Stephen's Ten Favorite Films of 2009

Yep, I have nothing better to do. Anyway, my ten favorite films of 2009, listed in alphabetical order. I missed a few good ones this year I'm sure, but I think I caught most the goods (hopefully).



(500) Days of Summer – Dir. Marc Webb
I’m a huge Joseph Gordon-Levitt fan and it’s good to see him getting some attention. It’s a very relatable and genuine story of relationships. It really had a lot of the same great things going for it that When Harry Met Sally and The Graduate had; it was fun and enjoyable, yet it could stay honest and relatable.

Brothers – Dir. Jim Sheridan
Nothing made me feel more uncomfortable this year than this (film-wise that is, had a few awkward urinal encounters). An incredible examination of the aftermath of war on a soldier and his family.

The Brothers Bloom – Dir. Rian Johnson
The more times I watch it, the more appreciation I have for it. A beautifully directed film and an incredible adventure; this film was a blast to watch in the theatre. Rian Johnson’s first film Brick showed a love for cinema (the noir, the spaghetti western) and Bloom continues to show that Johnson is a master in the director’s chair.

Extract – Dir. Mike Judge
I really love Mike Judge. I love Beavis and Butthead, I love Office Space, I love kinda-sorta like Idiocracy. His writing really shows that he understands the working class; blue collar, white collar and everywhere in between. My favorite comedy of the year.

Inglorious Basterds – Dir. Quentin Tarantino
Maybe not his favorite of mine (still probably a tie between Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs), but probably his most mature to date. Tarantino has a true love for cinema. Another classic.

Moon – Dir. Duncan Jones
I’m a huge sucker for dark sci-fi’s and mindfucks. This one is both. Haven’t enjoyed a hard science fiction movie this much since Sunshine. Sam Rockwell’s performance is Oscar-worthy. For a low budget this film looks spectacular.

Star Trek – Dir. J.J. Abrams
My favorite of the year and by far the best sci-fi film of the year. J.J. Abrams made Star Trek cool. For once. As a long time Trekker I can honestly say that as much as I love it, it’s never been crazy accessible to the public’s attention. This new installment acts as a perfect nod to the original series as well as rebooting the long dead franchise with a large majority of the help coming from classic storytelling and an incredible ensemble cast. Almost a run-on sentence. And it's rewatchable as hell to boot.

State of Play – Dir. Kevin Macdonald
Maybe not the best thriller ever, but a very well acted and executed one. Ben Affleck needs more respect. I can’t believe I just typed that with a straight face. But he does, as an actor and director (can’t wait for The Town this year). Anyway, solid political thriller.

Up – Dir. Pete Docter and Bob Peterson
How can you not absolutely love this movie? I heart Pixar. Made me cry. Two times.

Watchmen – Dir. Zack Snyder
I agree with the sentiments of Patton Oswalt: http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/03/11/patton-oswalt-says-people-complaining-about-the-watchmen-adaptation-should-stfu/ (tried to find the original post, looks like it’s disappeared…)

Clay Enos interview

Wow, this blog has practically turned into a Watchmen fanboy site. Not that that’s a bad thing. Here’s something to chew on.

This past Tuesday, I had the great pleasure of interviewing Clay Enos, the photographer of Watchmen. He did all the still photographs of the production, so if you see something Watchmen, chances are it’s his stuff. Enos is also the man behind the new book Watchmen Portraits, a beautiful black and white “coffee table” book of, well, Watchmen portraits. Not only are the actors featured in character, but many of the extras are featured with equal poise on the page.

Clay Enos has known the Snyders for quite some time, so one would think it wouldn’t be too difficult for him to be selected as photographer for Watchmen. Well, that’s a leg up, but it wasn’t that easy. They had to fight for him which was “pretty cool” that they would do such a thing for a photographer, according to Enos. The production set him up with a studio space that came to be known as the “Clay Cube.” Makes me think of the Borg Cube from Star Trek. Surely the two aren’t comparable…or are they?

Anyway, the Clay Cube eventually became too cumbersome to work with, so he switched to a simple, more portable studio using natural light when available and a device to simulate natural light when it wasn’t available. “All the actors, everybody was willing and enthusiastic about helping with the photographs” said Clay. The photographs became a “casual, routine” and even “spontaneous” activity for those involved. The makeshift studio was on the side of the set and people just walked by and got their picture taken. “People” being the actors.

