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Best films of 2009?

My list so far:

1. A Serious Man
I thought the Coen Brothers were good but a little overrated before, now I'm totally a fan. The only problem I still have with them is that their themes can be a bit too meta. But, that worked to their advantage in A Serious Man. The main character sees himself as a good man who's done nothing wrong, while his life falls apart around him. The writing is extremely clever and the characters extremely real, in their self centeredness, opportunism but also desire to make sense of the universe. The movie also periodically teases Hollywood endings only to resist them and dissatisfy. It has the intellectual themes of a French New Wave movie, without the irritating vagueness and pretension.

2. The Hurt Locker
I've heard that people who've actually been in Iraq hate the movie because it tries to sell itself as realistic, but is very unrealistic in terms of military decision making process. I say, yeah, but that's not the point. The setpieces are framed perfectly and the tension of being a roadside bomb diffuser is played to it's greatest effect. The point of the movie isn't the realism so much as the character's adrenaline addiction. Just maybe the movie should come with a disclaimer: Real soldiers are far more competent.

3. Coraline
A visually beautiful movie, but also a great gothic fairy tale. In my opinion, the prize gem of a year of great childrens' films. (At least, the gem in terms of appeal to adults. I'll concede Up is the better film for kids.)

4. In The Loop
Yes, Minister + Swearing. What else can you say? A cynical view of the political process that led to the Iraq war, with great performances (Especially James Gandolfini) and hilarious scripting.

5. District 9
A fresh take on science fiction cliches. Though I like the humor and satire in the first half better than the more action movie type parts of the second. The idea of aliens as impoverished unwelcome visitors, presented as a social and political problem rather than beacons of idealism.

Others I liked to a lesser degree:
-Up
Clearly a great kids movie, but only light appeal to adults.

-Star Trek
I love the way they revived the spirit of the old characters, but I think alternate universe prequels are lazy scripting, and I wish they won using Kirk's cleverness and wit rather than just kind of beaming in and shooting everyone.

-Still Walking
A great look at the way we alienate ourselves from our own lives and often pay lip service at best to the people we're supposed to care about. I'm not sure how much I like that recent Japanese style of film of a quiet reflective protagonist just kind of witnessing everything.

Others I need to see:
Goodbye Solo, An Education, Precious, Avatar

Re: Best films of 2009?

I haven't seen A Serious Man yet, but I really want to. Have been a big fan of the Coen brothers for years. Also, I agree completely with your assessment of The Hurt Locker--it's simply a great film no matter how realistic it is.

Now, my top 5:

1) Un Prophète (Jacques Audiard)
Best French film since Jean-Pierre Melville's Army Of Shadows (1969), French submission for Oscar for best foreign film and I would be seriously surprised if it doesn't win.
2) Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
I'm not a big Tarantino fan but I think this is the film he's been building towards his entire career and it's doubtful that he'll ever surpass it.
3) The Hangover (Todd Philips)
Sometimes some good fun is all you need from a film, and this one certainly delivers. Sure, it's not the most sophisticated film of all time but I have never heard a theatre laugh so hard and so often when I went to watch this.
4) Up (Pete Docter)
Another genius release from Pixar, not their greatest perhaps but very solid.
5) The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
The admiral has already said all that has to be said about this one; one of the more exhilarating films out there.

Honorable mentions (6-10):
(500) Days Of Summer (Marc Webb)
Star Trek (J.J. Abrams)
Zombieland (Ruben Fleischer)
Public Enemies (Michael Mann)
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp)

Wishlist: Avatar, An Education, A Serious Man, Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (I'm a proud fan of the awesomeness that was part 1), Coraline (since 1 minute ago), Fantastic Mr. Fox, In The Loop (also since 1 minute ago), Precious, Up In The Air, Where The Wild Things Are

Re: Best films of 2009?

I don't have a list yet but I really liked Drag Me To Hell. It was about the only thing that I loved this year, but I have yet to see Inglorious Basterds, Up and Public Enemies... and I might be forgetting about something.

