Austin Improv

This is tough for me because I think it's been a good year for pretty damn good films, but not great ones.

In no real order, here are films that I really enjoyed:

Bad Lt.: Port of Call New Orleans
Hurt Locker
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Where the Wild Things Are
A Serious Man
District 9

Gomorrah (though it's a film from last year technically)
Waltz with Bashir (ditto as above)

Hon. Mention: Antichrist
As beautiful as this movie was visually, I had a hard time caring for anyone in the film. Seen as a horror film,
it's one of the more interesting films of the year. Some freaking insane moments, but I can't say that I really
enjoyed it as much as those above.

Still need to see Avatar and Dr. Parnassus and maybe The Road

I don't get to get out and see as many movies these days, but I loved loved loved Antichrist. District 9 was pretty sweet, but Antichrist was gorgeous and slowly horrible. Fave.

I didn't see a whole lot of movies, but the ones that stood out that I can remember: In The Loop, Inglourious Basterds, The Hangover.

I enjoyed District 9 quite a lot. Looking back, I don't think I saw many new films this year, but my favorite film, by far, was Moon.

Movies I really enjoyed this year:

Up
Up in the Air
Watchmen
Inglorious Basterds
The Informant
Where the Wild Things Are
Star Trek


Movies I am sorry I have not gotten to yet:
Moon
A Serious Man
The Hurt Locker

In bold are my easy favorites by far:

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Antichrist

A Serious Man

Where the Wild Things Are

Watchmen

Inglourious Basterds

The Hurt Locker

District 9

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Drag Me To Hell



Will view in the next week or so: Avatar, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, and Up in the Air

This year wasn't that great for film, but it had some highlights.

Now is definitely the wrong time to make a final list (all the best movies come out in December and a lot of them we don't get to see until January here).

So this is my list so far:

District 9
A Serious Man
Up
Star Trek
Inglourious Basterds
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
The Road
Avatar
Where the Wild Things Are
Drag Me to Hell
Zombieland
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Away We Go
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Watchmen


Not a very strong list. I've missed a few so far and there is bound to be some great stuff coming out within the next few weeks.

Oh, I need to add The Informant

and maybe, just maybe...Inglorious Basterds


....(and) Away We Go

sadly haven't seen as many movies this year as i'd like...but these are the ones i've loved so far.

Star Trek
Watchmen
I Love You, Man
Moon
Where the Wild Things Are

i liked Serious Man...but i don't know that i could say i loved it. not for any fault on its part, just for my own personal tastes in film.

My list for 2009, which is pretty incomplete. I still haven't seen a bunch of movies from 08 like The Wrestler, Slumdog Millionaire, or John Adams. Not suprisingly several of the great films I saw in 09 were 08 releases like Doubt, Burn After Reading, or Frost/Nixon. Also I watch so many terrible horror films. But I'll try to add something to this topic by listing my Best, Worst, and Pleasant Suprises of 09.

Best:
Inglourious Basterds
Runners Up:
Comedy: 1. The Hangover 2. Zombieland
Sci-Fi: 1. Moon
Horror: 1. The House Of The Devil 2. Paranormal Activity

Worst:
Antichrist (Chaos drains)
Wolverine
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
Final Destination 4: The Final Destination
Land Of The Lost
Year One
Jennifer's Body
My Bloody Valentine remake

Pleasant Suprises (which were great relative to my low expectations):
Taken
Knowing
Observe and Report
The Taking of Pelham 123 remake
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Biggest Disappointment of 09
Battlestar Galactica series finale.

Must-see soon list for '10:
Avatar, Hurt Locker, A Serious Man, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, (500) Days of Summer, Der Baader Meinhof Komplex, Funny People, Extract, The Informant!, Anvil!

Lastly, some titles that appear to form lyrics of a song:

Moon
New Moon
What Goes Up
Up
Up In The Air
Away We Go
Taken
Where the Wild Things Are
Crossing Over
A Perfect Getaway

Two Lovers
Extract
Five Minutes of Heaven
Love Happens
In the Loop

The Time Traveler's Wife
17 Again
Fighting
Every Little Step
Don't Look Back
Drag Me To Hell
The Final Destination
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell

Drew, I love the lyrics. sweet!

Also, gotta add Avatar to my favorites of the year.

Yeah, not a totally original story by any means, but a beautiful original world that kept me looking at everything.
Yes, especially in 3-D at the Imax.

And as obvious as it was...loved the natives. Very fun movie....even at 165 minutes.

Also, adding Up in the Air to my second-place list of favorites.

Dru Down wrote:Biggest Disappointment of 09
Battlestar Galactica series finale.

did the definition of "disappointment" change to "most awesomest thing ever" when i wasn't looking?

(but thank you for reminding me, i need to add Paranormal Activity to my list as well!)

Not surprisingly, I saw the first four movies at Fantastic Fest and the fifth at SXSW.

Breathless
A Town Called Panic (every single person needs to see this when it comes back to the Alamo S. Lamar in a couple weeks)
Fish Story
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Moon
Up
Fantastic Mr. Fox
In the Loop
Star Trek
District 9

Honorable mentions:

Drag Me to Hell
Inglorious Bastards
Metropia
World's Greatest Dad
The Hangover
Coraline

I checked my SXSW calendar and definitely need to add these to my top movie list:

Pontypool
Trust Us, This is All Made Up

the_reverend wrote:

Dru Down wrote:Biggest Disappointment of 09
Battlestar Galactica series finale.

did the definition of "disappointment" change to "most awesomest thing ever" when i wasn't looking?

(but thank you for reminding me, i need to add Paranormal Activity to my list as well!)

It's awesome only if you consider awesome to mean a deus ex machina climax that is scientifically impossible (Hera can't be "Eve" since she would have dna that is alien to prehistoric homo sapiens, unlike the mitochondrial eve of our reality), dramatically contrived (God willed everthing to happen, making the characters do things which make no sense and are inconsistent with their established personalities, such as Starbuck being reduced from an independent, aggressive fighter to a moody, emo fatalistic pawn; practical, hard-headed Adama sending the ship on a pointless suicide mission just to rescue a little girl of no great significance), and thematically offensive (the cylons were an obvious allusion to islamist terrorists, presented as an inherent threat to humanity bent on its extinction (their plan), but the show lost its nerve and recoiled from that, gradually turning the cylons into nice guys who just want to coexist. Six was snapping baby necks for fun on Caprica in the pilot, but in Daybreak she is simultaneously caring for Baltar's elderly fathe rcompassionately. Wtf? Furthermore the show presented the cylon one creationist god as triumphant over the multitheistic humans, bending individuals into instruments of divine fate, making converts out of even the most rational/least spiritual characters, i.e. Baltar, Starbuck, Adama.).

I could go on, but this guy's blog deconstructs the finale more completely than I can. He also explains better why Hera's dna contribution 150000 years ago is insignificant (and therefore Galactica's rescue of her is meaningless), given that she was only one of 39000 human colonials and countless earth homo sapiens/neanderthal natives.
http://ideas.4brad.com/battlestar/battl ... ce-fiction