My 15 Fave Films of 2009 (11-15)
Annnnnnnd we're back for the final third of my favourite movies of 2009 (in alphabetical order). Cue horns, disco ball and confetti cannon...
Monsters vs Aliens
Rob Letterman and Conrad
A lot of critics picked Up ss their animated fave of the year, but Monsters vs. Aliens is more fun in my book, mains because it features monsters… and aliens… versus each other. No brainer – like chocolate and peanut butter. Of course, an awesome premise is only a starting point; Monsters vs Aliens also has a load of great gags, the lion’s share coming from B.O.B. (voiced by Seth Rogen), the cycloptic, blue blob simpleton whose enjoys a game of handball with his own eye, is not above falling in love with a jelly salad and occasionally forgets how to breathe. A stellar voice actor line-up, including Reese Witherspoon as Ginormica, Hugh Laurie as Dr. Cockroach Ph.D., Will Arnett as The Missing Link and Steven Colbert as the President of the United States, breathes much personality into these secret government “monsters.” And watching them battle against the forces of scheming extraterrestrial Gallaxhar (Raine Wilson) – especially in colourful 3D – made me feel like a kid. Although there’s plenty of clever dialogue here for adults (Missing Link: “It feels warmer than I remember. Did the Earth get warmer? It would be great to know that... that would be a very convenient truth.”), the focus is the important kid’s messages about difference, acceptance and friendship, which are rolled nicely into a narrative where the “scary” guys get to be the heroes for a change.
Red Cliff
John Woo
This is an oddity, as it’s one of the best films of the year, but you’d be a fool to go see it in the theatres. Unless of course you were in a country that showed it in its intended two parts – totaling over four hours – and not the cobbled together singular version that opened in North America. Taking full advantage of cheap labour and other production costs in Asia, director and co-writer John Woo made the most sweeping epic since the Lord of the Rings trilogy extended director’s cuts. After wasting fifteen years in Hollywood making garbage action films such as Hard Target, Face/Off and Paycheck, he returned to the Chinese film industry to make a movie based on the historical Battle of Red Cliff, in which a massive land and water battle involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers took place hundreds of years ago. Set at the end of the Han Dynasty, way before guns, it sees the powerful 800 000 Han army attempt to roll right over a coalition of two warlords that it outnumbers more than ten-to-one. The coalition, with the help of military strategist Zhou Yu (Tony Leung), must outsmart its seemingly unstoppable opponent by using creative warfare tactics, anticipating the enemy’s moves and relying on nature to aid them. The battles are beyond epic, the performances classically very dramatic, the action unparalleled and the militaristic visuals pretty damn mindblowing (horizons filled with soldiers, for example). It’s more than enough to forgive Woo for Windtalkers.
Star Trek
J.J. Abrams
A lot of sci-fi fans – and not just Trekkers/Trekkies –
groaned when it was announced that the Star
Trek franchise was getting a reboot by the guy who created Lost. Thing is, though, the sacred cow
needed to be put out to pasture even before the last two movies and the
lacklustre Enterprise TV series.
Still, I didn’t think it could’ve been this great. For starters, J.J. Abrams
managed to set up a new timeline without ignoring the old one, and he include
the original Spock without it seeming forced. There’s intergalactic eye candy
in almost every frame here, too, from the ballsy destruction of the entire
Planet Vulcan to the harrowing spaceship battles. However, none of that would
matter much if the characters and the casting weren’t so great. Chris Pine as a
cocky, reckless young Kirk, Zachary Quinto as the human-Vulcan hybrid coming to
terms with his dual nature, Karl Urban as the comfortably jaded Bones, and even
comedy actors Simon Pegg, as Scotty, and John Cho, as Sulu, slid into their
roles effortlessly. I paid extra to see this at the pimped-out AMC theatre in
downtown
Trick ‘R Treat
Michael Dougherty
If you’re wondering why you can’t recall seeing ads for this coming to theatres, it’s because it didn’t play on the big screen (aside from at festivals and a few other one-offs), and that’s an injustice. Mike Dougherty, who previously contributed to the scripts of the Superman remake and the X-Men franchise, took his childhood fascination with Halloween and turned it into a Creepshow-style film with intertwining spooky tales set in the same Rockwellian town on Halloween night. The insta-classic has the undead, monsters, killers and other ghouls doing their thing to great effect, and in the more human category there are top-notch, appropriately cartoon-like performances from a cast that includes Anna Paquin, Brian Cox and Dylan Baker. The colourful, nostalgic atmosphere, sharp direction and funhouse plot twists makes Trick ‘r Treat highly re-watchable (saw it four times this year, in fact). Almost everyone I’ve shown this underdog film to has fallen in love with it, while the horror fans have been scratching their heads at how Warner Brothers would deny this the theatrical release it so desperately deserved. Apparently there are various political reasons behind it (to learn more, check out my interview with Dougherty here and here), but regardless, it’s something you should be popping in the DVD or Blu-ray player for years to come around October 31st, along with Disney’s Headless Horseman, Halloween or The Great Pumpkin. It’s timeless.
Up in the Air
Jason Reitman
George Clooney is front and centre again in another one of the year’s best, but Up in the Air is a lot less upbeat and fancy free than Fantastic Mister Fox. (These two titles, plus the well-reviewed The Men Who Stare at Goats – the guy can do no wrong.) In Jason Reitman’s often subtle character study of a guy who flies all across America as a hired gun to fire people, Clooney is a free spirit whose commitment to a no-strings, no settling down lifestyle comes into question when he meets a young female go-getter determined to change the way things are done at his company, and a woman who he thinks is his female equivalent. It’s poignant stuff for sure, with plenty of memorable scenes where Reitman proves he’s very talented at character development (e.g. Clooney’s character uses his people skills to convince his sister’s husband-to-be to not get cold feet on the wedding day). But what adds a punch in the gut is that the narrative takes place against the backdrop of the recession, where we see people from all walks of white collar life coming to terms with the news no one wants to hear about his or her job. It’s pretty heartwrenching at times without being hyperbolic or sentimental. Up in the Air is simply well executed all around and achingly timely.
-Dave Alexander
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