2009 Year in Review
1) The Women You know, all the reviewers made this out to be The.Worst.Movie.In. History. It wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a GREAT movie, but it kept me entertained throughout. Also, it was pretty cool- there was not one single man in the whole movie. Seriously- not a one! Not even an EXTRA! It was interesting to realize AFTER the movie that it had happened, even though I remembered going into it that it was going to happen. But it was nice to see that it wasn’t distracting in any way- it felt very natural.
2) 7 Pounds Um. This was not a very good movie. Luckily, I watched a free screener bootleg copy, and didn’t pay $12 for it.
3) In Bruges Second time! Just as genius! It so better win best screenplay at the Oscars, or someone is going DOWN.
4) He’s Just Not That Into You - Thank god I saw this at a free screening Jacki snagged, because if I had paid for it…man. There are no words for how much this movie annoyed me. In fact, I think Jacki’s sighs throughout the film were the best part. First of all, I wanted to slap the main character across the face and yell “you are a freakin idiot! You are making women across America look bad!” Secondly, I think this movie in general made PEOPLE look bad. I think this is the kind of movie that single women will like because it will make them feel better, and that is about it.
5) Dear Jack: The Journey of Andrew McMahon - I have been waiting for this documentary to be released for 2 years now. And it STILL hasn’t been released- no one on the internet has any idea what the hell happened to it. Except for me. I am lucky enough to have Jim as a friend, who saw the words “Jacks Mannequin” on a DVD in the free bin at his office, and without even knowing what he was in posession of, picked it up for me. The poor kid was taken aback, to say the least, when I pretty much started crying when he told me what he had. The film was INTENSE. Two minutes and 44 seconds in and I was already crying. Thank god I knew how it ended (since, you know, the kid is touring again!) or I never would have been able to make it through. Such a great film.
6) Eagle Eye - This is the second time I’ve tried to watch this movie. The first time I made it through a whopping 5 minutes before I gave up. This time I made it 90 minutes before shrieking “there’s another half hour to go?!” And then I realized I couldn’t care less how it ended, and gave up. But damnit, my effort counts! This is going down as being watched.
7) America’s Sweethearts - I watched this when it first came out, and was horribly disappointed. Not sure what posessed me to watch it again. I was alone at my grandparents house rifling through their DVD’s and it seemed like the best of the bunch. It sucked just as much as the first time though. I might have been better off just watching color bars.
8) Nights in Rodanthe - So, I thought this was supposed to be a charming romance. I did not realize it was going to make me BAWL MY EYES OUT. Such the terrible choice for my pity party DVD.
9) Duplicity- I enjoyed it! PG hated it. Make of that what you will.
10) Body of Lies- Also attemped to watch this during my pity party. It took me 3 ½ hours to watch the first 40 minutes, because I would get bored and wander around, surf the web, eat some ice cream, etc. I finally made myself finish it on the plane ride out to LA. I’m not sure I really needed to finish it.
11) 12 Rounds - I watched this one night in San Diego when it was nasty weather and it was a Sunday night and everything was closed and I was bored. I chose it because, well, it was playing at the right time. Surprise surprise…it wasn’t awful! I even think I enjoyed it! John Cena is by far one of the worst actors I have ever seen, wooden and unable to emote, but as long as he didn’t speak and just did scenes running or jumping or pulling things…he was great!
12) I Love You, Man - The perfect movie to snap me out of a terrible day.
13) Taken- I spent most of this movie mocking it.
14) Sweet Home Alabama - Oddly enough, by the gazillionth viewing, it starts to lose its charm. But nice to see Chloe from 24 is in it. And the crazy neighbor from Two and a Half Men.
15) Zach and Miri Make a Porno- I kind of don’t know what to say about this movie. It kept me entertained, it just wasn’t…anything. I kind of have no opinion on it. It wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad, it was just kind of…there. It seemed like Kevin Smith occasionally threw in some shock value nudity just to make sure the viewer was still awake. Not to say it was boring, it just seemed like the kind of movie I could have on in the background while I was cooking, and I could roam around the apartment, and chat on the phone for awhile, and come back, and I wouldn’t have missed anything.