Re: Best films of 2009?

Really? I really didn't like Drag Me To Hell one bit. It wasn't really scary and fairly predictable to boot. Critics (as well as a lot of other people) seemed to eat it up though, and I never quite understood that. Could you explain what makes it such a great film? I feel like I'm missing out on something.

Re: Best films of 2009?

The Hangover is one I declined to see because of a little genre-bias, but a lot of people are saying it's good. Maybe I'll see it via Redbox when it becomes available that way. Ditto 500 Days Of Summer.

I also didn't see Drag Me To Hell, but the fact that it's Sam Raimi makes me think people like it for the same deliberately over the top horror silliness that makes the Dead trilogy fun.

Inglorious Bastards should be in my 'Honorable Mention' section. It had a few great scenes and great overall themes but the pacing was a disaster.

Un Prophete doesn't come out here until February, but I'll be sure to see it then.

Re: Best films of 2009?

Drag Me To Hell was just a lot of fun.

Re: Best films of 2009?

My favourite movies this year are :

1) Let the Right One In
I'm neither a fan of slow movies nor of vampire movies but the aesthetic and delicateness of that movie is wonderful. The 2 young actors are brilliant and the whole story is deeply moving

2) Gran Torino (released in January in France)
I cried like a baby on the plane to New-York...

3) Up
The first 10 minutes would be enough to justify its place here.

4) District 9
Best SF movie I've seen since... well I'm not sure I've seen better

5) Zombieland, 500 days of Summer or Mary & Max
Too different to choose...

Worst movie :
By far Dragonball Evolution, seems like a spit to the face of every fan Dragon Ball fans (well, to anybody who paid to see this total piece of crap : bad special effect, bad actors, bad music, no scenario... even the fight scenes are incredibly short and shitty...)
The worst "normal" movie was "The Limits of Control" which totally exploded the limits of boredom.

Re: Best films of 2009?

I usually just stick to the official release date, not when things are released in my own country. However, Let The Right One In (and Gran Torino, too, probably) would definitely have made the top 10 if it had been released in 2009.

Re: Best films of 2009?

I've been able to cross two films off my list.

Coraline, which I thought was very interesting (as well as one of the most beautifully animated worlds ever created) but it started off a little too slow for my taste. It's hard to say why, but it didn't really draw me in. 7.5/10

Precious, sometimes a bit too stereotypical but a very powerful and moving film. Doubting between 8.0 and 8.5/10

Re: Best films of 2009?

I've been able to add some too.

An Education: B-.

The characters are well portrayed and the script well done, but the whole plot is so obvious the story is never engaging. There's not a whole lot you don't see coming ten minutes in and not a whole lot is said you don't already agree with.

Precious: B+.

Regarding Stephan's comment about the characters being stereotypical: About 2/3 of my coworkers are African American, and many of the characters are very similar to somebody I know. And with the exception of the mother and father and maybe those kids on the steps in that one scene, I didn't see any of the characters' portrayals as negative. So, if the characters are a bit stereotypical, that's at least better than the conspicuously nonthreatening 'token black' stereotypes you get in most films.

I thought it was a really good film, my only criticism being the same as my criticism for most films based on novels. It feels like they were trying to fit so many plot points in under two hours it made the pacing awkward and played down a lot of the more potent themes. (I would say the exact same thing for Sophie's Choice.)

Re: Best films of 2009?

BillAdama

Regarding Stephan's comment about the characters being stereotypical: About 2/3 of my coworkers are African American, and many of the characters are very similar to somebody I know. And with the exception of the mother and father and maybe those kids on the steps in that one scene, I didn't see any of the characters' portrayals as negative. So, if the characters are a bit stereotypical, that's at least better than the conspicuously nonthreatening 'token black' stereotypes you get in most films.


