In my Best of 2009 article from last month, I listed nine movies I had wanted to see, but for whatever reason, did not before 2009 wrapped up. Aside from Sherlock Holmes, which I probably won't see for a while, I have watched all the items on that list. Here are my thoughts on each.
Moon Every bit as good as you've heard. I won't bother placing the rest of these movies in my Top 10, but Moon would fit comfortably at #3. Duncan Jones gave us a Twilight Zone-flavored tale mixed with the stylings of Stanley Kubrick. I guessed a big plot twist early, but instead of it being the big M. Night secret saved for last, there was still another 45 minutes of film left to watch after it was revealed. Superb.
The Road I was so friggin' mad at myself that I missed this one on its first pass through theaters, especially after I'd talked about it ad nauseum on the site since the summer. Fortunately, one brought it back locally this week, otherwise I'd still be waiting for the bluray release. It is a mesmerizing film. I cannot separate it in my mind from the book, so I apologize to those of you who have not read it as I continue on. Out of all the horrific occurrences in the novel, John Hillcoat only failed to include one of them. It is hinted at, so maybe it'll surface as a deleted scene, but it would probably be too extreme a notion for the common patron. I can only imagine how I might have been freaking out during a few of the sequences if I didn't know how they were supposed to turn out. Even knowing the plot points wasn't much comfort at times. Considering the amount of material that wasn't used and that quite a bit was added (primarily the Charleze Theron stuff), the spirit of the Cormac McCarthy's book is amazingly 100 percent there. What was added gave needed depth to Viggo's character, which was necessary for the film. Just like the novel, The Road is not easy to watch. You'll definitely have to be in the mood for it, because it is an incredibly bleak peak at a post-apocalyptic world.
Sugar A phenomenal baseball movie, easily catapulted into my favorites (and I really like baseball movies). That said, this shouldn't be written off as a mere sports movie and, really, it isn't a sports movie at all. Miguel "Sugar" Santos is young pitcher from the Dominican Republic trying to make his way through the rigorous levels of the minor league baseball system. We see the difficulties of American life for a non-English speaker who ultimately has no one but himself to get through the rollercoaster of successes and failures in his path. This movie does not go where you think it will. It may start out as a baseball movie, but his ambitions aren't limited to the old ball game. A fascinating drama.
(500) Days of Summer This movie is just plain good. But I warn you, although Summer seems like a romantic comedy, it's not. At all. This would be an awful date movie. Awkward doesn't accurately encompass the inevitable looks the two of you would share afterward. I'm happy Zooey Deschanelreminded me what I'd forgotten after trudging through The Happening and Yes Man -- she's spectacularly adorable. Meanwhile, I'm waiting for Joseph Gordon-Levitt to be in something that sucks, and maybe he has, but I haven't seen it yet. The next Spider-Man looks to be in excellent hands with Marc Webb, at least with the Peter/Mary Jane stuff. Oh, and I'm pretty sure this movie has the best Star Wars gag ever (in the middle of a montage, no less!).
The Hurt Locker Like The Road, this is another bleak masterpiece from 2009. Perhaps why this film has garnered so much widespread acclaim in comparison to the former might be the high intensity displayed in it's bomb squad scenarios and bursts of paranoia and violence. Those elements tend to grab moviegoers a little bit easier. That said, it has a deeply buried hopelessness and delivers a clarity of war via these three very different squad members, none of which are particularly heroic. After watching it, it's hard to argue with the title card at the film's forefront that reads, "war is a drug."
Public Enemies A typical Michael Mann movie, meaning there's a strong script, good performances and excellent direction adding up to very good film that only severe nit-picking could diminish. Nothing really award worthy overall, but Depp is particularly good as John Dillinger. The thing that stood out the most was the sound -- I have never heard gunfire that loud before in a movie. But that's what you get when crooks and G-men duke it out with Tommy guns, and some of those scenes are gloriously brutal. If you like gun battles, car chases, bank robberies and prison breaks, this is a movie for you.
Fantastic Mr. Fox is a delight of a film. Completely satisfying in every way... A must-see at the earliest opportunity.
