Top 20 Movies of 2009

20. Bad Lieutenant - Port of Call: New Orleans
Nic Cage descent into addiction and his struggle to keep his mind straight is surprisingly engrossing with a top notch supporting cast. Director Werner Herzog puts a lot of style in behind the camera trying to craze the audience at the same time as Cage.


19. Where the Wild Things Are
Turning a six page children's book into a feature film is no easy task. Spike Jonz makes it look easy with this revealing look at a temper tantrum through a child's very vivid imagination.


18. World's Greatest Dad
Robin Williams' best role since Good Will Hunting. He plays a the father of a meddlesome, completely unlikable child. Directed by Bobcat Goldthwaite, this film is easily the biggest surprise of 2009.

17. Bronson
The movie that will shoot Tom Hardy to stardom. It is a crazy and manic movie and title character, but it is not without its gravitas and creativity. Truly an original work resembling the great gritty, mentally unstable anti-heroes of the 70s.


16. Brothers Bloom
The follow up to the very stylish highschool set neo-noir Brick, this adventure story follows 2 con man brothers as they trick an eccentric heiress out of her millions, but as usual life gets in the way. It is a fast-talking and witty style, but it is not without its heart.


15. Antichrist
Lars Von Tier's trippy, surreal journey through grief follows a couple on their therapuetic trip to a cabin after the loss of their child, but it all goes horribly wrong. Woman's manipulative husband and study material is unable to distract her from oncoming madness.


14. Sherlock Holmes
A new take on the fictional detective goes back to its gritty literature roots in Guy Ritchie's first installment to what is hopefully a long franchise. Downey Jr. cements his comeback status with this beautifully scored and set action/mystery.


13. Adventureland
Based on director Greg Mottola's real life summer job experience, a teen witty beyond his years finds himself in a love triangle with an equally witty young woman and his poser mentor, played ultimately charming by Ryan Reynolds.


12. Pontypool
A horror movie flying safely under the rader looks to rewrite the infected/zombie subgenre with this plague passed on through words taking place exclusively in a radio broadcasting booth. Verteran character actor Stephen McHattie is really memorable in his shock jock role.


11. Watchmen
The adaptation of Alan Moore's deconstruction on the comic medium takes few liberties yet keeps all the heart and meaning of the source material. Brilliantly casted and stylishly shot, it is great sister material to Moore's novel.


10. Star Trek
The revived science fiction franchise gets itself a new inspired cast and a sunglared direction by J.J. Abrams. It promises a long future.


9. (500) Days of Summer
Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordan Levitt perform excellently and carry this inntriguing not-love story to the finish. The final moment is a little weak, but it is ultimately heart-warming even in its most depressing moments.


8. Zombieland
Following the succees of Shaun of the Dead, this new zombie comedy pits an unlikely group of survivors against the legion of undead that is currently owning the planet. A very charismatic cast with some decent action and gore do not amount to the greatness of Shaun.. but they come damn close.


7. The Boat that Rocked
aka Pirate Radio. A comedy about the romance between man and his music enlightens and inspires a deep passion for the art of songwriting with the best ensemble cast of the year.


6. District 9
A science fiction metaphor for apartheid throws an average joe office drone, a breakout role for Sharlto Copley, in the middle of a corporate conspiracy and Kafka-esque transformation. It pulls the curtain back on race relations and discrimation.


5. The Hangover
One of the best comedies in years, The Hangover follows 3 groomsmen on their search for the groom in Las Vegas after their wild night leaves them with no memory of the events. Breakout roles for Zach Galifinakis and Bradley Cooper, who both now have projects lined up around the block.


4. Up in the Air
A talkative movie about the interconnectedness of people rests safely on the shoulders of George Clooney and his ability to deliver dialog. Jason Reitman is proving to be one of the best young directors out there.


3. Inglourious Basterds
Quentin Tarantino's ode to spaghetti westerns and WWII movies creates this oddball epic about a group of Jewish-American soldiers who reak havoc on the Nazi soldiers plaguing the land.


