10. In the Loop (2009; directed by Armando Iannucci, written by Iannucci et al.)
I'm a newbie to the political world of Armando Iannucci, but damn have I fallen hard. Immediately after In the Loop ended I tracked a copy of the first The Thick of It (the TV show that In the Loop continues) series. The show is good, but this movie is better - I demand the Oscars recognize its brilliant dialogue in the Adapted Screenplay category (I'll start holding my breath nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnow.). Iannucci has a verbal viscosity comparable to David Mamet and his control of a massive, colorful cast brings to mind Robert Altman.
But this isn't stale political whimsy. It's entertaining as all hell, even if you don't know a cock from a caucus (I doubt some of the characters do).
9. Watchmen (2009; directed by Zack Snyder, written by David Hayter and Alex Tse, based on the graphic novel Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore)
This was easily my most anticipated movie of the year and boy, was I worried. How do you adapt the ultimate graphic novel? If you're Zack Snyder, you don't: you just shoot the damn thing. The results aren't perfect, but how could it have been? This is the densest, smartest, most exciting, satirical, and well illustrated comic of all time. But, against all odds, it ends up onscreen as the Watchmen that I love; a little snipped, but relatively uncompromised.
The uninitiated might find it shaky and stilted at this point, but it is the most complete adaptation I could have ever hoped to expect. And personally, I found the change at the end logical - didn't bother me one bit.
8. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About his Father (2008; directed by Kurt Kuenne)
I'm fond of telling people how much this documentary affected me. Not because I like bragging about openly weeping, by myself, and having to pause the movie to reconstitute myself, but because I've never had a movie hit me this hard. There's a moment about two-thirds of the way through the movie - believe me, you'll know it - that is simply one of the saddest things I've ever seen.
Which is actually why it didn't rank higher than this: I just didn't enjoy it. I know you aren't supposed to, but I can't imagine myself ever wanting to revisit this movie. Kuenne, a gifted documentary organizer, perhaps manipulates a little too much, but this is also the movie's biggest boon: it makes you feel like you're there, with the family, as they go through this tragedy. Shame on you Oscar for ignoring this brilliant documentary.
7. The Chaser (2008; directed by Na Hong-jin, written by Na, Lee Shinho, & Hong Won-Chan)
This is the best kind of movie: the one you don't expect in the slightest. I picked up The Chaser when it first came out, knew nothing about, and had my mind blown all over the back wall. From the great cinematic country of Korea, The Chaser concerns ex-detective turned pimp who discovers, after several of his "girls" have gone missing, that one his best employees if currently with the man responsible.
The premise itself is ripe, but the power of The Chaser is in how everything plays out. Joong-ho's (Kim Yun-seok, suitably bastardly) interactions with both the cops and killer are written fantastically. One of the strangest aspects of the movie is the fact that there's no mystery about who the killer is (Ha Jung-Woo, who is holy SHIT creepy). You're told right away, and seeing Joong-ho and police trip around to get him convicted is one of the strongest parts of the movie. The best Korean thriller since Memories of Murder, The Chaser proves Korea can kick any other country's ass in the thriller department.
6. Pontypool (2008; directed by Bruce McDonald, written by Tony Burgess, based off his novel)
Oh Canada! A good movie! How long has it been? I guess we've had a few recent ones (Amal and One Week come to mind), but this is so much better. An original horror thriller that brings to mind, without necessarily paying homage to, the early work of David Cronenberg. The plot revolves around a radio station crew on the morning of a - maybe - zombie outbreak. The outbreak is being spread through... nevermind, I'm not going to tell you. You'll have more fun finding out on your own.
The entire movie plays out inside the radio station and that is it's greatest strength: McDonald forces you to imagine all the scares and, if you're willing, it's terrifying. The climatic sequence plays linguistic gymnastics to find its resolution and, despite being a little too stilted, works wonderfully. If you thought Hard Core Logo was Bruce McDonald's high-water mark, get yourself a copy of Pontypool.
5. Drag me to Hell (2009; directed by Sam Raimi, written by Sam & Ivan Raimi)
No movie this year got my inner geek going like Drag me to Hell, Sam Raimi's gruesome, glorious, GREAT return to the horror that made his career! While I do understand that Raimi is basically just updating Evil Dead II (and possibly Army of Darkness) with a bigger budget and prettier stars, I really don't care. I really, really don't. The Evil Dead series is possibly my all time favorite. I don't even care if we get an Evil Dead 4, because it's right here!
