Favourites
editFilms that stood out for me throughout this decade, at the time.
2009:
2009
editCinema
edit| Film | Release date | Comments | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slumdog Millionaire | 09-Jan-2009 | I didn't know much about the film but when I read the premise I was intrigued. A guy from the slums enters India's Who Want's to be a Millionaire and successfully answers every question, having had experiences that allow him to answer these questions. There was a lot I enjoyed about the film; it was funny, gritty, and I really felt for the characters. I was a bit bothered by the love story aspect though, particularly as it progressed, but it works out to make a better ending so it didn't annoy me too much. I particularly enjoyed the host of the TV show's characterisation, played very well and almost naturally by Anil Kapoor. Danny Boyle did an excellent job filming this in my opinion. | 8/10 |
| Gritty, charming, eventful, yet upbeat. A well done excuse for a love story. | |||
| The Wrestler | 16-Jan-2009 | With a tale to tell, this down-and-out wrestler shows us how he weaves in and out of day-to-day living whilst trying to remain immortal. Mickey Rourke was excellent in the lead role, whilst Marisa Tomei did a great job in supporting, however I didn't find myself that interested all the way through. Whilst I'd assume this film would be more suited to wrestling fans who want an inside look in "the biz" I am surprised by how many people generally love it. I do not consider this film bad, nor great. It's a nice, simple little film in terms of direction and scope. It doesn't shy away from the snubbing of 'old' wrestlers and the anguish they might feel, which is the only part of the story that kept me interested. | 6/10 |
| The film itself didn't interest me throughout, whereas Rourke's acting did. | |||
| My Bloody Valentine 3D | 16-Jan-2009 | I only saw the first 20 minutes but that's all I wanted in order to get my first modern Hollywood glimpse at a wide-release 3D film. The film itself, from what I saw, seemed cheap, terribly acted and felt like a total waste of time to finish viewing. | 2/10 |
| If it wasn't 3D it wouldn't be entertaining. | |||
| Notorious | 16-Jan-2009 | The autobiography of the rapper Notorious B.I.G., it's a nice lil flick which shows his rise to fame. It's all it is though, "nice", and whilst it was cool to watch, I don't believe I'll be watching it again, at least anytime soon. Regardless, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end when I heard the rapper, who was portrayed very well by Jamal Woolard, spew the immortal lyrics to songs likes "Juicy". Whilst it is a nice telling of his rise to fame, it could've been better with elements of his personal life being more involved and adding depth to the character. | 5.5/10 |
| A legendary rapper with a limiting film. | |||
| Frost/Nixon | 23-Jan-2009 | (coming soon) | 7.5/10 |
| An amusing telling of a major presidential slip. | |||
| Punisher: War Zone |
06-Feb-2009 | If there's two types of films which I heavily anticipate, it's a Pixar or a graphic novel adaptation, preferably superhero. Punisher falls into that final attention grabber, but barely because really he's not super powered. He's an interesting character to me, it's about the pain of a 'regular Joe' who loses his family... but he doesn't turn out to be so regular - he's ex-military - and so he decides to take revenge before taking vengeance itself into his own hands as he takes on the entire criminal underground personally. This film is a reboot from the 2004 Punisher film, a film I enjoyed a great deal, but never accepted due to it feeling so different from the Punisher character I had known. This film actually ticks all those boxes for me. I greatly enjoyed it for that, and the film itself was nice. However, i couldn't help but feel that a greater effort could have been done on the script (dialogue) and perhaps made some of the scenes more interesting. The Director, Lexi Alexander, did a very grand job with the cast - I absolutely loved the choice of Wayne Knight as Microchip, you can tell he made good effort with his role. Doug Hutchison was very enjoyable in his role as the oh-so-insane Looney Bin Jim, whilst I felt Dominic West was just electric as Jigsaw, very impressive. I was just stoked though by the casting of Ray Stevenson as the Punisher - absolutely superb, just how I'd always imagine Punisher to appear. Due to this oh so strong cast, filled with a VERY good supporting cast, and full of lovely nods to various other bits of Punisher's story, I feel this film has a lot going for it, but none-the-less, there is the feeling of strong substance missing, which is a shame. However, I am grateful for such an entertaining film, this film will truly only please few. | 6/10 |
