2009 Movie Awards

    Well another year has gone by and good and bad movies have emerged. It is time to honour the movies of both sides of the spectrum with the 2009 movie awards. Please note I do not have supernatural ability and have not seen all notable films of 2009 this includes Inglorious Bastards and Precious (by the way every time they say the title of that film they say based on a novel push by Sapphire I don't get it). So without further due here are the films of 09.

 

Biggest Surprise:

    Watchmen actually getting realised

        Apparently it sucked I have not seen it so I can not comment. But the war between Fox and Warner came to a halt and the long awaited film got released. Now if it where only as good as the graphic novel (witch by the way is awesome)

 

Runner up: District 9

 

Best Action movie:

    The Hurt Locker

        No real competition in this category. It was this or G.I. Joe (and if I had to pick G.I. Joe I would be shot upon posting this). Despite its haters the Academy Award winner for best picture was a great movie that kept you on the edge of your seat to the end of the show. That and some awesome characters made this one heck of a ride through a life of a bomb diffuser.

 

Runner up: Sigh G.I. Joe

 

Awesomeness line of the year:

    "Madame I need you to remain calm and trust me, I'm a professional. Beneath this pillow lies the key to my release." Sherlock Holmes. The girl runs and screams, guess witch area the pillow covers!

Runner up: 80% of the dialogue Bones says in Star Trek

 

Best Drama:

    Up in the Air

        Funny, cool, and satisfying. Three words that describe this awesomeness film about a guy who fires people for a living. With George Clooney (man I hate that guy) putting on a great performance. It also had a great story and wonderful characters and witty writing.

Runner up: Public Enemies

 

Best Trailer of the year:

    Star Trek trailer 2

        I really really wanted to put the watchmen trailer at this spot but than I found out it was released in 2008 and well this is the 2009 movie awards. The close second was this awesome Star Trek trailer. Really well edited it hit the important parts of the movie and got you really jacked up for it. Turns out the movie was awesome to witch is a bonus.

Runner up: Avatar trailer 2

 

Best Screen play:

    District 9

        This film doesn't get enough credit at all. Weather for its awesome action scenes great plot or well developed characters. I mean this film was made with 30 million dollars!!! That is a low budget film with high budget looking action scenes. Well back to the screenplay. Ya up in the air came real close but it dose not match the power this script provides. Not just that but Neil Blomcamp took a 5 minute short film and turned it into a well written full length masterpiece.

Runner up: Up in the Air

 

Best Sci-Fi movie

    Avatar

        Surprisingly the most hotly contested genre categories of the year it was a really tough choice. Avatar barley beets out District 9 and even Star Trek. Avatar had it all great story, big production values, awesome action scenes and the best 3D by far that anyone has seen yet. It is an awesome movie that deserves every cent of the over 2 Billion it made worldwide.

Runner Up: District 9

 

Most Disappointing:

    Sherlock Holmes:

        Sigh, I had really high expectations for this film and well how do I say it nicely... Failed most of them miserably. The only thing that saved this thing from fullness was Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law. Nuf said.

Runner up: Transformers 2

Best Director:

    James Cameron for Avatar:

        This guy no's how to make a freaking movie. Not only that but when all the business people said that this movie wouldn't make any money and guess what it made 2 Billion dollars. A great plot awesome camera work and good writing James Cameron propelled his vision to awesomeness.

Runner up: Neil Bloncamp for District 9

 

Worst Film of the year:

    And the nominees are:

        Transformers 2

        2012

        G Force

    And the loser is:

        2012

            I would have preferred to watch Transformers 2 5 times in a row than watch this film. It in one word is horrible. H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E the main characters aren't even developed and yet they expect you to care about all these random stupid family members and friends. I would have been happier just watching the world explodes for an hour without characters and story. Ya it was that crappy

Runner up: G Force

 

Movie of the Year (Best Picture):

    And the nominees are:

        Avatar

        District 9

        The Hurt Locker

        Public Enemies

        Up in the Air

 

    And the winner is:

        

 

 

        Avatar:

            James Cameron's epic had a lot going against it. The massive budget, the predictions about how much it could make, and the "Titanic" (get it huh huh ok that was bad) expectations. Well not only did it make over 2 Billion dollars but it also exceeded all of my expectations with flying colors. Also the 3D was awesome and the only movie I thought was worth paying the extra $5 for. An awesome movie and the best film of 2009.

