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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?
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Comments
By puckster1
July 10, 2009 11:36 PM | Link to this
Can’t disagree with many of the the choices. Also want to mention “Sugar,” a great coming-of-age/fish-out-of-water tale set with a backdrop of minor league baseball. A subtle story with great performances.By Love this!
July 10, 2009 10:45 AM | Link to this
Okay love most of your list! Completely agree with the Knowing. I was so confused throughout the entire thing. Definatley not worth paying to see. I did love the proposal, however. And transformers, but it was not as good as the first one i must say.By Jason
July 10, 2009 9:41 AM | Link to this
1) Up 2) The Wrestler 3) Gran Torino 4) Coraline 5) The HangoverBy SRCputt
July 9, 2009 9:29 PM | Link to this
Well TG, that’s one out of two for us on your topics. I would have voted for Langella too, and that’s no slight to Penn or Rourke, who were both outstanding. But I absolutely agree with Eric that The Reader was massively overrated by the academy. And in regards to the list, I would uptick Adventureland even more. It captured what its like to be out of college and trying to find oneself as well as any movie I’ve ever seen.By Top Gigio
July 9, 2009 2:31 PM | Link to this
I’m the opposite of Sir Critic in regards to the Winslet movies. I enjoyed The Reader while didn’t think much of Revolutionary Road.I thought the Oscar shouldn’t have gone to Rourke or Penn but Frank Langella, who was outstanding in Frost/Nixon. It made those interviews truly seem like very important events.By Zack
July 9, 2009 11:53 AM | Link to this
1.) Away We Go … 2.) Knowing … 3.) I Love You, Man … 4.) Star Trek … 5.) The Brothers Bloom … 6.) Duplicity … 7.) Whatever Works … 8.) Drag Me to Hell … 9.) Frost/Nixon … 10.) The Hangover