2009 Recap: The Cap'n Presents His Favorite Films of the Year!

And here we are, finally to it! I'll keep the intro short, cut to the chase, and so on. As with before, if there's a review, I'll link to it so you can read that.

Before I begin, I forgot to mention two movies which I neither hated nor considered to be "Honorable Mentions": The Invention of Lying and Watchmen. Neither of them really did anything for me, but to be honest I didn't care enough about them to knock them down a peg two days ago. So there you have it.

Without exception, you should see all 14 of these movies as soon as possible.

In no particular order, and absolutely not numbered, My Favorite Films of 2009:

Moon - I've been counting down the days until I can watch Moon again on Blu-Ray. Only a few weeks left, and it can't come soon enough. Duncan Jones, Sam Rockwell, and Kevin Spacey did something very special with this film, one that ought to owe heavily from Silent Running and 2001, but manages to live and breathe all its own. The theatre we saw Moon in had horrible sound, and frequently cut out during important conversations, but I still think the world of this movie, the first of two great science fiction films on this list.

Inglourious Basterds - Somebody's going to have to explain to me why you didn't like this movie. There's so much animosity out there for Inglourious Basterds, and if it's just because Quentin Tarantino promised a "men on a mission" movie and then gave you a film with greater scope and considerably more depth, then boo hoo. If Christoph Waltz isn't nominated for Best Supporting Actor come Oscar time, I'll be shocked. Mélanie Laurent should also be considered, although I fear she won't in favor of better known Americans.

No part of this film was boring to me. No beat went too long, no flourish was unnecessary. Quentin Tarantino took all of his favorite film fetishes and put them to service a narrative that sweeps over you and I, for one, was enthralled from the opening moments. Each game of "cat and mouse", where it's clear that nothing good can come from what's happening on screen, had my rapt attention. There's no way this movie is two and-a-half hours. I don't believe it.

On a total side note: if there's nothing else you watch Inglourious Basterds for, see it for Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt)'s stunningly awful Italian accent. It's hilarious.

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans - I completely and totally understand why critics are crazy for this movie. The trailers sell you a film that doesn't exist; a complete trainwreck from beginning to end, capped off by Nicolas Cage's batshit Mega Acting. And yes, those are all scenes in The Bad Lieutenant: Unfortunately Long Subtitle That's Totally Appropriate, but Werner Herzog's mad genius constructs a bafflingly wonderful film out of such disparate elements. What you see SHOULD NOT work, but I'll be damned, it does.

Because it's not easy to see, I'll have to recommend you buy or rent it when it arrives on dvd. You'll hear no derision from the Cap'n for doing so.

The Men Who Stare at Goats - Not at all what I was expecting. That's the long and the short of my reaction to Grant Heslov's The Men Who Stare at Goats. You go in expecting something goofy that maybe goes nowhere, but come out on the other side quite pleased at the film. Ewan McGregor is a wonderful comic foil for George Clooney, who in turn gets to pal around with Jeff Bridges' "The Dude" and Kevin Spacey. The secret to this movie, one I continually forget to mention, is that Jedi powers are attainable only with a mustache. Watch The Men Who Stare at Goats and disagree.

Up - If the first fifteen minutes, which set up the story of Carl and Ellie Fredrickson, doesn't tug at your heartstrings, I can't help you. You might even be more of a heartless robot than the Cap'n is, because Up had me from minute one. To its credit, the film quickly turns from tearjerker to adventure and whisks you along for the ride. I have the distinct impression that Coraline will probably take the Best Animated Film award from Up because it's not Pixar, but I cannot agree with that decision. Between Up, Wall-E, and Ratatouille, Pixar is on such a roll that I just don't think that Coraline, as good as it is, is the better film.

Drag Me to Hell - Sam Raimi made me eat crow, and I've never been happier to do it. I hate, HATE Ghost House movies like The Grudge and Boogeyman, and I loathe PG13 horror films that rely on cheap shocks in lieu of good, lasting chills. It turns out that so does Sam Raimi, because he took Ghost House and PG13 horror back to school to show us how it's done. Drag Me to Hell is funny, it's scary, it's cleverly manipulative in scares, and Alison Lohman brings a sense of sympathy that Bruce Campbell could not have (no slight on Bruce, but at this point we revel in Raimi torturing him). The running gags involving horrible liquids going into Lohman's mouth, or the gypsy woman ripping her hair out, to the twisted seance or the anvil!

Folks, you just don't know what you missed by skipping this. I nearly skipped it, and the Cap'n is sure glad he didn't. This is the kind of horror that gets an audience behind it, one that doles out the guffaws and the screams in equal measure.

