My reaction to The Golden Globes

Ok now that we have that out of the way. I turned on the ceremony with about a hour to go, I do not watch TV so I do not care about those awards. Scorsese's Life Time Achievement was without a doubt the best part of what I saw and De Niro was brilliant in his speech for ol Marty. Then Up winning was not unexpected at all same with Christoph Waltz for his supporting role in Inglorious Bastards...so lets get to what I opposed with.

1) Robert Downey Jr winning Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical for his role in Sherlock Holmes. Ok correct me if I am wrong but when did Sherlock Holmes become a Comedy or Musical? I still have yet seen the movie and I know it isnt. I think even RDJ himself was surprised he won, hell he did not even have a speech set up!

Who should Have Won: Joseph Gordon Levitt for his role in (500) Days of Summer. JGL gave an heart-felt tour de force which I did not expect at all when I saw the movie, no disrespect to RDJ but seeing how Sherlock Holmes is neither a comedy/musical makes the win a comedy in itself.

2) The Hangover was a great comedy, it was grown up, pretty smart and really had no corny moments. But I feel as if I had seen the movie before and I never had one moment of gut busting laughter, though I did enjoy the fact that I was watching a comedy with no big names and it granted some nice laughs.

What Film Should Have Won: Ok I might have a slight bias for this movie but...(500) Days Of Summer should have won for best comedy. Not only was it innovative, clever, as well as well acted but it was a Rom-Com! How many Rom-Com's are even 1/4 creditable? Not many. But this award is just my own personal view, I am not really surprised (500) Days lost.

3) Avatar bagging the biggest awards of the evening is by far the worst moments of the night. I get it, Avatar is revolutionary in its technical qualities and James Cameron deserves ample technical awards for his master in those areas...but if you obliterate all of that you are left with one big very dull, poorly acted movie. Not only was it all those things it was also predictable, my dog could figure out what was going to happen next. Also why should he win best director? I have not seen any "Behind The Scenes" but I can imagine the majority of it was done in front of a green screen while he sat in a chair...very hard work.

Who/What Should Have Won: Kathryn Bigelow and The Hurt Locker. The Hurt Locker did something that had not been done yet, it is a contemporary war movie that is not only good but flawless. The story is unique, back that with awesome performances and edge of your seat suspense then you have a movie that not only warrants but got robbed of Best Picture. Kathryn Bigelows directing had to be much more difficult than Cameron, she shot on location! Maybe I would feel better if Cameron was not shooting in a big air conditioned warehouse, but I think directing a film in the desert very close to risk is much more impressive and award worthy.


Overall: What I saw was more disappointing than rewarding, it was like a glammed up version of the Peoples Choice Awards. The bad thing is The Golden Globes are sometimes a preview of what The Oscars will be, I really hope Avatar only wins technical awards at The Oscars because thats all it really deserves.

Favorite movies of 2009

Ok I kind of stopped posting after the few posts but I want to try to do more this year. Starting with my favorite movies of last year. I did not see very much but I did see a few films I enjoyed, so I will start with number one and go from there.

1) (500) Days of Summer

I waited forever to see this, so I broke down and downloaded it. From the opening text I knew I was going to love it but I did not expect to love it as much as I did. Without a doubt the best romance movie I have seen, it is very realistic and runs through so many emotions.

2) Moon

09 was a great for Sci-Fi and to me Moon was the best. Its a total Sci-Fi throwback with its awesome story and fabulous performance from Sam Rockwell, which I think is pretty Oscar worthy. Moon was also made on a pretty small budget yet it looks so damn good, I thought they were really on the moon!

3) The Hurt Locker

Most war movies as of lately have been pretty weak, all Iraq war themed movies have sucked...until now. The Hurt Locker is the most unique war movie I have ever seen, its so well acted and gritty. Probably my favorite war movie behind Platoon.

4) IP Man

If you know me and know me well then you know I have a soft spot for a great kung-fu movie. IP Man is the 2nd best kung-fu movie of the past decade behind Crouching Tiger. Its story is about the Wing Chun master Yip Man (played by the awesome Donnie Yen) who taught Bruce Lee..how could it fail!?

