50 Movies in 2009
Yeah, I know it's usually 100 but I really don't watch that many movies. So I will do something new-ish. :P Now I have to go to the library.
[KEY]
Movies I Haven't Seen Before are in standard font weight.
Movies I'm Re-Watching in Italics.
Movies Yet To Be Released are underlined.
[X] checks the film off the list
FILMS TO GO:
25/50
January
[X] Metropolis (4/5. An interesting and artistic looking silent by Fritz Lang. The special effects are amazing for the decade that the film was released in. The plot is thought provoking if not a bit hard to follow since, due to lack of a lot of dialogue, you are mostly shown the story. But what is seen is beautiful. Go see it! There's a chick in a Cyberman suit!
[X] Gaslight (4/5. Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer are scintillating in this Agatha Christie-esque suspense thriller. Ingrid wails and looks confused and horrified a lot. Charles looks sleazy and victimized. A young Angela Lansbury sashays about as the maid with an attitude. Altogether, quite enjoyable.
February
[X] I'm A Cyborg But That's OK (4/5. Weird. Surreal. A little be crackified. Definitely enjoyable...but a bit confusing. Maybe I don't *get* Asian humor, but some bits were definitely funny. Filmed MAGNIFICENTLY. Real eye candy.
[X] The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension (5/5. I watch this at least every year. Mom likes it a bit MORE than I do, but I like it well enough. Peter Weller is serious faced, dead-pan and absolutely lovable. Immensely quotable.
"There are monkeyboys in the facility"
"Banzai, I'll see you in HEEEELLLLLLL!"
"Evil! Pure and simple from the 8th Dimension!!!"
"Big Boo-TAY! TAY! TAY!!!!"
"Remember. No matter where you go....there ya are."
March
[X] Battle In Seattle (4/5. I found it to be a fantastic revolutionary type docudrama. Powerful, emotional acting and a great sense of constant motion and urgency.)
April
[X] Little Dorrit (4/5. A great little miniseries. In retrospect, *almost* as enjoyable as Sense and Sensibility, but not as lighthearted. Amy Dorrit is a quickly likable protagonist in a world full of funky people. There is an awesomely scary french guy with a moustache (and when I say moustache, I mean a MOUSTACHE, DUDE) and several other persons of interest. The film had doubtlessly one of the most epic climaxes I've seen since Oliver.
May
[X] Sense and Sensibility (5/5. The story of a family of women surviving in the hat eat bigger hat world of the Victorian age, a world where women could go from happy to homeless due to absurd inheritance laws, and in a particular world where, at least here, gutless brothers and their bitchy wives really suck. This film is just comfort food for me. Emma Thompson did great justice to Jane Austen's fabulous novel, and Kate Winslet is in her top form as the emotional, idealistic young Marianne. To ask me what my favorite film ever in the world is, just based on how much I identify with the characters and the story unfolded, this would have to be my favorite film of all time.
[X] Automatons (3/5. Interesting character/sociopolitical study if not a bit tedious. The kickback to 1950ies space camp/noir is a thrill for the first 50 minutes. The robots are made of win.)
[X] Iron Man (3/5. Lots of great explosions. 2D baddies. 2D goodies. Downey Jr. is funny as hell. Eye candy. Not much nutritional value.)
[X] Becoming Jane (2/5. Definitely not Sense and Sensibility as far as film making goes. Bound to pop any bubbles you had about what Jane Austen was like. Princess Diaries goes to the Victorian Age? Maybe...)
[X] The Happening (1/5. Not M Night Shyamalan's finest hour of writing or directing. Gorey camp. Well intentioned but lame attempt at an environment message. Cheesy--not necessarily the best kind of cheese. Just...no.)
[X] The Sandpiper (4/5. Liz is fantastic as a somewhat batty artist who thinks she'll never love again. Naturally she is proven wrong and naturally, disaster ensues.)
June
DIDN'T WATCH ANY NEW FILMS IN JUNE. :(
July
[X] Chocolate (5/5. Jeeja Yanin is the new Jackie Chan. The new Jet Li. The new BRUCE Lee for crying out loud. A small Thai package of awesomness. Did I mention she was in a movie? And it's a very good movie. Go see it. Or are you chicken?)
[X] Soylent Green (3/5. Charlton Heston bores as a skeezy cop in an even skeezier world. But a chilling scene involving conveyor belts and 5 even more chilling little words make enduring his bossy, pretentious, sexist character completely worth it.)
