My 2009 in Movies

The year has been ordinary one in terms of movies. Some of the best ones were sci fi and that is the only consolation. However I am not going to make a best of 2009 list quite simply because unlike the professional critics at Uncle Sam’s place I havent been able to watch all the movies that have been released yet and anyhow in a month or so we will be counting down to the Oscars and doing a list then is best. By then most movies will be available for consumption. Since the Oscars are so prestigious, we movie people should simply give up calendar years and do our lists around it. The movies featured during Oscars often get forgotten and end up in neither lists not this year and not the year before. So i am going to take a different path. We critics are innocent folk with everyone living in their own glass doors. We can  celebrate Christmas whenever we feel like.

When it comes to me personally this hasnt been a stellar year like the year before where I could clock 240 movies (inspite of the TV shows). This year I could only clock 192 but its ok ‘cos life has changed in many ways and TV shows like Mad Men and Friends (yep it was my first time) made life richer in their own ways. The first two months were spent watching and writing about the Oscar nominees of 2009 and I was exposed to some really fine movies like Rachel Getting Married, Waltz with Bashir etc. There were a lot of classics, foreign language films and rom coms. There were a lot of indie films too. This was also the year I fell in love with Spanish movies and this was partly aided by the Spanish Film festival which happened in Hyderabad. So really as a movie buff what matters to me more than the best I have seen of this year is the best I have seen in this year. So I have compiled a list of must watch films I have seen for the first time this year and believe you too should sometime. So something like a 3rd time of Casablanca or Wall E wont count. There wasnt a single 10 this year I could see. Star Wars was the last one in October 2008. The 9’s were rare too but there were a plenty of 8’s. Here it goes!

Best films I have seen in 2009

The 9/10 ‘s

1. Waltz with Bashir
2. La Vita E Bella ie Life is Beautiful
3. Star Trek (2009)
4. In the Mood for Love
5. The Blues Brothers

The 10 most anticipated movies of 2010.

2009 has been a pathetic year in terms of quality and variety of movies. Most of the big budget ones were crappy and the best were some independent or very low budget movies like In the Loop, Moon and 500 Days of Summer. These are surprise packages and tough to predict. So like always I look at the Multi hundred million dollar, Super Star Studded, Auteur helmed movies to show us the path. Here are my top 10 most anticipated movies of 2010.

10. The Rum Diary: Johnny Depp is back serving Hunter S Thomson in another of his works after the dizzily brilliant fare: Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. Well we will take anything with Johnny Boy. Just hoping it won’t make the Public Enemies.

9. Jonah Hex: A wild Wild West where bounty hunters and Voodo practitioners are involved. Based upon a comic book with a terribly scarred anti hero it throws me back to the good ol’ days. Dont tell me Megan Fox in hot Victorian lingerie wont delight you! 

8. Arrested Development: Everyone loved the TV show. Much to the delight of the fans it’s back in the form a movie. Sex and the City worked, The X files didn’t. But I am pretty sure with its fantastic humour Arrested Development wont disappoint the fans.

7. Shutter Island: This Martin Scorcese-Leonardo Di Caprio period thriller was supposed to release in 2009 but got pushed back. We cant wait to see what Marty has to follow up to his Oscar winning Departed. Something better I hope.

6. Robinhood: Another quintessential pair, ie of Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe is back. They try to repair the joke that was the last Robinhood movie was 20 years ago. Right up in Gladiator’s alley Scott must have put heart and soul into this after the performance of his last 2 movies.

5. Kickass: This might end up being the surprise package of the year. Matthew Vaughn, who also directed Layer Cake and Star Dust makes a movie in which a teenager just decides to be a superhero though he has no powers, training or meaningful reason to do so.

Feature: Summer 2009 Roundup, Part 2

The Summer in question here starts in may and ends by mid September with the beginning of fall which brought out releases like Surrogates and Inglourious Basterds. So this roundup does come almost a month late but this situation is due to the place I live in most movies including some big ones like Up and Star Trek come several months late. There are some others like District 9, Sam Raimi's Drag me to Hell, 500 Days of Summer, Cloudy with Chance of Meatballs, Bruno, Time Traveler's Wife etc I couldnt get to see at all. Maybe I soon will when they are out on DVD's. Sometimes I feel like moving away to greener(read where movies release the earliest) pastures. Also I have intentionally skipped talking about movie like Aliens in the Attic, I love you Beth Cooper etc which have been said to be ranging from uncomfortable, nauseating to vomit inducing. So here are the rest of the movies which I got to see and are worth talking about. For here in 'Too Much Cinema' good cinema is everything.

