Harry Potter, goodbye my friend

About 12 years ago, my Dad dragged me into a bookstore, demanding I pick out half a dozen books. That was how he tried to get me into reading (to be honest, it didn’t really work out as well as he’d hoped). One of the books I reluctantly picked out was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which in my opinion was a great book for a 9-year old considering I had recently graduated from Enid Blyton. I read it. Loved it. And got hooked to the entire series. Now more than a decade later, it all ends.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is everything I expected it to be - exciting, action-packed, emotional, heart wrenching and most of all an epic and satisfying finale to an amazing series. There are plenty of good things about the movie. More than ever, the color and lighting suits the tone of the movie. It’s like the entire film has the Walden filter (if you’re on Instagram, you’ll know what I’m talking about) layered over it. Effectively, it makes the movie more heart wrenching than it already is. On top of this there are some absolutely gorgeous visuals. I was really struck by the pure beauty of this film. It’s probably the best shot of all the Potter films, and I love gorgeous-looking movies.

Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort) probably gets more screen time in this movie than in any of the previous four, which brought me around to realizing that he does a fantastic job. Everything is convincing. His pain, his anger but most of all, his terrifying whispers. While on the point of acting, Radcliffe, Watson and Grint have come a long way and finally give barely decent performances.

My favorite part of the movie was Snape’s story. It’s brief, concise and gets the point across but most importantly, it instantly built a sense ofaffection and close emotional connection for me. With that, it brings me to the content of the movie and my issues with how they were separated, making up part 1 and part 2. David Yates had two options - either film a long ass movie no. 7 or, split the last book up into two movies. Obviously, he went with option no. 2, which I believe to have been a wise decision. My problem is that there is too much content in the book to have been fit into one movie but on the other hand there is too little content to have made two outstanding movies. So this is a problem for me that can’t really be solved. Big props to Yates for making the best of it though.

Having cut the first movie off at a great point, part 2 essentially comprises scenes set in only three locations and only one day passes in the movie. Although massively eventful, the movie feels stretched, dragging the content out to fill up the allotted 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Having said that, I think this is a good movie on its own and if you’ve followed this from the start I believe you will be quite satisfied. I know I was. And to everyone who has grown up with Harry Potter, as I have, say goodbye but only for now. This is our generation’s Star Wars and we will introduce our kids to this. And when we do, we’ll experience, all over again, the magical escapism it’s brought us.

Movie Review: The Joshua Tapes

So it's been a while since I wrote anything here. I'd like to say I'm going to start updating regularly again, but my Mom taught me not to lie. So I'm not. However, I thought I'd break this lazy streak with a little somethin' somethin' from the local indie film scene. The Joshua Tapes was shot two years ago in 2008 but is only getting limited distribution this year. I don't really know why (maybe I should have asked during the Q&A session =/) but I think it was worth the wait. And I'd say this movie is worth your Ringgit.

The best thing about going into this movie was that I had zero knowledge on the film. I didn't see many posters/banners, I did not watch the trailer, knew nothing about the plot - all working to my benefit. I went into the cinema with a completely open mind, judgment-free, which was refreshing considering all the Hollywood marketing crap that gets flung our way before the movie even opens.

The Joshua Tapes is about three buddies coming together, after growing apart for some time, to go on a road trip to the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Heightened emotions, flashbacks and hilarity ensue.

I really did not like the beginning of the movie. The whole shaky cam thing just put me off straight away. My first thoughts were "Is the entire film going to be like this?". It works fine later on as flashbacks but I thought the start would have been better if it was present day. In fact, I liked the first act of the film the least. The build up to the road trip took a little too long, the lines were starting to get on my nerves a little, especially from Ajeet. To be honest, Ajeet annoyed me all throughout the movie.

The film picked up in the second and third acts and got way better. Just not Ajeet. I didn't really get his character. What I thought was that he was the troubled soul - angry, bitter, suicidal. Sure there were hints of those in the character, but bitchy stood out the most. Ajeet could have been played by a girl and it wouldn't have made a difference. It felt as if I should have sympathized with Ajeet, but instead I was so annoyed by his character and at one point wish the other two had kicked him out of the car. At least then Ryan and Reza would have had more time to talk about their problems.

