Off The Marquee

My list for 2009 is really more of a top 13 because I am unable to let it go when I have a good time at the movies. In the interest of making it a true “Top 10,” I bumped Inglourious Basterds off the list because the other ten are worth mentioning and more likely to fall by the wayside, but I liked Inglourious quite a lot. Great movie; we’ll consider it points off for spelling. In the arena of Nazi killing, I also enjoyed the Norwegian zombie film Dead Snow (Full Review). I omitted Adventureland as well although I thought it was cute and one of the more intelligent bits of 80s nostalgia of late. Furthermore, Pedro Almodovar’s latest film Broken Embraces has not made it to Tucson yet, but he is one of my favorite directors, so I would like that exclusion to be recognized.

It was a good year for unconventional comedies, independent directors expanding the scope of their narratives, and remembering that there are good actors buried somewhere in Nicolas Cage and Robin Williams. Heavyweight directors and a heavyweight boxer helped make this a strong year at the movies. Hopefully we won’t see any Benjamin Buttons at the Oscars this year. Here is a sentence or two about my favorite films of 2009 in no particular order.

Gomorra- Matteo Garrone directs this stark film about several Italian citizens who directly or indirectly become involved in organized crime schemes. Although it was released in 2008, it gained wide release in America in 2009 due in large part to praise from Martin Scorsese. Many conventions of neo-realism are in play as these characters tread wearily through unremarkable areas of Italy. The cause and effect can be hard to follow, but Gomorra is among those movies that merit repeated viewings.

Red Cliff- John Woo proves he can handle the scope of an epic. This movie works because the action is huge and story is simple and classic. Presenting any situation as having Caesarian style politics has become pretty common these days. Woo keeps it simple, and simple doesn’t have to be a bad thing either. (Full review)

Drag Me to Hell- A real return for Sam Raimi’s unique style of horror. There were complaints of it being too formulaic, but Raimi is such a focused talent that I would hate to see him stray into some of the more elaborate horror fare of late. Horror movies are often too clever for their own good these days. Hell is a good old fashion R rated ghost romp. (Full review)

Tyson- There is something to be said when a filmmaker is able to take what is essentially a monologue and make it captivating. A lot of the credit goes to Mr. Tyson for being so candid and surprisingly introspective. I guess when it comes down to it, he is so untouchable he doesn’t have any reason to lie. It is easy to make judgments from an armchair, but Mr. Tyson’s life is pretty complicated and while it is hard to sympathize wholeheartedly with him, Director James Toback assembled the film in a very even handed manner reminding the audience that there are two sides to every story. (Maximilian Schell’s documentary Marlene [1984] about the reclusive Marlene Dietrich is another interesting treatment of a mostly one-sided interview.)

The Hangover- The market is growing for Apatow-style dude comedies. I wasn’t excited about this one initially for that reason, but this raunchy romp is well conceived and contains a few surprises. In the canon of road movies,  the search for a missing groom is a good device for allowing humor some breathing room as opposed to just watching dudes shlub around. I like the shlub-around movies as well, but this one is organized similarly to an episode of Reno 911 and the flow creates a less interchangeable comedy. (Mike Tyson is in this one as well. If you had told me in January that he would be in two of my favorite ten movies this year, I would not have believed it.)

World’s Greatest Dad- World’s Greatest Dad is a clever dark comedy and Robin Williams is no less than sublime. If you utter the plots of Bobcat Goldthwait’s movies aloud, his stories sound as if they might be produced simply for shock value. But he has depth in his narratives and is really finding his voice. (Full review)

A Serious Man- The Coens play their slow hand again and prove they never rest on their laurels. While they often employ similar motifs from picture to picture, their range of topic is astounding. (Full review)

The Invention of Lying- I’m convinced this movie suffered from bad marketing. I only went because it was at the second run theater and I am still adhering to Ricky Gervais as a fan of The Office, but Lying is a lot smarter than I initially thought it would be. I might have been charmed because I went in with low expectations, but Lying is a quality comedy. (Full review)

Antichrist- Brutal. The consensus seems to be that this movie is pretentious and misogynistic, but it unfolds well for suspense. I admit it might be naive of me, but I abandoned the politics and dug it. I’m a fan of anything that gets you thinking. (Full review)

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans- This movie is underrated due to the expectations in play when approaching a cop drama. It was nice to see Herzog back in action and Nicolas Cage’s stylistic approach to the role is worth the interruption in logical narrative that occasionally arises. Cage portrays a person who is not thinking straight and the movie gets lost with him occasionally. If you go for the ride, it’s a good movie. I was particularly interested in the cinematic downplay of drug hallucination. Rather than saturate the screen with canted angles, melting faces and colored lights, Herzog employs simpler techniques such as inserting a lizard. It’s a bit of unexpected fun.