Don't get me wrong, not all of the stereotypes were bad and 8.0/10 is quite high for me (it's around #250 of all time). However, every time African Americans aren't portrayed, as you so nicely describe it, as nonthreatening, we get something entirely on the opposite end of the spectrum like the mother and the father. I realize it's somewhat necessary for the story but sometimes it's just.. I dunno. Maybe I should live in America to understand the film better.

Re: Best films of 2009?

It's too early to make 09 movies lists because there's so many movies which I haven't seen. And also there are so many 09 movies (according to IMDB) which are impossible to see so far (and I mean see in a movie theatre or at least from legal DVD of Blu-Ray.)
For example I have waited chance to see Un prophète since last Cannes but still haven't seen it. I think it's not going to be Berlinale 2010 (I'm going to Berlin in February) but I hope it's in HIFF 2010 (I thought it would have been this year there like most of the films that were nominated for Golden Palm but it wasn't ).
Let the Right One in is one of the best movies of the decade but I saw it in August 08 (in Espoo Cine) so it's definitely not in my 09 list.

So I made two different lists.
Here are my favourite movies of 08 and 09 right now.

2008
1. Tôkyô sonata
2. Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One in)
3. Synecdoche, New York
4. Happy-Go-Lucky
5. Entre les murs (The Class)
6 Aruitemo aruitemo (Still Walking)
7 Ai no mukidashi (Love Exposure)
8 Gran Torino
9 The Hurt Locker
10 Weltrevolution (World Revolution (?))
11 Morfiy (Morphia)
12 Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo)
13 Hunger
14 Slumdog Millionaire
15 The Wrestler
16 Le silence de Lorna (Silence of Lorna (?))
17 Vals Im Bashir (Waltz with Bashir)
18 In Bruges
19 Muukalainen (Stranger (?))
20 Rambo

2009
OK here's only top 10
Top 3 will be in my year top 10 after I've seen all the 09 movies I want to. I'm not sure about the rest.
1 Mary and Max
Hmmm, maybe should be #3 but the producer impressed me. And I got Max pin too.
2 Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (The White Ribbon)
Haven't you seen this or what's wrong?
3 A Serious Man
I'm a big fan of Coen bros and again they made an excellent movie.
4 District 9
The best action movie for years. If there weren't those unnecessary sentimental parts it would have been even better.
5 All Tomorrow's Parties
I liked it a lot!
6 The Limits of Control
I'm also big fan of Jarmusch. I have seen all Coen movies and only Jarmusch movie I haven't seen is that Neil Young documentary.
7 (500) Days of Summer
8 Sin Nombre (Without Name)
9 Up
10 Kûki ningyô (Air Doll)
Bubbling under (or maybe they should be in top 10 instead of Air Doll).
The Road
Not as good as the book (not even close) but still very interesting.
Täynnä tarmoa (Basket Case)
You really need to see this. Nothing to do with the original Basket Case movie(s). This is a very very funny basketball documentary.
I guess I should stop writing now or I must change this list to top 20 of 09

Re: Best films of 2009?

Nope, haven't seen Das Weisse Band yet. I will soon though, along with Where The Wild Things are. Some films are released simultaneously in the US and here, while others are released up to three or four months later. Something I will never understand.

Re: Best films of 2009?

Stephan: I think it's better to forget the intellectually numbing requirements of political correctness and look at the characters of film as individuals rather than avatars for an entire ethnicity. Precious has characters like the teacher who are extremely positive, as well as characters like the parents who are extremely negative. Individuals similar to each of these as well as all the people in the middle exist in real life, and it's unfair to place the burden on any of them to sum up millions of people.



White Ribbon comes out here on 12/25 according to films101.com. There are a bunch on that list though I haven't seen, and may have to check individually which ones have actually come out here. I've never heard of Mary and Max. According to imdb.com it's an Australian movie, which means unless it gets serious critical acclaim it probably won't come out here. (Most of the foreign films we get are Japanese or European).

