has to sacrifice himself to enable the second Bell's escape. And the second Bell knows his time will be short, too, but wants to put a stop to this exploitation of fellow clones. It's only with reluctance that they initiate a third clone, clueless to the siuation.
Both Bells and GERTY demonstrate a form of morality their corporate masters clearly lack, hammering home the 2001/BLADE RUNNER-like point that artificial creations may eventually overtake normal human beings. And similar to DISTRICT 9, this miniature war could be the equivalent of their first strike for freedom in their "universe".
Like all really good SF, it forces the viewer to examine their notions of what constitutes human behavior. SF isn't to show what WILL happen...it's to show what and where we are now. -
The humans were fascist invaders, the bugs just wanted to be left alone...earth had a functioning defense system, and should have been able to stop an asteroid (rewatch the movie if you don't believe me). And what mechanism did the bugs have to launch asteroids across interstellar distances, anyway? They were framed. The situation was plainly modeled after the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, where they cited the bullshit excuse of Czech "oppression" of Germans in the Sudetenland.
One of the most well-thought out "tricks" in cinematic history, I thought...I actually hated the movie the first time I saw it. It was only when Verhoeven explained himself, I cried "Bullshit!" and rented it a second time that I saw how clever it was.
SS Doogie should have been the dead giveaway... -
Yeah I agree, the movie is just FINE. Really nothing special, probably never even top movie I saw that day. Just decent. It just boggle the mind about the critical praise it gets. Good to know that you see the evil that lurks behind that smug smile.
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I like Clooney, but I definitely don't think Up in the Air was amazing by any stretch. What I did like about it was the story of the relationship between him and the young girl. And I liked how he... !!!Spoiler Alert (kinda)!!!... connects back with his family. Again, it didn't move me to great heights of emotion, but it hit a few right chords with me. Clooney does rock in Michael Clayton, btw. I just had to repeat that:)
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Wasn't Clooney the bad guy in Batman and Robin? No, I'm just kidding. Mostly... Actually, I am! Wasn't his fault.
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And although terminator Salvation was a bit of a letdown, I too admired the potentual relationship between Blair and Marcus.Was it sympathy or she obviously knew that he was "more human than human"?Karl was the best casting choice for Jar trek thanks to his performance (as Bones) which eclisped the other actors especially Bana's khan knockoff; Nero. What a waste.
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Jan 03, 2010 3:53:51 AM CST
Crossing Over, not the worst of the year. Are you effin kidding
by stalkeye
It's easily compared to crash when it comes to juxtaposition, however that being said, I found the film to be one of the better ensemble picies lately almost surpassing the semi pretentious Crash.there were a few unforgettable moments throughout the movie from the middle eastern girl, Taslima who praises the 911 hijackers duting some class eassay public speaking to the token action scene in which Hamid takes down a group of Korean gangsters during a holdup. (reminiscent to those classic dirty harry films.)And personally, that austrailian chick has one of the cutest bare assed scenes in a long while.Then there's hamid's sister getting it doggie style only to be interupted by a angry brother and the following results were a bit disturbing.(Cock blocked in the worst way.).Crapone got it wrong, it was not the single worst movie of the year.shit I can name 12 off the bat that is far worse than Crossing.However I agree about Ford's wooden performance. The guy is just slumming as he did with Indy 4.
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...PUH-LEASE!It was a good film, not the the death of a loved one, you fucking pretentious tit!
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With each new day and episode of Jersey Shore, I can feel humanity's fall being imminent. Let the bugs come, the world is overdue for a reboot!
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watch STarshiptroopers again..it's clear why they are enemies...they launch their bug bombs all over the galaxy including earth.
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Yes, but according to RefuteTheHype it's important we know why the bugs are bombing us. They very well could've had good reason.
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I enjoyed it quite a bit, and went in expecting to be bored out of my skull. Even the endless amount of cliches couldn't keep me from getting sucked in by a well told story and incredible visuals. At one point during the movie, about 2 hours in, I thought to myself "Yep, I'm having my eyeballs fucked." What better praise? Also I took my son to see Aliens in the Attic and enjoyed it more than I had any right to. Not great in any respect, but it felt like a throwback to 80's kids movies where the kids actually misbehave and act like assholes.
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I can make more comparisons with this and the Fly than I can about Avatar being "Dances with Smurfs"
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The most overhyped movie of the year more like it!
Boring, dragging story, IM me @shortpagirl on Yahell -
I hear all over the net such inane statements like "Sharlto Copely should win an Oscar for his brilliant performance" and "this is the most original sci-fi film we've had in at least 10 years". Holy shit, what wankery. I hate to use the overrated, but if it ever had to be used this is the time for it.
