2021年6月29日 星期二

Some Other Movies From 2009 (2)


For further background on the year in film, please refer to the Some Other Movies From 2009 entry. 

The following things happened in 2009:
  • Bitcoin went online.
  • Barack Obama became President of the United States.
  • The Sri Lankan Civil War ended.
  • An outbreak of H1N1 triggered a global pandemic.
  • Michael Jackson died.
  • David Carradine, Patrick Swayze and Brittany Murphy passed away
Underlined entries were viewed on Netflix.


One of the More Interesting Things I've Seen Lately

1. Max and Mary

Two lonely people, one in Australia and the other in New York, form a long distance relationship that endures of decades.  This animated film definitely isn't for kids, but those with a taste for the eccentric will find its sense of humor endearing, and the story it tells unique.  Toni Collette voices Mary, with Philip Seymour Hoffman as Max.  The writer and director of this movie, Adam Elliot, has won many awards for his work.


Some Good Ones

1. Law Abiding Citizen

Director F. Gary Gray was diving deep for this one.  I'm guessing a lot of people missed it at the time, but this movie makes some compelling arguments against the criminal justice system.

And for what it's worth Gerard Butler does a good Punisher.  Jamie Foxx is equally compelling as the lawyer trying to stop him.  Will it remind you of Se7en?  Oh yeah.  But is it as good?  Definitely not, but it stands on its own legs and I respect that.

Fun Fact: That slammin' song at the end is Grand Funk Railroad.

2. Bride Wars

Completely forgettable, but not bad.  The adorable Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway star as two BFFs who (gasp) find that their weddings have been scheduled for the same day.  It's NOT hilarious but, again, it's not bad.  Hey, check out Chris Pratt!  Starlord and Catwoman in the same movie!

It's the cinematic equivalent of a hot pocket.  If you were really hungry you'd eat one, if you weren't, you wouldn't.

3. Notorious

The life and times of Biggie Smalls.  At the time I was way more into Tupac, and The Notorious B.I.G.'s popularity was something of a mystery to me.  Even so this movie is pretty good, and director George Tillman Jr. does a good job of telling Biggie's story.

4. Star Trek

Figured I'd go back and re-watch it.  It holds up well, although the constant panning and lens flares do get a bit annoying.  J.J. Abrams did a lot more for the Star Trek universe than he did for the Star Wars universe, though I get why he eventually jumped ship for that more famous and financially lucrative property.

I didn't like Into Darkness, but the third film, Star Trek Beyond was good.

And by the way, where are they now?: Well, of the original cast, Leonard Nimoy (Spock), DeForest Kelley (Bones) and James Doohan (Scotty) are no longer with us.  In 2017 William Shatner (Kirk) voiced a character on - I kid you not - the My Little Pony TV series, and identified himself as a "brony."  He's also doing country music, and appeared on the Grand 'Ol Opry last year.  Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) was on TV's The Young and the Restless for a while, worked with NASA, and retired in 2018 after she was diagnosed with dementia.  Walter Koenig (Chekov) has appeared in various low budget science fiction movies.  George Takei (Sulu), probably the most vocal of the original cast members, is a champion of LGBT rights and was a staunch critic of the Trump administration's immigration policies.

And let's not forget Anton Yelchin, who plays Chekov in 2009's Star Trek.  He was great in Green Room, a movie that also featured Patrick Stewart, who everybody knows from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

5. The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Not as interesting as Max and Mary above, but this animated adaptation of Roald Dahl's book will leave you feeling happy.  It's a Wes Anderson movie, and although his signature style is evident he doesn't step too much on the original story.

6. The Princess and the Frog

I liked the music.  The rest was Disney princesses and New Orleans voodoo.  I was only halfway paying attention, but yeah, I liked the music.

Fun Fact: Terrence Howard voices the heroine's dad.  I suppose he did this instead of Iron Man 2, which he would have been filming at the time.

7. 500 Days of Summer

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel star in this movie about love found and love lost.  It threatens to wear out its welcome toward the end, but it's a film full of interesting touches.