2. The Hurt Locker
One of the most tense movies this year, and possibly the decade. Like its subject matter, it is a slow burning fuse that could blow at any minute keeping the audience consistently at the edge of their seats. It does so not just through action and omenous music, but through real emotion from the soldiers. A truly unbiased Iraq War movie that focuses on the effects of war on the human condition.


1. Moon
Soon to be considered a science fiction classic, this film hits all the right beats. Sam Rockwell gives his greatest performance yet, and is easily the greatest performance of 2009.

28 Days Later...and the Zombie Genre

The zombie genre is probably one of the most beloved sub genres in all of cinema. It has spawned some real great pieces, like Night of the Living Dead and Shaun of the Dead, some cult classics, like The Evil Dead series and Re-Animated, and even one bona fide piece of cinematic history, the original Dawn of the Dead. For these very reasons, the internet folk talk about to no end. One such movie that always gets a mention is 28 Days Later... (and sometimes 28 Weeks Later...). And any mention of that will be met with numerous reader comments on how 28 Days Later... is not a zombie movie. But is it?


The biggest evidence against it would be that the plague ridden populace (known as The Infected) are NOT actually zombies. So let's try to define what a zombie is. A zombie is any human reanimated from death and devolved to a primitive state where there primary, if not only, motive is to consume. They lack emotion, personality, and pretty much any other characteristic of the deceased except echoes of memories of their former life that lead them to repeat normal actions albeit purposelessly. They also suffer from rigor mortis, stiffening of the body that happens after death. Thus the slow, shuffle in which pre-Zack Snyder zombies moved.


The Infected are otherwise very different. They are not emotionless. They are full of rage, like an amped up form of rabies. Since they are sick and not dead, they are not held back by rigor mortis. In fact, quite the opposite, they become fairly fast moving and never seem to get exhausted. They definitely have the same penchant to attack, but their is no clear cut implication that they are motivated by hunger.


You would think that the most important element to be considered a zombie movie is to have to include zombies, which the Infected certainly are not, but 28 Days Later... still has most of the same characteristics that have brought so many fans to the sub genre in the first place. In 28 Days Later, the events that ruined London already occurred and out hero, Jim, awakes in a hospital and wanders the streets of an empty, but severely damaged London. It is a frightening image, an empty city. The realization that everyone is gone, even in the early mornings can be pretty creepy. That is one of the biggest sources of fear between both kinda of flick, the fear that no one is there, that you are alone. And not just by yourself, ultimately alone, never to have human companionship again. Zombie movies are really the only ones to effectively depict such a fear. 28 Weeks Later is about the grand reopening of London, that is until they are overwhelmed by the last of the Infected. An uncontrollable enemy hiding behind the faces of neighbors and loved ones is yet another fear device that is used most effectively in zombie movies. How many heroes or victims have hesitated thinking they can talk their zombified friends into consciousness? Too many. In fact, I believe this to be the real defining characteristic of zombie movies. That the enemy is a disease, an enemy you cannot shoot or stab, until it has infected your loved ones and turn them against you.


You might want to say that vampires and werewolves are similar. And they sort of are. But the biggest difference is those two monsters are almost always portrayed with so much more human capabilities than the zombies or infected. The victims' personalities tend to fight the diseases' hard-wiring. Basically, my point is 28 Days Later.... and its sequel have a fundamental difference from the zombie sub genre, but they have so much more in common, is it really necessary to mention how it doesn't count every time it is brought up in a conversation of zombies? Not at all. It has more in common with the zombie movies than the Dawn of the Dead remake or Zombieland which pretty much ignored many of the important aspects of a zombie yet labeled them as such anyway. At least 28 whatever later was honest about what it was accomplishing.