Watchmen Portraits is an excellent movie book, but has the potential to be an art book also, floating somewhere in that happy middle. Watchmen is a very atmosphere driven work and the unique thing about Portraits is its ability to capture that atmosphere without the background of the production. “Since the characters are pulled out of context, the atmosphere is in the faces” is how Enos describes the magic of his photos. The portraits are still able to capture the atmosphere, but they become something else as well. Each photo enables the viewer to look deeper into the character, especially with the extras and minor characters. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, something Clay Enos has mastered in his photography.

Flat out, Clay Enos is a great guy with unbelievable skill and talent. Plus he’s a Star Trek nerd. It was truly awesome to have the opportunity to speak with someone I consider on the “god” level. If I haven't said it before, Clay Enos’ photography is magnificent. Check it out at clayenos.com. And check out his Nite Owl Coffee at http://www.organiccoffee.com/Nite-Owl-Dark-Roast/M/B001O2KSZA.htm. It’s a great movie tie-in after the fire rescue scene at the apartment building. A portion of the profit goes to charity and THEY'RE ONLY AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED TIME. Only 10,000 cans were made. So buy some coffee because everyone knows college students need to drink more coffee.

Reflections on Watchmen

There really is not a lot to say about Watchmen that hasn't already been said in a million other articles, both online and in print. The consensus seems to be that Snyder made a very faithful film adaptation of the graphic novel, but maybe to a fault. Fanboys and those who have read the novel seem to enjoy the novel at least on some level, leaving those who aren't familiar with the graphic novel out of the loop.

Personally, I loved the film. The fact that Snyder was able to condense a 12 chapter graphic novel into a 2 hr 45 min film without losing most of the controlling ideas and denseness of the original work is incredible. The attention to detail while still having Snyder's flavor and style is an incredible line to walk, but this film does it with flying colors. Zack Snyder has made Watchmen jump off the page without losing what is essential. And in a society where we usually tear apart a film that digresses to far from the original work, I really don't understand how you can be 'too faithful', but I digress myself.

The point of this post is not to discuss why I loved the film. Despite whether you loved or hated or were indifferent about Watchmen, I think it's important to notice that Zack Snyder's film is a massive achievement in film on multiple levels.

The most obvious success of the film lies in its visual effects. For a film that is obviously shot almost 100% in studios in front of green screens, it looks polished and clean. The only even questioning element of the visuals is Dr. Manhattan. However, even Manhattan looks incredible once you get passed his first few scenes. The title sequence at the beginning is also another high point of the film's visuals.

If the visuals weren't the most obvious success, than it's the financial earnings that stand out. Whether good or bad critically, the film was a huge financial success. In its opening weekend, it grossed $55 mill., which is pretty substantial for a r-rated pulp film. Despite 55 mill not being nearly what analysts thought it would gross [most estimated around 70 mill], this is still a substantial earning. The film will make plenty in the box office, not to mention the money that the film will make from dvd sales and other merchandising. Hopefully Watchmen will help studios realize that a dense, graphic, r-rated film can make money. Along with The Dark Knight, these two films will hopefully be examples for future work of how to make a darker, grittier, pulpy comic film. Nothing 'grinds my gears' more than when a film gets watered down to a pg-13 just to assure profibility.

One of the aspects that I love about Watchmen is that exact fact: the almost complete faithfulness to the graphic novel, not just in content but in maturity level. No violence or sexuality has been tamed down. But even more important than this is the ending of the story, something that many critics have not addressed. [SPOILERS AHEAD] The ending of the film remaining faithful to the source material is an incredible achievement. Being very unconventional, it's truely astonishing that it was not changed to please Warner Bros/producers. or even to please audiences. The fact that Adrian Veidt gets away with his master plan leaves the viewer completely devastated, with the only hope for the future being Rorschach's journal. And all this squabbling about leaving 'the squid' from the novel out of the film is just superfluous. The differences from the novel that Snyder made were for obvious reasons; some elements of the graphic novel were just not suitable for film. Yet, this does not make the graphic novel 'unfilmable', just minorly tweaked. Admitting that a graphic novel is different from a film does not make one untranslatable to the other. Again, hopefully this will influence future films to be more daring with their stories. [END OF SPOILERS]

Years from now when audiences look back at the experience that was Watchmen the film, I think it will be seen as a modern classic. It takes time for a film that is as philosophical and dense as Watchmen to sink in. While it may be somewhat of a niche-sleeper with critics and audiences today, it will find its place in film history. Even so, more important than critical acclaim, Watchmen is a success. All who are a part of making this film happen are to be commended.

Watchmen Follow-up

The details on the Watchmen case settlement between Fox and Warner Bros. have been released over the past couple days and a correction to a previous statement has been made.