Re: Best films of 2009?

BillAdama
Stephan: I think it's better to forget the intellectually numbing requirements of political correctness and look at the characters of film as individuals rather than avatars for an entire ethnicity. Precious has characters like the teacher who are extremely positive, as well as characters like the parents who are extremely negative. Individuals similar to each of these as well as all the people in the middle exist in real life, and it's unfair to place the burden on any of them to sum up millions of people.
I don't think I've expressed myself well. I completely agree with you on the fact that these people should be judged as individuals. However, not all of the individual characters resonated with me, which made some parts of the film feel a little distant.

Re: Best films of 2009?

SEEN
Plus - liked them
(500) Days of Summer: original way of storytelling
Moon : little SF movie with a hauntingly clever scenario
Coraline : I like Neil Gaiman stories
District 9 : very original SF movie, about racism and other things
Up
Star Trek
35 Rhums : very simple realistic rendering of
The Damned United : documentary about soccer (I hate soccer)
Gomorrah (a 2008 movie) about the Italian maffia
Ponyo : for children but very cute (Studio Ghibli)

Minus - didn't like
Public Enemies (no soul)
2012 (only special effects were ok)
Transformers 2 (infantile)
Inglourious Basterds ( disappointment of the year)


NOT SEEN - a lot
The Hangover, Zombieland, Boondock, Saints II: All Saints Day, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Up In The Air, Where The Wild Things Are, Let the Right One In, Mary and Max, Das Weisse Band, All Tomorrow's Parties, Sin Nombre, Kûki ningyô, The Road, A Serious Man, Drag Me to Hell, Limits of Control, Samson and Delilah, The Hurt Locker, In The Loop, Still Walking, Goodbye Solo,
An Education, Precious, Avatar, Un Prophète, ...

Re: Best films of 2009?

Stephan
BillAdama
Stephan: I think it's better to forget the intellectually numbing requirements of political correctness and look at the characters of film as individuals rather than avatars for an entire ethnicity. Precious has characters like the teacher who are extremely positive, as well as characters like the parents who are extremely negative. Individuals similar to each of these as well as all the people in the middle exist in real life, and it's unfair to place the burden on any of them to sum up millions of people.
I don't think I've expressed myself well. I completely agree with you on the fact that these people should be judged as individuals. However, not all of the individual characters resonated with me, which made some parts of the film feel a little distant.


That I can see. I'd probably feel the same way if I didn't spend 20-30 hours a week for the last three years surrounded by people who remind me of characters from the film. Particularly the nurse and the other students in the class.

35 Shots Of Rum is a movie I saw because of it's high MC score but didn't think very much of. I think the higher an artistic payoff a movie has, the more boring a it's allowed to be. 35 Shots of Rum had a good artistic payoff with the theme of people being disconnected from their own lives, but not good enough to justify the fact that nothing really happens for the entire film.

Re: Best films of 2009?

no mentions (unless i missed them) for antichrist or bad lieutenant yet...

Re: Best films of 2009?

Watched "Where The Wild Things Are", which was kinda decent but not as spectacular as some people are making it out to be. It was all a little too obvious.

After that I watched "Lesbian Vampire Killers" with a few friends, which was one of those so-bad-it's-kinda funny films. Not that funny though.

Re: Best films of 2009?

Finished "The White Ribbon" and I'm not terribly impressed. The pacing, as well as the story somewhat, reminded me of Satantango; not exactly a compliment given the fact that Satantango is 3 times as long. It has some interesting layers and the story contains some interesting parallels to reality, but it never gets more than just interesting. 7/10

Re: Best films of 2009?

The Hangover: C

I find 'Crass impulsive male idiot' characters off-putting. So maybe I should have trusted my instincts over the critics when I saw the commercials. It's like a less disgusting version of a Faralay(sp?) Brothers movie. Most of the gags were pretty predictable, and I don't know if I was supposed to find that weird Asian guy really hilarious, but they didn't depart much at all from buddy misadventure movie cliches. I do give the movie credit for spurts of cleverness and the way they matured the characters through the movie. But if I was ever going to enjoy it, it would have been in the theaters with the audience bursting out in laughter every little while.

