Halfway through the summer season, here’s a look at my favorites for the year.
1. Up: Who would have thought, a flick with a 78-year-old protagonist and his overweight Boy Scout sidekick would end up the second-highest grossing Pixar movie of all time. Expertly crafted, with life lessons galore. A movie that makes one laugh and cry while begging for more. Maybe the greatest dog movie of all time.
2. The Hangover: Brilliantly executed, the funniest comedy in years. Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms have star-making turns as three buddies who lose the groom after a bachelor party binge. Iconic movie that will make for years of cable viewing.
3. Taken: Best action movie in years, a toast to men-on-a-mission flicks of the past. A laconic Liam Neeson reeking vengeance on France can bring smiles to the face for a number of reasons.
4. Watchmen: Zach Snyder aims for the stars, but misses by just enough. Epic in scope, but plods episodically. A visual stunner, with gore galore and enough onscreen beauty to make your eyeballs bleed. Don’t watch it on acid – or do.
5. Star Trek: A standard sexed-up retelling, Star Trek goes where most blockbusters have already been. Still, the movie manages to be enjoyable and opens the door so old characters can put smiles on our faces for a few more films. Somehow Star Trek became sexier and more action-oriented than Star Wars – and that isn’t a bad thing.
Haven’t seen yet, but will probably pop in there: Gran Torino, Public Enemies.
Haven’t seen yet, but probably don’t have a chance in hell: Transformers, Wolverine, The Soloist, that Matthew McConaughey movie …
Worst of the Year: Marley and Me: A emotionally manipulative dog movie without enough dog. John Grogan’s whoring of his canine’s corpse continues (he has Marley children’s books coming out regularly). Buzz Bissinger’s favorite insipid columnists flick about his mischevious Labrador manages to keep all the surgical tear-inducing moments without the humor that sucked dog lovers into the book or the background that made those tears come in the first place. A massive flop with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston deserving ire for mining Marley for an audience, turning it into a star vehicle, then stripping the book of all its best qualities so the marquee names can do the standard rom-com marriage schtick. May a yellow lab piss on your graves.
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1: Valkyrie. Just saw it. Loved it. Was shocked at how much I loved it. Terrence Stamp was fantastic as Gen. Ludwig Beck. Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkenson, even Eddie Izzard. And Tom Cruise himself does not distract from his character of Claus von Stauffenberg.
2: Bottle Shock…yeah last years I know but I saw it this year. Awesome flick.
Worst: Bride Wars. No need to explain. It explains itself. Ann Hathaway should be forced to get a new heard or better facial expressions. God she is annoying.
The only one I saw was “UP,” which surprised me by not being a Russ Meyer film…
I’m going to see Inglorious Basterds on Tuesday. My hopes are high.
Gran Torino is fantastic
I should have skipped Transformers and Wolverine, but Gran Torino is amazing. Definitely one of my Eastwood favorites
Adding to the Hangover, Gran Torino and Taken love, big time. Though not as good as I thought it would have been after learning Gavin Hood was directing (looooove Tsotsi) I’ll even throw in Wolverine, which was helped by reading Nolte’s review before seeing; not so much lowered expectations, but let me get into “revenge flick” head-space. Like Gran Torino, technically a 2008 holdover, but The Wrestler helped make 2009 a pretty cool year for movies so far. Hmmm, do I have a fifth for this year? Damn, I better see Up, huh? Taking Chance arriving in the mail tomorrow, too.
Gran Torino is a must see. I thought it had a lot to say about community, men raising boys and even the principle of subsidiarity. My comments on it were posted here and here.
Hey EP thanks for reminding me about the Wrestler. Damn that was a good movie. Mickey Rourke is another great one!
I don’t get out often. The only movie I’ve been to this whole summer was “Moon”, which was a good thing because it turned out to be right up my alley. Sam Rockwell ought to get nominated for at least a couple of awards — not a lot of actors can carry a movie all by themselves.
You MUST see Gran Torino. Eastwood rocks! I would replace your #3 with that one, and you would have a perfect list.
I’m not too much into movies, but I do want to see Gran Torino and I did see and liked Taken and Knowing.
Still waiting for “Moon” to hit my neck of the woods…might have to settle for GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and that would be sad if I do…