Thirst - It wasn't until I watched Lady Vengeance several weeks later that Chan-wook Park's Thirst really made sense. I thought the jump from Oldboy to Thirst was a bit odd, even if I really enjoyed Thirst, but all of the black comedy that Park's vampire film carries is evident in Lady Vengeance: the music choices, the bizarre dream sequences, the nochalant approach to violence. I realize that people are pretty "vampired" out right now, but just as seriously as I advocated Let the Right One In, so too must I insist you watch Thirst. It's funnier, for what that's worth.

Anvil: The Story of Anvil - Both hilarious and pathetic. Hilarious, because Anvil has the worst luck in the history of metal bands: This is Spinal Tap couldn't make up half of the shitty things that Anvil have to put up with while on tour. Pathetic, because Lipps and Robb Reiner really want the band to work out. They never got there, when so many others did, and the sense of hope tainted by disappointment really moves Anvil: The Story of Anvil from Behind the Music to something greater.

District 9 - I'm still in awe of how well put together the Johannesburg of District 9 is. Of how the film is not afraid to let characters behave selfishly and betray others for their own benefit. I'm intrigued at the ways the story can continue, and how well Neill Blomkamp toys with your expectations about the "found footage", or the documentary that frames the entire narrative. Like Moon, District 9 is science fiction that's willing to be more than silly "kid's" stuff, one where the violence is disturbing rather than merely gratuitous, and that invites you to go back and follow the details from opening to closing. Bravo.

The Hangover - The sense of impending doom from Bradley Cooper's "we fucked up." at the opening promises you a dangerous experience, and with the three man squad of Cooper, Helms, and Galifianakis, I'm ready to travel down that road again with them any time. There's no real redeeming message about film here, just a ride of pure fun with some true howlers of plot twists.

Observe and Report - After my review, which I feel people took as negative, I stepped back to think about Observe and Report. Normally, something I feel so conflicted about would make it to the "Honorable Mentions" category, but for Observe and Report to affect me the way it did, there's something greater at work in the mind of Jody Hill. I'll be revisiting this film again soon...

Tyson - Mike Tyson, in this documentary, is more than simply the beating machine or the washed up tabloid punchline; he is, at times, an awkward philosopher of his own life. There are very few things he won't talk about, and the portrait he paints is seldom flattering or self serving. Nevertheless, Tyson is the kind of documentary you put on and can't pull your eyes away for one moment, even if you know the "greatest hits".

Zombieland - Like The Hangover, Zombieland makes no pretenses about being "high art". It is a film of pure, unadulterated fun, a zombie film that realizes the survivors of any apocalypse are likely to be just as bent and out of shape as their undead counterparts. Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg are a team that could carry another Zombieland or a dozen other kinds of movies. I love the way Zombieland's opening credits spoof Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead titles, while all the time reminding you that this is a horror-comedy. Sure, it may lack much in the way of deep social commentary, but dammit: Zombieland is fun!

and a special "Finally!" exception for Trick R Treat, my new favorite Halloween movie! - I realize that Trick R Treat was made in 2007, and that it's been traveling around as a "Roadshow" attraction since then, but when the Blu Ray finally arrived in time for Halloween, I understood what the hoopla was about. It is a criminal shame to withhold this film from audiences, when Michael Dougherty so clearly gets and loves what's scary about Halloween and horror films. Plus, it's a great anthology film, something we get so few of any more. I really hope that the success of the dvd and Blu Ray sales (which sold out widely on the day of release) push Warner Brothers to green light another Trick R Treat anthology, but at the very least I now have one movie that's guaranteed for every Horror Fest from here on out.


I wish I'd seen's for 2009: Big Fan, The Road, Up in the Air, The Hurt Locker, A Serious Man, Where the Wild Things Are, Antichrist, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Best Worst Movie, and The Informant!

Looking Forward So That I May Better Look Back

The semester is winding down to a close, and over the next few days I'm actually going to be very busy getting things together for graduate school applications (for long, and honestly stupid, reasons on my part, I won't be going to Chicago for my masters. While I'm about as happy with this as I am with the GRE scores, it is what it is.). However, once all of that business is done, I reckon I'll have the better part of this week to devote to movies before the holidays hit, so I'd like to ask you folks for some input.

It doesn't matter who you are, if you read this blog and there's something you think I should see before the year is out, I want you to leave me a comment. It could be from 2009 or it could be any other movie. I always do a year-end recap, so if there's something I haven't covered that you think I'd like, please let me know.

Right now, I still have the following to catch before the end of the year: Public Enemies, Up, Inglorious Basterds, District 9, The Hangover, World's Greatest Dad, Duplicity, Adventureland, Sunshine Cleaning, (500) Days of Summer, The Taking of Pelham 123, Monsters vs Aliens, and The Brothers Bloom.