In fact, I'd recommend the movie to anybody who likes this sort of comedy.

I'm having trouble seeing Avatar and Up In The Air, because they're both movies my father wants to see with me and he keeps canceling cause of work deadlines. I could have seen Avatar with somebody else except that his girlfriend and her kids already saw it, so I'm his only option left.

I'm planning to see Broken Embraces when it comes out next week.

Re: Best films of 2009?

"35 Shots of Rum had a good artistic payoff with the theme of people being disconnected from their own lives, but not good enough to justify the fact that nothing really happens for the entire film."

I don't think that the theme of this film is about people being DISconnected from their own lives. I think the theme of this film is about people being connected with their lives, but in a motherless family as its just a father and a daughter living together. All the relationships in the film, family, other tenants in the apartment, work, are very tight and positive; there is no real quarrel or violence in the movie. When the cab of the female cabdriver breaks down on the way to a concert, all the stories between the characters come together and everything goes beautifully "wrong". I feel it's a very positive realistic movie , instead of one containing special effects, violence (physical or emotional), tension, people with sick minds, sex, idiotic dialogue, etc

Re: Best films of 2009?

Oh, yes, and I saw "In The Loop": hilarious! Laughed my head off!

Re: Best films of 2009?

In The Loop: 8/10 - Hilarious at times, but it didn't leave me with the sense that I'd seen anything new or important.
Invictus: 7.5/10 - Same for this one, it's quite inspirational, but it's easily forgotten. Not one of Clint's best.


Wishlist: Avatar, An Education, A Serious Man, Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, In The Loop, Invictus, Precious, The Cove, Up In The Air, Where The Wild Things Are

Re: Best films of 2009?

Two movies I probably shouldn't have seen right after the other.

The Messenger: A-

A movie about soldiers whose job it is to notify the family when a soldier dies. It was very emotionally real, and Woody Harrelson was brilliant. It was also very depressing. But I like that it managed to present all the emotional subtleties of the job without taking a side, and managed to cover the effect being deployed to war had on the soldiers.

I like that most of the Iraq war movies present soldiers as human beings and focus on the stresses of the job, which is of stark contrast to the Vietnam war movies where the soldiers were presented as inhuman killing machines.

Up In The Air: B

A movie about a guy whose job it is to go around the country telling people they're fired. So, two movies in a row about people who go around delivering devastating news to people. The script was great, George Clooney was great, but I felt the movie revolved so much around his performance that potent themes for other characters were underdeveloped. It was also much more of a 'message movie' than I expected, full of inspirational quotes custom made for oscar clips.

Antonius: What I took home from 35 Shots Of Rum was that people seemed tight with their families but emotionally disconnected from their own experiences, following a routine but not entirely emotionally present. It was when the unpredictable circumstances brought them together at the end when the lead character finally decides he wants to invest himself in the moment and do the full '35 shots'. Maybe I should read what some other people are saying about it.

My remaining wishlist: Avatar, The White Ribbon, Broken Embraces, A Prophet, 500 Days Of Summer.

Re: Best films of 2009?

An Education: 8/10 - Simply very entertaining film.
The Cove: 10/10 for showing what simply has to be seen, but I have to remain objective and judge it on the quality it has as a documentary. I believe documentaries should show both sides of an argument and stay objective, something Michael Moore is very famous for not doing. And while Moore's 'documentaries' make for riveting television, they are not actually great documentaries and they have to be extremely riveting to get a decent grade. The Cove is probably something Moore has always dreamt of making; it's one-sided and even misleading at times, but I'll be damned if it isn't exciting, riveting, excruciating and impressive. 8/10

Going to watch Avatar the day after tomorrow.


