MetaChat - What'd you all like in film this year?

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21 December 2009

What'd you all like in film this year? →[More:]All this talk of Avatar makes me want to talk about the more substantive films of the year. I only manage to catch so many in the theater and always spend the next year catching up with what I missed. So what did ya'll dig this year?

These were my favorites of those I managed to catch, more or less in order of preference:

The Limits of Control (Jim Jarmusch, 2009)
A Serious Man (The Coen Brothers, 2009)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson, 2009)
Trimpin: The Sound of Invention (Peter Esmonde, 2009)
Gake no ue no Ponyo (Hayao Miyazaki, 2009)
Up (Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, 2009)
Moon (Duncan Jones, 2009)

I'm hoping that The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Terry Gilliam, 2009) will join that list, but will have to wait to see.

post by: kodama at: 13:17 | 16 comments

Coraline is the only one that sticks out in my mind.

posted by Ardiril 21 December | 13:26

The two that I liked the most are both from last year, but here they are anyway:

Let The Right One In (Tomas Alfredson)
Priceless (Pierre Salvadori)

On preview, yeah, Coraline.

posted by Specklet 21 December | 13:30

I keep meaning to see Let the Right One In and now I see it's on Netflix Watch Instantly. Sweet!

posted by kodama 21 December | 13:38

In rough order of release:

Watchmen (Zack Snyder)
Gake no ue no Ponyo (Hayao Miyazaki)
Coraline (Henry Selick)
Monsters vs Aliens (Rob Letterman, Conrad Vernon)
Star Trek (J.J. Abrams)
Up (Pete Docter, Bob Peterson)
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp)
Zombieland (Ruben Fleischer)

From this list, I realize there are quite a few I wanted to see (Sunshine Cleaning, I Sell the Dead, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Astro Boy, Pirate Radio [US title for The Boat that Rocked re-edit, though reviews sound less than glowing], Sherlock Holmes [looks ridiculously amusing]). Survival of the Dead hit festivals this year, though it's slated for UK release in March 2010, but I'm skeptical following the terrible Diary of the Dead, and the story sounds ... odd.

posted by filthy light thief 21 December | 14:27

Coraline WAS great. I also really enjoyed Inglourious Basterds and, to be honest, Zombieland. Oh, I also found Away We Go to be pretty charming. Oh, and UP!

Also, likely lots of other stuff I've forgotten.

posted by richat 21 December | 14:29

I loved An Education

posted by rmless2 21 December | 14:31

A list of all the films I saw (there are some missing, I'm sure).

Faves in bold.

Avatar
Adventureland
An Education
Bright Star
Away We Go
Cheri
Funny People
Harry Potter
I Love You Man
Inkheart
Julie and Julia
Last Chance Harvey
Paper Heart
Paris
Star Trek
State of Play
Sunshine Cleaning
The Brothers Bloom
The Informant
Men Who Stare at Goats
Up
Whatever Works
Where the Wild Things Are
Waltz with Bashir
The Lemon Grove

posted by danf 21 December | 15:07

I discovered what life with a small child is like and saw exactly one (1) film at the cinema. It was The Informant. (best option on the one time/day I could go). It was OK.

posted by gaspode 21 December | 15:43

I saw Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Star Trek (which seems like ages ago, but was apparently this year.). The first two were good, but not as good as I had hoped; I had very tepid expectations for Star Trek, but enjoyed it a great deal. Three movies is about an average year for me.

The best thing, though, was the Rifftrax Christmas Short-stravaganza last week, which literally (the 'literally' kind of literally, not the one that means 'figuratively') doubled me over laughing. I even had to applaud a few times.

posted by Wolfdog 21 December | 15:54

Up
Harry Potter
District 9
Star Trek
Avatar

posted by deborah 21 December | 18:42

I only saw two movies this year: Up, and The Hangover. I adored Up; the Hangover cracked me up.

posted by redvixen 21 December | 20:50

Coraline, Star Trek, and Watchmen were the only movies I liked this year, but this year was marked more by the movies I *didn't* get to see. Moon, WTWTA, Harry Potter, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, Mr. Fox, and Men Who Stare at Goats were all on my list but will have to wait until they are out on disc.

posted by evilcupcakes 21 December | 21:38

Drag Me To Hell
Coraline
Visioneers (came out in '08, hit DVD/wide release this year)
Moon
Watchmen (flawed as it is)
Inglourious Basterds

I haven't seen The Hurt Locker yet, which I have high hopes for. I also really want to see Where The Wild Things Are. Overall, though, 2009 makes me worry that the art of cinema is dying, in favor of spectacular 3D light shows. Hands-down, the most exciting movie I saw this year was a Korean movie from 2003, closely followed by a French movie from 1961 (which I've become sort of obsessed with. Is it art? Is it science fiction? Is it religion?).

I wish this year had produced anything as exciting as those two flicks.

posted by BoringPostcards 21 December | 22:14

Also, the first third of Up was brilliant story-telling, just as the first third of Wall-E was brilliant. I wish Pixar didn't have to produce feature-length movies to make money.

posted by BoringPostcards 21 December | 22:17

Most recently, Precious and The Messenger. The scene at the end of Precious where the mother says "Precious belongs to me" is exactly my mother.

posted by brujita 22 December | 01:25

Star Trek, Up, Inglourious Basterds.

I rented Coraline and never got around to watching it, which I'm still sad about. I want to see Precious, Let the Right One In, and Up in the Air as well.

posted by unsurprising 22 December | 10:11

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