So continuing the serial reviews from the last post:

8. The Proposal

This is the best 'chick-flick' or romantic comedy if you wish of this year. It stars Ryan Reynolds who has a knack of picking simple small budgeted yet refreshing films and Sandra Bullock who I havent seen act so well in a long long time. Well I have never seen her act well before. This movie has the usual romantic plot and twists but it has refreshingly new and bold (read adult) stuff in the comedy department. Just like The Hangover you are entertained through out the movie with one liners and sketches. By doing so this movie ends up pleasing the views who are non chalant to the chic-flicks, which is quite a big thing for such films. It has paid off well too by landing the 10th spot in the highest grossers of the year so far.

9. The Ugly Truth

Feature: Summer 2009 Roundup, Part 1

Every year in May, the biggest of movies are released by Hollywood. These movies are fitted with the hottest of stars, tried and tested formulae like superheroes, end of the world scenarios and established franchises in spectacularly explosive circumstances made possible by the embarrassingly huge budgets allocated to them. Why this specific time of the year? It is the beginning of summer in the western world (upper parts of northern hemisphere) and the attendance rates in theatres skyrocket as a result of the holiday season. The kids are free, lets give them a movie and then create merchandise based on the same lines for them to play with. That is their philosophy and usually it works. Year after year such movies come out and they make oodles of money, for a good reason too. The movies are visual treats couple with good film making. But this year they didnt do so well and again for a really good reason. No! It is not the recession, it is the sorry state of films.

2009 has been the year of impending or post apocalyptic future. Terminator, Transformers, 9, GI Joe and Star Trek all were either dealing with saving the planet or dealing with whats left after the worst has happened. This theme business isnt unique for this year as I am pretty sure all of you remember the Superhero Summer last year with Iron Man, Hancock and Dark Knight. Indiana Jones and James Bond arent any less than your average superheroes either as they have been still kicking some good amount of evil ass even after decades of existence. 2007 was the year of threequels, with Spidy 3, Bourne Ultimatum, Shrek the Third and Pirates of Carribean's third part too. Also the forgettable Rush Hour 3. Far too many 3's I say!

Back to disappointing 2009, I not only see many movie marvels coming out this year(oscar types) I have also been through the most boo..(yawn)...oring of so called blockbuster movies. They did not create any cinematic road blocks with showstopping marvel and they definitely dint bust any chops. JAWS would turn in its grave or maybe come back for the 20th part and still do better like in the back to the future movies. So with so many movies to cover I better get started.

1. Terminator Salvation:

Talking about bores; I start with the biggest one of the season. I dont know why Christian Bale signed up for this and he is still doing the sequel when he can earn as much as he wants doing other projects. This movie was made with a budget close to 200 million $ and earned only 125 million $ in US and 320 million$ worldwide and that means it has been an epic flop inspite of the "terminator" and Bale brand name. Except for a couple of pretty cool explosions sequences and the performance of Sam Worthington the movie had nothing. I almost fell asleep. I always though John Connor was a dud not THE Dude who was going to be leader of human resistance and this movie sets out to prove that despite the pain they take to portray his alleged heroism. Worthington's character Marcus was the star of the movie not some brainless punk Connor.


2.Angels and Demons

Review: Inglourious Basterds

Save James Cameron, who hasnt made a feature film in more than a decade, no director in the world creates as much anticipation as Tarantino does when he picks up a project. Inglourious Basterds was no different. The noise for this one has been around since the time he announced this movie even before he made Grindhouse. And it has lived up to its hype and people seemed to love it. I dont.

Tarantino has carved a niche for himself where he makes seemingly the most absurdest of stories into compelling tales with visual and aural splendour which lie perfectly on that thin line between genius and mockery of genius. Thats quite something. I have thoroughly enjoyed all the stuff he has made and I have seen. (Yet to watch Jackie Brown and Deathproof) My favourites among his work are the Kill Bill movies. And yes I had mentioned in the podcast episode before, though I really appreciate Pulp Fiction I dont consider it remotely even among the greatest movies ever made. Also I dont consider him among my favourite or even the best directors out there. Yes he is a brilliant auteur who has created his special place by giving the internet generation marvellous mashups of old and current popular cultures and arts from all over the world but where is the variety? His originality lies in the incredulity of his work but where is the novelty?

