Jonathan's Top and Worst Filma of 2009

Top Movies of 2009​

There were many good movies out this year. But out of all of those were 5 that really stand out to me. Don’t get me wrong. I really enjoyed movies like “Up in the Air”, “Sherlock Holmes”, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", “The Hangover”, and others, but I’m going to nail it down to 5.

#5:


Capitalism: A Love Story-

Michael Moore’s view of the current state of the economy in “Capitalism: A Love Story” is well executed and for the most part a very funny and interesting documentary. I always liked Moore’s unique ways of displaying his thoughts. He doesn’t always lay it all out for you. For instance: instead of simply saying that in 50 years from now people will remember us for evicting people, he says “will they remember us for this?” (he shows us a clip of some cat trying to flush a toilet) and then says “or this?” (shows a family getting evicted from their home). It’s partly funny, but also has something very true and sad to explain. Unfortunately, this film is also rumored as his last documentary. I heard that he was talking about going back and doing fiction films. That would be okay, but I think that there are other issues out there that I’ve always wanted to see him make a documentary about. This film is out of theaters, but rent it when it comes out on DVD in March 2010.

#4:


Up-

Pixar is the only company left making quality kids films. Like every other Pixar flick, we get a unique story, colorful characters, funny dialog, which all adds up to truly exceptional entertainment. This is the most original picture that Pixar has done. It has essence that “Monsters vs. Aliens” could never dream of having. It isn’t as good as “Wall-e”, but this is the best animated movie of the year!

#3:


Avatar-

I hated “Titanic”. And when I found out that James Cameron directed this movie as well, I was surprised. “Avatar” is wonderful in many ways. The special effects are the best I’ve ever seen! Everything seemed life-like from the Navis (giant smurfs) to the dragon-type creatures. Sure, people agree on that, but the story is said to be typical. At some points yes, the story does fall into the love theme, but I strongly cared for the Navis throughout the whole film. The only bad part of the film was Sam Worthington’s performance as Jake. I was really distracted by his voice when he was in his Avatar. But put him aside and see this movie as soon as you can (preferably in 3-D)!

#2:


The Road-

Director John Hillcoat and Joe Penhall (screenwriter) must have had a hell of a time converting Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece “The Road” into film. The book is more of a piece of poetry than a novel, but somehow they made a perfect adaptation that is actually on par with the book! It had a nice dark and grim feeling that really fit the story. Viggo Mortensen was a brilliant choice as the man, and Kodi Smit-McPhee is satisfying as the boy. I’m very glad that they respected the book by not making him “cute”. Don’t listen to the stupid critics, this film one of the best films of the year. It is worth a trip out of town if it isn’t playing near you!

#1:


District 9-

Neil Blomkamp made a nearly perfect movie here. I loved every aspect of this film. With a great story, good performances, life-like CGI, and a third act which isn’t “disappointing” as the critics are saying, this has to be the best film of 2009!

Top worst movies of 2009​

Inglorious Basterds-

Okay, okay; before you scalp me I have the right to say why I didn’t care for this film. I’ll start at the beginning. We have a scene where a Nazi shows up at a farmer’s house and asks him about a missing Jew family. First off, I was pretty certain he was hiding them. Then when they show the family under the floor boards I knew the Nazis would find and kill them. And they did. No suspense, plus that scene lasted for 20 #%^@%*$ minutes! 20 minutes of my time in which I never even cared about what was going on. Plus half the scene was in subtitles that I couldn’t read. This movie isn’t even about the Basterds! I loved every part that they were in, which wasn’t much of the film at all! So unless you like long conversations that don’t go anywhere at all, skip this one.

#4:


The Fourth Kind-

I love anything that is about alien theories. (Especially the badly made TV documentaries!) Things about the “small grays” is interesting to me. But let me tell you something…this movie is the only exception. Alien abduction is one of my strange phobias, but I had a wonderful nights sleep when I got home from seeing this movie. Even “The Fourth Kind”, being the movie that it is, did NOT scare me. Not one bit. That may be because they never clearly show an alien, let alone an abduction. Instead they tryed to scare me with…an owl. I’m not kidding. Just for the record; IT'S NOT EVEN A TRUE STORY WITH "REAL" FOOTAGE LIKE IT SAYS IT IS!

#3:


Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen-

This has to be the worst movie of 2009 that I’ve seen. Almost everything about this movie down to the core is either bad or dreadful. Shia La-something is boring as Sam Wit-something. Megan Fox frustrates me as Sam’s sex-symbol girlfriend. The special effects are fake looking. Not one attempted joke made me laugh. The characters are all 1 Dimensional…do I have to go on about this piece of shit movie?! Ugh!

#2:


New Moon-

I haven’t seen “New Moon”, and I hope I never do. But I can piece together things I already know about the “Twilight” series. The story and the performances. The story starts off good because Edwart leaves the town of Forks. I don’t even care that their reasoning is stupid (Bella gets a paper cut). But soon they replace him with a character that is even more of a pussy than Edwart. Jacob the werewolf. The story is boring and stupid. Then they glaze it with bad performances! I know this because of seeing the first one. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart just can’t act. And Taylor Lautner is no better. Screw this franchise!

#1:


The Princess and the Frog-

I am very blessed that I didn’t have to see this movie. Why is it on my list you may ask? Because I could tell by the previews that this would be simply horrible. Sitting through it would be worse than seeing “New Moon”. That is a very strong sentence coming from me. Instead of choosing a good script to make in their original animated style, they chose a random princess story that could be told in under a minute, and add a bunch of random shit to it in order to get a hour and a half running time. And don’t even make me start on them deciding to make the main character African-American! Disney is the most racist company in history! And besides, they make the African-American princess kiss a frog! I dare you to look me strait in the eye and tell me “that’s not racist"!

 

When i saw 'The Road' on your top five list i immediately came to the conclusion that you had had some genuine taste- as that was by far my favorite film of the year.. tragic.

However, I can't help but disagree with your Inglorious Basterds review... in fact im appalled that it would make your 'worst' list.

The opening sequence wasn't so much a suspense as to whether or not the nazis would find and kill the jewish group under the floorboards- it was merely to create tension between the (incredibly played) Nazi officer antagonist, and the farmer... and yes, there WAS tension, incredible tension. This is probably one of Tarantino's best on-screen scenes, truly horrifying. It was the inevitability that the jewish group would be found that frightened people most... not the possibility that they COULD be caught.

 

Trust me, you aren't the first person to get upset about my opinion of Inglorious Basterds. I agree that the opening scene was trying to create tension and show how the Nazi officer guy toys with his victums (and yes, I think that it was trying to be at least a little bit suspenseful), but it didn't have to be that long to show this. I was sitting there for 20 minutes, or whatever, bored. I was never intrigued by the dialouge except when the Bastrerds were on screen. Every other converstion, having a point or not, was never interesting to listen to. I am planning to rewatch the film to see if I like it better the second time around.

 

You must not be a fan of Tarantino- because hes all about dialogue. Fair enough though, you either love him or hate him.

 

Couldn't agree more, but I would replace avatar with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The movie was epic and well deserving of a top 5 listing. Avatar was "meh." in my opinion. Nothing special and just another shitty love story that we would all hate if it wasn't all digitaly animated.

Up was amazing.

"So long boys!" and the little black kids in the window looking at the house like "Wtf?!?!"

Fantastic.

 

Avatar was a recycled concept with a sci fi touch. Look at Pocahontas, or Dances With Wolves for example.. its been done time and time again.