Wishlist: Avatar, An Education, A Serious Man, Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, In The Loop, Invictus, Precious, The Cove, Up In The Air, Where The Wild Things Are

Edit: I seem to be giving a lot of 8/10s lately.4

Re: Best films of 2009?

I agree about Moore. The problem with Moore is that his material is so clearly edited and manipulated you can't trust a word of it. And while capitalism may have caused the current recession, it also caused the previous several decades of unparalleled technological progress, record life expectancy and literacy rates, and the most comfortable time and place to live in all of human history. So perhaps it ought to be presented as a double edged blade rather than suggesting everybody in favor of it is only motivated by greed. He also needs to maybe take the camera off his own mug occasionally.

Broken Embraces: Tentative B+

I say tentative because I'll need to see it again before I can fully process it. Almodovar tends to have very nontraditional character development, so I spent the movie thinking it was moving in one direction and it turned out it was moving in a totally different one. Penelope Cruz was fantastic, the writing was typically clever and very sexual, and the themes were well delivered. I'll just have to see it again with those themes in mind before I know what I think.

And happily, I saw previews of both White Ribbon and A Prophet there, so hopefully that means they'll both be showing up at Landmark theaters around Boston soon.

--

I'm thinking of doing a project next year, maybe with an accompanying blog, of watching the whole top 100 of They Shoot Pictures Don't They. I already have like 70 of them so the trick will be hunting down the out of print ones like Magnificent Ambersons.

Then maybe I could expand that number by 50 every year. So I see the top 150 by the end of 2011, top 200 by the end of 2012, etc.

The reason I'm thinking of using TSPDT rather than a more modern-friendly source like Films 101 is that those ones tend to put production value over script quality and skew too heavily in favor of American films. Of course the problem with TSPDT is that it's skewed against newer films and in favor of 'academically important' films.

Re: Best films of 2009?

I've actually been doing a similar project over the last year or so with theyshootpictures.com. I'm up to "Au Hasard Balthazar", #61, but my watching speed has been slowing down a lot after #50 or so. Watched "Pather Panchali" today and didn't really like it, which was the case for more films after 50, so that might explain why I slowed down.

Oh, and Moore didn't actually have anything to do with The Cove, I just thought it was a 'documentary' he would have loved to have made. I get that feeling from reading my own 'review' of The Cove so I figured I should mention that.

Re: Best films of 2009?

BillAdama: I saw the "35 rhums" as a ritual to process important events in life, things you can't control, but that are bound to happen; in the film this is the daughter leaving home, the father sees it coming, since her boyfriend is living next door, it's as inevitable as trains running on a track, and when she eventually decides to leave, he takes the shots.

Re: Best films of 2009?

I'm following the TSPDT website for some time now, I also have a link to the "listofbests" website;

21st century: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/5305
all time: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/591

Re: Best films of 2009?

That's a good website, but it often links to stuff that's region 2 coded. I need either VHS or region 0 or 1 coded stuff.

I set up a blog for my project at jirinpantosa.blogspot.com, if anyone's interested in following it.

Re: Best films of 2009?

Avatar: 8.5 - Hard to really say something about this film that hasn't been said before; stunning visuals, not that brilliant a story that resembles Dances With Wolves. But I really like Dances With Wolves, so that's not really that bad. It's a little preachy and slow in the middle, but the first hour and the final bit are excellent.

Re: Best films of 2009?

The more I think about Avatar the more the initial wow-factor wears off and the more I think about the individual parts the more I think it really shouldn't get an 8.5. I'm gonna have to see it again.

Re: Best films of 2009?

Avatar:

26 year old me: B
13 year old me: A+

I went into this movie expecting great visuals and a cliche plot, and got exactly what I expected. But then again, you know what's also a cliche plot? Star Wars. So cliche doesn't necessarily mean it's not a great movie. To get away with a cliche plot the most important thing is to get you emotionally involved in the fate of the characters. In this regard, Avatar succeeds. What prevents it from being a really great scifi picture is that it doesn't deviate enough from the formula and that it compromises the fun of watching the film too often with preachy messages.

