The Year in Movies . . .

I had a lot of time on my hands this year to watch flicks. Thanks to oneclickmovies.com its easier than ever to see stuff. Really great year for movies. Only one outright classic but about ten great movies and a slew of really good ones.

My Top 20 Movies of 2009:
1. Un Prophete / A Prophet
2. Anvil: The Story of Avil
3. Adventureland
4. The Hurt Locker
5 An Education
6. Funny People
7. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
8. A Serious Man
9. Big Fan
10. Observe and Report
11. Collapse
12. Tyson
13. Star Trek
14. In the Loop
15. Where the Wild Things Are
16. Up In the Air
17. The Hangover
18. Public Enemies
19. World’s Greatest Dad
20. 500 Days of Summer

Honorable Mention: Moon, Zombieland, Drag Me to Hell Paranormal Activity, Mystery Team, Up, Inglourious Basterds, Land of the Lost, Lymelife, The White Ribbon, The Invention of Lying (The romantic back half of the film keeps this from being a classic along the works of movies like Groundhog Day)

Notable movies I haven’t seen: 35 Shots of Rum, The Road, Black Dynamite, Afterschool, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Informant, and Brothers.

Biggest Disappointment: Avatar, District 9

Awards:
Best Actor: Tahar Rahim, Un Prophete; Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Best Actress: Anna Faris, Observe and Report and the chick in An Education
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Basterds and Alfred Molina, An Education
Best Supporting Actress: the older lady from In the Loop and the younger chick from Up in the Air
Best Director: Jacques Audiard, Un Prophete; Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Best Picture, Foreign Film, and Documentary are self-explanatory from my list.

District 9 at the Local Cineplex

Now that I live in my parents basement and schools have as of yet not called me to babysit, I have a lot of free time on my hands. One of the best perks of unemployment is the tremendous amount of free time on my hands. I can surf porn, read tv blogs, catch the lastest podcast, work on my physical figure, peruse poetry, download all the hippest bands, write screenplays, and visit the local cineplex whenever I want. Unemployment really is a beautiful thing if you use your time right!

Now, after several friends and blood relatives equated viewing the new science fiction documentary-like suspense thriller District 9 as some sort of transcendental experience worthy of masterpieces like The Wire and Robocop, I became filled with enthusiasm and excitement. I thought maybe after making all those boring ass LOTR movies and that ridiculously awful Tenacious D rendition of King Kong, Peter Jackson finally stopped making movies to pay the bills and put his efforts into a "personal" dream project that he would care about and culture like somebody with artistic integrity.

First off, I learned at about 4 pm walking out of the theatre that Peter Jackson didn't even direct the fucking thing, simply lended his name on a producer credit. Instead, some hack named Neill Blomkamp directed it. The most notable credential he has on his profile is lead 3d animator on the Kurt Russell gem 3000 Miles to Graceland. Seriously, are you kidding me? Thanks Peter Jackson for giving the keys to a guy that has to include his directoral effort Best Ads Ever 2 as a triumph of his career. Also, thanks to the studio for marketing this picture as a Peter Jackson film. Not that I would ever watch another movie from that fatass after LOTR and King Kong. Apparently he's making The Hobbit now. What a hack. Peter Jackson has officially admitted the fact that he has absolutely no creativity by living off the ideas of JRR Tolkien and whoever the dudes were that created King Kong. I can just picture himself eating Dairy Queen while rolling around naked in pile of 100 dollar bills.

I just want to say District 9 was the the most overated movie of the year so far. I don't think it reaches the heights of the cliche ridden love unites all social classes shit flick Slumdog Millionaire but its close. I wanted everyone to die in the fucking thing. The movie relies on the premise of humanzing unhygienic, disgusting mouth breathing retarded aliens. It has too many plotholes and the 2nd half is just one big cliche-ridden action movie. I'm convinced Blomkamp spent his time playing Mech Warrior 3 while the studio came calling for a script so he had to steal from the game in hopes nobody would notice. I noticed Neill -- you need to get some better drugs. Also, I felt like puking 20-30 minutes into it due to either putting too much butter on my popcorn or staring at those repulsive creatures on screen.

Overall, I'd give the movie a C. I did enjoy the documentary style and the early excitment the first 15 minutes of the film delivered but I would love to argue with you over a case of blatz if you thought this movie delivered the transcendental experience Peter Jackson promised.

