Movies 2009
So people are doing top 10 lists and tell you what they thought of the movies that came out this year (or anything else for that matter that came out this year).. and I know no one is waiting for my opinion, but I thought it would be fun to share my views on these dark chilly interwebs right now. Besides, my list of movies isn't very long. Partly because 2009 wasn't such a great year for movies compared to the year before (I might be wrong about this, but The Dark Knight and Iron Man are still vividly imprinted in my mind from last year and I don't really have that as much with any of the movies that came out this year), but perhaps mostly because I didn't bother to see as many movies as I could have. A lot just didn't appeal to me (Transformers 2, Terminator: Salvation, 2012, Angels and Demons, New Moon to name a few blockbusters), and a couple I'd rather see at home (like Coraline or The White Ribbon) which were high on my list but not necessarily big screen material (okay I kinda regret not seeing Coraline in the end 'cause it was prolly worth it, but I swear I'll see it someday^^).
So what did I see and (more importantly) enjoy?
Well.. I wasn't sure about putting this one in (because honestly it wasn't all that great), but I want to mention Lesbian Vampire Killers. Okay so the humor is just.. really dumb at times and it starts off slow as well, but when it picks up there are some really enjoyable moments in it, but it's mainly Fletch (one of the two main male characters who ultimately become Lesbian Vampire Killers.. that's really all you need to know) who carries the film. There's this one scene where he enters a tomb (reluctantly), but then starts laughing for like (half?) a minute when he's in there and everyone is clueless why.. but I couldn't help myself from laughing as well. XD
So yeah, not exactly a highlight, but something of a sleeper movie I guess (or maybe more a coma one).
Also it's a British production and it's somewhat of a tribute to the old Hammer (gothic) Horror movies from the past, with a big emphasis on "somewhat".
Then there was District 9, which promised so much, but didn't quite deliver. It's nearly critically acclaimed everywhere, but I felt cheated when I saw it. See the teaser promised something of a documentary style movie, and it seemed it could have worked for it so well. I mean we have this alien UFO hanging dead in the air above Johannesburg with aliens aboard who haven't come to MDK us for a change, but are refugees (kind of) who have no choice but to settle here on earth and make the most of it. And the movie does start like a documentary and for the first 20 min. or so I was ecstatic about it, but then what happens? It becomes your pretty much standard run off the mill action sci-fi movie. And yes it was executed really well and the effects (and aliens) were quite convincing, but it wasn't what I had signed up for. So it's up there in my good movie list somewhere, but it could (should/would) have been way more interesting if they had stuck with the docu format if you ask me.
Star Trek: The Remake. Yes.. we're having an overkill of remakes these years, some brilliant mind came up with the idea that sequels weren't the answer anymore to making more money, no.. we have to remake successful movies of the past now. Okay, they've been doing that for years to be honest, but the idea somehow seems far more popular than it had ever been. Is it true they're even going to remake Free Willy now? I picked that up somewhere but I hope to God they were kidding about it.
Where was I? Oh right, Star Trek.. well this might just be one of the recent remakes that I actually enjoyed.. a lot. This might be partly because I never -gasp- liked the old series all that much. Sure I liked the characters somewhat, and there are a few memorable episodes, but ST has never really been it for me. The Next Generation was a lot better and was something I grew up with a lot more, but there's something with the ST universe in general that I dislike. It's prolly too well organized, to squeeky clean.. it's great when the Borg show up or the Klingons/Romulans to mess things up, but ultimately they can never measure up to good ol' Star Fleet and things remain relatively stable again (= boring). But what they did with this movie was grab all the old characters, turn them all 21 and bring the universe up to speed a bit. They actually start with a pretty cool car chase in which a very young Kirk nearly kills himself, but I was immediately turned off when he changes stations on the radio and we get some product placement (although I forgot what brand we got to see, prolly for the better). I mean it's funny when you see an Atari sign in Blade Runner in the background, but I seriously doubt that this thing is going to be as pleasurably memorable in the future. This is just a slight annoyance though and there's a lot more to be said about the plot of the movie which was really uninspiring like so many other ST movies. Still, the characters were great and the overall feel was simply top notch which made this movie for me at least one of the better ones this year.