State of Play This was a really excellent political thriller from the perspective of reporters working the story. Some very nicely veiled twists are mixed in with both the politics in the newspaper room as well as on Capitol Hill. It also contains some of the best examples of actual reporting I think I've ever seen filmed. While it doesn't ignore technology as it pertains to journalism, it may be the the last film set in modern times to forgo the utilization of the internet because I can't see how you could make a movie featuring a reporter and not have them use Google in the years to come. State is a love letter of sorts to the "golden age" of reporting, if such a concept is truly dead or ever even existed.
This is late, very late, so big apologies if any of you were actually waiting for it. I'm hoping my insane amount of technical problems from the year, especially the last two months, are behind me and I can post with more frequency as in September and October.
What follows are my picks for the album, comic book, tv series, novel and film of 2009.
Album of the Year Yonder Is the Clock - The Felice Brothers[Team Love Records] I don't really listen to a lot of new music any more (most of the music I discovered this year came out before 2009 when I looked back), which I suppose is why I enjoy the brothers' Felice so much -- their sound is largely of a century past. But to write them off as merely a folk/rock act sells them too short. This is not a bunch of guys that tried to capitalize on the O, Brother fad from a few years back. These boys live it on the road with accordion, washboard and fiddle in tow. They even have an album available for purchase only at their live shows that was recorded on a two-track in a chicken coop. Unlike a lot of contemporary folk, hailing from the Catskills as opposed to Appalachia or the Bayou gives them a distinctly unique sensibility to that old-timey sound. With song subjects featuring the star of Bethlehem, sweeping porters and not one, but two songs about chickens on Yonder, they place you in a long-lost mindset where Honus Wagner and the steam engine ruled the land. But then they'll throw in a reference to Adderall, and suddenly you're transplanted to the now via the past. In short, Yonder Is The Clock is a remarkable musical achievement.
Mainstream Comic Series of the Year The Invincible Iron Man - Matt Fraction & Salvador Larroca [Marvel Comics] I've had to take a hiatus from comics this year due to my finances, but this Iron Man comic was the hardest one to give up, not to mention the last. What Fraction has done to a character conveniently pushed into the spotlight by an excellent movie is impressive. Tearing him down from the heights of Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and making you care each step of the way was no small task. All it's done is make me more excited for the coming sequel film as well as care about Iron Man, which I certainly did not before this series. Also, it's nice to see that my prediction of Fraction becoming the next big thing in comics is firmly cemented 3 and a half years after the fact. It's going to be a hard task not picking up the new Casanova issues about to hit shelves.
Independent Comic Series of the Year Criminal - Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips [Icon/Marvel Comics] While I did eventually force myself to give up The Invincible Iron Man, I haven't done so with Criminal. It's the only monthly I CANNOT put down. In part because of the unparalleled level of crime fiction you get in each issue (it's my favorite genre, so I look for it in all mediums; nothing is consistently better), but also because of the extras included in the back pages. The trades don't include these essays on the best film, comics and novels that crime fiction is included in, so Brubaker and Phillips have ingeniously forced my hand. The best news is that the mini series format shows no signs of slowing down, and allows for new readers to jump in with a new storyline. If you do that, make sure you visit the previous stops in the Criminal-verse.
Television Series of the Year Battlestar Galactica - Season 4.5 [SciFi Channel] This was a tough decision, a testament to just how good some shows have become, but ultimately I have to give it to BSG. The finale may not have been perfect, but damn was it close. Easily the best science fiction show ever forged, it accomplished exquisite social commentary in a post-9/11 world on religion, the role of the military and government, and the significance of humanity, among other topics, while never losing an ounce of entertainment value. In a roundabout way, it will live on throughCaprica, a prequel series that will begin later this month. Its pilot was strong and showed promise as a worthy successor to one of the greatest television series ever made.
