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I’m only a month and a half late posting this!

2009 had some great movies. It also had some awful ones. I’ve never seen so many bad movies in one year… so this year, not only will I be posting the best of 2009, but also the worst. Enjoy!

5. Drag Me To Hell
This movie was just fun. I know, it’s a horror movie, but my face hurt hurt after I left the theater because I had been smiling and laughing so much throughout. You might think, “A horror movie that just makes you laugh? That doesn’t sound like a good thing.” But it is.

4. The Hangover
With many comedy movies in which ridiculous events occur, the viewer must often suspend their belief in reality temporarily in order to enjoy what they’re seeing. Despite The Hangover being ridiculous and far-fetched, it was somehow incredibly believable for me. I felt a sort of nostalgia watching the movie, perhaps because as a teen, my friends and I would do some pretty wild things around the Las Vegas Strip. Anyway, there’s good reason this movie has claimed the throne of highest grossing comedy of all time.

3. Inglourious Basterds
Unlike other Tarantino movies where characters have really long, strange, seemingly unnecessary conversations with one another, the conversations in this movie were really great. The opening scene is one of the tensest scenes I’ve seen in recent history, and the “rat speech” is brilliant. In fact, every scene with Christopher Waltz is fantastic.

2. District 9
The political message of this movie is on the one hand quite subtle, and on the other hand, bashes you over the head with a club. It’s hard to not be annoying with political messages, but District 9 does it flawlessly. The format (mockumentary-style) is also quite novel and enjoyable.

1. The Hurt Locker
I need to see this again. (This next part might be considered a spoiler, but I don’t think so…) My favorite scene is near the end when the main character goes home and is walking through a store with his wife. The movie did such a good job of sucking you into the feeling of being a soldier in Iraq that when you’re finally brought back to “civilization” it feels truly eerie. On top of that (and I think other critics have probably mentioned this), it portrays the war in Iraq without any political bias, and does it superbly.

Honorable mention: Avatar
Yeah yeah, the story was pretty cheesy, cliché, etc. But Pandora was beautiful.

Best movie I saw in 2009 that wasn’t made in 2009: Ondskan
Everyone should watch this movie. Several times. It’s Swedish, so you’ve probably never heard of it (unless I’ve told you to watch it). I don’t want to say what it’s about, but it’s now one of my favorite movies.

Worst of 2009:

5. The Proposal

4. Bride Wars

3. Year One

2. Nine

1. The Road
The Road was awful. I like dark, depressing movies, but this one just sucks your soul out of you. And it’s monotonous. I think I wanted to die while watching this.

Biggest disappointment: Watchmen
I don’t even know what was going on here. I feel like the original story is far too complicated to be put into a single movie. It’d be like if movie makers tried to cram Atlas Shrugged or Lord of the Rings into 2 and a half hours of movie. You’d just leave the theater thinking, “WTF mate?” And that’s what happened here.

A new trailer for the upcoming movie version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released yesterday. You should watch it. I nearly wet myself.

Check out the ownage going on in the following two stills I took from the movie:

(First pic is Snape owning Harry as he flees Hogwarts. Second pic is Dumbledore owning some Inferi in the cave. Click to enlarge.)

As this was my favorite book of the series, I am trying not to get too excited about the movie. Invariably, the movie-makers will feel the need to add some stupid crap and take out some important parts of the book, or do something else to somehow totally destroy the awesomeness that was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And then I will be sad.

(In fact, this has already been confirmed. For those of you who have read the book: the lesson where Dumbledore and Harry visit the House of Gaunt has been completely removed from the movie; and they’ve added a scene where Harry and Ginny are stuck at the Weasley’s home when Death Eaters decide to attack it… *sigh*)

Oh well. I’m going to be there at midnight for sure.

[Added later: For a smaller, streaming version of the trailer, click here. The high quality Apple version is better, though.]

Two months ago I posted my Top 5 Movies of 2008 list. I had Cloverfield listed as #5. Well, we just watched Changeling with Angelina Jolie. I’ve decided to modify the Top 5 list: Cloverfield is now an honorable mention, and Changeling is #5. The feelings of injustice I felt for Jolie’s character reminded me of The Shawshank Redemption. Just go watch it.

5. Cloverfield
A lot of movie trailers pique my interest and then end up disappointing me when I go see the movie. Cloverfield, however, did not disappoint. The plot of the movie is not entirely new, but the way it was executed was pretty fantastic. Yes, Blair Witch did it a few years back, but the difference this time was that Cloverfield was actually suspenseful and scary. I wasn’t one of the people in the theater who got sick from all the abrupt camera movements, so I really enjoyed it.

4. Burn After Reading
Billed as a comedy, Burn After Reading is more a satire than what I consider a typical comedy. Although Brad Pitt plays an “average Joe” ignorant guy whose naivety is often humorous, the real greatness in this movie comes from the numerous subtle undertones that express the incompetence of government.

3. There Will Be Blood
Despite the movie being fairly action-free and slow-moving, Daniel Day-Lewis is so incredibly amazing that he makes the movie completely interesting, even after the first viewing. Upton Sinclair, though a flaming socialist, is a superb storyteller. [Note: This movie was technically released in 2007, but only on a limited viewing. I didn't see it until well into 2008, so I count it as a 2008 release.]