That's what I can think of that I'd like to see before 2009 ends. Surely I'm missing something and this is where you come in. The Cap'n doesn't pretend to be a complete cinephile, and I simply can't keep up with everything. Should I look into New York, I Love You? Is a trip in order to catch A Serious Man or Antichrist? You tell me. I want to know.

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As it is, allow me to present a brief list of movies I saw not from 2009 that would make their respective year's "Best of" List:

My Own Private Idaho - I have no idea why I never got around to watching Gus Van Sant's early defining film (long before Good Will Hunting, Psycho, or Milk), but I'm glad I finally did this year. From beginning to end, top to bottom, an excellent film, with an inspired visual style and clever use of William Shakespeare's Henry IV. My only regret is that I hadn't seen this during prior arguments where I'd periodically defend Keanu Reeves, and the death of River Phoenix was a serious loss for film.

The Hit - This film by Stephen Frears (The Grifters, High Fidelity, The Queen) actually made me rescind all the awful things I said about Terence Stamp in The Haunted Mansion - for a little while. It's a crime movie where much of the film is the anticipation of an actual "hit": in this case, of Mobster turned informant Willie Parker (Stamp). After going into hiding in Spain, Willie is found and captured by a hitman (John Hurt) and his driver (a very young Tim Roth), along with an unfortunate visitor (Laura del Sol). Frears plays these characters off of each other in ways you wouldn't expect, but Stamp anchors the film with the steely resolve of a man at peace with his mortality. I'd never heard of The Hit before this spring, but I'm glad I've seen it now.

The Foot Fist Way - Honestly, without The Foot Fist Way, I don't think I would have been ready for Observe and Report. As it is, Jody Hill's first film is a slice of awkwardness that kept me laughing from beginning to end, and it helped me appreciated Danny McBride's other work even more.

Martyrs - Since Martyrs technically came out in 2008, I can't really cover it in the year-end recap. While I still have quibbles about the mid-twist-torture sequence, I cannot begin to shake the final fifteen minutes from the film. The last image remains with me to this day, and to that end, however minor my issues with the movie are, it certainly belongs on this list.

Dog Soldiers - I'd seen The Descent. I'd seen Doomsday. But until this summer, I'd never watched Dog Soldiers, Neil Marshal's low budget debut film. While it's not perfect, I certainly had fun with this twist on werewolf films, and its sense of humor helped keep the budgetary limitations at bay. I don't know what Marshal is working on now, but I wouldn't be shocked to hear it started with "D".

Synechdoche, NY - The critical backlash against this film still puzzles me. I understand that it's not always fun to watch, and at times can be maddeningly esoteric (especially during the more confusing opening scenes), but once Charlie Kaufman's epic about a man realizing his life as performance really gets going, the convoluted eccentricities of the script step aside and you're left with some wonderful character work from everyone in the cast. I was very pleased to finally watch Synechdoche, NY this year, and I regret not watching it when it played in theatres, as its kind will not likely be seen again.

JCVD - A film that was not at all what I expected, but nevertheless a pleasant journey to take into self parody for Jean-Claude Van Damme. The trailers would lead you to believe that JCVD is more of a comedy, designed to embarrass Van Damme, but the truth is that it's a little more like Dog Day Afternoon meets Adaptation with the structure of Memento. While Van Damme is playing himself (or a version of himself), this is a deconstruction of the way audiences see him as an action star / has-been packed into a potboiler heist movie and punctuated with comedy. I wasn't as taken with the monologue as some seem to be (when Van Damme literally rises above the set and directly addresses the camera), but I certainly enjoyed JCVD and hoped it would mean more of its ilk for Van Damme and less Universal Soldier sequels.... sigh.

and finally:

Teenage Mother - What can I say? I can't un-watch Teenage Mother, and I saw it twice in the span of three weeks. It's an average movie with silly moments punctuated by a truly out-of-left-field five minute burst of childbirth, and then things are over. The wildly misleading trailer points you in the opposite direction of the actual story, down to including footage that's nowhere to be found in the film. Clinical footage and attempted rape aside, Teenage Mother is a pretty humdrum movie, made goofy by inexplicable story elements. It's 69 minutes I guarantee you won't forget, so it makes the list.

Boss, on the other hand, does not, for reasons apparent to anyone who saw it with the Cap'n.

Blogorium Review: Observe and Report

One of the reasons I retroactively dropped the Joe preview into Trailer Sunday is that Observe and Report is continually being compared to films that like and Taxi Driver. There's a genre in the mid-seventies about the psychotic/suicidal anti-hero that was a byproduct of increasingly violent Late Film Noir (D.O.A., Ace in the Hole, and Kiss Me Deadly). Observe and Report is clearly borrowing from this tradition, down to a well placed joke based on Travis Bickle's Taxi Driver montage, but I think there's something else going on here.