[X] The Day The Earth Stood Still--2009 remake (2/5. Let's face it. NOBODY can ruin Gort. He was, after all, the original master. Single-handedly, several minutes of a CGI robot save a film from an overbearing, whiny fluffy-headed kid, a boring single mom and a stiff, pasty-faced alien who doesn't seem to have come in peace.)
[X] The Stepford Wives (4/5. Like Soylent Green, Stepford Wives can drag a bit, but unlike Soylent Green, it's characters immediately capture you. The horror comes sooner, as well, and when this film is over, you too just might die if you don't get that goshdarn recipe.)
[X] Take Care Of My Cat (5/5. Sisterhood of the cat that gets passed from troubled teen to troubled teen. A fantastic character study of five teenage girls living in a small China town.)
[X] Roger & Me (5/5. This film is the essence of Micheal Moore. Rebellious; Horrifying; Revolting; Amazing; Revealing; Embarrassing; And All Things Witty & Ironic Put Together. Shakespeare couldn't have written a better play.)
August
[X] Logan's Run (4/5. They're remaking this, you say? It'll never work. Not without Micheal York or the underwearless girl. Or the creepy robot. Or the babe-o-matic's installed in every room. Or Orgy-Porgy. Just go rent this, you'll figure it out.)
[X] Vicky Christina Barcelona (4/5. When you've seen one Woody Allen film, you've seen them all. I've said it before and I'll say it again. According to this film, Spain is full of freaks. I refuse to believe it though, I just think Scarlett Johannson is freaky in general. And Penelope too, kind of.)
[X] Zero Population Growth (4/5. Utterly horrific vision of a future where having children is illegal. Former babysitters everywhere cheer for joy, but it's not as simple as all that. Bad things do tend to happen...)
[X] Children Of Men (5/5. A simply superb post apocalyptic scenario commentary by educated political and social thinkers. Get the two disc version, you won't regret it.)
September
October
November
[X] 10 (2/5. We are taken in the life of an Iranian...cab driver of sorts who talks to an interesting assortment of Iranian characters. The film is raw, organic and frustratingly real.)
December
[X] Jumper (2/5. Banal, confusing fluff with Hayden Christensen as an unlikable douche with the power to teleport. And there are people after him and stuff. And there's some kind of cult. And a black guy with a bad white wig. ...yeah.)
[X] The International (4/5. An excellent Tykwer directed political thriller concerning money, fraud and a man who thinks he can go up against the most powerful people in the world, bankers.)
Avatar
[KEY]
Movies I Haven't Seen Before are in standard font weight.
Movies I'm Re-Watching in Italics.
Movies Yet To Be Released are underlined.
[X] checks the film off the list
FILMS TO GO:
25/50
January
[X] Metropolis (4/5. An interesting and artistic looking silent by Fritz Lang. The special effects are amazing for the decade that the film was released in. The plot is thought provoking if not a bit hard to follow since, due to lack of a lot of dialogue, you are mostly shown the story. But what is seen is beautiful. Go see it! There's a chick in a Cyberman suit!
[X] Gaslight (4/5. Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer are scintillating in this Agatha Christie-esque suspense thriller. Ingrid wails and looks confused and horrified a lot. Charles looks sleazy and victimized. A young Angela Lansbury sashays about as the maid with an attitude. Altogether, quite enjoyable.
February
[X] I'm A Cyborg But That's OK (4/5. Weird. Surreal. A little be crackified. Definitely enjoyable...but a bit confusing. Maybe I don't *get* Asian humor, but some bits were definitely funny. Filmed MAGNIFICENTLY. Real eye candy.
[X] The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension (5/5. I watch this at least every year. Mom likes it a bit MORE than I do, but I like it well enough. Peter Weller is serious faced, dead-pan and absolutely lovable. Immensely quotable.
"There are monkeyboys in the facility"
"Banzai, I'll see you in HEEEELLLLLLL!"
"Evil! Pure and simple from the 8th Dimension!!!"
"Big Boo-TAY! TAY! TAY!!!!"
"Remember. No matter where you go....there ya are."
March
[X] Battle In Seattle (4/5. I found it to be a fantastic revolutionary type docudrama. Powerful, emotional acting and a great sense of constant motion and urgency.)
April
[X] Little Dorrit (4/5. A great little miniseries. In retrospect, *almost* as enjoyable as Sense and Sensibility, but not as lighthearted. Amy Dorrit is a quickly likable protagonist in a world full of funky people. There is an awesomely scary french guy with a moustache (and when I say moustache, I mean a MOUSTACHE, DUDE) and several other persons of interest. The film had doubtlessly one of the most epic climaxes I've seen since Oliver.