Married to the Eiffel Tower

Here's a video about being sexually attracted to objects like bows or monuments or light sabers: Link.

Best Movies of the Year: The Definitive List

My only criterion for being considered a 2008 movie is if it got its first US theatrical release in 2008.

In order:

1. The Wrestler
2. Reprise
3. Man on Wire
4. Gomorra– A drama about the mafia's influence in modern day Italy
5. Encounters at the End of the World
6. Rachel Getting Married
7. Synecdoche, NY – overly ambitious but great nonetheless.
8. Role Models
9. Milk
10. The Visitor-The dude who played Scott Templeton on The Wire's follow-up to The Station Agent.
11. The Dark Knight- Lot of plot holes. Enough said.
12. Slumdog Millionaire- Cheezy and contrived third act dropped it a couple spots.
13. The Foot Fist Way- Made 3 years ago but just hit video this year.
14. Milk
15. Che - Forgot about this gem.
-Forgot about this gem.
Didn't see: Frost/Nixon, Appaloosa, Doubt, Let the Right One In, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Revolutionary Road, Tell No One

The Devil Came on Horseback (2007)

"It is as though history gave us another chance to redeem ourselves for our failure in Rwanda, and we're failing yet again."

If Hotel Rwanda upset you, I think you should definitely see this movie. The Devil Came on Horseback follows the story of Capt. Brian Steidle, a retired marine that took a job by the African Union to monitor a cease-fire between the Arab Sudanese government and African rebels. As his mission progressed, he became an eye witness to the developing genocide.

The movie was excellent. It does more than document the acts of genocide in Darfur. It follows Capt. Steidle's journey from all-American, gun loving marine, to reluctant a witness, to an activist.

This definitely ranks up with the best documentaries I've seen and I would recommend it with Town-like aggressiveness to anyone. I gave it a 5/5 on Netflix.

Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion (2003)

Cry of the Snow Lion is a historical documentary that was created as a result of a trip to Tibet for mountaineering. It encompasses the history, the culture, and the political and economic tensions between Tibetans and the Chinese Government.

I was particularly interested in this documentary after seeing the rally last weekend on the square. For those of you that weren't there, proponents of a free Tibet were protesting the Beijing Olympics and there was a smaller counter-rally advocating for the Olympics. After returning home from the Farmer's Market, I realized that I don't know much about the Free Tibet movement. This documentary changed that very much.

The film was able to hold my interest, despite being a longer documentary (100 min). It seemed to have a logical organization that presented material in a way that was easy to pick, especially the history and the culture of the Tibetans. It was also very moving, like most genocide based films, but it wasn't preachy or biased in an annoying way (think of Outfoxed or Fahrenheit 9/11). Of course the documentary has an agenda, but you don't get the feeling that there is a selection bias (they don't purposefully leave out information to further their argument).

Overall, I enjoyed the documentary and learned a lot. I gave it a 4/5 on Netflix and would recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about Tibet-China relations.

Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1989)

So this is the first documentary that I'm reviewing that I didn't watch instantly online. It's been in my queue for a while, and I finally got it this weekend.

I'm a huge fan of Thelonious Monk. He's one of those guys that I look up to for their individualism, like an Ayn Rand character, or Hugh Laurie. I'm not a jazz-guru, although I listen to a fair amount, but I've been in love with Thelonious Monk since middle school when I used to listen to Monk's Dream when I went to bed.

The documentary was great because it helped me put a face to the sound. The best part, in my opinion, was that it included a ton of old footage of Monk in concert, in recording, and traveling. If you're looking for a ton of information about him, this probably isn't the best documentary. I was surprised by the lack of narration and the unorganized nature of the film. Frankly, I enjoyed this because in place of narration, there was a lot of footage of Monk being Monk and a lot of great songs in the background.

I gave it a 4/5 on Netflix, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone that isn't interested in Monk.

The Future of Food (2004)

This documentary explores genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and their impact of food, agriculture, and law.