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...but comparing District 9 to The Fly is a HUUUUUUUUUUUGE stretch. They're not about the same thing, AT ALL! Because the guy starts turning into an alien the entire movie is suddenly "like The Fly". That's weak sauce. Especially since it's used in about 10 different ways and is largely a setup for the next film. I'm thinking you guys missed, like, every point of the movie, basically. Holy SHYEEEEIIIT! I had completely blocked Clooney playing Batman from my mind. .... I really wish you guys hadn't reminded me of that mess.
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I'm simply stating that everyone borrows from someone else. Copley in the bathroom pulling his fingernails out looked a lot like goldblum doing the same thing. I absolutely enjoyed district 9 and applaud the original way go get a social message across without sounding pretentious. My comment was basically made in defense to people trying to compare avatar with other things, instead of seeing it for shat it is-a great night at the movies
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...now that you point it out, that scene is very much like the Golblum Fly scene. Can't really deny that. But nothing else in concept, tone or story resembles it in the least (imo).
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I'm not sure the humans staged the bug asteroid, but the humans sure did provoke the bugs by attempting to colonize the bug system. Either way, it's a brilliant fucking movie.
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I'm afraid you're going to have to cite me a James Cameron film that had an original plot or good dialogue. TERMINATOR? "Second Variety", by Philip K. Dick. ALIENS? The plot of the original ALIEN, as seen through the eyes of a kid making an imaginary sequel with Star Wars figures and Army men. THE ABYSS? CLOSE ENCOUNTERS with a ham-handed "anti-nuke" message. T2? E.T. with the plot of the original TERMINATOR and a "wouldn't it be cool if a MORE-indestructible robot came after them?" shoehorned in. TRUE LIES? Remake of a French movie with state-of-the-art special effects. TITANIC? Any number of "Romeo & Juliet"-esque romances, plus, all the spectacle of actually watching the Titanic sink in real time. In other words, Cameron's never been terribly original in coming up with his ideas and not quite Mamet-esque in his dialogue. Nevertheless, he's a household name, his movies all pretty much stand the test of time and, well, the box office speaks for itself. We could go back to '86 or '87, and, had there been an Internet back then, you could have replaced the word "AVATAR" with "THE ABYSS" and read the same reactions. The box-office doesn't lie, ladies, he's done it again, and in spades. Tough shit if you didn't like it.
However, I'll be the first one to admit AVATAR couldn't shine STARSHIP TROOPERS's shoes. Cameron has mainstream balls. Verhoeven just has balls. Big steel ones. Thanks to ROBOCOP (often imitated, never duplicated), TOTAL RECALL and STARSHIP TROOPERS, he could probably fart out one or two more SHOWGIRLS or HOLLOW MAN's and still be forgiven. -
Let me make this reaaaallly simple for you Ace- Hans has made up his mind that he is not spending money on this in a theatre. Here is a little nugget of reality for you…Read this twice and slooooowly as you don’t seem….to….get….it.
Hans has said that he “will…. have…. an…. opinion…… of…. the… film… when… I… get… around… to… seeing… it.”
Do you understand these words? They are not that hard to comprehend despite this being my third post to you in addition to his….really…just read slower…
All Hans has made up his mind on is that he is not going to see it in the theatre. He has said repeatedly that his current impression could be wrong…and that he WILL eventually form a full impression when he watches it- on video….i.e. making a decision on how long to WAIT to see a movie- is NOT the same thing as having an opinion on the product….duuuuhhhhh…..do you gets this yet? (hopefully we have established this in post number 5 counting his and mine together).
And you AMAZINLY AGAIN managed to dodge my point. For the THIRD time I put my question to you- (perhaps this time it will permeate the rock between your ears though I doubt it)
Ready? Here it goes: Do YOU Ace ever make decisions to delay your viewing of a movie based on trailers and hearsay? If the answer is YES- then you are a hypocrite and moron for calling Hans names for doing the same thing. If the answer is NO- then you are a liar as well a hypocrite because we already know the answer is that YOU do this as well.
And yes I understand your final; blathering point when you say "instead of being under the "impression" of what others - myself included- say about a film why don't you go and see it and make up your own mind". Indeed I already answered this idiotic comment numerous times - but you didn’t catch that either so here…it… goes… again…. You are basically saying that either you -Ace - see all films in the theatre or somehow you- Ace - are the arbiter of which movies everyone must pay to see in a theatre unless they are idiots. (Everyone wait for Ace’s list and remember- if you don’t see all movies Ace demands that you see in a theatre then you are a loser and a moron. It is not permitted that you wait until video you clueless jerks. Ace has decreed it so- and Ace is really smart).