Review: Zombieland

When a zombie outbreak decimates the American population an unlikely group of survivors work together to brave the zombie plagued highways of the United States. Hotshot Tallahasse is a gun-totting cowboy who enjoyed killing his zombified neighbors. Columbus is a quiet, rational, loner who is easy to like. Wichita and Little Rock are sister con artists who have a hard time trusting anyone. They are trying to make it to Los Angeles where there may be a zombie-free amusement park for them to hang out.

Admittedly influenced by the hit zom-com, Shaun of the Dead, Z-land brings enough yucks and yuks to keep pace, but unfortunately doesn't surpass Shaun. The movie is well cast using a number of young upstarts plus Woody Harrelson, who always excels as goofy douchebags. Each brings a great amount of heart and charisma that makes the conversation much more natural than forced in either a horror or comedy way. Each character has a dark moment in the past. You'd expect most characters to have them, but unique to this film is they are not defined by them. For instance, Tallahasse suffers a great loss. One would think he would turn inward and become a loner. Instead he becomes a badass who shoots from the hip and the mouth, and while reluctantly, he still bonds with his travelling companions rather than alienating them. A refreshing take on survival horror.

When it came to the laughs, Z-Land definitely brings plenty of goods. Unfortunately, the horror side is severely lacking. There is maybe one or two startles caused by loud noises, but very little moments of terror. The gore is also severely lacking, especially for a zombie flick. Bloody faced zombies and a few shotgun squibs on their chests offer the most, far from enough. The big mistake is not having ACTUAL zombies. These zombies were suffering from a mutated strain of mad cow causing rage, aggression, and munchies. This meant the infected were fast, living, and capable of being killed from run-of-the-mill violence. On the other hand they could have been real zombies: slow, numerous, undead, and only vulnerable through messy head shots.

Overall, this is a great film for any zombie enthusiast or comedy lover. It has a few flaws, but the movie is still highly entertaining. Director Ruben Fleischer shows some great promise as a genre filmmaker.

Keep your eyes open for a great celeb cameo. Possibly the greatest.

7/10

First Impressions

Here's a new thing I am going to try. Basically what I think about a particular trailer

Zombieland

Zombieland is definitely the next movie that I am most excited to see. As seen in Shaun of the Dead and Fido, zombies have great untapped comedic potential. Jesse Eisnberg is basically Michael Cera but better. Woody Harrelson is in his wheelhouse. Emma Stone is kinda hot and pretty badass.

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

Looks like much of the same of the original, and I dig it. Except for the obviously absent Willem Dafoe and the visually puffy eyed, getting too old for Hollywood look of Sean Patrick Flannery. This movie looks pretty good. I mean, holy shit is that Judd Nelson? Is that Peter Fonda? Is that Rocco!? (1:30) Plus Billy Connely is back, as are the Boston cops, and an addition of the very hot Julie Benz.

The Men Who Stare At Goats

Considering George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, and Kevin Spacey are individually hilarious actors for being non-stand-ups, putting them together in such a ridiculous premise seems like it would be absolutely incredible.

The Daybreakers

I am always down for a vampire flick, especially when they have cool vamps with cooler slayers as opposed to the "hot" emo vampires that Twilight is creating. And this one happens to star Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Neill. This is one of the better paced trailers in a long while. The use of Placebo's version of "Running up That Hill" creates a fantastic tone. The vampiric monsters also displayed look pretty interesting.

Up in the Air

The trailer rests on Clooney's ability to effectively deliver a thoughtful speech, so while it is one-note, it's a pretty damn good note. Plus it also seems to have Zack Galinfinakis, Jason Bateman, and J.K. Simmons among other great performers.

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

As a fan of "The Office," I am interested to see what John Krasinski can do with this first directorial effort. The movie itself looks kind of slow with a lot of emphasis on love and romance. But it's also an indie flick so the direction of those elements might be way less sappy and corny than it might be in a chick flick. Wait and see flick for sure.

Plan 9

This is a remake of Ed Wood's cult classic, but I think the filmmaker forgot why it is so loved. It is because it is so bad. And I cannot tell whether this movie is trying to improve the quality or continue the so-bad-it's-good mentality.