The 3rd Annual Blog Cabins End of Year Spectacular (2009)

To see the list of all of films I've seen since 2009 started, click here. Otherwise, let the SPECTACULAR begin!!


The Five Best Films I Saw This Year (Academy Award eligible):
1. Inglourious Basterds
2. Fantastic Mr. Fox
3. Moon
4. Zombieland
5. District 9

The Five Films That Barely Missed "The Five Best Films I Saw This Year" List:
1. Adventureland
2. Star Trek
3. (500) Days of Summer
4. Sin Nombre
5. The Hangover

The Best of the Rest that Didn't Make Either of the Above Lists:
The Messenger, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Up, Watchmen, The Hurt Locker, Up in the Air

The Top Five Films I Didn't Get Around to Seeing This Year (I'm Guessing):
1. Un prophète
2. In the Loop
3. The Cove
4. Big Fan
5. Black Dynamite

The Five Worst Films I Saw This Year
1. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
2. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
3. Paper Heart
4. The International
5. The Taking of Pehlam 1 2 3

My Five Ten Favorite Performances of the Year That Won't Win Any Awards:
1. Zach Galifianakis, The Hangover - Previous "winner" of one of these awards Ken Jeong might have literally put it out all there for audiences, but our man Zach G. did so figuratively (and almost literally, down to his tightie whities), playing a man-child the likes of which we'd not seen before. His non-sequiturs were off the charts awesome. Love him while you still can, because I get a strong sense that you're going to be Seth Rogen-sick of him by the end of 2010.

2. Tom Waits, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus - One of the most appealing actors in the game...and he's a musician by trade. He might essentially be playing himself in every role (okay, not so much in Dracula), but his quirks and voice are matched so perfectly with a Terry Gilliam flick that it's wonder that this was their first significant partnership.

3. Rosamund Pike, An Education - Speaking of wonders, here's another one: how is Pike not one of the most in-demand actresses working (looking at her IMDb page, with four projects scheduled for 2010, perhaps she finally is)? She's beautiful. She's British. She's 31. And with performances like the one she gave here - playing a dim bulb, no less - it's clear she's talented. What's missing here? Why has she been relegated to crap like Doom and Surrogates?

4. Woody Harrelson, Zombieland - All it took was one short scene to turn Harrelson's Tallahassee from a pretty thin character to an endearing one. Yea, he kicks plenty of ass and cracks plenty of one liners (and searches madly for a sole Twinkie), but that one scene helped make him the most human character on screen.

5. Jason Segel, I Love You, Man - The spiritual cousin to James Franco's role in Pineapple Express (which topped this list last year), Segel let loose, played some drums, made up goofball nicknames, and was more or less endearing as could be as Sydney Fife. As with Pineapple, the film might be spotty - they even managed to make Paul Rudd unlikable - but it's worth seeing for Segel alone.

6. Selected cast members, Watchmen - Malin Ackerman gets all the blame, but she wasn't that bad. Carla Gugino, on the other hand...awful. And Matthew Goode wasn't exactly worth writing home about. But just about every other actor hit it out of the park, from Jeffrey Dean Morgan to Jackie Earle Haley to even a guy that doesn't have three names, like Billy Crudup.

7. Martin Starr, Adventureland - I'm still waiting for the Freaks and Geeks alum (yes, another, following Segel) to get his turn in the Apatow spotlight (I don't have Starz, so tell me if his part on Party Down is large or not), but he was given some meat to chew on in one of my favorites from the year, and he took full opportunity.

8. Karl Urban, Star Trek - I've been waiting for Urban to become a star ever since seeing him channel Brad Pitt in the latter two LOTR flicks. He seemed destined for bigger things, and got them (to an extent) in the form of two key 2004 roles: first as the pseudo-villain Vaako in the much-hyped letdown The Chronicles of Riddick, then as Jason Bourne's nemesis in The Bourne Supremacy. The problem is, those were more than five years ago. The only films he's had between those two and Trek are Doom (WTF? Again?), Pathfinder, and a New Zealand production (he's a Kiwi, after all) called Out of the Blue. Two bombs and a flick no one's heard of. Not promising. Then the role of Bones came along and he hit it smashed it. Yes, like just about every other Trek cast member, taking over a role someone else originated led to a bit of an impersonation going on, but Urban showed something he really hadn't yet (to my eyes, anyway): humor. And it suited him well. Make this man a star already.

