2009 is gone, here is a ranking for pass the time and ultimately a very difficult choice for those we elect Most notable this year.
A ranking dictated by personal shots heart, dead to the detractors and cynics.
1 - Inglourious Basterds
was read anything and everything written about, so move quickly: Tarantino fun and enjoy some historians. With its very special replay of the Second World War, the film offers a great guilty pleasure enough to pleasure immediately communicative, thanks to his enthusiasm, his direction of actors and ideas (from engineering). Contrary to the promises generated by its trailer, Inglourious Basterds is not a war film but a film mixing genres, losing the viewer through the maze of possibilities, where someone is trying again gone (see the last sequence). As No Country For Old Men nobody crosses but everyone goes to the fire, aided by a sound track and punchy dialogues. With a bonus, a great idea at the end of film, that the Nazi regime is knock out the Cinema in its broadest sense.
Christoph Waltz is incredible, the film contains back-stories of his characters and enjoyment of the Nazi scalping is the coolest idea for a moment since, despite its whiff of Series B obvious.
Damn, that was how long we had not seen a real movie theater?
2 - Upstairs / Up
No surprises, there is "inevitably" a film studio Pixar when we launched into a retrospective of the year ... but what a film! If Up not the nugget of history in terms of scenario, it takes heart and do not release the pressure. We meet a prisoner of the adventures of "postman" and the embittered old, yelling at heart with the children in the audience between sobs that the villain is too bad "and giggle gags particularly effective scattered here and there.
In addition to the constant wonderment that is the thing, welcome to the technical prowess of its studios in California and definitely not stupid thinking on bereavement. It holds its breath, facing the magnificent and appalling first 15 minutes of the film, silent, hypnotic, fascinating.
Can not make me speak during the hour that followed the exit room, my friend Erwan is witness!
A ranking dictated by personal shots heart, dead to the detractors and cynics.
1 - Inglourious Basterds was read anything and everything written about, so move quickly: Tarantino fun and enjoy some historians. With its very special replay of the Second World War, the film offers a great guilty pleasure enough to pleasure immediately communicative, thanks to his enthusiasm, his direction of actors and ideas (from engineering). Contrary to the promises generated by its trailer, Inglourious Basterds is not a war film but a film mixing genres, losing the viewer through the maze of possibilities, where someone is trying again gone (see the last sequence). As No Country For Old Men nobody crosses but everyone goes to the fire, aided by a sound track and punchy dialogues. With a bonus, a great idea at the end of film, that the Nazi regime is knock out the Cinema in its broadest sense.
Christoph Waltz is incredible, the film contains back-stories of his characters and enjoyment of the Nazi scalping is the coolest idea for a moment since, despite its whiff of Series B obvious.
Damn, that was how long we had not seen a real movie theater?
2 - Upstairs / Up No surprises, there is "inevitably" a film studio Pixar when we launched into a retrospective of the year ... but what a film! If Up not the nugget of history in terms of scenario, it takes heart and do not release the pressure. We meet a prisoner of the adventures of "postman" and the embittered old, yelling at heart with the children in the audience between sobs that the villain is too bad "and giggle gags particularly effective scattered here and there.
In addition to the constant wonderment that is the thing, welcome to the technical prowess of its studios in California and definitely not stupid thinking on bereavement. It holds its breath, facing the magnificent and appalling first 15 minutes of the film, silent, hypnotic, fascinating.
Can not make me speak during the hour that followed the exit room, my friend Erwan is witness!
3 - The Curious History Benjamin Button / The Curious Case of Benjamin Button choice probably debatable but an important date and almost immediately the year: the return of Fincher, adapting a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, after the magnificent Zodiac, a film obsessed with money spent on compulsive serial killer in San Francisco ( contemporary critic hereby ).
Despite its updating in a pre-Katrina America debatable, the project Benjamin Button remains a pretty love story through the ages, with the horizon at this sad moment just lived it is already lost: a the only time the film two characters meet in equality before the passage of time, in a moment these two beings who love forget the torment of a life separate from each other. For that single moment lost in 2:40 for dense and compact film, Fincher stigmatizes the irony of living for a memory that will eventually forgotten in the sands of time.
Among the technological advances in special effects, also note the aging process of the character of Brad Pitt, theorized into a corner facing the challenges of history. Literally haunted by her cruel story, Fincher attached to the Cross of the sidekick character's rich teachings Cate Blanchett and taxes and Tilda Swinton from the sheer beauty of this millennium.
