Better Late Than Never: Post Your Best of 2009 List

[Lancemc]

Might as well share.

1. Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Miyazaki)
2. Bright Star (Campion)
3. The White Ribbon (Haneke)
4. Public Enemies (Mann)
5. Broken Embraces (Almodovar)
6. The Limits of Control (Jarmusch)
7. Avatar (Cameron)
8. Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino)
9. A Serious Man (Coen)
10. The Girlfriend Experience (Soderbergh)

Honorables in no order: Bad Lieutenant (Herzog), The Brothers Bloom (Johnson), Tetro (Coppola), Antichrist (Von Trier), Two Lovers (Gray), Police Adjective (Porumboiu), Watchmen (Snyder), Love Exposure (Sono)

An update:


1. Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Miyazaki)
2. Bright Star (Campion)
3. Public Enemies (Mann)
4. The White Ribbon (Haneke)
5. Broken Embraces (Almodovar)
6. The Limits of Control (Jarmusch)
7. 35 Shots of Rum (Denis)
8. Avatar (Cameron)
9. Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino)
10. A Serious Man (Coen)

35 Shots of Rum is maybe my least favorite Claire Denis film I've seen, but she's one of the world's greatest living filmmakers, so even a "minor" achievement makes a mark.

 

[No spoken words]

I have not seen Bright Star or A Prophet yet, but Bright Star will arrive via the Flix! today.....

But, in no particular order after the first one listed:

A Serious Man

(You) Inglorious (Little) Basterds
The Girlfriend Experience
Avatar
Sugar (This might have been a 2008 release, if so, scratch it)
Star Trek
Up in the Air
Crazy Heart

 

[LMP]

Sugar premiered at Sundance in '08, hit theaters in '09, so you're good.

Lance, I loved Bright Star way more than I thought that I would.

 

[LMP]

Fuck it, I'll post my list now and just amend it later, if need be. I'm also stealing your format, Lance, for the sake of space, if you don't mind:

Top 20
1. A Serious Man (Dir. Joel and Ethan Coen)
2. Inglourious Basterds (Dir. Quentin Tarantino)
3. Fantastic Mr. Fox (Dir. Wes Anderson)
4. Tetro (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
5. The Hurt Locker (Dir. Kathryn Bigelow)
6. Bright Star (Dir. Jane Campion)
7. Star Trek (Dir. J.J. Abrams)
8. Avatar (Dir. James Cameron)
9. The Brothers Bloom (Dir. Rian Johnson)
10. Zombieland (Dir. Ruben Fleischer)
11. Where the Wild Things Are (Dir. Spike Jonze)
12. In the Loop (Dir. Armando Iannucci)
13. Black Dynamite (Dir. Scott Sanders)
14. The Girlfriend Experience (Dir. Steven Soderbergh)
15. Up in the Air (Dir. Jason Reitman)
16. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Dir. Werner Herzog)
17. The Cove (Dir. Louie Psihoyos)
18. Big Fan (Dir. Robert Siegel)
19. District 9 (Dir. Neill Blomkamp)
20. Humpday (Dir. Lynn Shelton)

Best Director
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Runner-Up: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Best Actor
Michael Stuhlbarg, A Serious Man

Runner-Up: Nicolas Cage, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Best Actress
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Antichrist

Runner-Up: Melanie Laurent, Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Runner-Up: Paul Schneider, Bright Star

Best Supporting Actress
Marion Cotillard, Public Enemies

Runner-Up: Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air

Best Original Screenplay
Joel and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man

Runner-Up: Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Best Adapted Screenplay
Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Runner-Up: Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche & Ian Martin, In the Loop

Best Cinematography
Mihai Malaimare Jr., Tetro

Runner-Up: Greig Fraser, Bright Star

Best Editing
James Cameron, John Refoua & Stephen Rivkin, Avatar

Runner-Up: Sally Menke, Inglourious Basterds

Best Sound Design
The Hurt Locker

Runner-Up: Avatar

Best Art Direction
Fantastic Mr. Fox

Runner-Up: Public Enemies

Best Original Score
Michael Giacchino, Up

Runner-Up:Hans Zimmer, Sherlock Holmes

Best Original Song
"Almost There" by Anika Noni Rose & Randy Newman, The Princess and the Frog