The Hurt Locker Review

The Hurt Locker

A Review by Frederick Cholowski
A+

The other contender to rack up big awards at the Oscars (by James Cameron’s ex wife none the less) is present and ready to hold its ground to the massive beast of a movie that is Avatar. The Hurt Locker directed by Kathryn Bigelow is an edge of your seat war thriller that also works as a great character story of how war can affect the human man.

The Hurt Locker starts off with a bang as it shows an average day in the life of a bomb defusing team. But something goes wrong and the man defusing the bomb is blown to his death. Insert James (Jeremy Renner) the senior replacement and new leader of the unit, an adrenalin junkie who comes back to war a lot of times just to get his next fix. Him and his squad of bomb diffusers (played by Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty) work through the last days of their “shift”.


The key words here are character development and it is superb in this film. You get attached to the unit instantly all three have their distinctive personalities and problems. The standout of the three is Jeremy Renner though as he plays his role as the smart and kind in a funny way yet addicted to adrenalin and defusing bombs leader. He definitely deserves the nods he is getting at the Oscars. Otherwise the development is superb and let’s us see the intensity yet touch of vulnerability that comes with the job.

The action here is superb and keeps you on the edge of your seat to the end of the film. While it may not have the production values but it has that pacing and the fact that you really care about the characters that sets it apart from the pack.


The Hurt Locker is a really good film that is definitely another addition to my top contenders for film of the year awards. Relentlessly paced and awesomely developed the Hurt Locker earns its place as one of the best of the year.

Sherlock Holmes Review

Sherlock Holmes

C+

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

Old characters they seem to like to be brought back in its new age. While after JJ Abrams brought back Star Trek, and very well succeeded there were sure to be more to follow. Sherlock Holmes is the next attempt to bring back old characters that seem to have drifted away over the years, but does Guy Ritchie do as excellent of a job as JJ Abrams. Well sorry to say he doesn't and Sherlock Holmes falls flat on its face in multiple ways.

This movie was disappointing for multiple reasons. First let's start with the plot line that involves Sherlock Holmes(Robert Downey Jr.), who has been off the job for quite a while and is going quite insane. His ex-partner Watson(Jude Law) who Sherlock is living with is annoyed with the shenanigans that Sherlock is presenting in his house such as shooting the wall and doing multiple experiments on his dog. Also, Watson is getting engaged with a beautiful woman named Mary(Kelly Reilly) and does not want to be disturbed by Sherlock, but when an old nemesis Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) rises from the grave, Watson and Sherlock are forced to hunt down their old nemesis and find out what evil plan he's up to.

There's couple other characters as well. Rachel McAdams plays Alder a girl who's trying to woe Sherlock but ends up failing most of the time. She also ends up being a double agent for a larger threat. And there's also a chief of police to get made fun of a lot.

Overall, the plot kind of sucks. It's your average good guy, trying to defeat the bad guy from doing evil stuff plot and doesn't really go far and enough. In other words, it's an origin story that doesn't really speak of any origins. Also, the ending sucks, it's the whole Terminator Salvation thing "oh we beaten this guy, but now there's something even bigger that we have to go destroy" it satisfies even less than Terminator.

The action could have saved this for mediocrity, but some of those scenes are just bad. There is one scene in the middle of the movie, where explosions are going off everywhere in slow-motion, and it just looks terrible and really cheesy. There are some points in this movie, where you wonder why you're even watching it. This may sound harsh, but scenes like the explosions scene does make you shake your head.

The best thing about this film and the thing that saves it is the acting. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are really great and have this great chemistry. It's like they've been doing these rolls together for years, and it's fun to watch them constantly yapping at each other. On the other hand, Rachel McAdams kind of sucks in this movie, and does not capture her role as I would've wanted. And then there is that police guy who gets made fun of a lot. Oh and Lord Blackwood is serviceable as well.

