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Top Ten Overlooked Films of 2009
16 hours ago
While many critics are rolling out or have rolled out their Top 10 movies of the year or even the decade, I found myself devising my own and realizing that they seem to be more or less similar to others'. Where the Wild Things Are, Inglourious Basterds, Up, The Hurt Locker, A Serious Man... These are great, great movies that have gotten their dose of attention, thanks to the names behind them. So what are the ones left in the dust?
The following movies are all considered 2009 movies by their Us theatrical date. All of them, however, received only limited releases and never went wide. These are my favorites of the year that, if you haven't heard of them or was never given the chance to see them, I highly recommend hunting down on DVD. They are absolutely worth it.
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Top Ten:
Using the Before Sunrise model of »
- Arya Ponto
[DVD Review] Criss Angel Collector's Edition
29 December 2009 10:00 AM, PST
Watching Criss Angel Mind Freak has failed to answer one key question: is Mind Freak a noun or a verb? Is Criss Angel’s distinctive brand of performance art magic considered ‘mind freaking’, or is Criss Angel himself a Mind Freak, a designation that seems anything but complimentary? I recognize that semantics rarely has any place in magic, but this actually seems like kind of an important question, especially if some one is going to lay down his or her hard-earned money on this extensive set. Fortunately or not, this show never attempts to clarify the issue, bringing me to the conclusion that the whole thing is one of those post-modern attempts to convince you that there’s meaning where there isn’t by putting together words that don’t form a sentence (think that ‘truth beauty love freedom’ tagline from Moulin Rouge). That was strike one.
Each and every »
- Anders Nelson
[TV] Ice Road Truckers: Season 3
28 December 2009 5:00 PM, PST
Let me say this right now: I grew up in New Jersey. This said, you should be aware that schools are closed for even a few inches of snow. People from New Jersey simply can’t drive in the snow. I don’t know if it’s just a mentality, or the fact that you are probably supposed to go below the speed limit or what, but we can’t do it, at least, not well. So I have a lot of respect for people who can, especially if they are driving on the most dangerous road in the United States.
The cast of Ice Road Truckers: Season Three are doing just that as they travel the Dalton Highway in Alaska for Carlile Transportation. Show veterans Hugh “The Polar Bear” Rowland and Alex Debogorski are joined by several newcomers, including the show’s first female driver, resident hottie and tomboy Lisa Kelly. »
- Jessica Guerrasio
[DVD Review] Sherlock Holmes Double Feature
28 December 2009 2:15 PM, PST
Depending on who you ask or which article you read there’s a definitive actor who played Sherlock Holmes. It’s the more obscure version of the James Bond argument (Connery? Dalton? Brosnan?), but the candidates are far more evenly matched. For my money though, Basil Rathbone, who stars in this double feature, takes the cake. Right about now everyone is marching out their DVD releases of old Sherlock Holmes adventures to catch the buzz rolling off the release of the new film starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. In the grand scheme of all the releases, this one falls somewhere in the upper 75%.
Basil Rathbone has the essential Holmes speech pattern down pat, he played the sleuth numerous times and perfected the character. Sherlock Holmes, no matter who’s playing him, pretty much comes out the same regardless. Some people get his nuances better than others, but in »
- Lex Walker
[TV] 2009 New York Yankees World Series Collection
28 December 2009 1:55 PM, PST
The Yankees: either you love them or you hate them. If the latter then you’re pretty much bound to be disappointed more often than not because as popular sports journalism puts it, they’re the “winningest” team of all time. If you happen to be among the many Yankee fans out there, then there’s a whole new layer of categorization to go through. Do you go to every game? Are you the type who pays extra for that full cable sports package so you never miss a game? Did you host parties for your friends to come over, have a brew and watch New York’s finest pound the other teams into mere footnotes of 2009’s Mlb season? Then delight in the DVD release of the entire 2009 World Series wherein the Yankees lay waste to the Phillies. All six games (each on their own disc) plus the last »
- Lex Walker
[TV] New York Yankees 2009: Season of Pride, Tradition and Glory
28 December 2009 1:53 PM, PST
If you opted out of buying the 2009 World Series collection and you’re a Yankees fan, you might find this a more palatable and sensible use of your time. It’s not the 20 hour megalith the other is, it only asks for an hour of your time and features a rather brisk run through the Yankees’ 2009 season starting with their departure from their old stadium and the spring training in the new structure they’ll be calling home until New York decides it needs to spend more money on their most reliable sports team. The feature has everything you’d expect from a sappy season retrospective: cheesily written narration, talking heads saying great things about the team and its legacy, and a series of really laughable segues from one piece of archive footage to the next.
Lots of traditional pieces get coverage like first home runs of the season (and »
- Lex Walker
[DVD Review] District 9
28 December 2009 6:34 AM, PST
While we find it hard to believe, these words are being typed by our own fingers and of free will – thank God Peter Jackson’s Halo project crashed and burned. For if it hadn’t this towering, tumultuous science-fiction satire from South African effects-wizard-turned-director Neill Blomkamp, adapted from his own impressive short, might never have been realized. Cleverly using Jackson’s name over the title to get people’s attention, this one slowly crept into our consciousness via a fiendishly inventive, perfectly pitched viral marketing campaign the likes of Cloverfield and The Blair Witch. Buying up ad space on billboards and bus stops with provocative posters proclaiming “No Non-Humans” the movie screamed high-concept while keeping you guessing as to the film’s overall nature. This worked hand-in-hand with an expertly judged teaser trailer made to resemble the kind of geo-political issue-of-the-week fodder theaters typically run as part of their pre-movie magazine package. »
- Neil Pedley
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