Runner-Up: "The Weary Kind" by Ryan Bingham, Crazy Heart

Best Ensemble
Inglourious Basterds

Runner-Up: In the Loop

10 Favorite Scenes/Montages/Sequences (In Order of Preference)
Col. Landa at the LaPadite Farm, Inglourious Basterds
The Narada attacks the Kelvin, Star Trek
The Goy’s Teeth, A Serious Man
The Gang Visits to the Tippity-Top of the A-List, Zombieland
The Origin of Dr. Manhattan, Watchmen
The Nigga Elk Speech, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Carl/Ellie’s Montage, Up
Expectations vs. Reality, 500 Days of Summer
Escape from the Bean Farm, Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ryan Meets Alex, Up in the Air

Worst Performance in an Otherwise Good Film
Malin Akerman & Carla Gugino (tie), Watchmen

Best Performance in an Otherwise Bad Film
Jemaine Clement, Gentleman Broncos

Runner-Up: Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones

Biggest Surprise
Bright Star

Runner-Up: Humpday

Biggest Disappointment
Public Enemies

Runner-Up: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Biggest WTF Moment
Tuccirape's Treerape Trap, The Lovely Bones

Runner-Up: Willem Dafoe's lower half meets a 2x4, Antichrist

Best Use of Max Records
Where the Wild Things Are

Runner-Up: The Brothers Bloom

 

[u2popmofo]

No Robot Heaven inclusions?!

 

[purpleoscar]

Also, while I'm here, The International was 2009 right? Just watched it tonight finally. Wouldn't place on my list, but I was considerably impressed. Can't think of too many other examples that make such strong use of physical space and architecture in relation to its characters and macro narrative arcs. And of course the gunfight was outstanding.

Not a great movie for me but the cinematography transfered on the Blu-ray was astoundingly sharp!

 

[No spoken words]

Add Bright Star to my list. Loved it.

 

[LMP]

No Robot Heaven inclusions?!

I cannot believe that I forgot that. It probably would've made the WTF shortlist, but it still doesn't compare to the aforementioned Tuccirape scene. It's a tour-de-force in incompetent filmmaking.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Bright Star should not be on anybody's list. It's merely competent at times and they make John Keats the most dashing man ever in order to appeal to the female crowd that eats up these period dramas.

I still quite liked it though.

Anybody here seen My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? yet? It's another Win for Werner, extremely unconventional.

 

[No spoken words]

Bright Star should not be on anybody's list. It's merely competent at times and they make John Keats the most dashing man ever in order to appeal to the female crowd that eats up these period dramas.

I still quite liked it though.

Anybody here seen My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? yet? It's another Win for Werner, extremely unconventional.

I'm gonna go ahead and keep it on my list anyway, though. I have this thing about my opinion being my own, etc.

 

[lazarus]

Keats was portrayed as dashing in what way? Seemed more like a quiet, mellow, occasionally emo kind of guy in the film to me.

 

[LMP]

Catching TB is dashing as hell, what are you talking about?

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Keats is played by a very physically attractive man that most of the women watching will dug which obviously isn't true if you've seen portraits of the guy. He has a really nice voice, both in speaking & singing. He dances very well in tight pants.

Basically, it's a gross exaggeration so that women can get tied into it. Because God knows they wouldn't be if Keats were played by a virus infested skinny boy with a long nose, ultra pale skin and red hair. Hhis words wooing over a female so much that it effectively hinders the rest of her life after his death is the entire point here. When the guy is played by somebody attractive enough that they could woo any modern woman into bed in about an hour, it kind of loses its impact.

 

[No spoken words]

Keats is played by a very physically attractive man that most of the women watching will dug which obviously isn't true if you've seen portraits of the guy. He has a really nice voice, both in speaking & singing. He dances very well in tight pants.

Basically, it's a gross exaggeration so that women can get tied into it. Because God knows they wouldn't be if Keats were played by a virus infested skinny boy with a long nose, ultra pale skin and red hair. Hhis words wooing over a female so much that it effectively hinders the rest of her life after his death is the entire point here. When the guy is played by somebody attractive enough that they could woo any modern woman into bed in about an hour, it kind of loses its impact.

Oh, well, now that you put it like that, let me take it right off of my list.

Thanks!

 

[lazarus]

Keats is played by a very physically attractive man that most of the women watching will dug which obviously isn't true if you've seen portraits of the guy. He has a really nice voice, both in speaking & singing. He dances very well in tight pants.