Although I was aware of GMOs and the arguments against having them in food, I was unaware of the legal aspects of GMOs. Apparently, living things were not able to be patented; however, with the advent of GMOs, companies have been able to patent plants/seeds that have been genetically modified. While this is interesting in itself, I think some of the legal consequences that have resulted are even more shocking. One of the examples used in the film is of a farmer who, through no fault of his own, ended up with a GMO crop in his field (they think seeds may have blown off a truck into his field). The GMO cross-breeded with his own seed and when the company that owned the patent found out, they sued. The government found that, regardless of how the GMO seed arrived in his field, the farmer had violated the patent rights of the corporation (Monsanto, I think). Also, any plant that was crossed with the GMO seed was also the property of the corporation.

The documentary also followed the corporate-government relations in respect to regulation of GMOs and labeling in the supermarkets. Apparently, in the EU, all GMOs must be labeled, but GMOs are in a ton of food in the U.S. without anyone knowing.

While the documentary was a typical social documentary, it took a different approach to GMOs (mainly, legal/political) that I found interesting. However, the documentary was slow moving at times and a little one sided. I gave it a 3/5 on Netflix.

Forgiving Dr. Mengele (2006)

This documentary follows a Holocaust survivor's healing process. I didn't really understand that healing would be the focus of the movie when I set out to watch it, but it was interesting nonetheless. Dr. Mengele was a Nazi doctor at Auschwitz that preformed experiments on twins at the death camp.

The history of Dr. Mengele was what initially drew me to the documentary. The historical aspect probably takes up 1/4 or 1/3 of the movie. The rest of the movie examines how Eva Kor has lived, following the experiments that were preformed on her at Auschwitz. Kor is not your typical Holocaust survivor and it was interesting to see the tension between her and the other "Mengele Twins."

The documentary was interesting, but I don't think it was particularly moving for a Holocaust survivor story. It was also somewhat slow moving and boring at times. However it approaches the Holocaust in a unique way (forgiveness, healing, etc.). I gave it a 2/5 on Netflix, but I'm sure others would have rated it higher.

The Business of Being Born

I chose to watch The Business of Being Born (2007) because my life partner had recently seen it and had mixed feelings about it, so I decided to give it a shot. Normally I don't like "social documentaries" that beat you over the head with whatever it is that they think you should believe, but for the sake of this experiment, I'll watch em all.

BoBB, as I like to call it, examines the "industrialization" of giving birth. They argue that hospitals are good places to have babies if drugs, surgery, etc. are needed, but not in "normal" birthing situations. To that I say, meh. I suppose that may be true, but so what? Answer: some hippy crap about the birth no longer belonging to the mother and other granola arguments.

Anyway, the film was not made for men. Part of their argument was how much more enjoyable/intimate home birthing is. In order to make this point, they showed a number of home births, including that of Ricky Lake. My question is this, if you're trying to promote home births, why would you show Ricky Lake giving birth?? The one thing I really liked about the movie is that the investigator was pregnant and attempted a live birth. However, since the baby was breach, she had to go to the hospital. It was nice of them to show the counterarguments.

Overall, I didn't much care for it. It is a pretty standard social documentary, but it didn't really convince me that home births are that much better. I gave it a 2/5 on Netflix, but I would definitely recommend it to someone considering having a baby. I would also recommend fast-forwarding through Ricky Lake, naked in a bath tub.

Billy Bragg and Wilco: Man in the Sand

Man in the Sand (2001) follows the life and music of Woody Guthrie and the creation of the Mermaid Avenue albums, a joint creation between Billy Bragg and Wilco. I really liked the albums and I feel massively let down by the documentary.

Although it was a great subject, I think it was a terrible idea to let Guthrie's daughter (Nora) be involved. She gave incredibly biased answers and frankly, I just don't like her. She has an annoying voice and narrated the whole movie. Billy Bragg was interesting and seemed really invested in the project, but Jeff Tweedy of Wilco came off as a bit of a twat.

I would have enjoyed the documentary if it was just about Guthrie's life or just about the creation of the album, but there wasn't enough time for both. They played a couple tracks from the album and showed parts of the creative process, but I would have liked to hear more about why Bragg chose any particular song out of the tons of options. Also, Nora Guthrie should not have been allowed to participate.

I gave it a 3/5 on Netflix, but only because I loved the albums. Had Mermaid Avenue sucked, the movie would have gotten a 2/5.

King of Kong

Question: Look at me, what do you think my initials were? If you can't see it, you're not looking hard enough.

Answer: F.A.G.

Billy Mitchell is the huge douche that happens to have the current high score to the arcade version of Donkey Kong... at least, if you're willing to believe Twin Galaxies and after this movie, I doubt you would.

