mmu fav films 2009

03.04.2010

1. Un prophète





A Scarface for the 21st century! Tahar Rahim (Malik) is superb! Niels Arestrup (César) is as well! Spielberg or Scorcese are undoubtedly already at work on the American remake.

BONUS: A cool cover of the classic song Mack The Knife by Jimmie Dale Gilmore.

2. Technology, er, Avatar! (in 3D IMAX, of course)



This flick features both a Canadian director and the best Canadian film tech has to offer. That's right, a Canadian company gave the world IMAX. You're welcome world, and don't forget about it...

Incidentally "F*ck y'all!" is something you will never hear a Canadian say: We are so polite and nice, the Prime Minister may prorogue the government and we don't even require an explanation. What's that now? Harper did what!? Well... I'm sure he has a good reason. If Wayne Gretzky can rub elbows with him at the Vancouver Games, he can't be all that evil, can he now? [crickets]

Thanks to the magnificence of Avatar, the experts have declared 2010 to be the year of 3D! Avatar is the only movie you have to leave the house for. (The rest can be downloaded by various means). The movie itself may not be the most artistic or the deepest or even that well written, but the G-rating allows every child to see it and be brainwashed into thinking man is inherently bad and the natives are always good. And damn, I loved it! Cameron sure got one thing right – that seemingly indomitable villain, Colonel Quaritch (played by Stephen Lang).

3. The Hurt Locker



This movie was directed by Katherine Hardwick (as in James Cameron's ex-wife). She has a chance to be the first woman to take home the Best Director Oscar. Jeremy Renner is great, and a cameo by Ralph Fiennes is brilliant! Oscar Best Pic no doubt in my mind. Or on my bookies tic sheet. Should also win the award for best title.

4. The Blind Side



I know. I know. WTF RC? Well, strong female characters are hard to find. Make her southern and we're in business! Like it or not, this is the biggest sports film of all time. My mom watches this daily. Haha! Sigh... So do I.

5. Food Inc.



Succinct and revealing documentary about what we (unfortunately) eat. Suddenly toxic dolphin meat sounds delicious! If you didn't get that joke; watch "The Cove." While we're taking docs, “Capitalism: A Love Story” was wonderfully depressing as well.

6. District 9



Absolute game changer for the sci-fi genre. The robo suit fight scene is live action-anime gorgeous!

7. Fantastic Mr. Fox



I love director Wes Anderson. Mr. Fox is pretty fantastic but not his best. The Royal Tenenbaums is his best hands down. Nevertheless, Anderson manages to retain his trademark style film after film. Impressive and inspired. Anderson brought back all his favourites in Mr. Fox including Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson. First-time actors in an Anderson film include Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Jarvis Cocker, George Clooney and Meryl Streep.

Wes Anderson from best to rest: The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Rushmore, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Bottle Rocket. As always with Anderson the soundtrack is well executed from start to finish. I think he makes movies like I make mix tapes for girls, cause we know our music be the best and pretty ladies ought to know about it. Touché, Mr. Anderson!

8. Watchmen



Had they kept the octopus ending I might have placed this one higher. But it is impressive nonetheless. Oh and it turns out there is a REAL doomsday clock! AND it just recently moved even closer to midnight! Who knew!?

9. The Hangover



Seven reasons why The Hangover is the unofficial/spiritual sequel to Old School, which we were all waiting for...

1. Todd Phillips makes a “sleazy” cameo (in the elevator sexing a lady / Luke Wilson at door looking to sex some ladies)
2. Both feature a super hottie jail-bait character (underage high school student / a hooker)
3. Unhappily married douche (Vaughn / Cooper)
4. Famous black icon cameo (Snoop / Tyson)
5. Both feature The Dan Band
6. Both feature a comic genius naked (Will Ferrell / Zach Galifianakis)
7. Both films feature a musical interlude by a main character (Dust in the wind / Stu's Song)

10. (500) Days of Summer



The Regina Spektor "Hero" scene is simply AMAZING!


11. Up




Pixar. 'Nuff said... Watched this in digital 3D. The story was amazing, but the 3D was blah.

12. Youth in Revolt



Witty, funny. That Cera kid is gonna be okay. Runners up would include Brüno and I Love You Man.

13. Observe and Report



Wes Anderson has some competition in Jody Hill. Both directors always feature brilliant actors (Faris, Rogen, Liotta) and manage to create an offbeat style all each others own. I love the trailer for this movie which features "The Man" by Patto... "Why are you stopin' motherfucker?"

14. The Boat that Rocked [aka Pirate Radio]



Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Chris O'Dowd, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson. So basically British royalty plus Philip Seymour Hoffman (who steals the show!). The Soundtrack is huge, two CDs. Well worth the purchase...



15. The Informant!



Soderberg directs the hell out of this picture. Matt Damon is hilarious! I hope Scott Bakula becomes a Soderberg mainstay! The Marvin Hamlisch soundtrack complements this movie like a fine red wine complements cold, day-old Chinese food for breakfast!

16. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs



Really a great cartoon! Very impressive in HD. Hader, Faris and crew are hilarious! But seriously, how could a movie with James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, Mr. T, Neil Patrick Harris, Will Forte, and Al Roker possibly fail!?

17. An Education



Peter Sarsgaard carries this film along briskly with lots of help from Carey Mulligan and Alfred Molina. An alternate title could have been "Music Lover Statutorily Rapes a Teenage Girl and her Father Couldn't be Happier." You know... light family fare!

18. Crazy Heart



T-Bone is a better Burnett than I. He scored the whole damn picture. This is a much better musical than Nine. For one thing, the music is actually good! And Jeff Bridges' portrayal of a broken-down, hard-living country has-been was excellent.

19. The Lovely Bones



Peter Jackson takes on the serial killer genre and he masterfully applies his trademark fantasy treatment to create a fairytale out of some gruesome material. It's a weird one, and I liked it. The story never does what you'd expect of it. Does it fully succeed? Not really, but hey, that's why it sits in the lowly 19th spot.

20. Zombieland



Surprising fun. The Bill Murray cameo steals the show.

Bookmark this on Delicious Digg!

No comments:

Post a Comment