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Movies Seen in 2010

1/3 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
d. Stanley Kubrick
s. Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood

I got this movie on Blu-Ray for Christmas, and as big of a sci-fi fan as I am, this is honestly the first time I've seen the movie all the way through. There are truly some breathtaking scenes. The monolith on the moon scene pretty much creeped me out a little and was almost overwhelming.

It's not one of my favorite films by any means, but I appreciate it, and I'm very impressed by the transfer. It looks like it was filmed yesterday.

Going to watch all the special features now!
 
Up in the Air was ascendant. One of the best films of 2009. Jason Reitman is now a proven talent, and this is definitely my favorite film of his so far. I look forward to whatever he does next.
 
I ended up going today to see "The Lovely Bones" today. I thought it was good and will give it 8/10. I have not read the book on which it is based so I have no idea how well Peter Jackson's adaptied it. I think it is a movie people will either like or hate.

Last night I rewatched the Australian movie "The Castle", which one of my favourite comedies.​
 
1/4 Rosemary's Baby (1968) [A]
d. Roman Polanski
s. Mia Farrow

One of the best horror films ever. It's a plausible scenario that manages to not go over the top until the very end. I pretty much knew what was going on the whole time based on hearing about the movie my whole life, but it was still great to see the ending. Great movie that I highly recommend to anyone who likes any kind of movie.
 
The Thing, 1982, Kurt Russell. Fantastic "monster effects" for the most part, except for the alien's big reveal at the end. I still can't watch the scene when the thing takes over the dogs. *hides eyes* Poor doggies! I remember watching it as a youngster and going to clutch my own dog desperately.

But overall, great pacing and atmosphere a bit melodramatic acting, but still enjoyable.
 
Wynterhawk said:
The Thing
Click to expand...

I jumped a foot in the air when they were testing the blood. Not a great film to me, but some very good scenes.
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1/4 Up in the Air (2009) [A]
d. Jason Reitman
s. George Clooney, Vera Farmiga

Reitman is 3/3 in my eyes. After Thank You For Smoking and Juno, he has done it again. This film is wonderfully acted, funny, and entertaining from start to finish. I thought I had my top 10 of 2009 set, but this might be in there now. And... I have fallen in love with Vera Farmiga. After this and The Orphan, I think she is very talented.

Watching The Lovely Bones now... will tell my thoughts on that in an hour or so.
 
Totally agree on Up in the Air, Starbreaker. It totally cracks my Top Ten of 2009 as well. Great, great film. Entertaining from start to finish. Vera Farmiga is my new crush.
 
Also, my thoughts on The Lovely Bones, which I just saw.

The Lovely Bones was a beautifully made film, with gorgeous special effects and some decent performances, especially by Stanley Tucci. However, the film comes off as overwrought, contrived, and forced. There are some truly fantastic moments -- like when Jack Salmon (Mark Walhberg) realizes George Harvey (Tucci) is the killer of his daughter -- but the film is strangely overly sentimental, lacking a certain emotional authenticity that comes with grief and loss. Everything is overblown, and there is no room for any emotional nuisance.

The film works surprisingly a lot better when it is trying to be a taut suspense thriller rather than when it is trying to be a heart-wrenching drama. The scene where Lindsay breaks into Mr. Harvey's room was well-staged and well-edited. Peter Jackson certainly knows how to build suspense. If only he handled the heavy-handed emotional material with a bit more ease. For a film with such delicate subject material, nothing is subtle or quiet.

Overall, The Lovely Bones is a disappointment. I'm an ardent fan of the book, which was so much better at relaying the emotional intricacy of loss. Naturally some of the details got lost in translation, and I think that's my biggest problem with The Lovely Bones: loss is all about the little details, the little moments, and that is something the film sorely misses.
 