Sherlock Holmes is a fairly average film, which is disappointing because I expected a lot out of it. The plots to straightforward the ending sucks, and the actions cheesy and overall it just doesn't live up to expectations. Hopefully in the sequel (which is definitely coming by the way) will improve on multiple things that this one fell short of. It's not a terrible film, but Sherlock Holmes fails to meet expectations on multiple levels. And that's definitely disappointing.

District 9 Review

District 9

A+

Alright let's start on this note. In my review of Avatar I said somewhere on the lines of this film has to be really really good to knock become a contender with Avatar for film of the year. I have to say now after watching this film that I'm conflicted on what my movie of the year is.

Well to the movie now, District 9 is an interesting take on human contact with aliens. The movie starts with an alien mother ship landing over of all places Johannesburg South Africa. After a few months of the ship just sitting there the army of South Africa go in and raid the ship and see what's up. They find 1 million malnourished and unhealthy aliens. They under pressure from the rest of the world create a camp for the aliens come to stay and eat. This camp due to weapons is now heavily militarised and then as soon as you know it it's a slum. Then revolts begin to happen and before long the alien affairs group of MNU is forced to move them to a new camp. Unfortunately though all the legality is a white wash and they take advantage of the aliens who are only "Prawns" beings who are not smart and have lost there leaders.

This is the first third of the film shot mainly in a documentary style with some cinematic portions thrown in there as well. This gets the entire deep back-story of the film introduced before we jump into the last to parts of the film witch are more cinematic and less documentary.

span style="font-size:12;"> The next two thirds are about the leader of the moving the alien project Wilkus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley). He has a lovely wife and a good job at MNU but isn't the brightest. While evicting aliens he finds a mysterious liquid while searching through an alien's shack. He accidently sprays the liquid at himself and begins a slow, painful, and gruesome transformation into an alien. He soon is captured by his own company MNU and attempts to use his now alien arm to use weapons. After finding out he can use weapons, they use him as an experiment. He (of course) dose not like this and runs and takes refuge in district 9. He joins an alien Christopher Johnson on a campaign to get the liquid back and try to get the aliens home.

The whole story is amazing and layered with lots of stuff to soak in. This is the probably would happen if aliens landed. It proves how mean we can be and what the evil things we have done during the ages.

This is a low budget film but you won't even notice. The aliens look amazing and the action scenes are both creative and look great. There is one scene that involves a meck suit that is my personal favourite action scene all year with multiple layers to it and amazing all out skirmishes. Just the pure creativity of this film is amazing from the documentary style at the beginning to the depth and the pure awesomeness of the action scenes at the end it is just amazing.

Just a note though this movie is 14a in Canada but I do not recommend it for a younger audience at all. The violence is extremely gory and they say the f word alone 150 times (give or take 2-3 and yes I actually counted watching this my second time through). Stick with the R rating in the US because the rating in Canada in my opinion is a bit light.

Overall District 9 is an amazing film that is bursting with creativity and depth. The message is strong, the writing is great and the action scenes for 30 million dollars are amazing. Overall this is by

far one of the best of the year and a contender against Avatar for film of the year.

Best of 09 and Decade Coming soon

    We are almost at the end of 2009 and wow the decade! Which means that the best of 09 and the huge best/worst of the decade. I just have a couple movies left to watch that will probably be on my list (District 9, Lord of the rings trilogy) before I can post the Awards. Just a heads up that the smaller reviews called video views are coming as well I have a lot lined up but have been really really busy lately so they have been delayed. All those things plus reviews for the upcoming Sherlock Holmes and District 9 are coming when I get to see them witch hopes to be by the end of boxing weekend.

Christmas Cheer!!!!

Fred

Avatar Review

Avatar

A+

A review by Frederick Cholowski

 

    A quote from James Cameron from the 1998 Oscars seems to be used a lot lately. "I'm king of the world" Cameron yelled expressing all his feelings in one phrase. Man that line is being over used. Unfortunately I must use it, he was king of the world with Titanic in 1998 and now he is king of the world more than a decade later with Avatar the best of 2009 and one of the most immersive and amazing experiences of the decade.