The best and the worst from this decade’s Oscars

When the curtain fell on the night of the Oscars on Feb 23rd of this year, the last of the Oscars in the first decade of the 21st century were given away. I had to make a list post and what better way to make lists than talk about the Oscars, the Academy’s short sightedness and baseless favouring of some movies over others. The Oscars have been long notorious for the fact that they often snub some great cinematic masterpieces for ephemeral success stories though they are often seen as the bastion for the best of world cinema. So this is the list of movies which were nominated and won (or dint win) in the Oscars from the year 2000 to 2009.
Here in this post I list out the top 5 movies of this decade which were nominated to the Oscars and yet dint get the love they deserved. These movies certainly should have won many more statuettes or in some cases won atleast something. Following that list will be another top 5 of the movies which were nominated to the Oscars but got far more awards/credit than they deserved. One important thing you need to know is I have taken into consideration only the movies which were nominated. So there might be some movies which weren't nominated at all but were very good pieces of Cinema which deserved to be. Taking them into consideration would just make the list very complex. So here they are:

Top 5 nominated movies that were overlooked

5:Memento in 2001: The classic modern Film Noir. It is not something you expect the academy voters to appreciate and sing laurels about but not even the oscar for screenplay? Are you kidding me? I coudnt believe it when it got beaten by Gosford Park. Also what kind of genius can pull off such a stunt with a screenplay that screws with your head and yet make it an infinitely repeat watch and not get a nomination for direction. Nolan only! First it was Memento then Batman Begins and then The Dark Knight.
Also Wall-E in 2009: Animation movies are no less than any other live action stuff but the people at the Oscars still think they are for kids. They have a separate category for them which is nice but they dont let the children stray into the living room. In the occasional circumstances the child(animation movie) is precocious they snub it. Wall-E is the perfect example. In a perfect world where there is no prejudice it would have been nominated for the best movie and may have beaten the dogs out of the slum.

4: Atonement in 2008: Atonement was fighting a losing battle right from the start with its competition being the likes of No Country for Old Men and There will be Blood.
What many people fail to realise is just because it is a love story doesn't make it less cinematically brilliant. It was heavily nominated but it failed to win any major ones. People will remember that year to be that of Daniel Day Lewis and Coen Brothers.


3: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in 2005: The Oscars of 2005 weren't really a great fair just like the ones in 2007. Everyone was just talking about the grand old man called Clint Eastwood and how Harry was still dirty and kicked ass just as they were singing songs of Scorsese in ‘07. In the process of crowning Million Dollar Baby they forgot the wonderful gem made by Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman. This movie is wonderful on so many different levels that there is probably no one who has seen it and not loved it.

2: Good Night, and Good Luck. in 2006: The year Brokeback Mountain and Crash were taking in all accolades there was one true gem which will stand the test of time. 10 to 20 years down the line people will look back at this movie and say wow! What a classic. David Strathairn gave a brilliant performance playing Edward R Murrow the iconic TV presenter who made modern TV what it was before it began to rot again. This movie showcases the power of the medium.

1: Road to Perdition in 2002 : Taking the trends at the Oscars, this the movie the academy’s voters should love to bits. It seems like as if it was custom made for them as it has got a great setting, well shot, good star cast and a touching storyline. However this movie was relegated to the sidelines and wasn't even nominated for the major awards. Sam Mendes’s follow up to American Beauty may not be as brilliant but it definitely leaves strong impressions.
Honourable mentions:
LOTR: Two Towers, My favourite movie from the trilogy. The love not shown to it and its predecessor was more than made up by showering on the final installment.
Requiem For a Dream: If you have seen the movie, you know what I am talking. It is just gold in terms of acting, directing, cinematography, music and everthing else. But people at the Oscars dint understand Indie then.

Top 5 undeserved oscar winning movies

5: Brokeback Mountain in 2006 : The movie of the year everyone said. Everyone couldnt stop talking about two gay cowboys getting it on in the mountains. It was Iconic, yes but only a decent film not much different from heavy straight love dramas. It was very boring too. However Hollywood loves to promote the gay cause. I do to. But not by making a mediocre film a cult.
Babel in 2007: Alejandro González Iñárritu made a wonderful movie called Amores Perros and then made 21 grams. He repeats the same intersecting story lines structure in each of his film and Babel was no different. It was slow, a bit boring and nothing more to while away an idle afternoon. This movie however got 7 nominations.