16) New in Town- SAVE YOURSELF.
17) Bedtime Stories - This was not bad. Granted, it was really for kids, and therefore kind of silly, but I enjoyed it for what it was.
18) The Proposal - Hmm. With Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, I fully expected this to be the Greatest Romantic Comedy Of All Time. Instead, it was just…good. Honestly, not enough romance or comedy for me. But good.
19) The Hangover- Again, from the way everyone was talking I thought this was going to be the Funniest Movie Of All Time. And that is why I hate hype. Because it was just…good. Enjoyable, I laughed a few times, but just…good.
20) Taking of Pelham 123 - I liked this more than I thought I would, and PG hated it more than he thought he would (well, he didn’t EXPECT to hate it, since it was his idea to see it)- I think he thought it was gonna be an action movie, which it obviously wasn’t. But I thought it was entertaining. Granted, have never seen the original though.
21) Changeling - This was simultaneously better and worse than I thought it was gonna be. Angelina can of course do no wrong in my book. I had no idea this was a Clint Eastwood movie though. Surprising.
22) Last Chance Harvey - I think I watched this movie when I was far too sleepy to do it justice, purely because I know in my heart it was good, but it just didn’t do much for me. It was well acted, and charming, and lovely…but that was about it. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
23) The International - Let’s see. I fell asleep twice. Multiple times I randomnly shouted “I just don’t BUY you” at Naomi Watts. PG was practically shaking with anger by the end, he hated it so much. It was….not a good movie.
24) Yes Man - Surprisingly good. I mean…really surprising, and really quite good. For a movie I never heard of, I was surprised that I even put it in my netflix queue, since I don’t usually respond well to Jim Carrey. But I was in the mood for what I thought was a silly comedy. But it was really enjoyable, and Zooey Dechanel was as adorable as ever, and of course I went the next day and bought the book it was based on, and can’t wait to read it. The movie spoke to me, what can I say? Reminded me a bit of my Year of No Regrets.
25) 17 Again - I was actually annoyed at myself for putting this in my queue, and even more annoyed when it came, as I was so not in the mood for a stupid teen movie. But damnit if that Zac Efron is not adorably charming. I found myself thinking repeatedly throughout the movie “huh. He’s a really good actor!” And then I would get mad at myself for thinking that. But he was. So there.
26)Cool Runnings - I got this movie because a) I went bobsledding last year, so I felt like now I could fully appreciate it, and b) I’m going to Jamaica! It was cute, but not NEARLY as good as I remember it. Man did I love that movie when I was a kid!
27) Julie & Julia - I didn’t want it to end.
28) Sex & The City - Not as good the second time around, but not a bad way to kill 2 and a half hours.
29) Rent -I mean really. Like I’m gonna say anything bad about this movie. Fools, all of you!
30) No Day But Today: The Story of Rent - This was a feature length documentary that covered Jonathan Larson’s life from childhood till death, his early works, interviews with his friends, family, producers, teachers, cast…anyone possibly connected even remotely to him. It was so fascinating, and so unbearably heartbreaking to watch. But for ME, the ultimate Renthead, to come out of this saying how much I learned about Jonathan and Rent…well, that is a sign of a damn good doc.
31) The Heartbreak Kid - Not nearly as awful as I thought it was going to be (yeah, considering I thought it was gonna be awful, not sure why I watched it either). However, NOT A GOOD MOVIE. Also, slightly mysogynistic to me, but I may be reading into this too much. Farrelly Brothers aren’t known for their love of women.
32) Couples Retreat - The credits started rolling, and even though there were still scenes being shown under the credits, people were practically racing to get out of the theatre. I think that about says it all.