Brings us to Inglourious Basterds. Now, I love most of Tarantino's work. I even loved his Deathproof movie to bits because of the crazy (but so very entertaining) dialogues. So I was really looking forward to this one, didn't watch any trailers but I was informed along the way that it was well received. And when I finally sat there in the cinema with eagerly anticipating what was about to unfold I was delighted with that it started so well with a scene which could have been made by the spaghetti western master himself, Sergio Leone. Then the Basterds rolled by and they didn't disappoint.. okay, maybe some got more airtime than others, but it was still good. But then came the Shoshanna part and it just didn't work for me. I didn't care for her or the young German soldier who had a crush on her. Their scenes seemed to drag on for hours and yeah, there's some suspense but it didn't entertain. Maybe that wasn't the point, but we have half of film focusing on the Basterds who are (very) entertaining and the other half about her and the soldier who runs circles around her with the story going nowhere (or so it feels), until towards the end it finally becomes clear how the two halves come together. And when they do come together, fireworks light up the sky.. but for me it doesn't lift the movie to the place where it should be, right there at the top.
So was there a movie in 2009 which lived up to its expectations?
Well no, but there was a movie.. one I had no expectations for whatsoever and it delivered on all accounts.
Turned out that Sam Raimi hadn't forgot how to make original crazy horror movies after all. =)
Drag me to Hell isn't for everyone, but if you love the craziness of the Evil Dead series it's right up your alley. It has some dynamic camera work, some weird supernatural story, an unexpected plot twist, some scares, quite a bit of humor and some really REALLY gross scenes and on top of that there's a special place reserved for "the classic" (that would be the car of the old gypsy woman, a car which returns in all of Sam Raimi's movies (source is Bruce Campbell here, so I reckon it's valid since he appears in pretty much all of his movies as well XD)).
So in conclusion, I should just stop having expectations of movies that are about to come out and I'll enjoy them lot's more. So Kick-Ass, The Road, Alice in Wonderland, Pandorum and Book of Eli, I'm just gonna see you with with no expectations (yeah right) and we'll see what's gonna happen then. ^^
I waited with posting this because a lot of critics were going wild over Let The Right One In (or Låt den rätte komma in) and I had the movie lying around here but hadn't watched it yet. I don't want to give away too much but I enjoyed it very much and even though it's something of a horror.. it's really not. The director didn't care much for that aspect and focuses on the relationship between two children and he did that really well (imho).
I liked the camerawork (it's filmed in Sweden and there's lot's of snow to be seen which is always good) and the children were really convincing in their acting.. simply see it.
So what did I see and (more importantly) enjoy?
Well.. I wasn't sure about putting this one in (because honestly it wasn't all that great), but I want to mention Lesbian Vampire Killers. Okay so the humor is just.. really dumb at times and it starts off slow as well, but when it picks up there are some really enjoyable moments in it, but it's mainly Fletch (one of the two main male characters who ultimately become Lesbian Vampire Killers.. that's really all you need to know) who carries the film. There's this one scene where he enters a tomb (reluctantly), but then starts laughing for like (half?) a minute when he's in there and everyone is clueless why.. but I couldn't help myself from laughing as well. XD
So yeah, not exactly a highlight, but something of a sleeper movie I guess (or maybe more a coma one).
Also it's a British production and it's somewhat of a tribute to the old Hammer (gothic) Horror movies from the past, with a big emphasis on "somewhat".
Then there was District 9, which promised so much, but didn't quite deliver. It's nearly critically acclaimed everywhere, but I felt cheated when I saw it. See the teaser promised something of a documentary style movie, and it seemed it could have worked for it so well. I mean we have this alien UFO hanging dead in the air above Johannesburg with aliens aboard who haven't come to MDK us for a change, but are refugees (kind of) who have no choice but to settle here on earth and make the most of it. And the movie does start like a documentary and for the first 20 min. or so I was ecstatic about it, but then what happens? It becomes your pretty much standard run off the mill action sci-fi movie. And yes it was executed really well and the effects (and aliens) were quite convincing, but it wasn't what I had signed up for. So it's up there in my good movie list somewhere, but it could (should/would) have been way more interesting if they had stuck with the docu format if you ask me.
