IGotPaid - 2009 Movie tracker

Wrapping up 2009

2010-01-01T13:01:00.002-06:00

2009 was an awesome years for movies. I was in the theater more than ever before (free screenings rule!). I slowed down towards the end of the year but still managed to hit 200 movies.

A quick summary:

Movies: 200
in theater: 30
screening: 12
Most seen year:
2009: 62
2008: 61
Most rated:
5/5: 65
4/5: 50

2010 is looking like a solid year for films. Along with my backlog, there is no end in sight.

#200 Onibaba (1964)

2009-12-31T21:13:00.000-06:00

A mother and her daughter-in-law kill samurai and sell their belongings for rice to survive.

3.5/5

#199 Che (2008)

2009-12-31T21:04:00.000-06:00

Two part, 4 hour epic chronicling Che's successful and unsuccessful revolutions in Cuba and Bolivia.

5/5

#198 The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

2009-12-30T21:01:00.001-06:00

A young Che Guevara travels South America with his best friend and shapes his future political views.

5/5

#197 Sin Nombre (2009)

2009-12-29T20:09:00.002-06:00

A family making the dangerous journey from Guatemala through Mexico to the US gets mixed up with a gang member trying to escape the 'green light' hit put on him by his former gang. One of 2009's best.

5/5

#196 Zach Galifianakis: Live At The Purple Onion (2006)

2009-12-28T13:35:00.002-06:00

4/5

#195 Sanjuro (1961)

2009-12-28T13:32:00.003-06:00

Kurosawa's sequel to Yojimbo. Toshiro Mifune is once again a masterless samurai that just wants sake, a good meal and a place to sleep but keeps getting dragged into situations where he ends up helping others out.

5/5

#194 Planet 51 (2009)

2009-12-27T21:25:00.000-06:00

3/5

#193 The Box (2009)

2009-12-27T21:24:00.001-06:00

The worst film released in 2009. Worse than Chun-Li and Dragonball Z. It's bad.

1/5

#192 Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

2009-12-26T21:23:00.000-06:00

4/5

#191 Love Actually (2003)

2009-12-25T21:21:00.000-06:00

4/5

#190 Yojimbo (1961)

2009-12-24T09:00:00.000-06:00

5/5

#189 Sherlock Holmes (2009)

2009-12-21T20:21:00.001-06:00

Holmes and Watson kicked ass for two hours and it was awesome.

4.5/5

#188 Ran (1985)

2009-12-20T20:30:00.001-06:00

Kurosawa's last epic is epic. Lord Hidetora has three sons and at age 70 wishes to hand over power to his oldest son. They aren't the nicest brothers, so all hell breaks loose. A beautiful film which leaves all the main characters dead at the end.

5/5

#187 Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

2009-12-19T20:28:00.001-06:00

Sally Hawkins is the happiest person ever. She has me convinced.

4/5

#186 Avatar (2009)

2009-12-18T19:02:00.002-06:00

Awesome movie. I had my doubts leading up to release, pretty sure this was going to be the biggest flop in history, but I was instantly proven wrong. Cameron delivers. I will never doubt him again.

5/5

#185 The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (2008)

2009-12-17T22:14:00.002-06:00

The first movie I've seen that tried to make me sympathize with the Nazi family. Boohoo. Bruno is the slowest 8 year old ever. I mean, he sneaks into a gas chamber instead of helping his friend escape. Barbed wire fence universally means prison if you are surrounded by it. I don't care if you're 8 or 88; it doesn't take a genius to figure out the other kid's life sucks. And I don't buy for a minute that German civilians had no idea what they were doing to the Jews.

3.5/5

#184 Up In The Air (2009)

2009-12-16T20:24:00.004-06:00

4.5/5

#183 Red Road (2006)

2009-12-15T20:15:00.003-06:00

Red Road follows a CCTV operator that starts following a man from her past that she didn't expect to be out of prison yet. The story slowly reveals itself at just the right pace to keep you wondering why the hell she is doing what she's doing.