33) Paranormal Activity - I definitely APPRECIATED this movie. I thought the acting was good for people we had never seen before, I thought the idea was interesting, I like the story about how the film got made, I liked everything about this film…except the film itself. I know I am kind of hard to scare, but I was kind of bored. :(
34) Definitely, Maybe- Just as good the second time. Ryan Reynolds is romantic comedy gold.
35) Saw - This was our annual Halloween horror movie. It was OK. Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, I just didn’t find it all that scary, or all that…worthy? Does that make sense? I felt like the concept wasn’t really paid off in the film. How they got 5 more out of this franchise is beyond me. And the acting made me want to slap someone.
36) All About Steve - This was not NEARLY as bad as I expected it to be. Don’t worry- I didn’t pay for it- I watched it on the plane on the way home from Cancun. And while, yes, it did kind of suck, it actually kept me decently entertained the whole time. I mean, granted, I was a fairly captive audience, and I would never really willingly watch it again, but instead of the ZERO I would have given it when I saw the previews and read the reviews…after watching it I would give it a nice 4.
37) Love Actually - I watch this every year around the holidays, and it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. This year poor PG had to watch it, and I think it made him all warm and sleepy inside.
38) The Blind Side - Made me well up far too often. I want to be LeAnn Tuohey when I grow up.
39) Funny People - I didn’t really know what to expect from this- the trailers were confusing when it first came out, the reviews were even more confusing. Even watching it I never knew quite in which direction it was going to go next. Was it a downer? An upper? A romantic comedy? A “boy” comedy? But in the end…I really enjoyed it. Even though it was freakin 2 1/.2 hours long.
40) Year One - This is not a good movie. Even Michael Cera could not save me from wishing I was asleep instead.
41) (500) Days of Summer - While I APPRECIATED this movie….I really did not ENJOY it.
42) The Ugly Truth - This was exactly how you would expect it to be.
Books:
1) Round Ireland with a Fridge - Tony Hawks This book was kind of genius, kind of silly. I found it on the bookshelf at our villa in Bali, and it seemed wacky enough to be right up my alley. It’s a true story/travelogue of a guy who took a drunken bet that he couldn’t hitchhike around Ireland with a fridge. As you might guess, comedic adventures ensued.
2) Santa Fe Dead- Stuart Woods It was fine. Not good. Just…fine.
3) Spare Change - Robert B. Parker It was better than the Stuart Woods piece of crap, but still just…fine. Luckily, all my books this month were read on planes and in hotel rooms, so fine was all they needed to be!
4) Darkest Fear - Harlan Coben I got 162 pages in before I realized I had read this before. That was kind of annoying. But somehow it still managed to not lose a speck of awesomeness.
5) 4th of July - James Patterson- My mom gave this to me. I’m not sure why. But I read it anyway, in about 2 days. It was one of those books that I will retain absolutely nothing from…
6) T is for Trespass - Sue Grafton - I have been reading all of the Sue Grafton alphabet books since I was a teenager- my mom would always pass them on to me after she had read them. Although it always annoyed me that they took place in the 80’s because I guess that’s when she wrote the first one and even a gazillion years later she needs to keep them in “real time” (this isn’t 24, Sue Grafton!), I was able to move past it and enjoy the books. Except that this one…sucked. Like, SUCKED. I usually read these books in about two hours, this time it took me almost a month because I would make it through 6 pages and then get so fed up I would hurl the book across the room. I think I might have to end the series at “T”, as sad as that may be.
7) Chasing Harry Winston - Lauren Weisberger - Ah, the story of this book…so this has not been released in paperback yet in the US. But the hotel we were at in Vietnam back in November had a “leave a book take a book” rack in the lobby. Chelsea needed a book, so she grabbed this one. She dragged it around Vietnam and then Bali before finally finishing it, at which point she put it on the “leave a book take a book” area of our bali hotel. Which is where I snagged it, and smuggled it back to the US. At which point I dragged it aroudn the country- first started reading it in NY, the LA, the finally finished it in Florida. It was quite the entertaining, stupid, perfect chick lit book.