Fun Fact: Director Marc Webb would go on to direct The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2.

8. Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead

It's surprisingly not bad.  Completely predictable, yes, but not bad as these things go.  The guy trapped in barbed wire and dragged behind the truck was a nice touch.  The plot?  I don't remember.  Anyone familiar with this series knows that the second one was the best one, so I wasn't going in with the highest expectations.

Fun Fact: This movie was shot in Bulgaria.

9. Exam

Reminded me a lot of Cube, but this one's set in a single room, and the story's easier to digest.  I guessed the ending early on - I wasn't sure, but I guessed - but this didn't diminish my enjoyment of it.  I'm just wondering, what if someone answered The Question at the beginning of the test?  Or more than one person?  Would that person automatically pass?  Would everybody pass?

A Cause for Sadness: Actress Gemma Chan is so beautiful.  I wish she'd been in more of this movie.  And no, I'm not giving anything away by saying so.

10. Jennifer's Body

I would watch the hell out of a sequel to this movie IF it was written by the same person.  Amanda Seyfried's character is interesting, Megan Fox was well used, and some of the lines are extremely quotable.  It wouldn't surprise me at all if this movie enjoyed a cult following.

Fun Fact: Amy Sedaris, who plays Seyfried's mom, is the younger sister of writer David Sedaris.


"Borderline / Seems like I'm going to lose my mind / You just keep on pushing my love / Over the borderline..."

1. Orphan

The reveal at the end almost makes this movie worth it, but Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard are such shitty parents that I started rooting for the adopted kid halfway through.


Some Bad Ones

1. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Instead of Ebenezer Scrooge (or Bill Murray), we have Matthew McConaughey, and instead of the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future we have three ex-girlfriends, ready to show Matthew McConaughey how to form lasting, committed relationships in which both parties are respected.  Feeling nauseous yet?  To make things worse, they really take McConaughey's character too far in the other direction, to the the point where you wonder how anyone in this movie can tolerate his pathological behavior.  The bit with Michael Douglas is funny, but that's about it.

2. State of Play

Great cast but it's very boring.  Russell Crowe plays a reporter investigating a murder, with Ben Affleck as a congressman at the center of his investigation.  It's way too similar to other, better movies about government corruption and corporate conspiracies, some of which Crowe and Affleck have also appeared in.  All the President's MenThe Parallax ViewThe Insider?  All much better films.

Fun Fact: Brad Pitt was originally set to play the reporter, with Ed Norton as the congressman.


Unsurprisingly Terrible

1. American Pie Presents: The Book of Love

Three high school guys attempt to get laid.  And then - spoiler alert - they get laid.  But the getting laid part happens just before the credits, so don't get your hopes up early.  Aside from this, breast implants and lame sexual innuendo abound.  Oh, and Stifler's... whatever he is... gets raped by a moose.  Yeah, that really happened.  Prioritize your life accordingly.

Fun Fact 1: There are 9 movies in this series.  This is one of the five spinoff films.

Fun Fact 2: Poison's Bret Michael's is in this briefly.

Fun Fact 3: Check out star Bug Hall's Wikipedia entry.  It's quite the rollercoaster ride.

Sad Fact: Saved by the Bell's Dustin Diamond also appears in this movie.  He died this year of lung cancer.  His life post-Saved by the Bell was... pretty weird.


Nope.

1. The Ugly Truth

Katherine Heigl stars as a vocationally successful if romantically unsuccessful woman, with Gerard Butler as a cartoonishly misogynistic man.  I got about 15 minutes in and had to stop.  It was that stupid.


Bad Bordering on Offensive

1. The Fourth Kind

Paranormal activity in Nome, Alaska.  This movie, like Notorious above, mixes dramatic recreations with actual footage, but in this case the inclusion of an actual murder pissed me off.  It just wasn't good enough to take that kind of step, and the footage makes it feel like the worst kind of exploitation.

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