 

    Avatar starts with Jake Sully a former marine whose scientist twin brother just died one day before he was to start his mission on the planet Pandora. Jake replaces him because he is the only other person able to activate his brother's avatar a remote control body with DNA of both humans and the natives the 10 foot Navi. He get's stuck through orders from both ends of the spectrum. One side led by military guru Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and the other led by scientist Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver). One wants to clear the out the Navi for strip mining (and if they don't blow them up) and the other wants to recreate peace with the natives. Well after being the first human to g ain the trust of the Navi he falls in love with the land. He falls in love mostly with the native who is training him Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). This makes him sympathise for the Navi and he ends up being on there side when the epic battle ends up coming.

 

    It's nice to see an action sci-fi film with a great story and developed characters. The whole first part of the movie centers on Jake's and the human's in general relationship with the planet and the Navi. It still manages to entertain and keep you at the edge of your seat the entire time throwing some awesome chase scenes with giant animals etc. All leading up to the epicness that is the war.

 

    As performances go Stephan Lang nails his role as the awesome rough beaten up Colonel who wants nothing but to blow crap up. Worthington is great as Sully as he nails the growth of the character and the emotional parts and goes with the role to places I did not know he was capable of. Sigourney Weaver is good for what she's given. The first scene you see her she's the take no crap rough scientist then she becomes all nice and stuff. Two important character roles that I did not mention earlier but deserve great mention are Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge who is your average corporate d-bag who's in it all for the money and Michelle Rodriquez as Trudy Chacon a military pilot who dose some heroic things to help the Navi.

 

    But my favourite role goes to Zoe Saldana who dose an outstanding job of acting a very emotional character just inside a Navi body. She never makes an appearance in human form and is still dose the best job out of everybody. That to me is impressive.

 

    Well the visuals, two words can describe them. Freaking amazing!!!! The 3D is used in such a way that is not just pop out gimmicky, but it creates this atmosphere an atmosphere that is amazing. While 3D is the best way to see it this is a solid package if you watch it in 2D as well. The visual effects are again freaking amazing and I have never ever seen a more visually stunning experience

 

    Avatar is not just a movie it's an experience. One of the best of the decade. There is a strong script and character development here something that is seriously lacing from a lot of action/Sci-fi this year. The performances are great and the visuals oh the visuals. There Freaking amazing!!!!! As we wind down the year the only film I could consider that I'm going to see that could knock off Avatar from movie of the year is District 9. And even then it has to be really really good

2012 Review

2012

D

 

    This movie sucks. Plain and simple. That's right well I could go on and on about how bad this movie is in the intro to this review but well let's save the fun for the other parts of the review. So let's crank up the crap o meter and look at the pure terribleness that is 2012.

 

    Well where to start oh well I know the movie is 2 and a half hours long!!!! It's not bad enough that the main characters aren't developed at all but apparently we have to care about every body and there mom. Literally! Ok so here are the main characters there is some guy named Jackson Curtus played by Cusack and the main scientist dude named Dr. Adrian Helmsley played by little known Chiwetel Ejiofor. Why am I doing such a shoddy job with the so called "characters" because none of these characters are developed not one. This is where the movie really falls apart when they try to set up characters that you ultimately don't care about. It would be a waste of time for me to write (and you to read for that matter) who you ultimately won't care about and just die anyways.

    Props to Woody Harrelson though who plays the only interesting character in the whole movie. He plays Charlie a guy who has found out through all government conspiracy that this is going to happen. He is ultimately insane and pretty funny. Unfortunately he dies within the first hour.

 

    I swear there is no plot to this film. I bet this film took half an hour to write. It's like the writers said how can we make this film longer before we get to the next big repetitive action scene. I swear they "miraculously" escape 4 different plains/cars well the world is exploding behind them. Wow just wow. Trust me when I say this there are so many scenes that make you ask the question didn't I just see this 30 minutes ago? And god it just gets worse!

 

    I also swear that there are no characters in this film. As mentioned earlier the main characters are not developed. But the huge problem with this film is that they again make you care about characters that we see for about 10 minutes and then they die. Yay! Ya its bad.

 

    I could go on and on about how bad this film in but lets just say this. DO NOT GO SEE THIS FILM. IT SUCKS!! Evan for the special effects, there not even the best. Ya it's again that bad.