8) Hold Tight - Harlan Coben- Yay! New Harlan Coben! Yay!
9) She Went All The Way - Meg Cabot- I got this for like $2 on half.com, and read it on my grandparents patio in Florida. (although really it is the perfect beach book, not patio book, but whatever.) So predictable, so stupid, so demeaning, and so perfect for my pity party weekend. I loved every minute of this piece of crap.
10) 3rd Degree- James Patterson- I snagged this from my grandparents bookcase when I finished my stupid chick lit book and was left book-less. I have railed against James Patterson for so many years that it physically pained me to pick up this book. And it pained me way more when I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love how this month I read absolutely nothing of substance. I think it says a lot about my attitude recently, and my need to consume pure CRAP.
11) 2nd Chance - James Patterson- I’m getting annoyed by how mindless and enjoyable these damn James Patterson books are. I bought another one. Sigh.
12) Queen of Babble - Meg Cabot - maybe if I stopped spending so much time on beaches I would stop reading so many beach books. But I kind of don’t wanna give up beaches…
13) 5th Horseman - James Patterson - I know, I know. I read another one.
14) A Version of the Truth - Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack - I found that as long as I only read 1 out of every 3 pages, it wasn’t so bad.
15) A Wolf at the Table - Augusten Burroughs - It angered me how much I disliked this book. What the hell happened, Augusten? I love you! I adore you! I read your books 2, 3, 4 times each! This one? I wanted to chuck out the window!
16) Comfort Food- Kate Jacobs - I loved this book far more than I expected to. It was engrossing, entertaining, and I even feel like I learned some cooking tips :)
17) Facing the Congo: A Modern-Day Journey into the Heart of Darkness - this book is about some crazy writer dude who got bored with his life and decided to take this ridiculous journey through the Congo. (or Zaire as it was known when he did the expedition). Now, don’t get me wrong. I love travel books, I love Africa, I love crazy adventures. I would even go so far as to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book. What I DIDN’T understand was WHY. Why did he decide to do this? Just out of boredom? And he was wealthy enough to just upend his life for a few months and go do this? What did he hope to get out of this, aside from alleviating his boredom? I felt like this wasn;t really properly explained, considering just how dangerous this expedition really was. Also? Was he taking notes nonstop? Or did he just write conversations as he remembered them? If this was published now I feel like he would be sued, or he would have to have some sort of disclaimer. Secondary Also? The ending royally sucked. Page 246, in particular, had me yelling “you coward! You asshole!” Without spoiling the ending, I will just add one quote from page 249 that kind of summed up my feelings about this man- “….I had exploited Zaire as a playground on which to solve my own rich-boy existential dilemmas”
18) Friday Night Knitting Club - Kate Jacobs - I completely did not understand this book when I saw it on every bestseller list for like a gazillion months. I would see it in the bookstore, and yes, I judged it by its cover. A book about knitting? I just…did not understand. And then I read Comfort Food, and really loved the author, and thought, huh. Maybe I judged too quickly. So I finally read Friday Night Knitting Club. And I admit, it started out slow. Even though I have done some knitting in the past, I still didn’t really care to read a NOVEL about it. But then the characters started getting developed, and plots started evolving, and I found myself getting more and more engrossed, to the point where I missed my subway stop twice! And now…I get it. Add it to the recommend list :)
19) The Doctor’s Wife - Elizabeth Brundage - Nic lent me this book to read, and I will admiut it sat on my shelf for at least 6 months before I finally said screw it, let’s give it a shot. It is a novel dealing with themes I feel like I would ordinarily avoid - abortion, activist groups killing abortion doctors, infidelity, evangelicalism, artists, sadness, chaos, drama, psychosis…but I have to say I could not put this book down. It grabbed me right from the beginning all the way to the very end. Nic, I have no idea where or how you found this book , but thanks!
