Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2009 > July > 09
Thursday, July 9, 2009
My half-year 10 Best List
Now that the year’s half gone, and with the prospect of 10 Best Picture nominees looming on the horizon, it’s time to take stock of the best films of the year - so far. If I reviewed the film, the title links to it.
Note: I am considering films released this calendar year in the Dayton area, so some of these titles were actually last year’s Oscar contenders.
1) Up - Not for nothing is this now PIxar’s second highest grossing picture. And don’t be surprised to see it still atop my list at the end of the year.
2) Revolutionary Road: Underrated, underseen, and sorely misunderstood. As an acting showcase alone, it’s much worthier than many people are willing to admit.
3) The Wrestler: With all due respect to Sean Penn’s outstanding performance in Milk, Mickey Rourke really should have won the Best Actor Oscar as a onetime superstar past his prime, desperately seeking redemption
4) Coraline: Marvelous, dazzlingly inventive stop-motion animated fantasy/nightmare that I think is even better than The Nightmare Before Christmas, also directed by Henry Selick.
5) Frost/Nixon: Ron Howard took a decidedly uncinematic event and made it more tense than most thrillers.
6) Star Trek: One of the most purely entertaining films of the year. Great fun.
7) Adventureland: I quite liked this coming-of-age story when I first saw it and liked it even better the second time around. It’s this year’s “movie that got away.” I hope it finds a wider audience.
8) Duplicity: Another underappreciated gem, the Julia Roberts/Clive Owen duel of wits was actually faulted for being too smart and clever. Um - since when are those bad qualities?
9) Let the Right One In - This vampire romance import certainly seemed quite effective when I saw it on DVD - and that’s with supposedly faulty subtitles.
10) Public Enemies: Johnny Depp and Michael Mann are firing on almost all thrusters in this engrossing take on the last days of John Dillinger.
Runners Up: The Hangover, I’ve Loved You So Long, Sunshine Cleaning
Very strong, if not quite excellent: Away We Go, Defiance, Drag Me To Hell, Gran Torino, I Love You, Man; State of Play, 12
Tries way too hard, but admirable for it: The Brothers Bloom
Solid if unexceptional: Inkheart, The International, Last Chance Harvey, Monsters vs. Aliens, Observe and Report, Push, Race to Witch Mountain, The Soloist, Taken, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Whatever Works
Nice try, but lacking: Angels & Demons, He’s Just Not That Into You, The Proposal, 17 Again, Terminator Salvation, X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Meh: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Paris 36
Ambitious, but still a misfire: Watchmen
WTF was that supposed to mean: Knowing
WTF did the Academy see in this pretentious crap: The Reader
So it made a ton of money. It still sucks: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
What are your picks for the best of the year so far?
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment | Categories: Lists
What’s opening Friday, July 10?
Movies settle back into their normal Friday slot for a week, representing sort of a calm before next Wednesday’s Harry Potter storm.
Bruno: Sacha Baron Cohen, AKA Borat, pushes more hot buttons again, bringing his flamboyantly gay fashionista to the big screen and embarrassing everyone who crosses his path. Reviews are mostly positive; but I have a feeling this won’t match Borat’s success. My review posts Friday.
I Love You, Beth Cooper: Director Chris Columbus’ first film as a director was Adventures in Babysitting; he returns to teen comedy with this story about a geeky valedictorian (Paul Rust) who declares his undying love for the class hottie played by Hayden Panettiere. So far its scored a whopping zero percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Granted, that’s based on seven reviews, but still - not so lucky.
At the arthouses
The Neon hangs on to its current lineup of Woody Allen’s solid Whatever Works, (reviewed here) and Sam Mendes’ also solid Away We Go (reviewed here). The Little Art opens its exclusive engagement of the acclaimed sci-fi film Moon.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: In Area Theaters
