07 March 2010

2009 in Review: Updated and Final (je crois)

Well, the Oscars are tonight and we're embarking on the third month of 2010 so it seems prudent to seal off my 2009 movie matrix. These are all 128 (if I've counted correctly) of the movies I've seen that could be construed to have come out last year. Not a single English-language movie made my "Loved It" list! Come on anglophone world, let's pick up the slack here!!! (Edit- In the Loop and Amreeka came close to making my "Loved It" list. Maybe I did love them and just don't know it yet...)


Loved It
Cherry Blossoms (Kirschblüten - Hanami)
Gomorrah (Gamorra)
Hipsters (Stilyagi)
A Prophet (Un prophète)
Raging Sun, Raging Sky (Rabioso Sol, Rabioso Cielo)
Summer Hours (L'heure d'été)
Who's Afraid of the Wolf (Kdopak by se vlka bál)
A Woman in Berlin (Anonyma- Eine Frau in Berlin)
A Woman's Way (Strella)

Really Liked It
35 Shots of Rum (35 Rhums)
Ajami
Amreeka
Avatar
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Der Baader Meinhof Komplex)
Backyard (El Traspatio)
The Beaches of Agnès (Les plages d'Agnès)
Broken Embraces (Los Abrazos Rotos)
The Cove
Crazy Heart
An Education
Every Little Step
Fish Tank
Flame & Citron (Flammen & Citronen)
A Frozen Flower (Ssanghua jeom)
Half-Life
The Headless Woman (La Mujer Sin Cabeza)
In the Loop
Invictus
Jerichow
Julia
Lorna's Silence (Le silence de Lorna)
The Milk of Sorrow (La teta asustada)
Mother (Madeo)
Precious
The Rapture of Fe (Ang Panggagahasa kay Fe)
Ricky
A Serious Man
The September Issue
Still Walking (Aruitemo aruitemo)
Treeless Mountain
Two Lovers
Valentino: The Last Emperor
The White Ribbon (Das weisse Band)
Women in Trouble
You, the Living (Du, levande)

Liked It
9
(500) Days of Summer
Antichrist
The Chaser (Chugyeogja)
Coco Before Chanel (Coco avant Chanel)
District 9
Drag Me to Hell
Eyes Wide Open (Einaym pkuhot)
Easy Virtue
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Goodbye Solo
Humpday
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Import/Export
Ink
Julie & Julia
Made in Hungaria
New York, I Love You
Nine
Police, Adjective (Politist, adj.)
Revanche
Rory O'Shea Was Here
The Secret of Kells
Sherlock Holmes
Sin Nombre
Sita Sings the Blues
Sunshine Cleaning
Taken
The 'Thank You' Girls
Trucker
Tyson
Vincere
Whip It
Will Not Stop There (Nije Kraj)

It were so-so.
Adam
All About Steve
Brüno
The Brothers Bloom
Cheri
Coraline
Duplicity
Eastern Plays (Iztochni piesi)
fados
Food, Inc.
The Girlfriend Experience
Good Hair
Hidden Diary (Meres et filles)
The Informant!
Into Temptation
Kathy Griffin: She'll Cut a Bitch
The Last Station
Leaves of Grass
Make the Yuletide Gay
The Messenger
Michael Jackson's This Is It
Moon
My Brother Is an Only Child (Mio fratello è figlio unico)
No Impact Man
Of Time and the City
Paris 36 (Faubourg 36)
Princess and the Frog
Rage
Tokyo!
Up
Up in the Air
Whatever Works
The Young Victoria

Didn't Like It
Anvil: The Story of Anvil
Away We Go
Big Fan
The Blind Side
Bright Star
Case Unknown (Enen)
Funny People
The Hangover
Inglourious Basterds
The International
The New Twenty
Not Quite Hollywood
The Obama Deception
Public Enemies
Star Trek
State of Play
World's Greatest Dad

Hated It
El secreto de sus ojos
The Hurt Locker
The Road
A Single Man

5 comments:

  1. I recommend watching The Headless Woman again in a few months. I didn't realize how much I loved it until I saw it for a second time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know you liked it but I wrote this about George Washington tonight, a movie that somewhat bothered me. Sylvain from Montreal had first on his short list of best movies of the decade so I felt like commenting the following on his page. I'm too tired to shape the words better, tonight, but I thought I'd pass it on because I haven't gotten around to my own film blog or something interesting, yet:


    Was the scene where George was directing traffic as, I assumed, a good deed, supposed to make me want to puke?

    How that movie grated on me, mostly because I thought that it was so over the top in the wrong way, like the sort of crutch that would prop up the status quo in my country or even, quite possibly, be detrimental. It felt like a totally different beast to me than something like Avatar or Precious, which felt more like some kind of real change or revolt surely to soon be nipped in the bud by those safely ensconced in institutions and other comfort zones. But I felt like I should support George due to subject matter and good intentions, and it was shot in a dreamy, Gus Van Santly sort of way, so I couldn't hate it. GAWD. What am I missing here?

    I also gave Turtles Can Fly about the same three stars. These sort of movies don't feel true to the mark for me; they seem like something white girls or from good homes who don't really want to personally assume any responsibility for solving major problems would love. Because it's just so sad what happened to those kids in this dreamy movie, now let's get back to hanging out with our friends, going to shows, and buying some new music. Maybe that's a bit brash but I'd prefer something like Kandahar, or Blackboards, or any number of movies that dealt with the Iraq War.

    On further research, David Gordon Green is from Richardson, Texas, which explains everything about this movie that made me feel like vomiting or rang false. Like it was made by and for privileged people in bubbles who produce a token to show they care without giving up a whit of white privilege and party fun time. Which I might like a bit more if the token rang truer to reality but it's kind of off in those Wes Anderson clouds or something. He went on to direct Pineapple Express.

    ReplyDelete
  3. this was supposed to be posted where you wrote about The Blind Side, but i think i goofed.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I guess I responded to this by email and it doesn't seem to post that way. This was the response I sent:

    I saw it in the theater and haven't seen it since then. I just remember thinking it wasn't like anything I'd ever seen before and it reminded me of my own rural poverty childhood. I was very moved by it but I'd have to watch it again.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm with you on George Washington though; it's probably DGG's most successful film as a whole... and maybe I'm just shallow, but its cinematography was all I needed.

    ReplyDelete