May
[X] Sense and Sensibility (5/5. The story of a family of women surviving in the hat eat bigger hat world of the Victorian age, a world where women could go from happy to homeless due to absurd inheritance laws, and in a particular world where, at least here, gutless brothers and their bitchy wives really suck. This film is just comfort food for me. Emma Thompson did great justice to Jane Austen's fabulous novel, and Kate Winslet is in her top form as the emotional, idealistic young Marianne. To ask me what my favorite film ever in the world is, just based on how much I identify with the characters and the story unfolded, this would have to be my favorite film of all time.
[X] Automatons (3/5. Interesting character/sociopolitical study if not a bit tedious. The kickback to 1950ies space camp/noir is a thrill for the first 50 minutes. The robots are made of win.)
[X] Iron Man (3/5. Lots of great explosions. 2D baddies. 2D goodies. Downey Jr. is funny as hell. Eye candy. Not much nutritional value.)
[X] Becoming Jane (2/5. Definitely not Sense and Sensibility as far as film making goes. Bound to pop any bubbles you had about what Jane Austen was like. Princess Diaries goes to the Victorian Age? Maybe...)
[X] The Happening (1/5. Not M Night Shyamalan's finest hour of writing or directing. Gorey camp. Well intentioned but lame attempt at an environment message. Cheesy--not necessarily the best kind of cheese. Just...no.)
[X] The Sandpiper (4/5. Liz is fantastic as a somewhat batty artist who thinks she'll never love again. Naturally she is proven wrong and naturally, disaster ensues.)
June
DIDN'T WATCH ANY NEW FILMS IN JUNE. :(
July
[X] Chocolate (5/5. Jeeja Yanin is the new Jackie Chan. The new Jet Li. The new BRUCE Lee for crying out loud. A small Thai package of awesomness. Did I mention she was in a movie? And it's a very good movie. Go see it. Or are you chicken?)
[X] Soylent Green (3/5. Charlton Heston bores as a skeezy cop in an even skeezier world. But a chilling scene involving conveyor belts and 5 even more chilling little words make enduring his bossy, pretentious, sexist character completely worth it.)
[X] The Day The Earth Stood Still--2009 remake (2/5. Let's face it. NOBODY can ruin Gort. He was, after all, the original master. Single-handedly, several minutes of a CGI robot save a film from an overbearing, whiny fluffy-headed kid, a boring single mom and a stiff, pasty-faced alien who doesn't seem to have come in peace.)
[X] The Stepford Wives (4/5. Like Soylent Green, Stepford Wives can drag a bit, but unlike Soylent Green, it's characters immediately capture you. The horror comes sooner, as well, and when this film is over, you too just might die if you don't get that goshdarn recipe.)
[X] Take Care Of My Cat (5/5. Sisterhood of the cat that gets passed from troubled teen to troubled teen. A fantastic character study of five teenage girls living in a small China town.)
[X] Roger & Me (5/5. This film is the essence of Micheal Moore. Rebellious; Horrifying; Revolting; Amazing; Revealing; Embarrassing; And All Things Witty & Ironic Put Together. Shakespeare couldn't have written a better play.)
August
[X] Logan's Run (4/5. They're remaking this, you say? It'll never work. Not without Micheal York or the underwearless girl. Or the creepy robot. Or the babe-o-matic's installed in every room. Or Orgy-Porgy. Just go rent this, you'll figure it out.)
[X] Vicky Christina Barcelona (4/5. When you've seen one Woody Allen film, you've seen them all. I've said it before and I'll say it again. According to this film, Spain is full of freaks. I refuse to believe it though, I just think Scarlett Johannson is freaky in general. And Penelope too, kind of.)
[X] Zero Population Growth (4/5. Utterly horrific vision of a future where having children is illegal. Former babysitters everywhere cheer for joy, but it's not as simple as all that. Bad things do tend to happen...)
[X] Children Of Men (5/5. A simply superb post apocalyptic scenario commentary by educated political and social thinkers. Get the two disc version, you won't regret it.)
September
October
November
[X] 10 (2/5. We are taken in the life of an Iranian...cab driver of sorts who talks to an interesting assortment of Iranian characters. The film is raw, organic and frustratingly real.)
December
[X] Jumper (2/5. Banal, confusing fluff with Hayden Christensen as an unlikable douche with the power to teleport. And there are people after him and stuff. And there's some kind of cult. And a black guy with a bad white wig. ...yeah.)
[X] The International (4/5. An excellent Tykwer directed political thriller concerning money, fraud and a man who thinks he can go up against the most powerful people in the world, bankers.)
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