It's okay to be environmentalist. Lord of the Rings is environmentalist. It doesn't make hypocritical straw man attacks on everyone who disagrees with its politics.

And besides, it may be Miyazaki's most realistic looking anime, but it's far from his best work. It's mostly a rehash of Princess Mononoke.

I draw this scifi parody webcomic, and I'm going to do a strip where one of the alien characters watches Avatar and says "This is blatant anti-human propaganda, and I find it offensive!"

Re: Best films of 2009?

Up In The Air: 8.5 - Seriously impressed by this one, my new #3 of the year.

Wishlist: Avatar, An Education, A Serious Man, Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, In The Loop, Invictus, Precious, The Cove, Up In The Air, Where The Wild Things Are

Re: Best films of 2009?

I was appalled by Avatar. James Cameron was behind one of my favorite movies ever (Aliens), and I had high expectations of this given the reviews. However stunning the visuals may have been, though, the plot was not only paperweight, but downright insulting as well.

Every set of characters was just a big stereotype:

Scientists = nerdy idealists with great intentions
Military/government = cold and heartless
Jake = just a grunt with nothing to lose
Na'vi = indigenous people who are soooo in touch with nature yet so primitive, and in need of help from an outsider to survive

It was a huge exercise in white guilt, which isn't always a bad thing (I quite liked films like Rosewood and Mississippi Burning), but when such films that pretend to shed light on such wrongdoings propagate the same stereotypes themselves, I'm left with a bitter, bitter taste in my mouth. No amount of visual wizardry can make up for that.

Re: Best films of 2009?

A Serious Man: ? - After it ended all I could say was "what?!" and I haven't decided yet if it's brilliant or just.. strange. Funny, though.

Re: Best films of 2009?

I disagree about the 'White guilt' thing. Anti-corporatism isn't a racial thing, and I see the na'vi as more of an attempt to channel Miyazaki style anime characters than a condescending portrayal of natives. The scientist and military stereotypes are more an issue of character one dimensionality. (Now, accusing the film of having cliched one dimensional characters, that's completely fair.)

I also notice most of the people accusing the film of being racist are white people, which leads me to believe it's more about fear of being perceived racist.

Stephan: About 'A Serious Man', what really struck me about that film is how it resisted the 'Hollywood ending'. As opposed to a film like Up In The Air which poses a question, then answers the question definitively and lectures you it, A Serious Man is about a search for simple answers to life's difficult questions that comes up empty.

And regarding the ending, I saw the last scene as: The kid has spent the whole movie in his own little narcissistic world, and he finally gets a glimpse of the possibility that just maybe, nobody else cares.

Re: Best films of 2009?

Well, while plundering a native population for lucrative gain is not an exclusively European pasttime, it certainly seems to be depicted in this light to me in Avatar. I think it's also a bit silly to allege that my motives for raising such issues with the film are merely a guise to not seem racist.

Re: Best films of 2009?

I didn't mean to imply those were your motives. That's more my attitude in general to political correctness. Political correctness doesn't prevent racism, it just sugar coats it.

It's obvious the film was meant to be allegorical to entitlement-motivated exploitation, but I don't think the na'vi were intended to represent any particular culture on planet earth. I think Cameron had Nausicaa Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke specifically in mind.

It's just a movie. It's fine if you didn't like the movie, but if you're going accuse Avatar of having racial parallels you have to apply the same standards to all film. You could make the same argument for the Ewoks in Star Wars, or the elves in Lord of the Rings. Or you could say the Japanese are stereotyped as sword-fighters in Kill Bill. Either they're all racist or none of them are.

Re: Best films of 2009?

BillAdama
I didn't mean to imply those were your motives. That's more my attitude in general to political correctness. Political correctness doesn't prevent racism, it just sugar coats it.

