The Best Films of 2009

Well, who's to say they're the best? ...but they're my favorite films of the year, so take it or leave it.

In review, here's my post on 2008's best and worst.

And now, on with the list:
(btw - click on these images for hi-res)

10. The Imaginarium of Doctor ParnassusAn excellent film from Terry Gilliam, wildly imaginative as usual. Plus, Tom Waits as the devil is sheer brilliance!

9. KnowingAn early surprise this year, Knowing is a story about a man who must come to terms with the end of the world. And trust me, the end is well worth it.

8. The Princess and the FrogA return to Disney traditional animation, and a return to the story quality of the days of Lion King. So good!

7. TetroA beautiful and personal film by Francis Ford Coppola.

6. MoonI'm pretty sure this is going to get snubbed by the Oscars this year, but Sam Rockwell delivers the performance of a lifetime in this awesome space drama.

5. Where the Wild Things AreSheer joy. Spike Jonze delivers a riotous romp and a touching emotional story, all in one film.

4. District 9Another huge surprise, and a breath of fresh air for 'alien invasion' movies. Gritty yet epic.

3. A Serious Man
The Coen Brothers give us a film that is so hilarious and yet utterly depressing at the same time. It's painful how closely it reflects real life.

2. The Brothers BloomOne of the best mixes of cleverness, emotion, and hilarity I have ever seen. A stylish con man story that keeps you guessing, and a perfect payoff.

1. UpPixar strikes again, this time with the most emotional movie of the year. I love this movie so much.

(Honorable Mentions: The Lovely Bones, Star Trek, (500) Days of Summer, Avatar, and Sherlock Holmes.)


THE WORST LIST: (pretty self-explanatory, right?)

3rd worst: Terminator: SalvationThis had high potential. So in a way, it had the farthest to fall. ...And yes, Christian Bale. I am trashing up your scene.

2nd worst: Transformers 2: Revenge of the FallenWhen I saw the first Transformers, I asked myself, "how could they possibly screw up a movie about giant robots any worse than this?" ...and then came the sequel.

1st worst movie of the year: WatchmenAn utter piece of trash, the only redeemable quality was some Bob Dylan music in the soundtrack. Otherwise, this movie completely and utterly fails. And it's a shame, too, because the graphic novel is so excellent. In a way it's ironic that director Zach Snyder thought he was being so faithful to the source material. Spare yourself. Do not watch this movie.

There you go. I hope this has been helpful.

Ciao!

Script Update....

Wow, so it's been about three weeks since I last posted. I didn't mean to take this long of a break, but my week long trip to Virginia sort of threw everything out of balance. So now, I feel like I need to write an update on where things are, so I can feel a little more closure to this script thing.

So as I mentioned in my last post, the first draft was finished on April 26, and even though I wasn't proud of it at that point, I considered it a success that it was done. 90 whole pages. That's more than I have ever written in a single document in my life, I think... So I was pretty happy with that.

So then left for a week, and while I was traveling, I sort of used that as a chance to push the story out of my head and think about stories on a more abstract level, and process again what I wanted to do with this script, and what my goals were. This turned out to be very helpful when I got back home and started writing again, on the second draft. There were a number of additions and deletions of scenes, and basically I was doing major structural changes to the story.

Last night, I finished the second draft. I have finally gotten the overall story to a place where I am pretty happy with it, and that makes me very pleased. The next step will be to go over the entire thing and do the detail work, refine the descriptions, polish the dialog where needed, and basically check for minor problems. Once that stage is done, I will be ready to start having other people read it and give me some good ol' healthy feedback. Which is always difficult to swallow, but generally good for learning how to be a better writer.

Anyways, That's all from my end. Things are pretty positive over here, and I'm excited to have done all this work and to be so near the end. ...Or is it just the beginning???

Script Blitz: April 26

Momentous news: The script is finished! yaaaaaaayyy!!!...

I had been really busy on Friday and Saturday, so I didn't get any writing done then, but on Sunday afternoon I decided to make up for lost time, and wrote 7 and a half pages until I was finished with the whole thing. I'm pretty proud of myself. :)

Of course, I have no misconceptions about it being perfect or anything. In fact I already know it is lacking in many areas, but that's completely fine for now, the important thing is that I made it, and I did it in 26 days! Woohoo!