I got this from Slashfilm.com (where much of my film world news comes from) and they got it from The Hollywood Reporter. Here is the breakdown for those that would like to know (quoted from Slashfilm.com):

"According to Variety’s sources, Fox will receive an upfront payment totaling between $5 and $10 million, which will cover $1.4 million that the studio invested in development fees, plus millions of dollars in legal fees.

As already mentioned, Fox will not be distributing the film, but under the terms of the settlement, will get gross participation of between 5% and 8.5% depending on the film’s worldwide revenues.

The Hollywood Reporter, our source for the original settlement story, incorrectly reported that Fox would not be entitled to any rights for Watchmen spinoffs and sequels (they have since corrected the error). Fox will, in fact, participate as a gross player in any future Watchmen-related properties, although Snyder has already denied that he will participate in a prequel/sequel.

Allegedly, other options for the settlement were discussed recently, according to Variety’s sources. These included moving WB’s Terminator Salvation release date from May 22nd, to avoid competing with Fox’s Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian. The studios have denied that these scenarios were ever evaluated."

I'm glad the March 6 release date is still on schedule. I can't imagine the uproar or the amount of advertising money that would have been lost had the date been changed.

On a side note, I don't think I would be very pleased if any studio decided to make a Watchmen sequel/prequel. Would anyone really want that?

Gran Torino review

I forgot to write a review for Gran Torino. Dammit. How could I forget that? Anyway, here's a quick something for you since it's been about a week since I saw it.

The Ford Gran Torino is a beauty of a car, a gem not seen too often amongst the new Mustangs and such of today. Clint Eastwood's movie is the same way. It uniquely blends cultural barriers, family, life and death and dealing with age themes together. It's a coming of age story in more ways than one.

I'm an Eastwood fan, although I'm used to seeing him as a younger tough guy. Nonetheless, he is superb in Gran Torino. The dialog is over-the-top hilarious, not because it's racist, but because it's a crotchety old white guy. His delivery is never off. The story is very well done. [MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS] The symbolism of the car is very good: how it's old like Walt, but in practically new condition and handing it off to Thao. It kind of combines the essence of both characters into one symbol. [END POSSIBLE SPOILERS]

I liked Bee Vang for most of the movie. There were a few spots of acting that bothered me near the end, but other than that I thought he did a nice job with his character. Ahney Her also did a nice job, but seemed a little flat sometimes. Christopher Carley as the Father was great, although his tone changed very little throughout the course of the movie which kind of bugged me. The minor characters like the barber shop guy and the construction guy were great additions. Obviously, Eastwood is the star of the film.

Gran Torino is an excellent film and is on my top 10 list for the year.

M

Slumdog Millionaire review

Truly a brilliant work of art. Danny Boyle has created a masterpiece of the cinema. Everything about Slumdog Millionaire is nothing short of amazing. Every shot is beautiful in its own way, the dialog is great, the score is very well constructed and the story is superb. I especially like the way the subtitles are done. There is not one thing in this movie that I can complain about. Not one.

As a camera guy, I absolutely love the cinematography. Seriously, every shot is beautiful. And that's the way it should be since India hosts a beautiful people. I don't think the story would have worked had it been based anywhere else.

I could go on and on (I've rewritten this review like 3 times already) about the story, editing, soundtrack, etc., but I'm not going to. Take my word for it and go see it: everything about it is amazing. This is the best movie of the year. I don't know what else to put in my review. Just go see it so you can agree.

M

Watchmen Settlement!

The current news on the Watchmen case between Fox and Warner Bros. is this: they have reached a settlement. Fox and Warner have resolved it and, in short, it looks like we'll be seeing Watchmen on March 6th as originally planned. Hoorah!

BUT (huge but), according to Slashfilm.com, "THR says a Fox spokesman said "no final deal had been reached." So keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best tomorrow.

I have a feeling that everything will pan out and the movie will still be on schedule (seems like that's pretty much locked in now) as this all gets wrapped up. Here's the claim from The Hollywood Reporter regarding the settlement:

"Warner Bros. and Fox have resolved their dispute over Watchmen, with the studios scheduled to present the settlement to Judge Gary Feess on Friday morning and request that the case be dismissed. Terms of the agreement will not be disclosed, but it is said to involve a sizable cash payment to Fox and a percentage of the film’s box office."

Fox no longer holds the rights to Watchmen and will not hold any future rights.

Wow. This all seems like a nice turn of events in light of the Christmas decision. I have to wonder if it really is over. We'll see in the days ahead.