Benjamin Button, is - among many other things - a monumental rebuilding and beautiful slices of life in the service of a mad project (and a trailer that t'achève by the grace of Arcade Fire (trailer ))
The Wrestler is absent notable rank: Blame the Fincher movie, which took me hostage for a week before seeing the film Aronofsky. Eric and Benjamin will not like but that is not the first time I disappoint. I recognize nonetheless that the magnitude Hollywood deployed by Benjamin Button can be a major flaw in the finished product. Personally, I was mesmerized.
4 - Morse / Lat den ratte komma in Beautiful Swedish film, magic bullet against the proposed Hollywood soup (not shown here for mass once - believe me) . Let The Right
One In (translated into French by Morse, yay) tells the friendship of two children, abandoned in their own way, in a perpetually dark and snowy absolutely beautiful. Better to know nothing to address the film, and surprisingly poetic ode in his methodical dusting of a myth for less heady ... Stirring between his themes of childhood difficulties and need shelter misunderstood by adults, the film opens in more than a multitude of clues as to his characters, not judge anyone and says his passion for life in sequences chilling, morbid beautiful ballet. The experience is mesmerizing. A look
emergency before his infamous American remake project does definitely put in the works.
5 - Hell Up / Drag Me to Hell A monumental surprise, relayed by echoes rave in Cannes midnight screening: After the blockbuster aside mutant (three Spider-Man), Sam Raimi returns to his first love and gives us a movie grotesque terminal between horror, slapstick comedy and burlesque neat! A success story that owes everything to the enthusiasm of its instigator, frustrated at being accountable to anyone for years, and amount of the coup Until Hell with his own production company. In the pure vein of Evil Dead his tone shifted if Sam Raimi delivers a story where a young banker incurs the wrath of a gypsy who throws a curse. In perfect perverse Raimi inflicted all the injuries to his heroine, that task is out of this mess as quickly as possible, which makes this piece of film an absolute remedy against boredom, perfectly paced and wonderfully oscillating between these types before we release in full horror on the ground. In
perfect director, Sam Raimi shows us more than well managed, even the most grotesque terror scares. Special mention to Alison Lohman, who deployed previously untapped talent, and think the Unrated version on DVD which is even more cowardly in crisp detail.
6 - The Brothers Bloom / The Brothers Bloom An absolute stroke of heart, sold only on the first film of Rian Johnson: Brick (2005), film bastard applying codes of film noir a part of teen-movie. Ultimately, successful ideas buzzing and black as hell, pretty armored planes making me watch the sky every time I set foot in the grass of a sports field. 3 years later, Rian Johnson offers us an heir a little awkward but humorous.
Clumsy, because in his ambition (the film talk about the amount of 2 brothers upscale scams to fleece the rich), the gentleman's last magnifier action after an hour of delightful promise, and there is almost too much money into the project, causing some questionable choices. Remains a great cast (Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, Mark Ruffalo), a flawless directing actors (I defy you not to fall in love with Rachel Weisz), a bitter-sweet atmosphere unique and intense pain in my heart by leaving the room.
(We talk soon so I can finish a text that began in August)
7 - District 9 The SF slam of the year (before Avatar ) out of nowhere. Neill Blomkamp tells his movie how visitors from another world met herded into a ghetto in South Africa while world leaders were wondering what to do with them. The basis of this success, a short film edited by Blomkamp, Peter Jackson noticed, which allocates funds to make a movie. The result is surprising, blending genres with ease and rage of a Shaun of the Dead (slide or other appropriate reference).
It follows first a scribbler of administration which is responsible for relocating the charming visitors from space, before it all degenerates. Filmed primarily in the way of a documentary, the project is dicey but makes up for its ultra-upmanship where credible disaster disasters, the film is a perfect end to a confrontation over-geek-you-die between local forces and alien entities in the field (last good bad guy since Aliens and Avatar before !). Despite its budget "limited," District 9 is credible in its effects all the way (we think back to the heyday Starship Troopers ) and provided some great moments of stagings, especially in a scene close to a FPS and in his final showdown (where you throw the pigs).
8 - Star Trek When fashion mixes with the reboot and adaptations scattered Star Wars is a distant memory, it is time to tackle a monument U.S. geek culture, fallen into disuse for years (and not helped by the brilliance of shows like Battlestar Galactica ). Let's go for a reboot of Star Trek , officially, the 11th series (!).