3.5/5

#182 Criminal (2004)

2009-12-14T21:52:00.000-06:00

4.5/5

#181 The Twilight Samurai (2002)

2009-12-13T14:51:00.001-06:00

5/5

#180 Blindness (2008)

2009-12-12T21:50:00.000-06:00

1/5

#179 The Usual Suspects (1995)

2009-12-11T21:48:00.000-06:00

5/5

#178 The Way We Get By (2009)

2009-12-10T21:46:00.002-06:00

4.5/5

#177 Carriers (2009)

2009-12-10T21:33:00.001-06:00

4/5

#176 Food, Inc (2008)

2009-12-09T20:19:00.002-06:00

DTA.

Big Business is going to kill us all.

5/5

#175 The International (2009)

2009-12-08T20:10:00.002-06:00

I hate banks!

3.5/5

#174 An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder (2006)

2009-12-07T21:21:00.001-06:00

I didn't know this was a Q&A session, I thought it was going to be straight stand-up. I've heard An Evening With Kevin Smith was worth watching, and 2 was on Netflix streaming so I checked it out. Started off slow with some terrible questions by a fat guy and a pushy midget, but once the pace picked up it was good. Having been to several live Q&A sessions at PAX this year, I can appreciate the excitement of seeing someone you're a fan of in person. I like Smith's movies, but never followed him personally and still enjoyed hearing stories about the industry and behind the scenes happenings.

4/5

#173 Invictus (2009)

2009-12-07T20:18:00.001-06:00

A great true story about the South African rugby team uniting the country after Nelson Mandela became president.

5/5

#172 Revolver (2005)

2009-12-06T08:25:00.001-06:00

Guy Ritchie was high on Madonna, Kabbalah, and number theory when he churned out this huge turd.

I just realized he directed Sherlock Holmes which hits this month. At least I'll be seeing that for free.

2/5

#171 Solaris (1972)

2009-12-05T20:22:00.001-06:00

Crazy interesting Russian sci-fi film based on a book that today's movies and games are still borrowing ideas from.

5/5

#170 Angels and Demons (2009)

2009-12-03T20:30:00.001-06:00

Catholics are weird and Tom Hanks is going to solve the case!

4/5

#169 Empire Records (1995)

2009-12-02T20:39:00.001-06:00

An eccentric group of teenagers working at a record store who then went on to star in other movies.

5/5

#168 21 (2008)

2009-12-01T21:14:00.003-06:00

I went in with extremely low expectations for 21. I just had a feeling it wouldn't be good. I was wrong. Smart kids counting cards in Vegas vs Kevin Spacey.

4/5

#167 A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints (2006)

2009-11-28T14:02:00.003-06:00

A true story+New York+lots of stars=good movie. Channing Tatum's best role.

5/5

#166 Pandorum (2009)

2009-11-28T13:58:00.001-06:00

I was hoping this would be the movie version of Dead Space, which it kinda was, just not as good. Members of a space mission wake up from their cryogenic sleep and the ship is in shambles and with no apparent crew members around. Sci-fi stuff happens and we get an interesting twist ending. The middle stuff wasn't that great, but the plot on paper looks good.

3.5/5

#165 Public Enemies (2009)

2009-11-28T13:57:00.001-06:00

A cool movie, but somehow really boring.

3.5/5

#164 Ninja Assassin (2009)

2009-11-23T21:00:00.001-06:00

Tons of action, gore and blood. A definite kick ass movie, but a little thin on the plot.

4/5

#163 The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)

2009-11-22T20:46:00.002-06:00

4/5

#162 The Girlfriend Experience (2009)

2009-11-21T20:45:00.001-06:00

4/5

#161 Street Fight (2005)

2009-11-19T22:14:00.001-06:00

5/5

#160 The Proposition (2005)

2009-11-18T21:13:00.001-06:00

5/5

#159 9 (2009)

2009-11-15T22:12:00.002-06:00

3/5

#158 The Blind Side (2009)

2009-11-04T22:01:00.001-06:00

4.5/5

#157 Surrogates (2009)

2009-11-01T21:04:00.001-06:00

3/5

#156 Falling Down (1993)

2009-10-27T22:22:00.001-05:00

4/5

#155 The Big Lebowski (1998)

2009-10-25T20:09:00.001-05:00

5/5

#154 Paranormal Activity (2007)

2009-10-22T20:14:00.001-05:00

4/5

#153 Amelia (2009)

2009-10-20T21:53:00.005-05:00

3/5

#152 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)

2009-10-18T14:52:00.003-05:00

I liked the first Night at the Museum better. For the sequel, it felt like they just threw every idea they had out there even if it was extra stupid and didn't fit into this already crazy universe. Feels sloppy.

