2009 movie releases...your views...

[saltysam]

Another far from vintage year i feel,the summer blockbusters i've seen like T4,Transformers 2,Wolverine were pretty disappointing, The Hangover was a decent laugh but meandered a little towards the end, Star Trek seems well liked but i haven't seen it.others i thought were good/ok were Drag Me To Hell,Damned United,Inglorious Basterds,JCVD,Gran Torino,Watchmen (much better on a second viewing)Up,The Pelham remake,Hurt Locker,Harry Brown. Major disappointments were Moon,Public Enemies (Mann has lost it imo)Ong Bak 2..Nice surprise of the year for me? District 9,very,very good.of course there's loads i haven't seen so i'm sure there's an undiscovered cracker out there absence of any decent HK fare was disappointing as well.

[bradavon]

I knew this would come from you

Wolverine - Good but not a keeper
Terminator Salvation: Also good and a keeper
Star Trek: Fantastic
Iron Man: Well made but it forgot Super Hero films are supposed to be fun
Public Enemies - Very good indeed
Broken Embraces - Almodovar does it again, fantastic

Everyone's raving about Harry Brown.

[saltysam]

Iron Man came out in early Summer 2008 Brad and i'd hardly describe your fave Dark Knight as "fun"

[bradavon]

Oops . Scrap that one then. Dark Knight not fun? Are you having a laugh? It's oodles of fun.

[luckystars]

Absolute fave films of 2009:

5/5
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
In The Loop

4.5/5
Moon
Drag Me to Hell

4/5
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Inglorious Bastards
Terminator Salvation
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

3.5
Banlieue 13 - Ultimatum


Probably moer but those are the few I really enjoyed.

[Yi-Long]

To be honest, most of the time at the end of the year we are 'disappointed' with the movies we saw this year, and there are probably a couple of 2009 movies out there that we havent seen yet or haven't even been released yet, which will turn out to be pretty impressive/fun.

Zombieland, The Messenger, Up in the Air, Brooklyn's Finest, etc.

And ofcourse UP should be mentioned.

[saltysam]

And ofcourse UP should be mentioned.

I did,in the first post

[luckystars]

Need to see UP yes. Also Limits of Control and Where The Wild Things Are.

Too busy with work etc lately...

[romerojpg]

Watchmen

Crank 2

JCVD

None were better. FukinA.



Public Enemies was crap, looked shit like a childs digicam at times, sounded shit like they forgot to soundmix it right, acted shit, shit story, shit unlikeable star and co stars.

[Yi-Long]

And ofcourse UP should be mentioned.

I did,in the first post

Wow... it took me a while to find it. You need to use that enter-key more.

[luckystars]

Good call! JCVD 4/5.

[Markgway]

Number of films Markgway saw at the cinema this year: 0

Of the ones mentioned I caught these on DVD:

JCVD - Quite good
Gran Torino - Good
Ong Bak 2 - Not bad

[romerojpg]

Number of films Markgway saw at the cinema this year: 0

Crikey! is that a first for you then?

I have been over 80 times this year still a few weeks left and I may see a few more at least.

[luckystars]

Number of films Markgway saw at the cinema this year: 0

Shame on you!

Gran Torino = good! Liked it but not enough to own... still a 4/5 but more drama.

[Markgway]

Crikey! is that a first for you then?

Yes. Even last year I went a couple of times. When I was a teenager I went once a week - at least - depending on what was opening. Now I just don't have the desire. Can't be arsed getting a bus into a housing scheme to pay £7 for a ticket to something which may well be utter shite. More likely these days to rent the DVD or wait until it's £3 in HMV.

[thelostdragon]

JCVD - 4.5/5
Ip Man - 4.5/5
The Good, the Bad, the Weird - 4.5/5
UP - 4/5
Mother - 4/5
Shinjuku Incident - 4/5
Taken - 4/5
Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 - 4/5
Terminator: Salvation - 4/5
Lost - Season 5 - 4.5/5

[bradavon]

I forgot about "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus". Good film, probably not a keeper. The first half could've done with some tighter editing.

Public Enemies was crap, looked shit like a childs digicam at times, sounded shit like they forgot to soundmix it right, acted shit, shit story, shit unlikeable star and co stars.

I wouldn't bother seeing with which are filmed using Digital Cameras. I'm not being funny but you clearly despise the look, so why bother? Digital Cameras aren't shit, they're different.

I thought the shoot-out in the house (near the end) was particularly impressive. I figured it was digital cameras that made it possible, to literally feel like you were in the room with them. Depp's acting was good too.

[gasteropod]

No mention of Avatar in this thread, how odd!

And I have to agree with Romero, I didn't like the digital camera look of Public Enemies, or the film for that matter.

[grim_tales]

Fantastic Mr. Fox: 4/5
Michael Jackson's This Is It: 4/5
2012: 4/5
A Christmas Carol (2009): 4/5
War: 2.5/5
District 9: 4.5/5

[Markgway]

I also saw these...

Ip Man - very good
Shinjuku Incident - OK
Taken - very good

[romerojpg]

thelostdragon The Good, the Bad, the Weird was a corking film indeed. The style that had going and its look - the way the action was done was very, very refreshing to see. Nice to see a quality Korean film again after a while of seeing so few.

I wouldn't bother seeing with which are filmed using Digital Cameras. I'm not being funny but you clearly despise the look, so why bother? Digital Cameras aren't shit, they're different.