| More true to the comic book character, but likely to be an acquired taste. | |||
 Friday the 13th |
13-Feb-2009 | Really enjoyed the originals as a young teen, and when I read this film would combine the better elements of the first three films to make this film, I was excited. However, I was disappointed in the end as it was just an excuse for excessive kills that chose to gross you out more. Nice in some ways, but a real shame on the whole. | 4.5/10 |
| Good attempt but bad execution. | |||
| Watchmen |
06-Mar-2009 | I read the first few issues from the graphic novel and was deeply impressed, but I never got around to finishing it. I was so excited when I learned about the film and when I saw it, I was blown away. The film is a great adaption from what I'd seen being translated, and I enjoyed almost every moment of it. Great characters, interesting plot, great action, good humour, and the visuals were brilliant. However, there are some moments (not many) that drag in my opinion. Kudos to Zack Snyder for taking on such a mammoth task and doing so well. | 8/10 |
| Good adaption, it was a fun film depite being brutal and thought-provoking. | |||
| Monsters vs. Aliens (in 3D) |
27-Mar-2009 | So I finally get an opportunity to watch a full film in 3D and I was generally not disappointed. The 3D visuals were fantastic, I love the way they gave the film depth (visually) as opposed to things just sticking out of the screen. The film itself was nice, entertaining story with some good humour. It however is more aimed towards kids than everyone, despite this I feel even a grown up could get away with enjoying much of it. This is a film I would also rather watch it in 3D than without. | 7/10 |
| A Dreamworks film with less of the typical cliché pop jokes, and more amusing originality. | |||
| Fast & Furious | 03-Apr-2009 | I like the Fast and the Furious films in a declining manner - first one I loved, second was cool, and the third was ok. This one brings it all back in a interesting way, and has everything that can be expected in this franchise. Fast cars, nice women, good action, and some suited music. The story was surprisingly interesting, but I felt let down by some of the graphics. A solid F&F film which is up there between the first and second film in my opinion. | 7/10 |
| If you like the series, you'll definitely enjoy this. | |||
| Let the Right One In |
10-Apr-2009 | A film I didn't remotely expect to see. All I knew going in was it's a Swedish vampire film. It's a different and interesting take on vampires, and I enjoyed the film. Something I felt that should be seen just the once at least. The characters were peculiar yet interesting, and the gore is borderline crazy in its own right. | 7.5/10 |
| The more it progresses, the better it gets. | |||
| Shifty | 24-Apr-2009 | (coming soon) | 6.5/10 |
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine |
29-Apr-2009 | I'm a casual comic fan, and I do like the Marvel Comics characters. Over the years I've been very excited in seeing these comics come to life in film, and this was no exception. It's a really cool film with multiple mutant cameos which are cool, but I felt the film wasn't what it should have offered. The action felt over the top in a non-gripping way and there are elements which I simply didn't like (adamantium bullets?), but what put me off in a big way was the graphic visuals. If the previous three X-Men films can make Wolverine convincing with his claws, how does this one fail at it? Anyway, whilst it bugs me I cannot deny liking the film. Hugh Jackman was naturally great, and Liev Schreiber was really convincing as the menacing Sabretooth. | 6/10 |
| The film is more entertaining than interesting. | |||
| Star Trek | 08-May-2009 | I used to like the TV shows as a kid (thanks Dad) and I've seen all the films so this was a must for me, even though I don't consider myself to be a "trekkie". I gotta admit, I was hugely surprised. All round adored this film. Great story, great way of re-starting a potential franchise, great cast, brilliant visuals, entertaining dialogue, and all round great film. Only disappointments were the story didn't have some underlying moral per the original TV series (unless the whole "it's a friendship you won't realise to be the most important one to you" portion counts?), and also I felt Eric Bana was underused. But that's just nit-picking. Otherwise, best film of the year so far in my opinion. | 9/10 |