3.5/5

#151 The Proposal (2009)

2009-10-17T14:51:00.001-05:00

4/5

#150 The Stepfather (2009)

2009-10-15T20:09:00.003-05:00

The Stepfather is a remake of an '80s horror film about a guy that wants the perfect family. When they start disappointing him, he kills them and starts over. Dylan Walsh from Nip/Tuck is great in this role as the serial killer dad. The kid from the poor family on Gossip Girl is the suspicious soon to be stepson and he maintains his one-speed acting ability from that show. I don't know if it was intentional, but the movie was far more funny that it was scary. Maybe it was the audience I saw it with, but every time there was a jump scare or the dad killed someone everyone laughed. Walsh being super frustrated that his new family was messing up was always hilarious because you just new they were going to get it.

4/5

#149 Where The Wild Things Are (2009)

2009-10-12T21:17:00.001-05:00

5/5

#148 Seven Pounds (2008)

2009-10-10T13:07:00.002-05:00

One part sad, one part convoluted and ridiculous.

3.5/5

#147 Deadgirl (2008)

2009-10-10T13:00:00.002-05:00

This indie horror film started out with an interesting premise (finding a 'dead' girl in an abandoned hospital that can't die), but ultimately squandered it by choosing to use her as some kind of zombie sex slave for high school nerds that don't have girlfriends. Stupid characters leading to stupid decisions resulting in a stupid movie.

Note to self - don't take recommendations from twitter seriously.

2.5/5

#146 Hitch (2007)

2009-10-09T13:05:00.001-05:00

3.5/5

#145 Nerdcore Rising (2008)

2009-10-06T20:29:00.004-05:00

Nerdcore Rising follows MC Frontalot on his first nationwide tour, finishing up at PAX 2005. It also goes into what nerdcore is and asks if it is a valid genre that will have any staying power. Even though I don't listen to any nerdcore, this was a funny documentary and it was fun to watch since I just went to PAX and saw MC Frontalot (though I missed the concert).

4/5

#144 Big Man Japan (2007)

2009-10-03T20:20:00.002-05:00

If you like mockumentaries and ridiculous monsters you should like Big Man Japan. It follows a guy that's job is to protect Tokyo from whacky monsters. Sounds simple, but it's funny as hell. I was laughing my ass off every time a new monster showed up and he had to fight it. The last 20 minutes of the movie take a strange twist and it gets even weirder. Nothing else like it out there.

4.5/5

#143 Zombieland (2009)

2009-09-29T23:10:00.003-05:00

Zombieland is the most enjoyable movie I've seen this year! It narrowly edged out Inglourious Basterds and District 9 as the best of '09. From start to finish it is hilarious and action packed. Woody and Jesse make a great awkward duo as they fight their way across the country during the zombie apocolypse. Not to mention the amazing celebrity cameo out of nowhere and all the other crazy stuff that happens and we have the best movie of the year. Best way to see this is definitely in a packed theater.

5/5

#142 Bedtime Stories (2008)

2009-09-28T13:05:00.003-05:00

Adam Sandler is funny enough to carry this fantasy movie to the end. It isn't adult oriented like Big Daddy, so the humor is more for the whole family. Still enjoyable.

3.5/5

#141 Antichrist (2009)

2009-09-27T12:23:00.004-05:00

Antichrist is more of an experience than a movie, at times beautiful and others terrifying. One of the most uniquely shot films I've seen that would make Kurosawa and Miike jealous, both for different reasons. The slow motion is used to full effect and sometimes looks like a living painting. Lars von Trier doesn't forget to bring the pain to balance out the beauty with extreme closeups of brutality. Antichrist is a movie about grief and suffering, and you will surely come across some of your own as you make your way through it.

You haven't seen anything like it, and for that I'd recommend it. If you were fine with Misery, multiply that times 5 and you should be okay.

4.5/5

#140 The Spirit (2008)

2009-09-26T12:18:00.000-05:00

The Spirit is a good looking movie in the style of Sin City, but I didn't quite enjoy the characters and story as much. I liked it more as the movie got closer to wrapping things up and the last third picked up the pace regarding plot and action.