1/4 The Lovely Bones (2009) [B-]
d. Peter Jackson
s. Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Stanley Tucci

Ummm... this isn't a bad film, but it tries too hard. There are some great scenes, and there are some less than good scenes. The pace is just way too uneven to sustain two hours. I wasn't expecting much after reading the reviews... but I think it could have been a lot better.

I saw much more mediocre films this year.
 
Saw The Road today. Now I need to watch something cheerier like Schindler's List or Requiem For A Dream to make me feel a little happier. I think the word "bleak" was invented to one day describe this movie. It was very good, and well worth watching, but I can't see myself ever watching it again.
 
So, Me and Orson Welles. Very good. The Orson Welles is plainly too old for the role, but it's understandable why: If cast as a man of 22 he'd be too close to Zac Efron's age for the film to really work. Anyway, rather entertaining stuff. It's loud, breezy, enthusiastic, has all the joy and optimism of youth and a lot of the ballyhoo of, well, Hollywood (it is about a theatrical production of Julius Caesar, but never mind?) The Joe Cotton and Lloyd Bridges are downright uncanny, no doubt a mixture of good casting and an excellent hair stylist. As a study of Welles as a brilliant but manipulative and tempestuous egoist, well, it's a damn fine movie.

Seraphine. Solid, engaging biopic about the washerwoman painter. This film pretty much makes itself and was a nice little joy to watch. Yolande Moreau excellent in title role, wonderfully empathetic, posessed, not without her own wry sense of humour - but also servile and sadly deranged when the story requires it. Very classically stoically French in a Robert Bresson sort of way.

Also I saw Avatar again. I've opined about it elsewhere, but yeah, while I'd concur with most of the film's flaws, I just enjoy the damn thing too much.
 
Saw Adventureland, which I'd been wanting to for a while (it made Berardinelli's Top 10 list for 2009). Personal milestone for being the first movie I bought via iTunes (considerably cheaper than the DVD, and since while at college I watch all my movies on a laptop anyway).

Overall, an enjoyable movie; I liked it a lot more than 500 Days of Summer, largely because I empathized a lot more with the characters. I found the portrayal of Ryan Reynolds' character particularly interesting. I'd give it a B+.
 
1/4 The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) [A+]

I'm not sure why this film wasn't well received by critics or most moviegoers. I found it to be an engaging love story with realistic time travel... much better than the Lake House, which I still haven't managed to figure out.

1/5 An Education (2009)

A good film... not among my favorites for the year, but there's nothing really wrong with it. Alfred Molina is great.

1/5 A Perfect Getaway (200) [D]

One of the worst 2009 releases. It lacks a any sort of tension or intesting characters. The "twist ending" is terrible. Skip it.
 
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I just saw another 2009 movie, while trying to pick up the pace with movies from 2009 that I haven't seen... The Soloist, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx. Despite mixed reviews I rather liked the film. It was often touching, subtle, with great lead performances. Downey Jr. despite his eccentricities gives another great performance. He's proving to be one of my favorite actors, with Iron Man & Sherlock Holmes giving him back his acting cred.
 
1/5 Observe and Report (2009) [B+]

Despite some ridiculously unbelievable scenes, this movie is great in an over the top kind of way. I had no interest in this until my recent quest to watch most of the movies from 2009. I really liked it!


  1. 1/1 The Blind Side (2009) [A]
  2. 1/3 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
    [*]1/3 Awake (2007) [C]
    [*]1/4 Rosemary's Baby (1968) [A]
    [*]1/4 Up in the Air (2009) [A]
    [*]1/4 The Lovely Bones (2009) [B-]
    [*]1/4 The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) [A]
    [*]1/5 An Education (2009)
    [*]1/5 A Perfect Getaway (2009) [D]
    [*]1/6 Observe and Report (2009)

Tomorrow: Taking Woodstock and probably another film before reality kicks back in.
 
Saw Clint Eastwood's Invictus which was very good but a little lifeless. Not as good as Eastwood's last effort, Gran Torino.
 
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