I really enjoyed how the flashbacks sort of acted as the antagonist in this movie, bringing up dirty secrets and problems. The only thing was that these problems and secrets are never really brought up, discussed and resolved in the present day parts of the film. It did leave me wanting more, which is a good thing.

All the stuff I wish were different in the movie aside, I really did enjoy this movie. The humor, when it did pop up, was incredibly hilarious and I found myself laughing more than I thought I would. Putting the bitchiness of Ajeet aside, I enjoyed the car scenes, the back and forths between Reza and Ajeet, the crazy emotions, the sarcasm and even the awkward silences. The thing I loved the most about this film was the dialogue and how it was presented and brought through. I could relate to so many things that were said in this movie, not by what was said, but by how it was said. Everything felt so natural and just right. Maybe because it was all so Malaysian.

I had such mixed feelings about the ending it hurt me so bad. After such a roller coaster ride of a movie, there was a sense of calm and serenity in the ending. On the flip side, there was an exorbitant amount of unanswered questions, unrevealed secrets and unresolved problems. That was quite unsatisfying for me, just because I expected so much more from the movie.

Instead of seeing this as a shortcoming, I see it as room to grow into and potential. There were endless possibilities with this movie and big ups to the writers of the movie. I hope The Joshua Tapes is a sign of more to come from the local indie film scene.

The Joshua Tapes open in three cinemas - GSC Mid Valley, One Utama and Pavilion on September 30 and will be showing for two weeks only. Shake up your movie-watching routine and go catch this local production. You might love it, you might hate it. But what the hell.

Movie Review: Repo Men

Repo Men, at it's core, is about selling your soul to the devil. A company called The Union manufactures and sells bionic organs and body parts to people who are in dire need for them. In most instances, these people cannot afford to pay the astronomical prices for these artificial organs and are faced with ludicrous interest rate plans. If they fall behind their monthly payment, repossession agents are sent after them and their artificial organs are essentially harvested from their bodies and taken back by The Union. Jude Law and Forest Whitaker play best buddies who work as repo men for The Union.




This movie is all over the place. It starts off light-hearted, then goes through a whole depressing, emotional phase and ends in very gory fashion. The premise is interesting enough (they always are) but the constant change in direction of the movie completely put me off.

I don't really see what the casting director saw in casting Forest Whitaker together in a movie like this one. I must say Jude Law brought his A-game in this one. His character is chock-full of charisma and underlying sarcasm. Forest Whitaker looked completely out of place and ultimately became an annoyance.




The gore in this movie is excessive and unnecessary to say the least. And there is an exponential increase in the bloodshed in this movie. By the end of the it, the floor had enough blood to fill a blood bank. The gore in this film is completely unexpected. Any of the pre-release marketing buzz, although there wasn't much of it, had very little indication of how inappropriate this film would be for the faint-hearted. Even the first half of the movie served no notice of the gore that was to be expected.

Having said all this, in some weird, creepy, crazy way, I was quite entertained by this movie. Although the humor could have been better and the movie could have been shorter, I felt a thrill watching all the mindless violence and the crappy B-grade plot organization with A-list actors.




The movie is executed poorly but interesting nonetheless. It's a weird one because despite my less-than-flattering review of the movie, it's worth a watch. Jude Law does a great job and if you're a fan of the dude, it's as good an excuse as any to go see the movie.

I give Repo Men 5 out of 10 Popcorns.

Salt Review

First off, I’d like to say that the marketing tagline of ‘Who Is Salt?’ is both misleading and clever at the same time. Unfortunately, however, the movie itself tries to be clever but does not really deliver. There are so many plot holes and shortcomings in this movie that even the big star that is Angelina Jolie and the seemingly endless action can’t make up for.

Speaking of action, I’m not going to deny there are lots of it. The thing is all the action sequences are very linear and textbook. People getting beaten up, shooting, explosions, jumping from one moving truck to another; we’ve seen it all. There is nothing new. And the action that is in this movie is quite poorly choreographed and shot. There are on numerous occasions where the camera cuts away just as something important is about to happen. Even during the action stuff, there is too much focus on Jolie as opposed to the people she’s beating up and the stuff she’s blowing up.