The plot: an adorable Alison Lohman crosses paths with a terrifying Lorna Raver (if there were any justice in the world, Raver would get a supporting actress Oscar nomination) and what follows is trademark Raimi "spook-a-blast" fun. Those who take issue with its PG-13 rating should note that very same rating on the back of their Army of Darkness DVD. This is excellently, slimy fun stuff.
4. The Hurt Locker (2008; directed by Katherine Bigelow, written by Mark Boal)
I'm gonna come right out and say it: a woman killed the war movie. I don't think it's sexist to say so. Let's face it: nearly every war movie ever made has been directed by a man. I think it took a woman's perspective to make such a detached, visceral war-movie experience. It's also got the best action of the year (next to #3, which is in a class of its own), and some of the best I've ever seen in a war movie.
With The Hurt Locker, the 00's get it's Saving Private Ryan; a cool-headed war film that exploits its subject matter for nothing but amazing action scenes. You could spend hours interpreting the social messages of the movie, but Boal and Bigelow are careful not to condemn or condone the war. And the movie is all the better for it. This is about the people, not the politics.
3. Star Trek (2009; directed by J.J. Abrams, written by Alex Kurtzmann and Roberto Orci, based on the franchise created by Gene Roddenberry)
Roughly a millisecond into Abrams Trek I knew it was the movie for me: a slow pull away from hull of a Starfleet vessel reveals it approaching a "lightening storm in space". A demonic ship exits the black hole and lays waste to the ship, George Kirk, and the franchise as we know it.
And it just gets better and better: from the casting of Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine in the leads, to the unbelievably well-crafted, gravitationally unbound action sequences, to the dialogue and flowering of relationships, this Trek gets it all right. Sure, there are "problems". Nero's puzzling backstory/motivations. Kirk's unbelievably quick ascent to the captainship. A rushed third-act. But I'm not entirely convinced that any changes would have improved the movie. A classic figure appears to dole out some fatherly, third act advice - "Put aside logic. Do what feels right." - and holy hot-damn, does Trek '09 ever feel right.
2. Hunger (2008; directed by Steve McQueen, written by McQueen and Edna Walsh)
Like a parasite, Hunger burrowed under my skin and refused to leave. Since I saw it back in January at the Victoria film festival, it's striking images, it's nebulous message, it's uncompromised vision of human suffering have returned regularly to haunt me. Like Dear Zachary, it's a movie I appreciated more than I enjoyed, but unlike that documentary, it has compelled me to return.
I want to describe Hunger, but the words fail me. It doesn't fall into any accepted genre. I heard it described once as an "Avante-garde horror" movie, and I suppose that as good a way to say it as any. From its early almost-Slacker-like passing of protagonists, to its dreamlike resolution, Hunger is absolute, pure, and indispensable cinema. Steve McQueen must make another film, and soon.
1. Inglorious Basterds (2009; written and directed by Quentin Tarantino)
"The German's call them... the Bastards."
Tarantino moves in waves: he began to grow up with Jackie Brown, but got playful with Kill Bill Vol. 1; he started that "maturation" thing again with Kill Bill Vol. 2, but jerked one out with Death Proof. Here, we have the full result of his growth in a movie with the word Basterds in the title. Perhaps words like "growth" and "mature" don't really apply to Tarantino. After all, the Kill Bill's were made together and could not be more tonally different.
Basterds is unlike, and yet exactly, like everything Tarantino has ever done. This is a celebration of film, and examination of his love of film. The setting is WWII to France, but the real setting is cinematic history. Throughout the movie, Tarantino places his characters in and around movies, has them affected by movies, even has them make movies. His movie is not about the destruction of the Third Reich by the Allies, the Jews, the Americans, or even the Basterds themselves, but by cinema.
The controversial ending is, taken for what it stands for instead for what actually happens, is brilliant. It may well be the single boldest act I've seen in a "Hollywood" movie since Kevin Costner looked at the camera in JFK. Tarantino, you continue to prove yourself an indispensable, quixotic filmmaker, and this just might be your masterpiece.
So there it is. Not too exciting, but I liked 'em. It was good year. I was sad to have to leave out great flicks such as Tell No One, Trick 'r Treat, The Wrestler, Waltz with Bashir, The Hangover and a heck of a lot more. Hey, you can't win 'em all.
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