| Pleasing to 'trekkies' and 'regular people' alike, an all round solid film. | |||
| Drag Me to Hell | 27-May-2009 | There was a lot I enjoyed about this film. I liked how from the start they used elements to give the film a vintage horror feel, I was in the zone from there onwards and it really gave a great touch to the final look of the film. It was also taken humorously in the most serious way and it worked brilliantly. This, coupled with a very well suited score by Christopher Young and an apt eye from Sam Raimi, the film wraps itself up into a near-perfect horror package. An issue I had was with lead star Alison Lohman who I felt was weak at times, though good enough. I did prefer Justin Long's role in this film. I have enjoyed recent horror films, but I have not been so entertained in a long time like this. Recommendable for all even if the horror scene is not your forté. | 8.5/10 |
| A well rounded original (and funny) form of horror telling with a great old school vibe. | |||
| Terminator Salvation |
03-Jun-2009 | I enjoy the Terminator films (despite T3) and was intrigued to learn this will show the war between man and machine, and be character driven. Whilst it was so, the characters weren't heavy going, suitably. The cast was fine, Christian Bale and Sam Worthington were good as John Conner and Marcus, but it was Anton Yelchin who surprised me with his portrayel of Kyle Reese, he convincingly made it his own with a good touch of Michael Biehn's portrayel traits too. The film had thrilling moments when I'd be completely immersed, but it did feel CGI heavy at times which took me away from the film. The third act was a good 'Terminator finish' in my opinion. Overall I felt the film was very different in style from the previous films with its bleak look, yet it stayed very true to key elements of the series and flowed well into the saga. I feel a sequel can help bring out something special, outshining this good start as T2 did to T1. Oh yeah, and it was great hearing the theme throughout! | 7.5/10 |
| Bleak in look yet shiny in quality. A good franchise revival and a good film on the whole. | |||
| The Hangover | 12-Jun-2009 | I love that comedy films have taken a turn for the serious in very recent years, gaining more stories with serious energy, backing, acting, and money, and when I heard about another comedy which has been receiving many positive reviews (as had Role Models and I Love You, Man) I said to myself "I cannot deny myself another comedic miss this year." Having lived up to that promise I can take pride in saying it's hilarious. Every situation was funny, and the film progressed more and more funnily. The cast were great, and the music and direction were good. There were a few plot elements I didn't like, and I didn't find the Mike Tyson scene funny outside of the trailer. | 8/10 |
| Thoroughly hilarious. | |||
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen |
19-Jun-2009 | The first film was incredibly good. It was seamless, I couldn't believe how realistic it appeared. The sequel was mostly the same, but its novelty factor feels worn out. Ironically my one wish for the film (that they'd give the Transformers more screen time) actually became my issue with it. With so much intense fighting between robots I felt myself becoming bored. Optimus Prime's scene in the woods was my favourite though. It's charmful humour was thrown out for immature teenage-parent behaving lameness. With the cast they gave Shia's character growth, however the rest are barely progressed. The first 15 mins I couldn't follow (too many passers by, it was the London premier) and I felt myself lose its point more with progression. The film however had its occasional charm and the Transformers did look great. I'm willing to give it another chance but I just wasn't feeling this film. 2nd viewing: I gave it another chance, and not only that but I saw it at the IMAX too... and I was outright bored throughout most of it. A little funnier than the first time however. Racial assumptions that people have linked to this film I believe are wrong. It's just rubbish stereotyping. |
4/10 |
| A sequel that looks like but doesn't engage like the first film. | |||
| Public Enemies | 03-Jul-2009 | I consider the director, Michael Mann, to be very hit or miss, and this time he managed to do both. | 7/10 |
| Director's style aside, I enjoyed this film. | |||
| Moon | 17-Jul-2009 | (coming soon) | 8/10 |
| Great sci-fi flick, simple and fresh. | |||