Novel of the Year My Dead Body - Charlie Huston [Del Ray] The fifth and presumably final chapter in the Joe Pitt Casebooks, Huston's vampire-noir series, came out late this year in deliciously bloody fashion. Huston is far and away my favorite writer right now, so I'm majorly biased here. This series is about a litany of colorful vampire clans battling for territory and general survival in New York City with the lone wolf Joe Pitt caught in the middle of all them, creating havoc more or less in the name of love. Unlike some of the more popular vampire stories out there right now, Huston tackles the need for feeding, the science of vampirism and even AIDS head-on. But he doesn't lose sight of love, even amid a hail of bullets and double-crosses. Many people seem to classify him as a prose Tarantino, a description with some merit, and before seeing Inglourious Basterds this year, I had sorta ignored. To me, Huston is like Cormac McCarthy with a genre flair. He embraces horror, science fiction and violence with much more ease than what I've seen in my limited exposure to McCarthy but still is able to evoke the same resonance with an outstanding individual voice and flow of words. My Dead Body will probably be the last installment, but it concludes inconspicuously. I wouldn't be surprised to see more tales emerge from this universe if it ever gets captured on film.
Films of the Year Star Trek - J.J. Abrams [Paramount Pictures] and Inglourious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino [Universal Studios] I've been trying to pick between these two for a couple of months now, and I just can't. Together, they filled all my requirements from a movie. Star Trek was the thrilling, yet wondrously crafted popcorn movie that made you want another installment. Basterds was a full-blown cinematic masterpiece that got better the more days went by. Both were made by directors who are at the top of their game, yet will probably only get better. The combination made for a superb year. The Rest of 2009's Top Films: 3. District 9 - read my review here (scroll down) 4.The Brothers Bloom 5. Thirst 6. Taken - honorably mentioned in my most-underrated list 7. Anvil: The Story of Anvil 8. Watchmen 9. Avatar- read my review here 10. Up
While I'm always hoping for something new and unexpected, I am confident that the contenders for next year's list will include Iron Man 2, Vampire Weekend's Contra, and Mad Men - Season 4.
Got other ideas on what to look out for next year? Tell me in the comments.
I haven’t had a whole lot of time to contribute to our blog lately (as in, since my hopeful but naive review of Jeph Loeb’s “Hulk” #1 way back in February 2008).There are a variety of reasons for this, but my most recent excuse probably has a lot to do with the little addition we made to my family on October 1st.Typing with just the one hand is annoying and often unfruitful, but I’ll do my best here and try to clue you in on what got me excited in 2009.Here goes!
Top 5 Comics of 2009 (in no particular order):
[These are the series that make me, a full-grown adult with all sorts of responsibilities, want to keep reading and collecting comic books.]
1. “Northlanders” by Brian Wood & Leandro Fernandez [Vertigo/DC Comics]
This is a Viking comic, but not like you’d probably think. Specific to the current “The Plague Widow” arc that began in “Northlanders” #21, the currently ongoing story involves a woman in a trading village that has closed itself off from society due to the Black Death. This is a character-driven book, and really, we’ve yet to see any axe-swinging barbarians with horned helmets at all. Leandro Fernandez is an artist who, it seems, has really come into his own with this series. He's really been nailing these issues, especially his facial expressions and the snow-filled, desolate backgrounds.Generally speaking, each story in this series is completely unrelated, and they can be read in any order you’d like, but I’d start from the beginning if I were you.I can’t recommend this series any higher.
2. “Stumptown” by Greg Rucka & Matthew Southworth [Oni Press]
Okay, sure; only one issue has come out so far, but it absolutely knocked my socks off.This first issue takes place in reverse order, as we see a crime happen, and then trace it back through a day in the life of private investigator Dex Parios, who happens to have a knack for trouble and a not-so-insignificant gambling problem.Everything about this comic screams quality, from the thick paper stock to the gorgeous art to the cover design.Rucka promises about 8 issues a year of this, and they can’t come out too soon.They announced this book in 2007, and I’ve been waiting on the edge of my seat ever since.It didn’t disappoint.
3. “Criminal” by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips [Icon/Marvel Comics]
A lot has been written over the past few years about this comic, so it’s hard to do anything but simply add to the applause.It’s a crime comic, but from a different angle than “Stumptown.”Brubaker and Phillips spin a bunch of interrelated yarns about thugs and ne’er-do-wells in the pits of society. And again, this is a series that you can pretty much pick up any story arc and enjoy it as it is.However, you’ll get the most pleasure from simply starting from the beginning and seeing how each character arc feeds off of each other, both literally and figuratively. Such an excellent book.