Angelina Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent who turns out to be a Russian spy (or not, who knows?). The usual formula for films is that the audience is shown the plans for either the protagonist or antagonist but the protagonist has no idea what the antagonist is up to and vice versa. This creates the suspense effect and allows the audience to take sides while watching the movie. None of this happens in Salt. The audience is kept in the dark about Evelyn Salt’s true motives for most of the movie and this creates a big old wall between the character and the audience. We just cannot relate or connect to her character and everything just breaks down from there.

I mentioned at the start of the review that the film tries to be clever. I understand the need to be mysterious but the whole thing is a complete mess. The twists in this film are absolutely absurd. Half the time you don’t know what the hell is going on or why Salt is doing a particular thing. There seems to be no direction in the film. I must say the premise is a clever one (I would never want it to happen in real life) but it just isn’t executed decently enough in the movie. Coupled with the gaping plot holes, there is no saving this movie.

Salt is really just a movie that has such convoluted characters, cloudy plotline, a myriad of plot holes, crappy action and a hot superstar chick playing the lead. I would pick a mindless action movie over this any day of the week. At the end of the day, for a movie named Salt, it really is tasteless.

I give Salt 4 out of 10 Popcorns.

Inception Review

[This review does not contain spoilers. Because of the complexity of the film, you may not understand what the hell I’m talking about in this review. So if you don’t, watch the film and then read again.]

Pushing the boundaries of visual and intellectual creativity, Inception is bound to push you to the edge of your seat. Filled with awe-inspiring effects, complex ideas, explosive action and fast-paced dialogue; Inception, in my mind, is by far Christopher Nolan’s best piece yet, maybe even a masterpiece. I would say this movie is a slight mesh of Memento and The Dark Knight with a tinge of The Prestige but it blows all three movies out of the water. The film is long (two and a half hours) but it doesn’t feel it. The plot moves along very swiftly so buckle up and pay attention to every little detail. You cannot afford to miss 1 minute of this movie because if you do, you will have a hard time getting back up to speed.

Christopher Nolan plays with the idea of being able to invade other people’s dreams and subconscious. It might just be me but I find toying with the concept of subconsciousness for a movie extremely captivating. An absolutely stellar cast including Leonardo DiCaprio. Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine and Dileep Rao sets the foundation for this extraordinary movie. Each actor fits their character almost perfectly well, with the emotionally distraught Cobb (DiCaprio) to the suave, relaxed Arthur (Gordon-Levitt) to the hauntingly psychotic Mal (Cotillard).

Coming back to the conceptual brilliance, the idea for Inception was almost single-handedly conceived and carried out by the genius that is Christopher Nolan. He thoroughly deserves to be called a genius for writing and directing Inception. Aside from the brilliant intellectual idea the movie stems from, Nolan also brings such cinematical grandeur. There are some scenes in this movie that are just so good I was on the verge of tears, not as a result of emotions from the film, but rather because of what I was seeing before my eyes was just some of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen on the big screen. There are so many things in this movie that make you go “wow, how on Earth can anybody even come up with this kind of stuff?”. Having said that, nothing in this film is groundbreaking or never-before-seen stuff. It’s just the way scenes are executed. Just pure ingenuity.

Right from the get-go you are thrown around, luring you into confusion with the intertwined worlds of reality and dream. The first 15 minutes or so of this movie is one of the most difficult to pick up on. But once the initial concept is understood, more and more things start to make sense. So here I warn you once more. Pay close attention to this movie. There is no room for zoning out in this movie. You will get lost. The opening act does very well to explain the mechanics and concepts of the movie and the attention to detail in this film is just amazing. Each idea has a structure. Each rule has a purpose.

Everything in this movie including the visceral visual effects, outrageously brilliant ideas, well executed acting, high octane action and Hans Zimmer’s immersive soundtrack so seamlessly come together to stitch up a big thought-provoking labyrinth of a movie. Only every once in a while do we come across movies that make us doubt reality and life as we know it. Inception did that for me. In essence, Inception is a horror movie. Sweet dreams everybody.

I give Inception 9.5 out of 10 popcorns. A definite MUST-SEE film. I urge every single one of you reading this to rush out and see this film. It could very well be the best film of this year. One of the best cinematic experiences I’ve ever had.

Despicable Me Review – Its So Fluffy!

