Like Dylan in the movies
I’ve tried to keep track of all the movies watched in theaters, but a few might have slipped my mind. This chronological list includes the movie’s name & rating (out of a possible 10):
- Yes Man (7.5/10)
- Outlander (4/10)
- Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2/10)
- Inkheart (3.5/10)
- Bridewars (4/10)
- Curious Case of Benjamin Button (8/10)
- The Punisher: War Zone (4.5/10)
- Slumdog Millionaire (8/10)
- Burn after reading (5/10)
- Watchmen (9/10)
- Race to Witch Mountain (3.5/10)
- Tale of Despereaux (3/10)
- The International (6/10)
- Confessions of a Shopaholic (4.5/10)
- Fast and Furious (4/10)
- Friday the 13th (3.5/10)
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine (3.5/10)
- Sell-Out! (9/10)
- Star Trek (7.5/10)
- Push (5/10)
- Ensemble, c’est tout (8/10)
- Le Crime est Notre Affaire (7.5/10)
- I love you, man (7/10)
- Night at the museum 2 (5/10)
- Monsters Vs. Aliens 3D (4/10)
- The Brothers Bloom (6/10)
- Blood: The Last Vampire (1/10)
- Shinkokyû no hitsuyô (7.5/10)
- Afutâ sukûru (4/10)
- Pako to mahô no ehon (6/10)
- Transformers 2 (5/10)
- Dance Subaru! (4/10)
- Departures (8/10)
- The Proposal (4/10)
- G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (3.5/10)
- District 9 (9/10)
- Up (8/10)
- Ugly Truth (4/10)
- Gamer (1/10)
- 500 days of summer (8/10)
- Surrogates (3/10)
- Rainy With a Chance of Meatballs (7/10)
- The Good Life (5.5/10)
- The Water Colourist (5/10)
- Cronicas (8/10)
- Inglorious Basterds (7.5/10)
- Michael Jackson’s This Is It (5/10)
- Kirschblüten - Hanami (8/10)
- Wonderful & Loved by All (6/10)
- En la ciudad sin límites (5.5/10)
- Zoop in Zuid-Amerika (1/10)
- Duze zwierze (6/10)
- Karaoke (4.5/10)
- Zombieland (8.5/10)
- A Christmas Carol: 3D (2/10)
- Avatar 3D (7.5/10)
- Storm Warriors 2 (1/10)
Best and worst of the year
> Let’s start with the bad (all 1/10):
- Blood: the Last Vampire
- Storm Warriors
- Gamers
A bit weird that two of them are foreign (Asian) films, but the common thread is that they’re all stylized action films. That, and they were weak on story, had unlikeable characters, and poor direction. It’s not that I dislike stylized action, but movies that emphasize on that usually lose focus on everything else.
> And now for the best (all 9/10):
- District 9
- Sell Out
- Watchmen
Yup, no perfect movies this year, so no 10/10 movies. Two of the tops ones are rather off beat movies - one set in Africa and containing more “fuck” per second than any movie I’ve seen in ages, and the other a delightful local film (and a musical to boot).
Watchmen is the odd one out, being a highly polished Hollywood comic-adaptation. However, the montage + Bob Dylan = most epic win. Solid acting, joke potential about blueballs, non super superheroes & women in tights (forget Akerman, Carla Gugino is where it’s at). Definite fun times.
Best by genre
> Best Sci-fi
The obvious choice would be Avatar, or for you bowl cut, pointy eared fangirls, maybe even Star Trek. As the prawns say, “don’t fookin’ kid yourselves”, the best scifi of the year, for me, has to be District 9.
Bloody buckets of violence, fuckloads of swearing, and characters I could give a shit about. Not to mention a pretty unusual storyline. An alien invasion. Not in New York. In which <b>NOTHING</b> happens for years? Holy shit, bra, that’s not how it’s done. (9/10)
> Best Action
Definitely Zombieland. Zombieland also fits the ever illusive Zom/Rom/Com category, and is a passable public service announcement too. #Rule 4: Wear seatbelts is emphasized with a soccer mum eating pavement. In slowmo. Best PSA ever.
The characters are extremely likable, even though they don’t use real names (they refer to each other by States). Fun, slightly campy, yet careful not to be too farcical too. Proof that the secret of genre-mashups is balance. (8.5/10)
> Best Comedy/romantic/off beat/indie/musicals(?)
Okay fine, this is a really niche genre, so there’d be like only one film that fits the bill. Right? Wrong! There are two films that fit: <em>500 days of Summer</em> and <em>Sell Out</em>. It is with great glee that I say “you’ll have a damned hard time finding Sell Out”. Sorry, but I’m so often on the wrong end of the importation fuckstick, it’s a bit fun being on the right end.
To give an idea of what to expect of Sell Out, but without saying anything about it, think “Science of Sleep” but with more advertising and Malaysian humor. Also, dancing. Being a Malaysian Advertising graduate, this movie is way too perfect for me. Also, it stunned me how many times I though “how did they get this shit past the censors!?” while watching the movie. (9/10)
500 days of Summer is a mixed bag: I could have lived without the nonlinear story telling, the narrator was a bit too Pushing Daisies at times, the character’s motivations were sometimes confused, and I couldn’t wrap my head around “hey isn’t that the 3rd rock from the Sun kid?”.
However, after seeing the soundtrack of the movie, I had to see it. Yeah, I’m got lured in by Regina Spektor, Leslie Feist, the Smiths, Simon & G, Carla Bruni. It’s got two of my fav girls, Zooey Deschanel and Regina Spektor. Now that’s enough to give a guy tachycardia. Plus IKEA! (8/10 -1 for nonlinear timeline, -1 for multigenre mashup, +1 for music, +1 for Zoe & Regina)
> Best romance
Surprise winner, this goes to the bromance, “I love you, man”. Sure the guys played in their comfort zones, as lovable losers, but they did good in their roles. Also, points for not pushing too hard on the trove of passe gay jokes. (7/10)
> Best Foreign Film
Technically, for me, all North American movies are “foreign films”, but I’ll let that slide. While Ensemble, c’est tout (Hunting & Gathering) & Kirschblüten - Hanami (Cherry Blossoms) share the same score, I’d have to say Cherry Blossoms is the better film. Though it lacks Audrey Tautou’s pixie smexiness, it offers solid older actors, fiddles the heart strings (weepy women beware), and has an utterly unromantic view of Japan. Oh you Germans. (8/10)
Mexican offering, Cronicas, was equally good. However, I didn’t enjoy it. The gritty story plus “life’s a bitch & then you get murdered” tone was a right downer. Also, the theater guys royally fucked up by turning on the director’s narration which revealed the ending/villain. (8/10)