4. “Sweet Tooth” by Jeff Lemire [Vertigo/DC Comics]
“Sweet Tooth” is a unique book in that it’s the result of the singular vision of writer/artist Lemire.I was initially attracted by the premise: a deer-antlered boy named Gus makes his way through a post-apocalyptic wasteland to a potential sanctuary for animal hybrids like himself.Again, we’re still early in the series, only three or four issues in, and I really have no idea what’s going to happen.What a great ride it’s been thus far, though, and I’m looking forward to a nice, long read with a beginning, middle and end.Lemire recently stated that the story will be between 30 and 40 issues long, and there's something about serial comics that have a planned end that is really attractive to me. I’ve also recently read Lemire’s other major works, “The Nobody” and “Essex County,” and both are equally enjoyable. They're similar in tone, but quite different in subject matter. All are worth checking out, at the very least.
5. “The Unwritten” by Mike Carey & Peter Gross [Vertigo/DC Comics]
This is another creator-owned book that takes the literary milieu of, say, “Harry Potter” and expands it to all of literature.Put simply, “The Unwritten” is about the son of the author of a “Harry Potter”-like novel series who shares his name with the protagonist of the books, who finds out that he may or may not be a product of fiction himself.There’s a lot going on in this book that I don’t quite understand yet regarding fiction and its relationship to and interaction with nonfictional reality, but it’s clear that the creators have a plan, and they’ve got me hooked.
Runner-ups:
- New Avengers & Dark Avengers (Bendis/Immonen & Bendis/Deodato)
[I can’t stop bumping these albums, no matter how hard I try.]
1. “Veckatimest” – Grizzly Bear
So very different from their previous album, “Yellow House,” but indisputably by the same band.I guess they decided one day that it was okay to rock out a bit on their new album.Not only that, but “Veckatimest” features some of the most gorgeous songs I’ve ever heard, and I’ll have this album on repeat for some time to come. I knew it was a classic pretty much from the moment I heard "Two Weeks."
2. “The Century of Self” – … And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
Like just about everyone else, I was immensely disappointed by Trail of Dead’s “So Divided” in 2006. (Really, what were they thinking?) So, I was trying to stay optimistic, but not really expecting a whole lot when I heard that they were coming out with a new album this year.And wow, they definitely came through with an album that was a return to epic, rocking form.It’s not quite the classic that “Source Tags & Codes” was way back in 2002, but it’s a comeback album in almost every possible category.If you’ve never heard Trail of Dead, I’d check out “Source Tags” first, but don’t sleep on this one, either.
3. “Blood Bank EP” – Bon Iver
My favorite "lonely guy with a guitar" discovery of 2008 put out this brief EP in 2009, and I’ve probably listened to it as much as the full-length.Each one of these four songs is more beautiful and haunting than the next, culminating in the acapella/autotune experiment of “Woods,” which I nominate for my song of the year. Also, if you can manage to pick up what Justin Vernon's putting down on this one, you should definitely check out his Volcano Choir - "Unmap" project where he really lets loose, creatively speaking.
4. “Octahedron” – The Mars Volta
I really wasn’t sure what to make of this album at first, except for the fact that I didn't really like it.It’s Mars Volta’s first experiment with more-or-less traditional song structure, leaving behind much of the guitar noodling and excess of the past few albums.I’ll be honest; like I mentioned, after the first few spins, I wasn’t too impressed.However, it didn’t take too long after those initial listens to fall in love with this release.The “rock” is there on the album, it just takes a little while to get there. Possibly their best, and most mature release.I’m very interested to see where they go from here. Also of interest: El Grupo Nuevo De Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - "Cryptomnesia", where he teamed up with some friends from Mars Volta and Hella to make a really interesting album, and from whose studio sessions I am excited to report there are apparently enough for at least two more releases to come as well.