Changing the animated film formula up a little bit, Despicable Me chooses not to follow the regular road of superheroes or anything else of the sort. Instead, its a story about a super villain trying to be the world’s foremost villain while finding the softer side of himself with the help of three little adorable orphan girls. Who would have thought that a big international criminal with a thick, put-on Hungarian accent being the hero with three small adorable orphan girls by his side would be the winning ingredients to a movie? Well, the three small adorable orphan girls, maybe.

Where do I even begin with this one? In a nutshell, Despicable Me is one of the most entertaining animated films I’ve ever seen. The LPM, SPM and APM were all off the charts. (Laughs per minute, smiles per minute and awws per minute). To be frank, you have not seen cute until you’ve seen this movie. The most outrageous, ridiculous things you’ve ever seen is all thrown into this movie - freeze rays, shrink rays, punching giant sharks, little yellow goggle-wearing things that speak gibberish. The whole nine yards.

I went in not knowing what the film was about and I’m glad I did. Everything is almost spot on awesome. The design of the characters is a little more Dreamworks-esque as opposed to being Pixar-esque. The voice acting is incredibly suited to each and every character. And don’t get me started on the jokes. There are well thought out jokes all over the place.

All in all, this movie gets you in all the right spots of your funny bone. And the cute will just not stop. In fact, there may be cute overload in this movie. I have to say that this movie is by far one of the most entertaining films of the year, if not the most. It does so much for escapism that other movies can’t achieve. I implore each and every one of you reading this to rush out and watch this movie. Ahead of Twilight Saga: Eclipse (ugh) and Predators.

Oh, if you’re watching in 3D, don’t leave the cinema hall too soon. There’s a little surprise at the end of the film, before they roll the credits.

I give Despicable Me 8 out of 10 Popcorns.

Robin Hood Review

I liked this movie a lot. I really did. It’s unfortunate that I couldn’t stay for the whole film and had to leave 20 minutes before the end. So this review will be based on the some 2 hours of it that I did see.

If you’re looking for a Robin Hood wearing tights and a story filled with him stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, look elsewhere. This version is not for you. Ridley Scott basically plucked Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator from Rome and set him in the middle of England in the Middle Ages and re-named him Robin Longstride. The movie is about the beginnings of Robin Hood and how he came to be, more like a prequel, if you may. This just makes Robin Hood not so much the tale of Robin Hood but an epic medieval war epic. I believe that this will be a love or hate type of movie. It will completely depend on what you’re looking for in watching this movie. In any case, here’s my take on the film.

The opening half-an-hour or so of this film is great. There’s a good amount of top-notch action choreography that just gets you going. The screenplay balances out the action to character development ratio. Ridley Scott found a way to introduce and develop characters early on in the midst of a flurry of scenes full of horse-riding, sword-fighting, explosions and arrows whistling through the air.

This gives Scott plenty of time to further elaborate the screenplay in the middle portion of the film, which for me, is where the film sunk a little. After the opening 30 minutes, the action dies down and politics takes center stage. Although the middle part of the film didn’t maintain the buzz given by the action in the beginning, the screenplay kept things fresh and interesting. Never once was I bored or felt the film was dull. I was actually surprised by the amount of wit and humor that was thrown in the film. There were several times when the theater I was in erupted in laughter. Some jokes, the whole crowd didn’t get but I found myself and a few people around me chuckling to. Ultimately, the comic-relief in Robin Hood is unexpected and is a great inclusion to the film.

Robin Hood is the fifth time Ridley Scott has worked with John Mathieson as his cinematographer, the first four being Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Matchstick Men and Hannibal. I just loved the way the film was shot. Exposing such incredible scenery in the background, really taking advantage of the beautiful filming locations. Something I noticed was the zooming in the film. Unlike the typical slow and subtle approach, the zooming in this film was quick and sharp, bringing a sense of nostalgia because it made the film look like it was shot in the 90’s. Not many people might like this or even notice it, but if you do, it only makes the movie that much better for you.

The weakest link in the movie is surprisingly Cate Blanchett’s character, Lady Marion. Instead of having an arousing romance with Robin Longstride, Lady Marion is more involved in the fighting and politics of the movie. I don’t think Blanchett fits the role at all and her character seemed very apprehensive and awkward.