20) A Death in Belmont - Sebastian Junger - REALLY fascinating. This is a true story about how the man arrested as the Boston Strangler turned out to be someone the authors mom had hired to work on their house. A really good in depth look at the case, the murders, the multiple trials and arrests, and his family.
21) Rough Weather - Robert B. Parker - Parkers books have gone WAY downhill since I started reading them in highschool. This one was far better than the last few I read, but still took me less than 3 hours to read. I think that right there is the pure definition of “fluff reading”
22) Proof Positive - Philip Margolin - Much better than the last Margolin book PG lent me, thank god, cuz I know he really likes them and therefore I want to like them too! This one was quite enjoyable and at times I really did not want to put it down!
23) Certain Girls - Jennifer Weiner - Piece of highly enjoyable crap.
24) The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa- Neil Peart - What a wacky, awesome, weird book. A book that Nic was given as a gift, that I instead begged to let me borrow first. It is written by, of all people, one of the members of the band Rush, and details the trip he took in the early 90’s bicicling through Africa. It was fascinating, and intriguing, and made me constantly think “why on EARTH would anyone choose to do this?!?!” It sounded like the most intense trip ever, and while the rewards were spectacluar (what better way to really SEE Africa?) the challenges were immense. At times I got a bit over his navel-gazing, but overall it was a fascinating look at Africa.
25) Sleeping Beauty - Philip Margolin- Still trying to get into this author that PG loves. This book was by far the best of the 3 I have read so far.
26) The Beach House - Jane Green - Another piece of highly enjoyable crap.
27) The Queen of Babble in the Big City- Meg Cabot - Yup, more enjoyable crap (though not as enjoyable as Jennifer Weiner or Jane Green. It was, sadly, far crappier than those - and I mean that in the nicest way)
28) The 6th Target - James Patterson - Yeah, yeah, more enjoyable crap. I was having a rough month. Deal.
29) The Man Who Ate The World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner - Jay Rayner - Jay Raynor was one of the judges on Top Chef Masters, and I didn’t know who he was or understand why he was qualified to judge. Well, this book answered that! He went around the workd searching for the perfect dinner. Some parts were hysterical, like being forced to eat at Robuchon in Vegas with Joel Robuchon watching every bite go ointo his mouth. Some of it was just him whining about having to eat another ridiculously expensive gourmet dinner that half the world would kill to get the chance to eat. Towards the end I kind of wanted to punch him and yell STOP WHINING! But iverall, I really learned a lot about food, and have a far greater appreciation for food critics (at least…GOOD food critics)
30) Fifteen Minutes of Shame- Lisa Daily - It should have been called 120 minutes of shame, as that is what I felt during the 2 hours I spent reading this piece of trash
31) Finger Lickin’ Fifteen - Janet Evanovich - Borrowed from my mom. Typical Janet Evanovich - basically the cotton candy of “literature” (I know, I even had to put literature in quotes. Sad)
32) Fire - Sebastian Junger - WTF, Sebastian Junger? Your last book was so awesome! Why did this one feel like reading a textbook? A really boring textbook?
33) The 7th Target - James Patterson - Yeah yeah, more James Patterson. I know.
34) Bookends - Jane Green- This was the weirdest book. It started off so mesmerizing I couldn’t put it down., Then it did some weird switch to a dark place, a place that, without ruining the book for anyone, I should have enjoyed. But not in my frothy summer reading! Give me back my frothy summer reading! And then the last chapter they tried to turn it around and make it all happy happy joy joy again, but it was too late. WEIRD.
35) Queen of Babble Gets Married - Meg Cabot - I was home sick one day and read this whole book in like 2 hours on my terrace. Gotta love shitty books on a shitty day.