| The Taking of Pelham 123 | 31-Jul-2009 | Plot: a train in New York gets taken over by terrorists, and a guy at the subway command post gets caught into the mayhem of the situation. We have Denzel Washington going against John Travolta here, something which Travolta in my honest opinion outshines Denzel on in this realy quirky terrorist way - something familiar to Travolta, yet different in approach to crrrrrrrazy, he yet again shows the selfish gains of 'terrorism'. They had to have an annoyance in this film though; a stupid teenager no less, who was on the other end so blatantly of a laptop and couldn't be more obvious gives away a big help in understanding the hostage situation, it's the stupid adds like this in a film that put me right off. By no means is this a great film, nor does it attempt to be, but it is a enjoyable film no less. | 7/10 |
| An enjoyable action-esque film that doesn't attempt to try and be too big. | |||
| The Final Destination (in 3D) |
28-Aug-2009 | A return to the franchise, the plot so obvious - a group of people learn that death is after them so they try to escape it. Do they succeed? What do you think? The deaths were really nice in many ways and I did enjoy the film, however I think I would've enjoyed it far more in 2D. Quite honestly it annoys the heck out of how this passed for 3D. It appeared to be a last minute add to make it 3D and the film was a waste of opportunity because of it. Some deaths were cool in 3D but it really seemed forced to be 3D and for the most part, 3D adds NOTHING to it... even during a few of the deaths. I would score the film higher if it were not for this. | 5/10 |
| Some entertaining deaths (am I a sinner?), but this would be better in 2D. | |||
| Up (in 3D) |
09-Oct-2009 | (coming soon) | 10/10 |
| Through and through a greatly enjoyable film. | |||
| Fantastic Mr. Fox | 23-Oct-2009 | (coming soon) | 7.5/10 |
| A cussing hilarious film, in a random way. | |||
| 2012 | 13-Nov-2009 | (coming soon) | 7/10 |
| Epicly apocolyptic scenes connected with gimpy dialogue. | |||
| Law Abiding Citizen | 27-Nov-2009 | (coming soon) | 7/10 |
| An incredible revenge plot which I felt was let down in the ending. | |||
| Avatar (in 3D) |
18-Dec-2009 | (coming soon) | 9.5/10 |
| Mesmorising. |
Home release
edit| Film | Release date | Comments | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Role Models | 09-Jan-2009 | (coming soon) | 7/10 |
| Underworld: Rise of the Lycans |
23-Jan-2009 | (coming soon) | 7.5/10 |
| A nice prequel to sink my teeth and claws into before the first two films. | |||
| Gran Torino | 27-Feb-2009 | (coming soon) | 9/10 |
| The car is as legendary as Clint Eastwood, and this film will only become as such. | |||
| Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li |
27-Feb-2009 | (coming soon) | 3/10 |
| The characters were cool... but it all went to waste! | |||
| In the Loop | 17-Apr-2009 | (coming soon) | 6/10 |
| Obsessed | 29-May-2009 | (coming soon) | 7/10 |
| Doghouse | 12-Jun-2009 | (coming soon) | 6/10 |
| A fine balance of entertaining and dull. | |||
| Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs |
01-Jul-2009 | (coming soon) | 8/10 |
| G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra |
07-Aug-2009 | (coming soon) | 7/10 |
| Inglourious Basterds | 19-Aug-2009 | (coming soon) | 8/10 |
| Funny People | 28-Aug-2010 | (coming soon) | 7.5/10 |
| The Invention of Lying | 02-Oct-2009 | (coming soon) | 6/10 |
| A nice idea which sadly resulted in a mediocre film. | |||
| The Informant! | 20-Nov-2009 | (coming soon) | 7.5/10 |
| A short summary. | |||
| Paranormal Activity | 25-Nov-2009 | (coming soon) Saw the "original version." | 8/10 |
Missed out
edit- 16-Apr-2009 — Crank: High Voltage — Nonsensical action - why not?
- 17-Apr-2009 — I Love You, Man — Another film starring Paul Rudd, and from what the reviews say it doesn't seem to disappoint.
- 26-Jun-2009 — Blood: The Last Vampire — The trailer impressed me, this vampire film looks crazy. IMDb link.
- 28-Aug-2009 — H2 — Liked the first film, good origins telling in my opinion.
- 23-Oct-2009 — Saw VI — I love a film with a good twist, so to see a franchise full of twists is great to me, especially when I'm really interested in the story and also when I enjoy a good horror flick. Bring on the next chapter.
- 27-Nov-2009 — Ninja Assassin — It looks to be a cool visual film.
- 26-Dec-2009 — Sherlock Holmes — I think I'm more impressed by the people working on this film, but the trailer seems fine. Seems nice but I worry it won't be a strong film though from what I've seen.