All in all, the film was shot well, acted well, written well and scored well, with most of the movie having a score that sounded somewhat like flutes. Something like this. If you’re looking for an movie filled with well choreographed action this weekend, this is it. So this weekend, between Robin Hood and A Nightmare On Elm Street, go see Robin Hood. It will be worth your money.

I give Robin Hood 7 out of 10 Popcorns.

A Nightmare On Elm Street Review

The 2010 reboot of this franchise is just a complete mess. For a horror/terror film to be neither scary nor terrifying isn’t so good. I didn’t once jump or twitch in my seat, expecting every shock, surprise and scare from Freddy. I didn’t leave the theater thinking I’d never be able to fall asleep soundly again. The movie just did not deliver on what looked like promising potential in terms of having Oscar-nominee Jackie Earle Haley play Freddy Krueger. The film was, at the end of the day, like a typical, bad, B-grade slasher movie. The typical stuff, you know. A bunch of incompetent, eyeliner-wearing teenagers getting slashed in their dreams by Freddy one by one.

Speaking of Freddy Krueger, you just can’t recreate such an iconic villain. You just can’t. I was hoping for Jackie Earle Haley, who’s one hell of an actor, to be able to pull it off. But at the end of the day, no matter how good an actor they got, it would not have made a difference. This Freddy Krueger was not just not scary but boring as well. Every time he showed up on screen I groaned a little. I was a little disappointed to see that the current Freddy Krueger looks the same as the 1984 version. There were no improvements whatsoever in the makeup, further diminishing the scare factor. The only thing I enjoyed about Freddy Krueger is what I now call the ‘Rorschach voice’. The low growl of Jackie Earle Haley is very distinguishable and I love how it fits in with the character of Freddy.

The movie did one thing for me. It kept me guessing what was real life and what was a dream. I caught it early a couple of times but otherwise I didn’t know if the protagonists were awake or asleep until it was revealed. I wished there was more to the story line. There were absolutely no significant twists or surprises in the plot keeping it dull the whole way through. Even when the story of Freddy Krueger was told towards the end of the film, there was a ‘this doesn’t really matter, we’re just telling you for the hell of it’ vibe.

At the end of the day, the movie doesn’t do anything for me. I was bored, unafraid, uninterested and could not wait for it to end. Go watch this film only if you have a low-threshold for terror. If you don’t, just don’t bother. You’ll be wasting money and time.

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Here are some more pics to look at. (Just because I got the press kit. Hehe.)

Iron Man 2 Review

[This review may include tiny spoilers]

Coming up with a sequel following a massive success for the first installment for any franchise is never easy. Marvel has had some hit and miss in this regard with Spider-Man 2 being the better of the first two and somewhat failures with Fantastic Four and X-Men sequels. Following last year’s major disappointment with Transformer’s: Revenge of the Fallen, I thought I would have been at least a little apprehensive about Iron Man 2. But fortunately for me, I loved it, even more so than the first movie. And I’ll tell you why.

The one mistake Michael Bay made with the sequel to Transformers was that he gave the audience more than they wanted. We were happy with the amount of CG giant-robot battle scenes in the first one. But in Revenge of the Fallen, it was just overkill. The excessive robot battle scenes were unnecessary and I wish he had focused more on the plot and characters. Something Jon Favreau does very well in Iron Man 2.

In the past couple of days, I’ve been seeing people complain about how Iron Man 2 was not as good as the first one because there were fewer actions scenes and more of what people call ‘talky-scenes’. I completely disagree with them and I think the sequel is the better of the two. I love how in this one, there is more focus on both Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. Robert Downey Jr. gives another outstanding performance, more so than in the first movie. He manages to pull of the charismatic persona without looking too cocky.

Another thing this movie does well is it sets up the S.H.I.E.L.D. story brilliantly. As you probably know, Marvel has this plan for some sort of continuous storyline in every one of their films, also known as the “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. As seen in the trailers, Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) plays a more substantial role in this film which is a bonus. I’m grateful Marvel didn’t hold back too much on the teasers for the upcoming films. I won’t tell you what they are so don’t worry about spoilers. But I will tell you there is a good amount about S.H.I.E.L.D. in the movie.