In other words Ace stick a cork in it. Someone saying they have decided to wait for video and will make a final conclusion about the film then (which may prove their current impression wrong) is an unassailable position. YOU FAIL.
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Jan 04, 2010 7:27:21 AM CST
ArmageddonProductions, you're dead on about Verhoeven
by colonelfatheart
People fail when they try the Robocop formula because they don't get it, that it's more than just a really badass movie. It's biting satire that's still relevant today. Jesus Christ, just look at Detroit! Look at the pervasion of the corporate ethos and how it dominates and diminishes the public interest. So many people I know have dismissed Robocop out of hand without even seeing it, and they're doing themselves a disservice.
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I walked into the NEW Liemax theater this weekend, just to see if it was IMAX or Liemax. Right in the middle of the corniest scene of Avatar, the "Pandora is so fucked up you'll want R&R time in hell" speech. Made me not wanna see it again, in fear of ruining all good thoughts.
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Like the old German film? From the 50s. I saw it a couple years back. I was surprised Jimmie C lifted some plots right from that movie.
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I've seen many of the movies on the list and I agree with some and don't get some, but Adventureland put me to sleep. I'm not alone as most everyone I spoke to about it felt the same. Poor pacing, mediocre acting, bad jokes and just a whole lot of cliches. Please don't let this thing become a 'cult classic' either. There are enough bad films with that moniker.
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100% correct about Cameron-nothing he does is terribly original, but he still delivers a better night at the movies than almost anybody else IMO, and, in the end, that's what it's all about isn't it? I don't always need to have real life shoved in my face, cuz I live in that world. I don't always need to be confronted with a new social issue to think about, because sometimes I just wanna see shit get blown up, beat down, and generally dismantled. Sometimes I just wanna leave a theater with a smile on my face...
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district 9 at#2? sure i love sci fi, and this was a good one... but number 2 of the year. that is BS.
also, inglorious bastards was one of the worst films of the decade. mindless babble follow pointless violence in that shitty movie. just putting this movie on your list blows any credibility you might have had. the inlglorious bastards themselves are in it for what? 10 minutes total? shitty accents and all! fucking shitty movie!! -
if "best" means, as it does in my book, someone or something that pushes the limits and raises the bar.
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The Goods was my winner for best comedy this year.
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...concept will affect something like The Hangover, or other well received comedies, that usually get passed over for that award? Could be interesting, which I imagine was their plan. Or it could backfire and we'll get 10 drama's or other "serious" films, only four of five of which will deserve to be there.
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..and I meant too. Thanks for the reminder.
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What is the problem with Avatar being reliant on it's visuals? I came away from that movie thinking it was cliched, predictable and a little cheesy, but could I say I have seen a film recently which left me as blown away as Avatar did... HELL NO. Children WILL take from this film what 70's kid took away from Star Wars. And even worse those saying it won't hold up on DVD/Bluray... maybe not but well done James Cameron for making a movie that is supposed to be enjoyed on the (very) big screen, shouldn't all film makers be concentrating on the primary and most important medium for their product?
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Worst film of the year? C'mon. Let's be serious. Just because a film tries to tell a serious story, you shouldn't be that hard on it. It was average at best, but not bad at all.
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The eight people who saw it said it sucked.
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just keeps confusing me. Look, D9 was a great movie, no one's denying that, but it's NOT among THE BEST FUCKING MOVIES of 2009!!! As for Avatar, I can totally understand if its not in your top 10, but seriously, not even in your top 30? And you got "fun" but not really "good" movies like Zombieland in it? Sorry, Cap, but I really can't take this list seriously...
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Jan 08, 2010 10:51:21 AM CST
As for The Hangover, at least that isn't in this list
by marksman230591
It's my #1 most freaking overrated movie of 2009. Seriously, that only had a few laughs here and there and nothing more. Everything else was just a slideshow of the most crazy situations that the writers could pull out of their ass for these characters, and they were disturbing at best, but not funny. At least Cap could see that and not have it on this list.
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The Road was incredible, some of the best acting I've ever seen.
Basterds was very good but it could have easily been the best movie of the year if they cut like 30-45 mins and made it more about the actual basterds. -
They whine on about a reviewer having no credibility because they didn't like a film the whiner loved....it's so fucking sad.
People have different tastes, like different actors, have seen certain stories rehashed too many times or hardly at all...it all shapes opinion. If we all liked the same shit it would be boring and there'd be no debate.
And by debate I mean actual discourse, not 'sand in the vagina' whining because a particular reviewer didn't adore Avatar as much as you. -
And then I remembered it was Capone. Good grief, this guy exists chiefly to warn me of what movies I should avoid. He probably looks just like me, only made of antimatter.
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Sin Nombre. A masterpiece.
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