People have been telling me that my great failing as a critic is that I am too easy on films and that people really like reading some negative input once in a while. As a consumer, I am pretty careful about what I see just because, like most people, I’m still forking out for my movie tickets. There are movies I really wanted to see this year that I didn’t make it out to. But looking over the list of movies released in 2009, I was reminded that I did see a few stinkers this year. So for better or worse, here is my attempt at teeing off.
Here are the ­­­four WORST movies I saw this year.

He’s Just Not That Into You- What the hell was I doing at this thing? I will generally go along with any plan that involves going to the $3 movie theater, but I knew I didn’t belong here. Maybe I was out of my element, but nobody else seemed to be laughing at this mush of non-committal neurosis. There is only one laugh in the whole thing by way of a monologue credited to a dock worker or something. I can’t even remember it, but I left the theater knowing that I would rather have watched him for 90+ minutes. I find Sex and the City tedious as hell, but at least it makes attempts at thoughtful and insightful humor. I understand the appeal of SaTC. The makers of this movie believed that inherent humor exists in beating the audience over the head with the notion that relationships are complicated. I was more than “just not” into it.

Terminator Salvation- What pissed me off here is that I fooled myself into thinking this actually might be good. This is Phantom Menace syndrome all over again. It seems they felt if they blew enough shit up, no one would notice that the story sucks. How hard is it to write a prequel? The characters have already been written and Christian Bale looks good without his shirt on. And they STILL blew it. I really admired Bale’s cold depiction of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, but based on this movie and his portrayal of Batman in The Dark Knight, I think he would be well advised to start utilizing his face muscles.

The last half hour of Away We Go- I thought this movie was going pretty well until the main characters sunk into a despondent state of affairs in a strip club in Canada which culminated into them moving into a house and spending the last 30 minutes of the movie looking incredulous at the fact that a house was in front of them. I feel like the writers just checked out in the middle of this movie. The story transitions into some sort of “newfound hope for the future” autopilot. I seriously thought it was never going to end. I also found it somewhat suspect that these two people who were portrayed as being financially unstable and endlessly expounding on their lives changing due to their pending baby were keen to get enough money together to buy two next day airplane tickets to Florida from Canada because the guy’s brother was depressed about his wife leaving him. They could have taken what that would have cost and paid for another house to stand in front of and stare meaningfully at each other.

Paranormal Activity- Here I feel as though I am just being a hater. I am actually among the handful of people who stood by The Blair Witch Project. And I realize that no movie is completely original. And furthermore, I think the people involved with Paranormal did well with what they had. But I could not get over the fact that most of the movie revolved around looking the same camera angle over and over again. It just got boring to look at and the foregone conclusion that a spirit or something was going to exponentially reveal itself throughout the movie made me feel as if I had seen the whole thing before my ass hit the seat. To be fair, I think the experience would have been enhanced by a crowded theater. Due to my erratic schedule, I usually go to the movies in the afternoon with the 70+ crowd. What would have saved this movie for me would have been if some big, phony looking slobber monster resembling that weird, life sized Muppet with the hinge-jaw would have come bouncing out of the shadows at the end or if it turned out it was their next-door neighbor Dave stealing their Fruit Loops the whole time.

So that’s my take on 2009. I hope to keep writing for you all well into 2010. So stay safe over the holidays and remember to support independent cinema and Tucson businesses like The Screening Room, The Loft, The Fox, and Casa Video. These institutions are staffed with people dedicated to keeping the flame alive in the coming years.
Have fun at the movies wherever you go, but do what you can to spend some time Off the Marquee.

Off the Marquee is a forum for reviewing and promoting overlooked classics, cult movie screenings, second-run viewing opportunities, and independent film. If you have anything in that vein you would like to share or promote, I would be psyched to hear about it.
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