I saw The King of Kong (2007) based on a recommendation and it was certainly worth my time. The documentary follows the history of the contested Donkey Kong high score, from the time little Billy Mitchell first made the record (in the 1980s) to when Steve Wiebe broke it (multiple times in this movie).

If you knew nothing about the context of this movie, you might think that it's a mockumentary. Oh if only.

Billy Mitchell had one big record back in the day, and has been riding on that one victory for the past 20 years. He looks like some sort of salesman (indeed, he sells hot sauce with his parents) and has a skanky looking wife. He is promoted by Twin Galaxies and uses his connections with them to maintain his high scores. After his record got p0wn3d by Steve Wiebe (who was forced by TG to break the record in public, thousands of miles from home), Mitchell submitted a shady-as-hell video that was immediately accepted by TG. His wife has never seen him compete in public.

Walter Day, the "official scorekeeper" of Twin Galaxies, is a nut. The documentary features a few clips of him singing and playing the guitar. Also, he's in to transcendental meditation. He sweats Billy Mitchell hard and made him "Videogamer of the Century" an interesting title, considering video games had only been around for about a quarter of a century during the 20th century and the 21st century is far from over. Oh well, what do you expect from a nut that thinks he can reach enlightenment by closing his eyes and jumping around a room with a bunch of pillows? However, after further research I found the official TG Statement on KoK and frankly, I think Day may have a point.

Steve Wiebe is the hero of the movie, and possibly the only gamer featured that deserves to live. Also, he's he only one I noticed that was married and had kids.

To see the rest of the ridiculous characters, pick up the movie. I gave it a 5/5 on Netflix.

But just for fun... here's an interview with Mr. Awesome (Roy Shildt, videogamer):



Lolxors.

Wisconsin Death Trip

This is the spookiest documentary I think I've ever seen. Wisconsin Death Trip (2001) details multiple bizarre incidents that occurred in and around Black River Falls, WI around the turn of the 20th century. There were a number of murders, suicides, and insanities around that time that were apparently related as some sort of mass hysteria.

The movie is fucking creepy. In and of themselves, the events are unnerving, but their presentation makes it even worse. During the film, any time someone was admitted to Mendota, a different narrator would whisper the notes written by the admitting physician. There were some crazy montages that went from chopping off chicken heads to hanging bodies to a woman throwing rocks through windows. To make it worse, the historical reenactments were shot in black and white and like those old-timey pictures... no one smiled and they all looked half-dead.

While somewhat interesting, the documentary did not attempt to tie any of the actions together. The movie was, on the whole, very disjointed. It seemed like a series of short stories in a novel with little connecting them together, except fucking creepiness. Also, the film would flash forward a couple times to present day Black River Falls and I'm really not sure what the purpose was. Finally, my morbid fascination almost always went unfulfilled because most of the incidents were not sufficiently explained. For example "[Shot of abandoned, rundown house with woman walking in shadows] One winter night, opera singer Pauline l'Allemand slipped out of Mendota and made her way to Chicago. Some years later, her name surfaced on a lawsuit. She complained of being disturbed by the sound of odd and distressing voices which she presumed to be the rehearsal of a ventriloquist act... [Change shots to man sitting in window, smoking] it turned out that she was right." WTF!? What is the point of any of this little anecdote, other than to give me the hiebie-jiebies.

I gave it a 2/5 on Netflix because I don't really know what to make of it, but it has me sufficiently nervous to walk home tonight.

Super Size Me

I finally saw Super Size Me (2004) and much like the man who shares the blogs name, I too found myself craving some McDonalds following the film. Also, I learned that fat girls live in Texas. Don't mess with fat chicks.

Although the documentary is definitely , I think it was done in a better way than many other "social documentaries." While it was certainly arguing that fast food is dangerous, it provided evidence and didn't get annoyingly preachy. It also didn't resort to rhetorical arguments or try to state subjective opinions as facts as much as many other documentaries I've seen have done. The worst criticism the movie can face is that the small sample size (n=1) leaves the documentary unscientific. However, it didn't suffer from the selection bias that a documentary like "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" had.

In all, it was definitely worth watching while doing some thesis research. I gave it 4/5 on Netflix because I think it was a better than average documentary and an interesting/unique approach for the genre.