2. Death Note
The premise: A college-aged guy picks up a notebook that he discovers has the power to kill anyone whose name is written on its pages. Initially, he uses the notebook to “right wrongs”… but of course, that doesn’t last long. Based on a Japanese manga/anime series, a “live-action” version was made and brought to the United States this past year. Anyway, the idea and even more importantly, its execution, are thrillingly original.

1. The Dark Knight
If you haven’t seen this movie, and its precursor Batman Begins, go see them immediately. The Dark Knight in particular was incredible on every level imaginable.

[Updated 4 March 2009: Read change to list here.]

This year is quickly coming to an end, so I’ll be publishing my highly acclaimed Brandon’s Top 5 Movie List of 2008 in the next couple weeks. But since I hadn’t published my previous years’ lists anywhere except on Ashley’s Facebook wall, I figured I’d put them up for you all to see.

Brandon’s Top 5 Movie List of 2006:

5. Thank You for Smoking
4. The Departed
3. Pan’s Labyrinth
2. Blood Diamond
1. V For Vendetta

2006 was a fantastic movie year. And I don’t think it’s just because that was the year I got back from my mission and started watching movies again.

Brandon’s Top 5 Movie List of 2007:

5. American Gangster
4. Transformers
3. Stardust
2. I Am Legend
1. Shooter

I might possibly replace American Gangster with No Country for Old Men; I watched them both only once and seemed to enjoy them both about the same. 2007 was a sad year for movies, I think.

Watch out for the 2008 List, to be released soon!

I’m on track to finish the fourth (and final) book in the Twilight saga. If you don’t know what the Twilight saga is, well… I’m sorry. Leave the house once in a while.

I haven’t followed much of what’s going on with the first movie that will be coming out next week. I’ve watched some trailers, but that’s about it. Today, while sorting through my RSS feeds regarding movies and entertainment, I noticed a headline about “the rest of the Twilight series” that caught my eye, so I clicked. Here’s part of what I read:

In “New Moon,” Edward leaves Bella, sending Bella into a depression and a friendship with another vampire. In the third book, “Eclipse,” that relationship triangle evolves, while evil empires begin to pursue Bella.

Another vampire? Really? I hope the site (The Hollywood Reporter — seems legit) is just reporting the news incorrectly. But based on the atrocities Hollywood committed on the Lord of the Rings franchise, I can only imagine…

But that doesn’t matter for the first book/movie, Twilight, which comes out next week. Like I said, I’ve only seen a couple of trailers. But let’s look at who’s putting this movie together…

The screenwriter for the film has done what? Party of Five? The OC? Ally McBeal?… seriously?

What about the actors? Bella was in Jumper (Oh goodness) and Edward played a minor role in one of the Harry Potters.

Has anyone else watched the trailers and felt like you’re watching a terrible teen-drama? That’s how I feel.

And as if all this weren’t bad enough, just look at this picture of the Cullens sitting at their lunch table:

Conclusion: They look really gay. Especially the guys.

Tonight, Ashley and I went to see a special showing of the live action Death Note. Death Note is an anime/manga in Japan, but they recently made a “real” movie with real live actors. I guess it’s popular enough that they dubbed it in English and brought it here, as well, but only for two nights in select theaters. The theater we went to, by the way, was completely full. Anyway, on to my review…

The story is about a smart kid named Light who happens upon a notebook which gives its owner power to kill anyone whose name they write on its pages. Initially, upset by the poor enforcement of justice by the police, Light uses it to kill criminals and other shady characters. But then as the police begin to investigate the “criminal murderer”… Light starts killing off cops.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. But before I say why, I have to tell some of the weaknesses.

Negatives:

• Although not a flaw of the movie per se, the audience was completely retarded. This was definitely the worst part about the whole experience tonight. I am one of those people who likes to go to movies at midnight on opening night to enjoy the film with other people who are crazy enough to lose hours of sleep on it. These types of audiences are usually the most fun, the most enthusiastic about what’s going on, etc. The people tonight were just morons. They shouted out random, stupid, unfunny things almost on a minute-by-minute basis. I wanted to shoot someone, or myself. So yes, not a true flaw of the movie… except that indirectly it is, as it seemed to only draw dolts (myself and Ashley excluded).
• Voice acting was… not that great. The guys weren’t too bad, but the girls sounded completely fake… like they were reading a script for a Disney Channel show. But this was supposed to be a real adult flick, not some kid show. Had it been rated, I’m sure the multiple F-bomb droppage would’ve invariably garnered it an R-rating.
• The Death God (go to the above site to see pictures of him in anime-form) was terribly animated. I mean, he looked like a computer-rendered version of what you’ll see if you look at his picture on the anime site. They really skimped on the budget here, evidentally. It made what would have otherwise been a pretty serious story kind of cheesy.
• Did I mention the audience was retarded?

Now for the cool. I don’t have a specific listing of items, just some general thoughts.

Light is a very likeable character. Even when he starts killing off completely innocent people, you still like him.  The way Light alluded the police and was able to pull off his shennanigans, especially during the last part of the story, were very fluid, original, and interesting. I generally felt the story was well thought out and holes in the story were hard to be found. It keeps you guessing up til the end. And most of all, the ruthlessness of Light (even though I’m not usually into that kind of thing) is just fantastic. Supporting characters (like the top “detective” L) were also very likeable. Lastly, the music was pretty good.

Though not the best movie or story I’ve ever seen, it was definitely enjoyable and I’d recommend it to anyone.