Absolutely not familiar with the Star Trek saga , JJAbrams takes the train and rides a scenario addressing the heavy mythology with an enthusiasm and freshness forcing Respect: Back to Basics So, with the youth of the future Captain Kirk and the crew of the vessel, resulting in a baptism of fire at the well deserved success. Sponsored by ILM, Star Trek 2009 version is a pure ride drowned in lens flares (the flash glare), a mountain-Russian fucks vertigo which leaves you excited, but aware of the tricks used to loan return. If I put it so high, it is for his enthusiasm, his accessibility, his pace and the fact that it is simply the best blockbuster of the year (c'mon, a little effort, other U.S. films that I poses have reason different to be here)
- To get an idea of what Star Trek gave "at the time," click here for a postponement of the first film (1979) .
- Bonus Reading: An article (I own of my own) to know who is your new master in geekitude between Joss Whedon and JJ Abrams.
9 - The Box Adapted from a novel by Richard Matheson, The Box follows a couple facing a tough choice, sending everything collapses faster dreary day in favor of a fascinating fantasy . With its mechanics and its subversive masterful score (by the brains of Arcade Fire), The Box not loose anything in the first vision and torture by his logic. Richard Kelly delivers a coat and plunges us into the torment inherent in its very idea of personal destiny. I'll add
adored him during his futuristic Southland Tales, but the soup did not take with me. Released on the sly in direct-to-DVD in France, the second film by Richard Kelly (booed at Cannes three years ago) is a shepherd's pie indigestible on which it is difficult to linger. Still, some colleagues as he is interested Erwan maximum and I am not without giving Richard Kelly unity of themes and ideas visually stunning between Donnie Darko , Southland Tales and The Box , and more particularly how to manage a diverse cast and almost surprising ( The Rock, Sean William Scott, James Marsden, Cameron Diaz ...)
- We talked already there.
10 - Avatar Pharaonic project in development for years, most big-budget film to date, tycoon magnificent direction ... Have balls, it would have been to turn this ranking! But impossible to ignore the return of James Cameron movie, 12 years after Titanic . If 3D is sometimes the gadget, the technology developed (well-named The Volume ) allows Cameron to film all the shots imaginable, from any angle. A date in the way of understanding the film and thinking upstream its realization, whatever is said.
The only black spot of all is that the overall plot is too classic (and already parodied), but ultimately the amount of detail and abundant imagination developed that allow the immersion Total within the narrative. With these creatures, these vessels, and these mecha mess ambient Avatar regressive is kindly but extremely exciting and the multitude of details created by Cameron make the experience wonderful. With its unprecedented plans, his scenes of fanboys absolutely grim (yet these vessels and these mecha flights director), Avatar goes the distance for anyone forgetting his cynicism at the entrance of the room. And especially in Imax 3D and English!
only real regret for that last slap of the year: Sigourney Weaver do not pilot mecha, Yet as was the case in 1986 in Aliens already directed by James Cameron.
11 - Moon A debut single, isolated in a space station placed on the Moon. Directed by Duncan Jones, the film has the cold air, which overcomes the limitations posed by these contemporaries before. The Moon, so close and yet so far from Earth. Nothing badass of frontally addressed, however, since almost the camera back presents us in perfect control of events that are beyond us. No monsters except the man who will always worse regardless of the outcome: his script pretending to avoid the major themes in order not to repeat (as others have done, and with talent), Moon remains at breast height for addressing the isolation and reactions of a lost man, faced with behavior and misbehavior of a distant civilization now. The only contact Sam is also an onboard computer to arty moods happily (Kevin Spacey who lends his voice).
Not stingy treatment review, the film sees its ambition revised upward mid-term, slowly withers and the agony of its protagonist in a SF icy atmosphere, clean trip and philosophical questions, marked by a haunting score by Clint Mansell.
With a beautifully designed production, somewhere between futuristic and intentionally retro Moon stands as a pretty UFO absolutely fascinating reflection of a man with a shattered psyche, knowing they lost, and gives a lesson in passing humility to everyone.
