My 15 Fave Films of 2009 (6-10)

Now that you’ve got over your ringing disappointment of not seeing Paul Blart: Mall Cop included in the first five entries of my alphabetical list of 2009’s best movies, according to me, let’s continue the countdown…

 

 

Food Inc.

Robert Kenner

The last few years have seen an explosion of food-related docs (Supersize Me, King Corn, The Future of Food, etc.) that’ll make you want to hurl your nearest McDonald’s into a black hole, but Food Inc. may be the most important of them because of how effectively it delivers a whack of disturbing yet necessary info. Although the ominous music and some of the conspiracy stuff could probably go, for the most part, this is vital look at exactly where most North American food comes from, what kinds of creepy-ass processing it’s subject to, who owns most of the means of production, what working/growing conditions it’s produced under, how all of that has changed in a few decades and why, and so on, right down to interviews with the scientists that bugger around with its molecules. It demystifies the field-to-table process, scaring the bejesus out of ya in the process. This one tested my gag reflex with ruthless corporations (imagine getting sued because a company’s patented seed blew into your field and started growing!), way too dangerous production conditions (from falling carcasses at meat plants to deadly salmonella outbreaks caused by sewage contaminating fields) and too much general yuckiness (factory-chlorinated entrails, disgusting chicken coops, freaky amounts of corn sugars in, like, everything…). OK, that sounds doom ‘n’ gloom, but colourful personalities (I loved the barnyard intellectual organic farmer), some technical polish (check out the cool credit sequences) and some hopeful alternatives (e.g. a successful organic dairy) make for a very well-rounded documentary meal (cut me some slack, I kept it to one food metaphor, OK?). Food Inc. is a film that everyone needs to watch.

 

The Hangover

Todd Phillips

For what’s basically a film version of the slogan “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” there’s a helluva lot going on in The Hangover. And I don’t just mean the usual drug/drink/gambling/women/lawbreaking excesses of Sin City that are celebrated in so many a film set in its neon abyss (although, there’s plenty of that in film, of course). Like Swingers and Very Bad Things before it, The Hangover is really about the mysterious world of men. Surround us with temptations, destroy our sobriety and see what happens. Do we turn into animals? How far will we go for our brothers? How many lies do we tell to save our asses? At what point do we face our darkest insecurities? Why the hell is there a tiger in the bathroom? Director Todd Phillips covered this ground before with Old School, but The Hangover is less SNL and more Judd Apatow in its depiction of guyness and character-driven humour. Ed Helms (the cautious, whipped nerd), Bradley Cooper (the reckless, take-charge leader) and Zach Galifianakis (classic raging weirdo – with a man-purse) play off each other without slipping from “identifiable” to “stereotype.” Add a hilarious plot structure (the amnesiacs must retrace their steps from the night before to find the missing groom-to-be), a hilarious celebrity cameo (Mike Tyson and his massive punch) and sidesplitting, yet unexpected, gags (didn’t really the angry-naked-gangster-in-the-trunk attack coming, and who doesn’t enjoy seeing a baby get hit in the head with a car door?). The film is totally worth all the party-starved 30-somethings that will inevitably die trying to duplicate its stellar shenanigans.

 

 

The Hurt Locker

Kathryn Bigelow

Who’d have thought the director of Point Blank and Strange Days would make this very mature character study of military explosive disposal experts in Iraq? Not friggin’ me, which made Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker such a nice surprise. In fact, it’s really an anti-Hollywood film, a war movie about detonations in which most of ticking bombs are internal. Jeremy Renner brought serious weight to his damaged, soldier with a death wish, while supporting turns from the likes of Guy Pierce, Ralph Fiennes and David Morse kept him on his game. Aside from that, the film is absolutely wracked with tension. Everything’s a potential trap, you don’t know which of the locals are trying to kill you, there are snipers on the rooftops, your own guys are about to snap and – oh yeah – there’s a massive roadside shrapnel piñata that needs disarming, so chop-chop, soldier. Bigelow’s creates a raw, dusty, alien world full of danger, while screenwriter Mark Boal’s dialogue feels natural and honest, which makes things all the more harrowing when the proverbial dung hits the fan. It was also a breath of fresh air to see this one during summer blockbuster season when stupid often rules the box office. Sadly, that’s also most likely why the film only made a lousy $16 million worldwide. Hopefully all the awards nominations it’s been getting will score it a much deserved second life on DVD, because this one deserves better than to earn the equivalent of the catering budget for Transformers 2.

 

 

In the Loop

Armando Iannucci

This is the one on the list that you’re least likely to have heard of, yet it was word-of-mouth title that had me laughing hard enough to almost blow snot rockets all over the screen. Imagine if Ricky Gervais wrote Wag the Dog and it’s a close enough approximation to the mercilessly sharp-tongued British wit and political malfeasance that characterizes this spin-off of the U.K. television series The Thick of It. Shot pseudo-doc style, like The Office, it has a British politician and his entourage travelling to Washington D.C. as American and Britain are on the verge of declaring war in the Middle East (it’s not meant to mirror actual events, just use generalizations of the insane political climate). Conniving warmongers, inept politicians, scheming aids and the odd pain-in-the-ass private citizen make up the players in this often nuanced farce. David “Sledgehammer” Rasche is classic as an unflappable spin machine congressmen and James Gandolfini makes for a fantastically jaded general who’s trying to head off the ill-planned aggression. But the highlight is Scottish actor Peter Capaldi, whose impossibly hot-headed character turns insults, foul language and tantrums into an art form that should be housed in a museum somewhere, preferably in the F-You Collection. There are so many A-list tearings of a new one throughout the whole film that I missed half of them because I was laughing so hard at the previous one. If you ever doubted the Brits’ uncanny ability to dish epic insults, In the Loop proves that you’re, well, a total wanker. Some gems: “Was it you, the baby from Eraserhead? “You know, if I could, I’d punch you into paralysis!” “You stay detached, or else that's what I’ll do to your retinas.” AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Jerk win!

 

Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino

After the clustermuck of inane dialogue, bad performances and talking head filler that was Death Proof, I wasn’t holding out a lot of hope for Tarantino’s latest experiment in genre. But then – BAM! – he makes what may be the best film of his career. And he tricked us by promising a schlocky war flick with cartoon characters and exploitation action, and then delivering a story that really doesn’t feature the Basterds much at all (rather it focuses mainly on one woman’s, much more compelling revenge plot against the Nazis), but does have a bunch of Oscar-worthy performances. The tense opening scene alone demands Academy Award nods for both Christoph Waltz, as charismatic Nazi no-good Col. Hans Landa, and Denis Menochet, as French farmer Perrier LaPadite. (Brad Pitt as Lt. Also “I want my scalps” Raine, on the other hand, played it too far over the top me thinks). Suddenly Tarantino proved that he can pen completely absorbing dialogue that’s just as fun and as the sudden outbursts of violence that pepper the narrative. And by disregarding the actual facts of history – in a big way – he also delivered a very satisfying, blood-soaked revenge fantasy like nothing we’d ever seen before. Because the film was set during WWII, it also meant that the director couldn’t as easily get tripped up with self-indulgent pop-culture references – huge bonus. This is the ambitious, satisfyingly unusual movie that proves Tarantino is in fact a major talent and not just a guy who made some popular crime capers in the ‘90s.

 

-Dave Alexander

Comments

I was surprised at your comments about Death Proof. I was under the impression you were a big fan.

After 30 minutes of yawning and almost sleeping, I turned it off. I can't stand giving a salary to losers like tarantino. I personaly NEVER enjoyed any of his movies...maybe I don't take enough FDA approved drugs!