It's obvious the film was meant to be allegorical to entitlement-motivated exploitation, but I don't think the na'vi were intended to represent any particular culture on planet earth. I think Cameron had Nausicaa Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke specifically in mind.

It's just a movie. It's fine if you didn't like the movie, but if you're going accuse Avatar of having racial parallels you have to apply the same standards to all film. You could make the same argument for the Ewoks in Star Wars, or the elves in Lord of the Rings. Or you could say the Japanese are stereotyped as sword-fighters in Kill Bill. Either they're all racist or none of them are.


Oh, I agree about political correctness not amounting to much. And I don't really like any of the other movies you mentioned, although not for racial reasons.

Re: Best films of 2009?

Moonbeam, I want to apologize if it seemed like I was attacking you. I just think if people who make movies have to worry about every possible parallel with every sensitive subject, it'll significantly reduce the quality of them.

It's funny watching Lawrence of Arabia directly after seeing this discussion on the web. I can only imagine the fervor if that movie came out today.

Anyway, The White Ribbon: C-.

I get the feeling watching this movie that it was made with the ambition of being immediately canonized as one of the all time great art films by 'the grand arbitrers of taste'. It's got Christian punishment themes ripped directly from Bergman, and its attempts to be multithreaded only result in it seeming bloated and confusing. If they had focused in more on just the Baron's family and the crimes they could have told a better story in under two hours. Being shot in black and white provides some beautiful wheat field shots and creates the feeling of bleakness, I guess, but it isn't really that artistically justified. It feels more like they wanted to be associated with the greats. Then, they tried really hard to have an ambiguous ending but at the same time trying to make it obvious who really committed the crimes and why. (Which was pretty obvious to me within half an hour.) White Ribbon uses the film-making techniques of old art films without the conciseness of storytelling or the originality, and ultimately comes off as an imitation.

Re: Best films of 2009?

avatar was really bad. like really.

anyways, the best I saw were A Serious Man and Inglourious Basterds

Re: Best films of 2009?

My favorites of 2009 were District 9 and Drag Me to Hell.

Re: Best films of 2009?

Moon: B-

Hi I like Ridley Scott.

Police, Adjective: B+

This is the hardest kind of movie to rate, because it's got very high art value and very low entertainment value. In fact, the low entertainment value is kind of the point. The intention of the movie is to reverse the cliches of police movies and show the dreary tediousness of actual police work, so there are lots of segments of the film where the guy is just kind of following kids around watching them. Then the last ten minutes are less a movie and more a cinematic essay. The plot is that the main character is tailing these kids who are smoking marijuana. He doesn't want to arrest them and ruin their lives for something he doesn't consider immoral, especially considering he thinks the kid's brother who will be back in the country in two weeks is the actual supplier. At the end, the police chief makes a long rhetorical argument trying to convince the main character to put state law over moral law, utilizing the dictionary definitions of such words as 'police', 'moral', and 'conscience', or else he should quit being a policeman. Which has the effect of making one point to the character and the exact opposite point to the audience. It's really beautiful and one of the most intellectual films I've ever seen, but not entertaining at all. So do I rate it up for the artistic value, or rate it down for being tedious? I put it at B+, but I never want to see it again, whereas there are plenty of films I rated B I fully intend to see again.

Re: Best films of 2009?

Just a few more, this is probably it for me for 2009 except for A Prophet.

Sherlock Holmes: D

It's like a Batman movie from the 90s, except the main character is Dr House. I wasn't expecting anything brainy or deep, but I was expecting the kind of solid entertainment you get from the likes of Iron Man or Hellboy. But it wasn't entertaining at all and the ending felt like a Scooby Doo episode only less plausible.

500 Days Of Summer: B-

It's got some really clever writing, and I like the psychological complexity and all the indie references. The parts after the breakup are a little hard to take. It'd be nice if the main character were just a little more self aware.