3/5

#139 State of Play (2009)

2009-09-23T21:27:00.001-05:00

State of Play is a story about government conspiracy and an old school reporter digging for the truth. Good story and great acting.

4.5/5

#138 Year One (2009)

2009-09-22T21:46:00.001-05:00

I have returned! I haven't watched a movie since I left for Seattle and caught the flu. Time to get back on track.

Year One was universally panned this summer and I expected the worst. To my surprise, I laughed throughout the movie quite often. This type of humor will annoy the hell out of some people and others will find it hysterical. Year One isn't going to win Best Picture, but it's damn funny for what it is.

4/5

#137 Bringing Up Baby (1938)

2009-08-30T23:39:00.003-05:00

Two great actors working together with hilarious results.

"I was born on the side of a hill."

5/5

#136 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

2009-08-27T21:22:00.003-05:00

Undecided on this one. Going to watch parts of it again tonight and think about it.

4/5

#135 Modify (2005)

2009-08-26T21:05:00.003-05:00

Basically bmezine in video form. People do a lot of retarded shit to themselves. Would've been more shocking had I not been an Internet Veteran.

4/5

#134 Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter (2009)

2009-08-26T20:58:00.002-05:00

I would have enjoyed this more had I watched it when I was hyped up on Watchmen. Seven months later, the enthusiasm has waned and this just wasn't as interesting to me as it should have been. A shame.

2/5

#133 Adam (2009)

2009-08-25T20:22:00.002-05:00

4/5

#132 The Last House on the Left (2009)

2009-08-24T20:25:00.002-05:00

3.5/5

#131 History of the World Part 1 (1981)

2009-08-23T22:52:00.002-05:00

5/5

#130 Fighting (2009)

2009-08-22T21:52:00.002-05:00

1/5

#129 Inglourious Basterds (2009)

2009-08-21T22:56:00.004-05:00

5/5

#128 Adventureland (2009)

2009-08-20T21:45:00.001-05:00

2/5

#127 Crank 2: High Voltage (2009)

2009-08-19T21:31:00.001-05:00

4/5

#126 Shorts (2009)

2009-08-17T22:10:00.003-05:00

First of all, whoever was running the screening should be fired. I've been to multiple screenings in Memphis and at Malco theaters, and this was by far the worst experience I've had. The movie was set to start at 7pm, but they didn't start letting the huge crowd in until 6:50. Each individual person was being patted down and scanned with a metal detector and forced to return any cell phone whatsoever to their cars. Without regard for the moviegoers, the film started promptly at 7PM, so about half of us missed the first 15 minutes. Security was very rude and there were a lot of unhappy parents with their children thinking they were coming to a fun, free screening. Instead we went through what felt like airport security. The other screenings I've attended were for FoxSearchlight films. Their staff was courteous and nice without checking everyone for weapons and cell phones. I'm going to chalk it up to Warner Bros pansy asses being the culprit here for all the trouble. No one who valued their time would try to pirate this shitty, pathetic excuse for a movie anyways.

As for the movie, it was terrible as well. Just a complete mess. Editing was bad, CGI was highly questionable and it had none of the character of Spy Kids. 'Shorts' should never have been made. I hope everyone involved in creating this garbage gets anal cancer.

1/5

#125 The Soloist (2009)

2009-08-16T20:26:00.002-05:00

3/5

#124 Dragonball Evolution (2009)

2009-08-15T14:21:00.001-05:00

1/5

#123 District 9 (2009)

2009-08-14T23:00:00.004-05:00

5/5

#122 Chocolate (2008)

2009-08-11T21:22:00.002-05:00

5/5

#121 Dune (1984)

2009-08-10T20:38:00.003-05:00

Dune takes place in the year 10,191. That should be enough to let you know things are going to be... different. Sandworms, time-traveling spice, weirding modules, floating fat men, psychic children, and some good old fashion betrayal and political drama create an epic space opera. Pretty much panned in its day, Dune now has a cult following. I suppose if I saw this in 1984 I would be expected to hate it, but 25 years later it seems ahead of its time. It's pretty difficult to think a few hundred years into the future, yet alone 10,000. A unique sci-fi movie to be sure, sometimes it can seem goofy and cheesy, but it still manages to set itself apart from current sci-fi movies that like to rehash ideas. For a 25 year old movie, it still has fresh concepts that I haven't seen done in other movies. Or I don't watch enough sci-fi.