For starters, Observe and Report is the logical "next step" for Jody Hill. After The Foot Fist Way and Eastbound and Down, he's developed a knack for sociopaths with delusions of grandeur. While all three are comedies, they get increasingly darker. The final three episodes of Eastbound and Down turned out to be a nice bridge to Observe and Report, and it's probably for the best that the show aired before Report came out, because this may be the most uncomfortable laughter you can squeeze out of an audience.

Here's where the difference is between Observe and Report, Hill's other projects, and the "anti-hero" genre: I like Kenny Powers. I liked Fred Simmons. Yes, they were assholes and they treated people like shit, but underneath all of that, they were insecure dorks who had one thing they were good at. I even like Travis Bickle, despite all of the awkwardness and delusions. Travis Bickle is adrift, looking for a purpose to direct himself towards. Instead he lets his seething disgust and anger simmer, and when he can't successfully eliminate a politician, he settles for a pimp.

Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen), on the other hand, I could not find myself rooting for. Ronnie is an appallingly dangerous sociopath, one who has access to power and a knack for violence that does no one in the film good. Even when he uses his brutality for good and abuses Nell (Collette Wolfe)'s boss to make him stop treating her like shit (a rare use of Patton Oswalt as the bad guy), it's in a bullying and clearly unethical way. He even has to ask Nell to pretend "I was never here". And that's the nice thing he does. Otherwise, he's relentlessly unlikeable, racist, and homophobic. Not unlike Joe Curran or Travis Bickle.

Ronnie is the head of Mall Security, and wields that position as though he was God's gift to the mall. This is par the course for a Jody Hill film, but the difference is that there's no real comeuppance for Ronnie at any point. Every time the universe proves him wrong, he bludgeons his way into winning again, including a shockingly violent finale involving a mall flasher. I really wasn't sure what to make of Ronnie graphically breaking someone's arm halfway into an 86 minute movie, but Observe and Report packs a lot of psychotic into a short span.

I'm not troubled that Ronnie wins (by his standards, and to be honest by the standards of just about every other character), although it is a break from the "anti-hero" label the film so frequently is likened to. For example, Travis Bickle somehow doesn't die in his charge of violence, and is regarded in small ways as a "folk hero", but you can tell at the end of Taxi Driver that the madness is still lurking behind those eyes. It's the last shot, for crying out loud.

Ronnie Barnhardt is rewarded for being an unlikeable, dangerous thug in a way that probably makes him more like Jack Bauer than Travis Bickle. Without spoiling too much, unlike Kenny Powers or Fred Simmons, Ronnie gets exactly what he wants with none of the consequences of his actions because his way solves all of the problems that matter.

Despite not really knowing how I feel about Ronnie, I think that Seth Rogen was very good in a totally different kind of role than we're used to. Anna Faris is good, if a bit one dimensional, as the object of Ronnie's affections. She's not interested, but he does manage to get her drunk and drugged up enough that there's a debatable rape scene in the film. Ray Liotta is great playing a variation on the "perplexed actual hero" role, and does it in a way that you really feel bad he has to suffer Ronnie's presence.

The other mall cops (Michael Peña, Jesse Plemons, and John and Matt Yuan) each have their moment to shine, particularly Peña, who gets the best of the film's montages and gets some surprising character development. Because of the way Observe and Report is designed, it actually caught me off guard that Hill was developing Wolfe's Nell as a legitimate love interest for Ronnie and not simply another subject in his kingdom, but the pay off is sweet. Aziz Ansari and Danny McBride both get good cameos, as does Patton Oswalt, all ending in the wrath of Ronnie Barnhardt.

Technically speaking, Hill stepped up his game for Observe and Report. There's some great camerawork, use of editing, and slow motion in the film. His use of music is clever and unexpected, and I think Observe and Report is a very well made film. The story moves out of the constraints you're expecting almost immediately, and goes in directions I did not see coming, which is a sign of good film-making. For a movie that's as short as Observe and Report is, I never felt like I was being short changed as an audience member.

So should you watch Observe and Report? If you like Eastbound and Down, and particularly if you really liked The Foot Fist Way, then yes. I skew it in that direction because for all its depravities, Eastbound and Down is actually friendlier for most audiences than The Foot Fist Way is. There's something to the comparisons to psychotic "antihero" films, so if you're a fan of that sub-genre, it's also worth looking into. Most people just aren't going to understand why they should watch Observe and Report, and to be honest, the movie is not at all for them. If you read this review and said "who would watch a movie about this guy?", then steer clear. You will not enjoy the film. The comedy comes in strange places and will no doubt only push you further away.

For those of you who fall in the former category, I highly recommend Observe and Report. It's a step forward for Jody Hill, and I look forward to whatever he has planned next.