Another thing I found myself loving was the cameos. Just to list a few, there was Stan Lee (as always), the late Adam ‘DJ AM’ Goldstein, director Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan and not to mention the several superhero hints/teasers/cameos. As for the villain/s, Mickey Rourke is quite convincing from his Russian accent to his evil laugh. However, Sam Rockwell does a great job as the idiotic, rich, bad guy, just like how @techsupremo said.

A couple things I don’t like about the movie: Scarlett Johansson doesn’t ‘act’ enough. She’s capable of good acting. Which is why it’s such a pity she’s being used as a ‘Megan Fox’. Just stand there, look pretty/sexy/hot. OK la, she pulls that off well. I don’t like Don Cheadle as Rhodey, but I like War Machine. I don’t like how Whiplash was defeated so quickly.

All in all, I think Iron Man 2 is a worthy sequel to what is turning out to be an incredible franchise. Now bring on Iron Man 3 and The Avengers!

P.S. Because you read this review all the way to the end, you get to be reminded to stay back AFTER the credits for a little surprise. [HINT] It's got something to do with Marvel's next films, releasing next year.

How To Train Your Dragon Review

With Pixar winning 5 out of the last 7 Best Animated feature awards at the Oscars, it’s hard to take Dreamworks animated films seriously. I can name only a handful of Dreamworks films that I liked, namely Antz, Shrek, Chicken Run, The Prince of Egypt and KungFu Panda. I’m glad to add How To Train Your Dragon to that list.

This movie takes place in Viking times and is about a boy named Hiccup. Yes, I know, that’s not a very Viking name. In the process of the movie, he sees another side to the vicious dragons that terrorize his village and starts to understand them.

They waste no time jumping straight into the plot. You’re introduced to the dragons right from the get-go. The subtle narration in the opening bits of the movie helps with the introduction to the back-story and is a great starting point. Other than being thrown right into the mix in the first 10 minutes, I found myself being struck by how good the voice acting was. If I had to pick out one thing from this movie that made me like it, I would definitely say the voice acting. Big props to the casting director for getting it spot on with Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson.

Another thing I like about the movie is how they dealt with the accents. There’s a fair balance of Scottish and American thrown in, keeping the Viking flair but at the same time making it mainstream and more understandable with the American accents.

Apart from the stand-out voice acting, the visual effects are well done but nothing mind-blowing. Everything looks very rounded, just like in other Dreamworks movies. I’m disappointed with the art design of the the supposed best and most powerful dragon of all, Night Fury aka. Toothless. I know it’s meant to be cute at times, but at times when the dragon is supposed to be vicious and frightening, it just looks lame. It’s too rounded and looks nothing like a dragon. More like a black cat with wings. The best thing about ‘Night Fury’ is that it’s like the fighter jet of the dragon. It’s fast, stealthy and shoots awesome fireballs.

In a nutshell, the How To Train Your Dragon is a an easy-on-the-mind, feel-good movie. With plenty of cute ‘awww’ moments and decent humor, this is definitely a highly recommendable movie. Everyone should go see this movie. Bring your kids, your siblings, your parents, your grandparents, your aunts and uncles. It will be worth the money you pay. But it’s definitely nowhere close to Pixar standard. This movie barely evoked any emotions in me, something Pixar films do all the time.

I shall give How To Train Your Dragon a rating of 7 out of 10 Popcorns.

10 Movies That Made My 2009

In 2008, I talked about my favorite movies of the year. It's only apt that I continue in that vein this year and talk about the 10 movies that were my favorites of 2009. The following movies are ranked based on multiple factors like how much I enjoyed the movie and how good I thought the movie was.

Also, it's important to bear in mind that I'm making this list without having seen many movies that would make this list if I had seen them. If that even makes sense. For example, I have yet to see Up, Avatar, A Serious Man, Crazy Heart, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call- New Orleans, Precious, Up In The Air and (500) Days Of Summer. I will eventually watch those movies but until then, shall we get started on the movies I did watch last year? Let's go!

The following content contains spoilers.

#10. The Hangover

The Hangover has definitely got to be the comedy of the year. It may be a little bit stupid but it’s amazingly funny as hell thanks to a good plot and a great cast. If you have not seen this, you have to see it.

 

#9. Star Trek

What made Star Trek such a good movie was the fact that it not only was a film for the Trekkies but also for the general public. Also, I thought the performances by Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto were top notch. Has this movie turned me into a Star Trek fan? No it has not. But it definitely makes me anxious to catch the next J.J. Abrams directed Star Trek. Check out my Star Trek review right here.