36) The Stranger Beside Me - Ann Rule - OK. So here are some of the blurbs on the book’s cover and back: “The definitive work of American true crime from America’s best true crime writer” “As dramatic and chilling as a bedroom window shattering at midnight” So…you’d expect this book to be pretty damn engaging, right? WRONG. Of the 625 freakin pages, I would say about 40 of them, TOPS, had me captivated. For those who don’t know, this book is about Ted Bundy, written by Ann Rule, who worked at a suicide hotline with Ted, and was a very close friend of his before he was known as “The” Ted Bundy, and continued to stay close with him throughout his trial. For someone who had that much intimate detail about the man, this should have read as far more than the 625 page news report that it DID read as. What a disappointment.
37) A Drink Before the War - Dennis Lehane - I grabbed this off my bookshelf when I needed a book I knew I would enjoy. I didn’t realize it was the same book I had already read at least 4 times prior, but the good thing about Dennis Lehane is that even when I know what is going to happen, I still enjoy it just as much. If anything, I think I get something new from it every time I read it. I think it’s time to give this book a break though!
38) This Is Where I Leave You - Jonathan Tropper - It’s really weird. I haven’t posted this yet because for 12 days now, I have been unable to formulate the thoughts I wanted to say about this book. I have been a Jonathan Tropper fan since his very first book. My goal with this one was to wait until it was released in paperback, as I hate carrying hardcovers on the subway. But then Entertainment Weekly said it was the Book of the Year. And then they gave it a ridiculous review. And then I just couldn’t wait any longer. When the National Book Awards nominees were released last month, EW took to the blogosphere to moan about how this wasn’t up for Book of the Year. And I totally get why. Was this book a brilliant piece of contemporary fiction? Probably not. Was it by far one of the bets books I have read all year? Um, yeah.
39) The Thief Who Couldn’t Sleep - Lawrence Block - OK, so I get that this book was written in the 50’s, and therefore some stuff just…doesn’t make much sense nowadays. But that doesn’t change the fact that I just didn’t care one bit about the main character, and thus could not seem to connect to the story.
40) Wild Justice - Philip Margolin - This was the book PG said got him back into reading again, so I REALLy wante dto like it. He has given me a bunch of other books by this author, and while none were the best books ever, they were enjoyable. This one was still enjoyable, just…predictable I guess. As soon as they introduced a particular character, around chapter 2…I knew he was the killer. There was just no other reason for him to be in the book. So that kind of bugged me. And I hate when male authors try to right a “relationship” scene from a female perspective. They never sound anything remotely like authentic.
41) Hot Mahogany - Stuart Woods - This was fine. Standard Stuart Woods fare. I read it quick so I could bring it to Cancun, where within two days my parents had both also read it. It was that kind of book.
42) Mounting Fears - Stuart Woods - This book sucked. And not in the GOOD sucky way like the other Stuart Woods books. I mean it was uninteresting, poorly written, boring, stupid, and felt like it was written in a day when the author realized he needed a quick buck. I forced myself to read it, even after I knew by page 3 it sucked, and I regret that decision.
43) The Year of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs - This book was recommended by Nic to my mom, who brought it to cancun, where I swiped it from her and read it first :) So good! Poor PG just kept staring at me reading this book, knowing my feelings on religion. But it’s really not about RELIGION, more about how different religions interpret same bible passages differently, and how similar many religions are, and …man, I can’t explain it well at all. I learned a lot though! Like why orthodox jews always walk hunched over, hands behind their back…
It is also just interesting to read how this man tried to live a full year going by how the bible says to live, and even more fun, reading the effect that decision has on his family and loved ones. I totally recommend this book, no matter how religious you may be.
44) Knit the Season - Kate Jacobs - RUN! RUUUUUUUUN! I don’t care how much you liked the past two books in the series (like I did) THIS BOOK SUCKED. I put it down so many times, FORCING myself to pick it back up. What on EARTH was she thinking? What was her publisher thinking? Did anyone read any reviews on this? Did anyone hate it as much as I did?
45) Stormy Weather - Carl Hiassen -I spent the entire time I was reading this book thinking “Have I read this before? I think so…no, maybe not….hmmm….” I’m not sure what that says about it.