Basically, it's a gross exaggeration so that women can get tied into it. Because God knows they wouldn't be if Keats were played by a virus infested skinny boy with a long nose, ultra pale skin and red hair. Hhis words wooing over a female so much that it effectively hinders the rest of her life after his death is the entire point here. When the guy is played by somebody attractive enough that they could woo any modern woman into bed in about an hour, it kind of loses its impact.

It should be noted that there are a lot of women that don't find his type attractive. And Whishaw IS a skinny, pale guy.

Also, there aren't a lot of unattractive young actors in the business; certainly not ones who are going to convince investors to help fund a film.

 

[No spoken words]

It should be noted that there are a lot of women that don't find his type attractive. And Whishaw IS a skinny, pale guy.

Also, there aren't a lot of unattractive young actors in the business; certainly not ones who are going to convince investors to help fund a film.

This guy likely should have played Keats:

If they would have made the film a few decades ago:

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Just my opinion and I wasn't chastising anybody for having it in their list. I just feel that they took a real, and very unique story and kind of tailored it to period drama conventions. Again, I really liked it though as it was beautifully shot, well-acted, etc.

 

[LMP]

Normally, I'm not a fan of period dramas, but I felt this one had a deft balance between romanticism, beautiful composition, and relatable character drama that made it a compelling film. It was able to avoid the usual "forbidden love by class difference" trope through its strong characterizations of the two romantic leads and Paul fucking Schneider.

The period/costume drama is a sub-genre that I kind of want to get into, but really have no idea how to approach it. Howards End just hit Criterion, so I might go that route.

 

[No spoken words]

Just my opinion and I wasn't chastising anybody for having it in their list. I just feel that they took a real, and very unique story and kind of tailored it to period drama conventions. Again, I really liked it though as it was beautifully shot, well-acted, etc.

We're just fucking around.

I think that there's some validity to what you're saying, but I also think you're exaggerating a tad as well.

At least we can all agree on some of the film's strengths.

I'll also just go ahead and say that posting a photo of Stoltz in Mask is funny.

 

[LMP]

Peter Bogdanovich's Mask. Sigh.

 

[No spoken words]

Paul Schneider for the win, by the way. I'm talking Bright Star and beyond.

 

[LMP]

Finding out he's the lead in All the Real Girls along with Zooey has shot it up towards the top of THE FLIX! queue.

I'm only familiar with him from this and his small part in Away We Go, which was one of the only watchable parts of that piece of garbage.

 

[No spoken words]

I've been babbling about All the Real Girls for years, long before Zooey was on anyone's radar.

I've yet to see Away We Go. How could it be bad, Jim is in it!?!?!!?@!$R#WEWF2rp[oewfjd!!!!!

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Schneider is pretty good on Parks and Recreation. Although he's a bit more of a straight man so he often gets outshined by Ansari, Poehler, Plaza, Offerman, etc.

 

[LMP]

I've been babbling about All the Real Girls for years, long before Zooey was on anyone's radar.

I've yet to see Away We Go. How could it be bad, Jim is in it!?!?!!?@!$R#WEWF2rp[oewfjd!!!!!

Gold star for you. David Gordon Green's a guy whose filmography I could knock out in a weekend, too. Only seen Pineapple Express.

You mean Captain America???

Schneider is pretty good on Parks and Recreation. Although he's a bit more of a straight man so he often gets outshined by Ansari, Poehler, Plaza, Offerman, etc.

That's the toughest job in all of comedy, too.

 

[lazarus]

I've been babbling about All the Real Girls for years, long before Zooey was on anyone's radar.

Yeah, me too. Saw that in the theatre and have been a DGG cheerleader ever since. Same with Schneider. And Zooey, at least until she married you-know-who.

Gold star for you. Sasha Grey's a girl whose filmography I could rub out in a weekend, too.

Interesting choice of words.

 

[No spoken words]

Fucking DGG better reign it back in and get back to doing films that don't have Danny McBride in them, cos 2 in a row is 2 too many.

 

[lazarus]

He was in All The Real Girls too, buddy.

 

[LMP]

Speaking of McBride, one cool little detail I noticed in Up in the Air the second time around was how Clooney placed the cardboard cutout in each picture. It was always off to the side, emphasizing the location of the picture, while all of the other pictures that were seen on the picture map were closer to the camera and right in the center. You may be an asshole, Jason Reitman, but that's a sly little move.

 

[lazarus]

Good eye.