9. Stephen Lang, Avatar - Yes yes yes, his character was thinner than generic paper plates - you know, the ones that are scarcely thicker than a sheet of loose leaf? No matter - Lang was hilariously over-the-top and captivating. Even those goofy scars were pretty cool. Though the "We're not in Kansas" line should be excised from all future versions of the film.

10. The missing half of Frank Langella's face, The Box - Sure, Dick Kelly, Langella's character had to have a large chunk of his face missing to match his back story. Whatever, we believe you. Added for quirky reasons or not, the missing piece turned out to be one of the creepier things about The Box, so even if it was pointless, it was effective.

And a Few that Have or Will Win Some:
1. Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds - the saddest thing about Waltz's performance is that he's gonna have a bitch of a time getting audiences past it. Imagine if Ledger's Joker were his first role instead of his second-to-last. That's the kind of pressure he's dealing with.

2. Woody Harrelson, The Messenger - So glad that Woody got some more Oscar love. Even counting his 2012 hamfest, he had a hell of a year, and this was the type of killer performance that audiences should come to expect from him. I can't think of another actor that's capable of such highs in both the "serious drama" and "silly comedy" categories. The definition of versatility,

3. Sam Rockwell, Moon - I've had a love/not-quite-love type of relationship with Rockwell over the years, but his complete owning of the screen in Moon has put that debate to rest, at least for a while. His lack of love from the Academy is my number one snub.

The Five Films I Was Most Looking Forward to Last Year at This Time and the Results
1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Though it might kill loyal dweller Nick a little bit each time I say it, HBP was, despite still being an above-average film, a tremendous disappointment. Eight months later and I can barely recall much of what occurred. This was to be the great set-up to the two-part finale - instead, it was like watching a greatest hits package of the last few films.

2. Where the Wild Things Are - As you can see, this sniffed the top 10, but couldn't quite bust through. I think repeat viewings will make the final decision, but it might take five years for it to set in. I simultaneously vastly enjoyed it and was let down by it, which almost sounds like an apt conclusion for a Jonze movie at this stage in his career. Tremendous hype can only take you so far.

3. Inglorius Basterds - You could say that this more than any other lived up to the hype. It's gotten better in my mind as time has gone on.

4. 9 - F*cking Tim Burton and what'shisname from Wanted worked no magic here; I'd have been fine with seeing just the short version of this. Some great visuals, but not much else to chew on. And did they really have to play "Somewhere Over the Rainbow?"

5. The Box - Richard Kelly: same as he ever was. As will be my anticipation for whatever whacked-out nightmare he dreams up next - in other words, I'll be dying to see it, but half of that reasoning is to see how screwed up he can make it.

The Five Films I'm Most Looking Forward to for 2010
1. Machete - I'm not sure if Robert Rodriguez knew when making Grindhouse that he would be mapping out his own future at the same time just by making a joke Mexploitation trailer. Though not nearly enough people saw Grindhouse, those that did were smitten with the faux trailers, and this one was far and away the best of them all. And good god, what a cast.

2. Inception - I'm a little frightened by the Matrix-y vibe I'm getting from Chris Nolan's latest, but he's got a Season Pass with me. Nice to see Joe Gordon-Levitt in the fold as well.

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - True, I was let down by the sixth installment, but that hasn't dampened my excitement for the two-part finale all that much.

4. Hot Tub Time Machine - Stupid? Perhaps. But 80s nostalgia is all the rage, and I feel as though this Cusack-starring comedy has the chance to tap into it better than anything else.

5. The Expendables - No Van Damme or Seagal on board hurts the "credibility" of this action extravaganza somewhat, but I'd be betraying my cinematic youth if I weren't on board for this one.

Finally, Mrs. Fletch's Top 10
1. Inglourious Basterds
2. The Fantastic Mr. Fox
3. Sin Nombre
4. Moon
5. The Messenger
6. Coraline
7. An Education
8. District 9
9. The Hangover
10. Star Trek

Honorable mentions:
She had Waltz with Bashir and Let the Right One In in her list, but since I've excluded them from ineligibility for myself, I'm applying the same rules to her and bumped two others up.