4: The Departed in 2007 : There were several good movies in 2006 but it was a dull year for the movies when you take into account that there was none of the usual one or more two movies each year which blow you away. Martin Scorsese had been snubbed by the oscars for about 2 decades when in the first place he should have won it for Taxi Driver and Goodfellas long long ago. This one was just a fast paced mafia/thriller/cop movie with heavily loaded star cast. If this movie doesnt convince you that the oscar panel is sometimes swayed by the people behind the movie than the movie itself nothing will.
3: The Cider House Rules in 2000: Thank heavens for American Beauty that year or else I fear Cider House Rules would have had its way. The movie was just all right and it was a bildungsroman of an orphan boy. It still managed to gain 7 nominations and win 2 including the best screenplay based on previously published material beating The Green Mile, Talented Mr Ripley and The Insider. For me even the Insider was a better film than the run of the mill Cider House Rules.
2: Gosford Park in 2001: This movie is at its best just a good thriller. It has a great star cast but what is the point if the storyline is just out of an Agatha Christie novel. It does do well in capturing the turmoil and emotions of the character but 7 nominations and one win! come on! And you know what that win was for ? Best Screenplay directly written for the screen which it won at the cost of Memento, arguably the most wonderful piece of screenwriting in the history of cinema. How could they?
1: Chicago in 2003: This is the only movie I havent seen in the list but still it is definitely the worst mistake of this decade for one simple reason. How can a musical however great the musical is upset movies like Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Pianist and win the Best Movie Oscar.
(Dis)honourable mentions:
A Beautiful Mind: Good movie but not as great as they paint it to be
Michael Clayton: I dont even know what it was doing there. So many nominations and thankfully only one win.
By the time you reach here I am pretty sure you were vigorously nodding or shaking your head on many of the mentions but hey this is what I thought. Do let me know where you think I went wrong and do mention if you think I omitted something important which belongs to the list in the comments below.


p.s: In case you want to see the complete list of winners. Check out Oscars past at imdb for 1929 to 2007 and for 2008 and 2009

lingua franca: Cinema

Everybody loves movies. Some love them for the entertainment and some love it as an art form and some love the whole medium for all that it presents. Whatever the reason might be most people have certain reservations against what kind of movies they watch. Some want non stop action-thrillers, some prefer comedy, some rather cuddle up with the so called chick flicks and some others enjoy the rush horror movies give them. But the most common preferences are in language and time. Most people I know prefer recent movies mostly of this decade or at most the last and would happily stick to English language.
I have been championing classics right since the time I fell in love with them especially the great movies which have come from the ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’. Also I am a big fan of foreign language movies i.e. the non English ones from all over the world. This post is about the latter. I say if you haven't watched movies from different parts of the world you cannot truly say you love movies and call yourself a buff.

There is something magical about movies. They let you delve into different worlds and make you experience the plethora of emotions that we could seldom gain in our real life. And this is done without any bar of language or time. Each part of the world has a different and one or more characteristic styles of filmmaking which sets them apart from the rest. The perspective each filmmaker give on the same subject is quite different and a major part of it obviously rests on where he comes from. For who we are and what we think are influenced by where we live.



Watching exotic films from various parts of the world with audio playing in its native language (I despise dubbed movies) with subtitles appearing at the bottom is one of my favourite things to do in life. They tell me about new places, teach me about native lifestyles, give an insight into people’s mindsets and yet appeal to the basic human in me. Where we are, whatever clothes we wear or language we speak our basic tendencies and nature remains the same. Whatever may be the native tongue the movie speaks it communicates to us the human language.

People complain about that they usually spend too much energy reading the subtitles and being unable to focus on the movie. I agree it is a problem. but only at the first. After a few films it becomes second nature and you don't consciously look at the subtitles. One more thing you need to be prepared for is the diversity of the styles. The Japanese and Koreans may shock you with gore and wild themes, the Chinese may befuddle you with people almost flying, the Indians bedazzle you with the dance and colours, the Iranians with their down to earth storytelling and so on. Whatever they might be, there are something you should never miss if you are a genuine movie lover.
So if you are out there and haven't tasted the magic yet, you could start now. Given below is the list of few selected films which could be pretty nice to start off your foreign language film tryst. They will reel you in and make you fall in love. Also the foreign language film nominations at the Oscars are a good place to start off. The order has been made moving from the right of the world map to the left. Also a random mix to appeal to the enthusiast and also the newbie. If you find some movie interesting do let me know by adding it in the comments.

Japanese: Yojimbo / Batoru Rowaiaru
Korean: Oldboy / Yeopgijeogin geunyeo
German: M / Das Leben der Anderen / Der Untergang
Italian: La vita è bella / Nuovo cinema Paradiso / Ladri di biciclette
French: Du rififi chez les hommes / La science des rêves
Random picks Cidade de Deus / Det sjunde inseglet / Vals Im Bashir / Ying xiong