Star Trek: The Remake. Yes.. we're having an overkill of remakes these years, some brilliant mind came up with the idea that sequels weren't the answer anymore to making more money, no.. we have to remake successful movies of the past now. Okay, they've been doing that for years to be honest, but the idea somehow seems far more popular than it had ever been. Is it true they're even going to remake Free Willy now? I picked that up somewhere but I hope to God they were kidding about it.
Where was I? Oh right, Star Trek.. well this might just be one of the recent remakes that I actually enjoyed.. a lot. This might be partly because I never -gasp- liked the old series all that much. Sure I liked the characters somewhat, and there are a few memorable episodes, but ST has never really been it for me. The Next Generation was a lot better and was something I grew up with a lot more, but there's something with the ST universe in general that I dislike. It's prolly too well organized, to squeeky clean.. it's great when the Borg show up or the Klingons/Romulans to mess things up, but ultimately they can never measure up to good ol' Star Fleet and things remain relatively stable again (= boring). But what they did with this movie was grab all the old characters, turn them all 21 and bring the universe up to speed a bit. They actually start with a pretty cool car chase in which a very young Kirk nearly kills himself, but I was immediately turned off when he changes stations on the radio and we get some product placement (although I forgot what brand we got to see, prolly for the better). I mean it's funny when you see an Atari sign in Blade Runner in the background, but I seriously doubt that this thing is going to be as pleasurably memorable in the future. This is just a slight annoyance though and there's a lot more to be said about the plot of the movie which was really uninspiring like so many other ST movies. Still, the characters were great and the overall feel was simply top notch which made this movie for me at least one of the better ones this year.
Brings us to Inglourious Basterds. Now, I love most of Tarantino's work. I even loved his Deathproof movie to bits because of the crazy (but so very entertaining) dialogues. So I was really looking forward to this one, didn't watch any trailers but I was informed along the way that it was well received. And when I finally sat there in the cinema with eagerly anticipating what was about to unfold I was delighted with that it started so well with a scene which could have been made by the spaghetti western master himself, Sergio Leone. Then the Basterds rolled by and they didn't disappoint.. okay, maybe some got more airtime than others, but it was still good. But then came the Shoshanna part and it just didn't work for me. I didn't care for her or the young German soldier who had a crush on her. Their scenes seemed to drag on for hours and yeah, there's some suspense but it didn't entertain. Maybe that wasn't the point, but we have half of film focusing on the Basterds who are (very) entertaining and the other half about her and the soldier who runs circles around her with the story going nowhere (or so it feels), until towards the end it finally becomes clear how the two halves come together. And when they do come together, fireworks light up the sky.. but for me it doesn't lift the movie to the place where it should be, right there at the top.
So was there a movie in 2009 which lived up to its expectations?
Well no, but there was a movie.. one I had no expectations for whatsoever and it delivered on all accounts.
Turned out that Sam Raimi hadn't forgot how to make original crazy horror movies after all. =)
Drag me to Hell isn't for everyone, but if you love the craziness of the Evil Dead series it's right up your alley. It has some dynamic camera work, some weird supernatural story, an unexpected plot twist, some scares, quite a bit of humor and some really REALLY gross scenes and on top of that there's a special place reserved for "the classic" (that would be the car of the old gypsy woman, a car which returns in all of Sam Raimi's movies (source is Bruce Campbell here, so I reckon it's valid since he appears in pretty much all of his movies as well XD)).
So in conclusion, I should just stop having expectations of movies that are about to come out and I'll enjoy them lot's more. So Kick-Ass, The Road, Alice in Wonderland, Pandorum and Book of Eli, I'm just gonna see you with with no expectations (yeah right) and we'll see what's gonna happen then. ^^
I waited with posting this because a lot of critics were going wild over Let The Right One In (or Låt den rätte komma in) and I had the movie lying around here but hadn't watched it yet. I don't want to give away too much but I enjoyed it very much and even though it's something of a horror.. it's really not. The director didn't care much for that aspect and focuses on the relationship between two children and he did that really well (imho).
I liked the camerawork (it's filmed in Sweden and there's lot's of snow to be seen which is always good) and the children were really convincing in their acting.. simply see it.