4.5/5

#120 I Love You Man (2009)

2009-08-09T20:31:00.002-05:00

Not the best comedy of the last few years, but holds its own. Plenty of funny scenes here, though I never fell out of my chair or hurt my face laughing.

I slappa da bass, mon.

3.5/5

#119 Driven To Kill (2009)

2009-08-09T19:56:00.003-05:00

Steven Seagal saw the success Taken had with the avenging-my-daughter plot and wanted his piece of the pie. After all, Seagal was kicking ass and saving his family long before Liam Neeson was a bad ass. A valiant effort, the movie isn't as bad as you'd expect a direct-to-DVD release to be. Some good ass kicking scenes remind you of why we all enjoyed these movies in the early 90s.

3.5/5

#118 Second Skin (2008)

2009-08-08T22:50:00.004-05:00

Second Skin is a documentary that follows a bunch of depressing people that are addicted to WoW/Everquest. It really is pathetic how these people allow their lives to be ruined and controlled by this game. One, maybe two couples in this movie would look unassuming walking down the street. The rest are disgusting slobs. A single person in this sees the error of his ways and changes his life for the better, while his cousin becomes addicted to the game as he quits playing. One kid even shot himself in the head at his computer desk while playing Everquest apparently because he fell in love with a dude playing a female character. I can't help but laugh at the idea. Pathetic.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/87648/second-skin

4/5

#117 G.I. Joe The Rise of Cobra (2009)

2009-08-07T22:52:00.004-05:00

Forget all the rumors you heard this summer - G.I. Joe is not the worst film ever made. Joe doesn't have the CGI budget of Transformers, but in the end it doesn't matter; this is a better summer action movie than T2. I went in prepared to be disappointed but was pleasantly surprised. I was actually happy when I left the theater, instead of feeling like someone took a steamy dump on my face after Transformers 2.

4/5

#116 Coraline (2009)

2009-08-05T21:44:00.003-05:00

Creepy story and great, unique looking animation make Coraline worth seeing.

5/5

#115 Gigantic (2008)

2009-08-03T22:17:00.003-05:00

Gigantic is a movie that is a series of scenes that just as they begin to become interesting, they end and another one begins, never reaching their full potential. Quite disappointing when the movie would have been much better if it stayed on course to a more interesting conclusion. Overall, it's a series of lost opportunities and then it ends. Paul Dano plays the quiet indie film guy and Zooey is the peculiar girl he falls for. Sub-standard indie crap, and I even like both of these actors. I liked John Goodman's character the best. What was up with Zach Galifianakis as a homeless hitman stalking Paul, but in the end all the times he got his ass kicked it may have been him playing Fight Club? Nothing is explained to any end in this film.

The only thing gigantic about this is Paul Dano's chin. He could give two people chin implants and still have enough left for himself. Leno ain't got nothing on Dano's chin.

2.5/5

#114 Delicatessen (1991)

2009-08-02T20:43:00.001-05:00

4/5

#113 Lord of the Flies (1963)

2009-08-01T16:34:00.002-05:00

5/5

#112 Funny People (2009)

2009-07-31T19:03:00.000-05:00

4.5/5

#111 500 Days of Summer (2009)

2009-07-30T22:31:00.003-05:00

4.5/5

#110 Bart Got A Room (2008)

2009-07-29T22:19:00.002-05:00

4/5

#109 The Iron Giant (1999)

2009-07-19T19:18:00.005-05:00

5/5

#108 Waltz With Bashir (2008)

2009-07-18T19:17:00.002-05:00

4.5/5

#107 Moon (2009)

2009-07-13T20:23:00.001-05:00

5/5

#106 The Miracle Worker (1962)

2009-07-12T21:17:00.002-05:00

5/5

#105 Bruno (2009)

2009-07-10T21:05:00.003-05:00

5/5

#104 Crono Crimenes (Time Crimes) (2007)

2009-07-07T21:46:00.002-05:00

5/5

#103 The Eye (2008)

2009-07-02T21:53:00.002-05:00

2.5/5

#102 Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)

2009-06-30T20:33:00.001-05:00

3.5/5