5) District 9

My anticipation for District 9 was insane, when I saw it I wanted to see it again and I could not wait for the sequel. Not only is it a instant classic sci fi movie but it was a summer blockbuster that was smart and original, all around amazing movie.

6) Anvil! The Story of Anvil

Rarely do I watch documentaries, when I do its not like I really connect with the content. Anvil you see the guys and all the struggles they have gone/still continue to go with. Its very emotional, more on the sad side but they continue to keep their head high and push push push! I know after seeing this I got some of their stuff and they are awesome! \m/

7) Watchmen

Was it 110% true to the book? No. Do I care? No. Having finished the book just weeks before its release I thought Watchmen did the book justice, the directors cut even more-so. It looks like the pages jumped onto the screen. Jackie Earle as Rorschach robbed the movie as the character robbed the novel, everyone else also did their characters spot on I thought. The only thing I did not really like was the somewhat overbearing soundtrack...should have been a score.

8) Star Trek

Without a doubt the most entertaining of all the Sci-Fi films that came out this year. Not knowing anything about Star Trek its past I really really enjoyed it because I heard Star Trek was quite boring. Walking out of the theater I had the same feeling that im sure those leaving "A New Hope" had, fucking awesomeness. The only other movie this year that I am excited to see a sequel.

9) The Damned United

Sports movies never really do anything for me but The Wrestler did it in 08 and now The Damned United in 09. It's a kind of biopic which was cool but it flips through time between two era's of Brain Clough's (Michael Sheen) managing career. Michael Sheen also carries this movie with his superb performance the character development was so good.

10) UP

It may have not been Wall-E but Pixar still delivered my favorite animated film of the year. I loved the fact that the story had very adult tones yet kept it pretty subtle for kids. The characters are so funny and lovable too.

11) Inglorious Bastards

Sure it was typical Quentin Tarantino but I loved the whole premise of the movie and the cast ensemble was perfect. Christopher Waltz as Hans Landa delivered one of my favorite performances of the year and had he been the main character it would have probably been my favorite dude tore it up. The one thing I did not like was that it did not stay with the Bastards enough for me...but thats Tarantino for ya.

12) Paranormal Activity

Without a DOUBT the best horror film wide released in the past decade. The pacing was genius and I thought the they did a great job with the story, it could have easily gone wrong. Pretty much The Blair Witch Project in your fucking house!

Oh and I know a lot of my "peers" did not like the movie, but those same people probably think Saw is a worthy horror movie...so do not listen to them.

13) I Love You, Man

I was very excited to see ILYM because Paul Rudd always robs the movie for me in all the other comedies he is in...he was great in this but honestly Jason Segel took it from him. His character Sydney Fife was so funny and realistic that I wish he was REAL so we could "Pop a Squiznot". Favorite comedy of the year easily.

14) Black Dynamite

Genius homage/parody to the 70's blaxplotation films. It looks, sounds and the actors make it feel like its from the 70's which makes it even better and it's got some truly hilarious moments. Its the grown up, smart, and funny version of "Undercover Brother".

15) Adam

Adam is a very interesting romance, the main character has aspergers syndrome so he is really bad socially. It makes the movie very funny but sad at the same time and to my knowledge there isnt another romance film out there like this one. Hugh Dancy as Adam is another one of my favorite performances of the year too, very well done.

Honorable Mention) Avatar

I went into Avatar not expecting anything but amazing CGI/3D. It delivered OVER 9,000!!! in that spectrum, it is easily the best looking movie I have ever seen some of the scenes were jaw dropping. But that did not hold the movie fully together for me, the story was flat and the acting was sometimes laughable. I do highly recommend seeing it in the theaters (3D duh) because there would be really no other real way to give its beauty justice.


So thats the list, let me know what you think. I will be posting my top 100 favorite movies of the past DECADE soon. Cant wait to get this year underway, I think it's going to be a good one!