I thought the shoot-out in the house (near the end) was particularly impressive. I figured it was digital cameras that made it possible, to literally feel like you were in the room with them. Depp's acting was good too.

Digital was not to blame, the film maker was 100%. Digital can (and does) look amazing, when done right you can barley tell it is digital, or it looks so super clear and detailed it is wonderful. Crank 2 was the most eye boggling looking films I have ever seen in the cinema, the digital presentation I saw blew me away, and that was done with cheap as chips cameras, not the vastly expenseive cameras Mann uses so badly.

The only reason some Digital films looks poor, is becuase that is the way the director wants them to look, shutter speeds ramped, creating a messy blur which does my head in, whites blown out, hideously ugly grainy mess of darkness to save on lighting a scene.
Mann does it wrong for me (and many others it seems), he has a style in his head now and he seems to be stuck to it sadly.
Still most other films can do it perfectly

As for the shootout (which I liked), that has been done many times in other films, it was not the digital that made it possible, it was just that the director knew what he wanted and did it right with a good crew. Digital does not create shootouts, cameramen, light men and directors do

As for Depp in the film, I hated him beyond words, people calling a mass murderering violent piece of scum a "Hero" made me want to puke. He was so repelent I wanted his to be killed very quickly. The whole film rubbed me up the wrong way, I ended up with lots of hate towards it. Glad I saw it still, but it angered me to much by the end.

[grim_tales]

Can't remember what else I saw at the cinema this year.

[bradavon]

No mention of Avatar in this thread, how odd!

It's only just come out.

Digital can (and does) look amazing, when done right you can barley tell it is digital, or it looks so super clear and detailed it is wonderful. Crank 2 was the most eye boggling looking films I have ever seen in the cinema, the digital presentation I saw blew me away, and that was done with cheap as chips cameras, not the vastly expenseive cameras Mann uses so badly.

Any other examples?

and many others it seems

You're not the only one who dislikes it. Kermode is not a fan but doesn't mind as much as you.

As for the shootout (which I liked), that has been done many times in other films, it was not the digital that made it possible, it was just that the director knew what he wanted and did it right with a good crew. Digital does not create shootouts, cameramen, light men and directors do

Digital Cameras tend to be much smaller, allowing the film crew to get much closer to the action.

As for Depp in the film, I hated him beyond words, people calling a mass murderering violent piece of scum a "Hero" made me want to puke.

Hollywood's done that so many times remember.

[HungFist]

This topic is full of 2008 films. JCVD, The Good, the Bad, the Weird, Gran Torino, Yip Man...

2009 Movies (Theatre)
Assault Girls - pretty cool. Girls with guns, giant monsters, and Oshii poetry
Bruno - very, very stupid. And equally funny
Drag Me to Hell - A cool film from Raimi, for a change. A fun ride.
Hangover, The - not bad, but I was expecting more
Inglorious Basterds - brilliant, Tarantino meets Leone
Red Cliff: Part 2 - Excellent, humor, action and war strategy
Thirst - Quite good, but the last third fails somewhat.
Kinatay (festival print too dark, film potentially interesting but no masterpiece)
Terminator Salvation - Very bad. Nearly walked out during the highway chase.
Tournament, The - Very cool and ultraviolent action film
Watchmen - Cool, better than excepected
Yatterman - The funniest, sickest, and perhaps the best film of the year

2009 Movies (DVD)
Samurai Princess - Watchable, slightly interesting mess
Ei kenenkään maa - Hard hitting Finnish short film about racism, starring my friend. Very good.

2009 Movies (Airplane)
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - ok, a bit dull
Up - Pixar doesn't interest me, but I enjoyed this one. The opening is really good


UPDATE: 2009 movies seen after the year 2009

Theatre
District 9 - absolutely brilliant; honest scifi action fun with semi-intelligent and thought provoking background
Avatar - quite ok, little boy's adventure fest
Robo-Geisha - A couple of ingeniuns moments, otherwise blah. Iguchi is average at best director. And this film is fucking pg-12

DVD & BD
Hard Revenge Milly: Bloody Battle - Ultraviolent, superstylish and brilliantly choreographed. One of the best JP action films in decades.
Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl - superb romantic love comedy splatter full of JP pop culture satire and the year's best soundtrack.
Air Doll - Koreeda's best film: an undeniably dumb, intoxicatingly beautiful fairytale. The cinematography is heavenly.
Grotesque - yet another surprise - ultragraphic but well done - intense and scary as hell
Tokyo Gore Police Short Collection - spin offs of varying level - the finale is amazing
Crank 2: High Voltage - same as part one. Good, sometimes great, sometimes trying too desperate. Ending classic.
Dead Snow - Fantastic last 30 minutes (old school splatter comedy on snow) preceded by a 60 minute cliche collection
S-94: cyber punk director Fukui is back with a post apocalypse tale. Shocking, pretentious, ugly, beautiful, appalling, fascinating.
High Kick Girl - can't dislike this even though it's merely average and misses so much potential it's almost criminal
Super Gore Girl - One good gore scene. The rest of the film is mainly interesting for being so unbelievably worthless
Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance - messy opening, find better balance later. Soundtrack and story not as interesting as in 1.0.

[bradavon]

What about films released theatrically in 2008 but Home Video in 2009?

GI Joe (Aeroplane) - Surprisingly good fun but utterly dumb
Bruno (Cinema) - Very funny