5. “Curse Your Branches” – David Bazan
You may or may not have heard of the band Pedro The Lion.David Bazan used to front that band, but personnel/personal conflicts resulted in him heading off on his own path, somewhat ironically in that it was in an effort to save his friendships with the other member(s) of the band.So, this is Bazan’s first full-length solo release, and it’s a confessional doozy, mainly focusing on his faith – or, really, the fairly recent lack thereof.Even though I listen to music all the time, David Bazan is more or less, for better or for worse, the only artist that I really dig into his lyrics, which are thought-provoking and sublime.I guess if I wanted to, I could complain that the music on this album tends towards the safer end of things. I prefer the indie-rock sound of his other releases.But that said, it's really only a minor problem compared with the wonderful complexity and gentle nuance of this album.
[I probably saw less movies this year, in the theater or otherwise, than any other year of my adult life.So, I kind of kept to the safe choices, viewing-wise.But what choices they were! You probably know what the posters for these movies look like, so I'll save you the bandwidth.]
1. “Star Trek” (dir. J.J. Abrams)
This movie was dangerous for me in that it threatened to reawaken the slumbering “Star Trek” fan in me.I haven’t really watched any of that particular brand of sci-fi since I went to college in 1995.However, once I saw it the first time, then couldn’t stop thinking about it, then even bought the official tie-in cereal and had a huge bowl of it before going to a second, Saturday afternoon showing. This movie is the real deal, and probably the best time I had in a theater all year.
However, “Inglourious Basterds” was probably the best movie I saw all year.While it was nothing like the movie I thought I was heading to the theater to see, upon reflection it’s really a piece of cinema art."Kill Bill" may have a special place in my heart, but I suspect that this is Tarantino's true masterpiece, at least thus far in his career. While I would absolutely love to get another movie specifically about the Basterds scalping Nazis undercover in WWII Germany, (as Quentin has hinted is a possibility,) this film exceeded my expectations in almost every way, especially once I threw my original ones out the window.
3. “District 9” (dir. Neill Blomkamp)
I’ve described this as “a videogame movie, except it’s really good.”Of course, it’s more than that, and works on a couple different levels.It’s no secret that “District 9” started out its development as a “Halo” pitch, but it’s completely its own animal, with surprising depth of characters and story.There are great prospects, story-wise, for either a prequel (“District 8”?) or a sequel (“District 10”?) and you can count me in for either. I really need to watch this one again.
4. “Moon” (dir. Duncan Jones)
"Moon" is a beautiful, quiet, 70’s-style film about loneliness and fatigue while mining on the Moon.Sam Rockwell, basically performing a virtuoso solo act here, really makes watching this film a pleasure. But really, the thing that I loved the most about this film wasn’t even so much his performance as the revelation about a certain robotic intelligence that goes against our prevailing sci-fi tropes.I also loved that actual models were used for the special effects scenes instead of huge amounts of CGI, and that director Duncan Jones apparently has more movies in this vein up his sleeve.
5. “Watchmen” (dir. Zack Snyder)
This might be a controversial choice for some, but I really didn’t have a whole lot to complain about with the movie version of “Watchmen.”I hadn’t read the comic series in a while, so I was riveted for the entire movie, only remembering the final twist at the last minute.I recently purchased the “Ultimate Cut” of this movie with the “Tales of the Black Freighter” cartoon edited into the film, so all I need now is three-plus hours of consecutive free time to check it out – hopefully sooner than later.
Runner-ups:
[Movies I wanted to see, but did not, that should probably be somewhere on the above list.]
- “The Road”
- “The Fantastic Mr. Fox”
- “The Hurt Locker”
- “Where The Wild Things Are” (UPDATE: Saw it on 12/26!)
- “The Box” (perhaps out of morbid curiosity?)
... I guess I’ll just have to catch them on Blu-Ray at some point.
In my Best of 2009 article from last month, I listed nine movies I had wanted to see, but for whatever reason, did not before 2009 wrapped up. Aside from Sherlock Holmes, which I probably won't see for a while, I have watched all the items on that list. Here are my thoughts on each.
Moon
The Road
Sugar
(500) Days of Summer
The Hurt Locker
Public Enemies
Fantastic Mr. Fox
State of Play