To be honest, I have known for some time that I had to finish it this weekend, because as I've mentioned before, I'm traveling to the East coast on Wednesday, and I was really wanting to finish before I left. The plan is, I'll be gone for a week, and when I get back, I'll have been away from my script to look at it even more objectively than I can now, and I will be ready to tear into it for some major re-writing. As Statler and Waldorf would say, "It wasn't half bad." "Nope! It was ALL bad!"
It feels good to have finished the whole thing. And I learned a lot in the process. So maybe I'll do it again a month from now, and write another script... who knows?

Script Blitz: April 23 (and Preservation Hall)

3 more pages today. Felt very tired, but somehow it was perfect because the scene was about the characters being tired. Funny how that makes it somehow fun to write...

Bought a new CD last night. It was a greatest hits of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. They play New Orleans jazz like no one else! I am loving every second of it. Here is an example of the awesomeness that abounds. There's just something deep down about this kind of music, that just makes you want to tap your foot and bob your head to it. It's very loose and free and I really don't have adequate words to describe it, so it's best you just follow the above link.

Anyways, I just thought I should mention that because I have been fascinated with New Orleans jazz ever since I heard of it some years ago. I hope you like it too!

Ciao!

Script Blitz: April 22 (and Doctor Who)

I got home tonight and sat down and wrote 4 and a half pages. And then I experienced some of the best television I have ever seen.

Let me explain. No. There is too much. Let me sum up. I have recently started watching a British show called Doctor Who. And I just finished watching Series 2, which completely blew me away with how awesome it was. I know a few of you readers will be like, "Oh, I know all about Doctor Who!" but some of you are completely in the dark about what it is exactly. So here goes.

Doctor Who is a cult sci-fi show in Britain that boasts to be the longest running (started in 1963) sci-fi show ever created, and is something of a phenomenon over there. It had been on hiatus for a little over a decade, until in 2005 they revamped it, made it more fast-paced and energetic, and overall a much better show.

The premise is that 'The Doctor' is an alien Time Lord that watches over the space-time continuum and rushes in to save the day where ever there may be trouble.
Rose is a regular everyday human girl that gets swept up in the adventure.

The Doctor travels around in the TARDIS, which looks like a police box from the 60s...
But whenever the Doctor gives up his life to save the universe, he comes back in a different form. he looks completely different, but he's the same crazy Doctor!
Every season, they build up to some sort of crazy climax, and it is always awesome.
Yeah. So that's it. I love this show. I love it to death. It's adventurous, funny, scary, and emotional, all in epic ways. It's now vying for top spot in my favorite shows of all time list. And I can't wait to watch more...

Script Blitz: April 21

3 more pages. Another day, and three more pages. I can see the end in sight now.

Struggled today with how to write the scene I was on, because I had outlined it to be a rather dark scene, but I didn't want to take the characters to quite that dark a place (yet), so I was trying to figure out a good way of accomplishing what I wanted to in a different way. So I brought a different character in, and made the whole thing a conflict with a rather amusing interplay between them, and it accomplished exactly what I needed it to.

I am still trying to figure out the ending of this story. I mean I know how it ends, but I don't know yet quite how I'm going to get there. Basically there needs to be an ambush. And before I write more tomorrow, I need to research some ambushes so that I can think through how to construct this one. Can anyone think of good ambushes to reference from favorite movies (or books)? I welcome all suggestions.

Ciao,

Script Blitz: April 20

Still in the middle of a pre-summer heat wave, it got up to 100 degrees yesterday.... it's supposed to cool down tomorrow, so here's hoping, anyways....

Wrote 4 pages today, and supposedly that means I only have 16 pages left to write. But looking at my outline, I think it's going to take more than that to finish up this story. But that's okay, 90 pages was just an arbitrary goal. I'm going to have to do a lot of serious editing anyways, so all that really matters is completing the story in a way that works as best as I can make it. Then I'll sort the rest out later.

I'm mainly just hoping that I'll be able to finish the story before I go on my trip. Seems likely that I will.

Anyhow, that's it for today. Ciao!