 

#8. Knowing

This film might not be on many people’s lists, but it’s on mine because I was too blind to see the twist at the end of the movie. In the end it really took my by surprised and gave me all the more reason to love this movie. This may not be a very good movie, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you want to check out my full review of this film, click here.

 

#7. Moon

2009 was a year for sci-fi lovers with movies like Star Trek, Avatar and District 9. Another sci-fi gem to come out of 2009 was Moon. This is a one man show and is carried on the shoulders of Sam Rockwell and his incredible performance. I really believe he deserves an Oscar nomination. Seriously, check this film out.

 

#6. Adventureland

Adventureland is really sweet and funny in parts. But the best thing about the movie is how it hit home with me and how it has the ability to connect with you on so many different levels. Unfortunately, Kristen Stewart’s performance was no where up to par with the rest of the cast, especially Jesse Eisenberg’s and Martin Starr’s. But that doesn’t take much away from an excellent movie.

 

#5. District 9

What Neill Blomkamp did with District 9 blew minds, mine included. The visual and sound effects in the movie were just incredible considering the budget for the film. Not only do the visuals hit you really hard but the story is so compelling it drags you in emotionally and you start to really feel for the main character Wikus van der Merwe along with the Prawns. Check out my review of District 9 here.

 

#4. The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker was, without a doubt, the most intense and riveting film I saw in 2009. Everything, right down to the nerves and danger, felt so real. Ultimately, in a war movie, that’s what you want. And The Hurt Locker definitely delivers in that regard. Also, great performance by Jeremy Renner. Check out my short review of the movie here.

 

#3. Watchmen

I’m not a comic book fan so I had never heard of Watchmen before the movie. So I had no expectations coming into the movie. I absolutely adored the movie and am glad I watched the movie without having read the graphic novel. If I had read the novel first, I would not have enjoyed and appreciated the movie for how good it was. I was also glad the movie was rated R because it would not have worked any other way. All in all, Watchmen had an awesome gritty and compelling look to it. I got so much satisfaction from watching it. Check out my review of the movie here.

 

#2. Zombieland

Producing so many laughs and also delivering satisfying zombie gore and violence makes Zombieland one hell of a zombie movie. That aside, the performances from Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin and Woody Harrelson only made this movie better. The cameo by Bill Murray was amazing. 2009 could have very well been Jesse Eisenberg’s break out year with his success with the two ‘land’ movies and landing the role of Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network. At the end of the day, Zombieland proved to be the most enjoyable and entertaining movie of 2009.

 

#1. Inglourious Basterds

I simply adored Inglourious Basterds. Everything about it was right. The opening sequence to the movie is just about the best opening to any movie out there. And I loved how the film had few action scenes but had plenty of controlled, intense one-on-one conversations scenes. Brad Pitt did an excellent job, as usual, but not as excellent as Christoph Waltz who made such a believable and epic villain in the film. This film, I think, is Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece and will last for a long time.

 

Special Mentions

The following are a few movies I liked but could not find space for in my top 10.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The 6th installment to the franchise was arguably the best of all 6 so far and one of the best movies of 2009. Tom Felton gives a stand out performance and the plot of the 6th book really gets transformed well for the silver screen. Read my review here.

 

Drag Me To Hell

Drag Me To Hell was not only scary and terrifying but also quite good fun. The sense of humor meshed in with the terror did great for the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a fun movie. Check out my review here.

 

Paranormal Activity

Paranormal Activity was probably the success story of the last year, if not the decade. It was so simplistic, yet genuinely scary. A well made movie considering it was made for only $11,000.

 

Let The Right One In

OK so this movie might not have been made or released in 2009 but I saw it in 2009, so sue me. I was so impressed with this Swedish movie about 12-year old kids, one of which is a vampire. If you’re looking for brilliant child acting, Let The Right One In is the movie for you. This movie takes you on an emotional ride among other things and I implore you to get your hands on this movie before Hollywood remakes it and releases Let Me In this year.

So that’s that. I hope all of you had a great 2009 and here’s to hoping 2010 will be even better, both in the movie world and otherwise.

Happy New Year!