Movies 2009; or "Yes, another damn list"

Posted: January 10th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 4 Comments »

In chronological order

Movies I saw and liked in 2009:
– Watchmen    (yes, that’s right.  I was not until March that I saw a movie that was worth $9)
– I Love You, Man
– Earth
– Ghosts of Girlfriends Past  (dude, I’m telling you, the first 20 minutes is a handbook in life)
– X-Men Origins: Wolverine

– Drag Me to Hell
– The Hangover
– (500) Days of Summer
– GI Joseph   (I went into it expecting fx & action & ninja-fights, and I got what I wanted)
– Julie & Julia    (mostly because of the brownie points it earned me)
– Jennifer’s Body
– Whip It
– Zombieland
– Couples Retreat
– 2012   (same low-expectations as GI Joe)
– It’s Complicated
– Sherlock Holmes

Movies I saw even though I should have known better:
– Underworld 3
– Taken
– He’s Just not that into You
– Adventureland
– X-Men Origins: Wolverine
– The Ugly Truth
– Funny People
– Sorority Row
– Everybody’s Fine    (I maintain that the adverts for this movie lied to people)
– Avatar/Pocahantas

Movies I rented and regretted;

– Fanboys
– The Haunting in Connecticutt
– Obsessed
– I Love you Beth Cooper   (what can I say, I’m a sucker for the cheerleader)
– Blood: The Last Vampire
– The Goods

Movies I watched because they were the only on while on a plane:
-Paul Blart

So that comes out to 17 wins, 10 losses.  If I was playing in the NFC, that’d be good enough for a first-round bye.  All together, not bad, I suppose, but I went to the movies a lot less than I did in 2007 & 2008, and there are lots of good movies that I never got to see (District 9, 9 by Tim Burton, Moon, Boondock Saints 2, Cloudy…).

Resolutions:
– See more good movies
– Find more movie-buddies for great films Anie has no interest in watching

4 Comments on “Movies 2009; or "Yes, another damn list"”

  1. 1 karinavee said at 12:05 am on January 11th, 2010:

    “Avatar” is “Dances With Wolves” with aliens. Also “District 9” was amazing and you need to invest.

  2. 2 Ryan G said at 12:22 am on January 11th, 2010:

    Everybody keeps saying “Dances with Wolves”, but in that movie, Kevin Coster ran away from the army because they were going to cut off his leg; he wasn’t sent to infiltrate them. Pretty sure Pocahontas wins.

  3. 3 karinavee said at 7:42 pm on January 11th, 2010:

    Avatar is similar to Pocahontas, there’s no denying that. However, I identify it more with “Dances With Wolves” for 3 reasons.

    1.) Both stories are very heavy handed in their messages. In “Avatar”, humans are presented as wasteful, shelfish, greedy people who will do anything to obtain the unobtainable, or, in this case, unobtanium. Pretentiousness, party of James Cameron. In “Dances With Wolves”, the calvary is presented in much the same way. Do I disagree that the calvary and, in “Avatar’s” case, people in general can be tremendous assholes? No, I don’t disagree. However, I think that it is bullshit when stories are presented in a “you are the problem and I the director am way smarter than you for bringing it to your attention.” “Pocahontas” also portrays the settler’s in this fashion, but I felt more that the general (the guy with the bulldog, I don’t remember his name) was the main bad guy and everyone else was just kind of there. I didn’t feel the sense of unbelieveable pretentiousness in “Pocahontas” as I did with both the other movies.

    2.) “Avatar” is just another example of the big, strong white man coming into the Native scene to save the day. When was the last time the Natives got the opportunity to defend their own land? Why does it always have to be the white man to come and save the day? “Dances With Wolves” did this too. I think that “Pocahontas” did this to a point, but not as much as the aforementioned movies. Also, John Smith never immersed himself into the native culture; he took Pocahontas back to England instead. In “Avatar”, Jake Sully gives up him human life to become part of the blue people and Kevin Costner started wearing mocassins and braiding feathers into his hair. They gave up a part (or whole) of their old life in order to be reborn into their new lives.

    3.) Both “Avatar” and “Dances With Wolves” are way too fucking long. “Avatar” was gorgeous to look at, but it definitely depended more on the visual than the story.

    Those are the reasons I identify “Avatar” more with “Dances With Wolves”. “Pocahontas” and “Avatar” absolutely have a lot of similarities, I’m not denying that, but for the reasons I just said I find it easier to compare with “Dances With Wolves.”

    Good day to you.

  4. 4 Ryan G said at 9:12 pm on January 11th, 2010:

    I accept your lengthy and well-written rebuttal.

    Congrats