And shit, trailer! / / Output cinema in France in April 2010
12 - Deminers / The Hurt Locker A war movie, perhaps, but also a film about the troubled psyche of a man on the ground. Venturing into the field of film-heated testimony of an ongoing conflict, Kathryn Bigelow does not exempt provided the codes, but inflicts on its characters a day punctuated by the countdown to the return (except ?) in the country. If the demonstration is unfortunately rather schematic (scene of conflict / confrontation and rest), the former Mrs Cameron loose in originality in scenes of extreme tension and de-mining (the sniper scene, the demining heated and its effects almost too modern in these already-seen)
Without judging the occupation at the individual level (most thugs are simply outdated), the director does not sound completely inhuman enemy so The Kingdom: one without stigmatizing or the other camps, each task is simply to survive until a resolution less improbable to hell and ambient daily. The 4-star cast
spends with joy, Jeremy Renner is fantastic belief and conclusion freezes the blood, riding a clear parallel between the hell of war and that of dreary day, with no landmarks or loopholes. As announced in the opening movie, "The war is a drug" and Kathryn Bigelow demonstrates once again that it is the most active female directors burnée. Besides, the iron lady competes for the Golden Globes this year against her former husband for Best Film ... So Avatar or The Hurt Locker ?
Out of competition: Transformers 2 & Crank 2 - High Voltage yourself You know, I love guilty pleasures who try and fuck feast my eyes. If in addition one can have simultaneously two stereotypes street, the pleasure is all the greater. In honor where honor, then place the juggernaut of the year, Transformers 2 , signed by the fascinating Michael Bay. Unable to stop the career of the man without wondering what the anime, because between Armageddon and that, it's reasonable to ask some serious questions. in this case, all answers are there: Hollywood machinery at its peak and ready to crumble, budget Pharaonic stupid scenario, with American hegemony does not care vestiges of the past (pyramids Giza there are defiled) Transformers 2 trial is a quite fascinating, almost a work of art in terms of its constant kaleidoscope of images and colors suitable to epilepsy.
His opposite view is amazing and should never see the day: Crank 2 is - traditionally - the result of Crank, baptized in our region Hypertension. In this movie, Chev Chelios had to travel to the city hope to find a cure for deadly poison running through his veins, and the only way to repel the constant onslaught of poison is to boost your adrenaline, an excuse to completely novel situations daring and above all stupid. But the draft is correct and clearly not yet dirty enough for the two lads in charge of this project ... Without spoiler for
hope to capture your attention, Jason Statham wakes up early in the gourdon Crank 2, before being relieved of his heart in the operating room. The Japanese Mafia replaces the organ by a battery for a while now given Chev Chelios. Which will have to struggle again to keep his batteries charged up and draw all over the city hoped to regain what is hers ... Moron? Moron? Great? The film is especially unbearable but we loose face such enthusiasm DIY last minute that it becomes fascinating.
His status makes film uninhibited Crank 2 a GTA-like spitting all over and above the conventions of cinema, shot in record time with cameras ultra light and cheap, to achieve foolish plans and ideas into images of a beautiful bullshit. With his approach diametrically opposite to that of Transformers, directors Neveldine and Taylor have created a hybrid decadent and repulsive in which they managed to cast David Carradine, probably one of his last movie roles before his accidental death.
French operators do not make a mistake and the film was banned from operating in the territory (released direct-to-DVD)
To continue exploring, two links:
- Transformers 2, the critical hot
- Some extra tracks to address Transformers 2
THEN ...
I'm going to yell for forgetting A Prophet but despite his air of genre film, I have the feeling of having witnessed something too clinical and cold to detain him another day maybe ... And not for lack of trying the French film this year. Among my few tests, we note Not my daughter, thou shalt not dance (my first Christophe Honore, an interesting experience), The Kissers (believed to offbeat and enjoyable), Les Regrets (disaster ) So you (a cute love story, I was in the mood ...) and Make me happy (vaudeville funny at amazing female cast).
From exile in Canada, difficult to update.
Four late entries in the rankings, something new and three delays. avatar takes a few seats from the outset with its output end of the year, others are catching up, not having had the opportunity to see the movies or have knowingly chosen to avoid the VF imposed in my pretty provincial town. These Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow), Morse (Tomas Alfredson) and Moon (Duncan Jones), three outsiders and ultimately, three big surprises in very different genres (war, fantasy , science fiction)
really liked the films that follow: Zombieland , Public Enemies ( we spoke there, as part of a retro short time ) Fish Tank, The Girlfriend Experience , Zack and Miri make a porno (direct to DVD), The Wrestler , The Chaser , in Gran Torino where Eastwood gets himself in a final scene in last stand (too easy) and Revolutionary Road which I prefer the great series Mad Men .
Not seen as a matter of programming: Coppola's Tetro
Deception: Where the Wild Things
hopeless: The Taking of Pelham 123 , Number 9
year cinema shows to soon
