Are You For Real? Rating the 2009 Movies

First of all, merry Christmas to everyone! (I am writing this during the last hour of the last Christmas of this decade)

Secondly, I am publishing my second blog entry in just three days’ time. This time, I am going to tackle on the movies that I have watched this year (I shall return to rating the decade’s bests after I conclude on this year’s bests). I have done this stuff two years ago where I rated the movies that I have watched at the big screen.

I am tweaking some of the rules though. I am including the movies that I have watched at home even if I have a good sample size of eight movies that I have watched from the big screen (although that is relatively fewer than before) because of the following reasons: 1) I did not want to spend some cash on cinemas because of our HD TV… if you can wait for two to three months, go for it especially if you have a traumatic experience of burning cash on an 80% probability that the movie is going to suck (yeah that was how watching movies in cinemas went last year). 2) It would be depressing to rate movies that I watched (in cinemas) that sucked while leaving out the awesome ones. The great movies deserve some recognition. 3) I was on save up mode this year… oh wait, did I already mention that?

Here are the new criteria:
•    I am going to rate my top ten movies from the flicks that I have watched this year. Taken and Yes Man are counted in the 2009 movies because these were shown by 2009 in the Philippines.
•    Scores in here cannot be directly compared to the scores in my 2007 list because I think the movies in here are better even with lower scores. I just did not want to give high ratings this year.
•    I am changing my rating criteria since some of the movies were not viewed in the cinemas and I have significantly decreased my dozing off rate from 50% in 2007 to 5% in 2009. Here are the new categories and their respective weights:
   o    Interesting Enough? – 10%. This was the ‘did I sleep during the movie?’ category. It still takes into account snoozing but now it also features the following questions? Did I get bored at some points in the movie? Was I really into the movie that no one can distract me even if someone heavily farted in the audience?
   o    Willing to watch again – 10%. This should be renamed rewatchability but I have not re-watched some awesome movies from this year YET I am still planning to view them again in the future.
   o    Storyline / Movie Structure – 40%. I added ten more percent points in here because it is the backbone of the story. This is where the plot, twists, subplots, climaxes and anti-climactic events fall. I am also putting some movie aesthetics in here as well.

   o    Entertainment Value – 25%. A movie is supposed to entertain. This is why blockbusters cash in despite of terrible story and acting. In short, this is the category where Transformers movies shine.
   o    Awesomeness Level – 15%. This used to be the popularity category. Of course, movies are the talk of the town. However, I felt the need to add more factors in this category with the following guide questions: 1) Is the movie memorable enough? 2) If yes, where there catch phrases, memorable lines, ZOMG moments or were Megan Fox’s boobs bouncing every five minutes?

These are the 2009 movies that I have watched this year:

Yes Man!
Fast and Furious 4
Taken
Drag Me To Hell
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Final Destination 4
Watchmen
GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra
The Ugly Truth
Angels and Demons
(500) Days of Summer
The Hangover
2012
Paranormal Activity
District 9
Up

I believe these are all of it. I may have missed one or two movies but these may not be worth mentioning since I have completely forgotten them. Before I move on to the list, I will just give some explanations on why some should-be-good movies are not in the top ten.
Harry Potter is not in the list. Look, I have read the book already and I pretty much know what will happen in the movie when I watched it. So there, you won’t get a valid evaluation from me in that movie.
The Hangover is not in the list. Before you call the police and say that there is a crime scene here, I will try to defend myself first. I had very high expectations on the movie and what I got was a more realistic drunk experience version of Dude, Where’s Your Car? Yeah, it was cool and all but it just felt like an average movie to me. That or I just enjoyed the ten next movies more.

Warning: There are spoilers in the explanations.

10. The Ugly Truth
Interesting Enough: 8
Willing to Watch Again: 6
Storyline / Movie Structure: 31
Entertainment Value: 20
Awesomeness Level: 9
Total Score: 74
Very good romantic flick by Heigl and Butler. It was done on a male perspective so I was able to relate quickly. It was a realistic and pessimistic take on how guys act before and during relationships. It had a number of funny scenes as well like the baseball stadium scene and Katherine Heigl’s vibrator. However, it’s not that much talked about so it loses its awesome points. And that’s the ugly truth about it.

9. District 9
Interesting Enough: 7
Willing to Watch Again: 6
Storyline / Movie Structure: 35
Entertainment Value: 16
Awesomeness Level: 11
Total Score: 75
A very realistic and refreshing take on alien flicks. This movie breaks the alien stereotypes by introducing a documentary style on aliens in Johannesburg. Finally, someone removes the aliens in Manhattan! Then, we get to see some ‘humanity’ on aliens. Heck, the humanity of humans was even screwed in this movie. How the hell did they let aliens freely kill humans in here? Of course there were conflicting points and there was this ‘end justifies the means’ ideology in the story. The movie successfully tackled gray areas in here. That is the primary charm of the movie. Excellent non-cliché movie. However, I got bored at some parts of the movie and since it was done on poor quality documentary style, I do not think I would crave to watch it. The movie was like watching San Antonio Spurs this decade – they do all the right things by being fundamentally sound but they are also boring as hell. All in all, District 9 was a great movie.

8. 2012
Interesting Enough: 7
Willing to Watch Again: 5
Storyline / Movie Structure: 31
Entertainment Value: 22
Awesomeness Level: 13
Total Score: 78
Any time you can see the whole effin’ city sinking to the earth’s core, it is awesome. Damn, they really invested a lot on the effects in this movie. Damn, the massive volcanic eruption rained ashes from West Coast to East Coast. The scientific idea was also somewhat cool. However, the humanity angle was pretty much cliché in this movie. It would have been interesting if they took the ‘let’s be practical and sacrifice the human to have a better chance on saving humanity’ route. It is mean yet it would have made a different outcome that could spurn controversy and debate on this movie. I watched this in the big screen so I have pretty much enjoyed the best it could offer. I do not see an interesting subplot twist in the story so I am not planning to rewatch it.

7. Watchmen
Interesting Enough: 5
Willing to Watch Again: 6
Storyline / Movie Structure: 37
Entertainment Value: 19
Awesomeness Level: 13
Total Score: 80
Watchmen was my most awaited superhero movie of the year because of its interesting theme. However, it suffers a 5/10 in my first category because I dozed off when I watched it. The movie is quite long as well so I am not that interested to rewatch it any time soon. This may change over the course of time though, because the movie really had an interesting plot. Its ending elicited a WTF moment from me and it was also thought-provoking. This is another non-cliché movie so it is worth the watch. Screenplay was also superb.

6. Drag Me To Hell
Interesting Enough: 9
Willing to Watch Again: 7
Storyline / Movie Structure: 31
Entertainment Value: 22
Awesomeness Level: 12
Total Score: 81
This year has got to be the year of the Hollywood horror flicks. Drag Me To Hell kicked it off with its stellar way of scaring the audience. American directors have learned from their Asian counterparts as Drag Me To Hell invested on less visual and more on the suspense build-up. Damn, the handkerchief scene was greatly executed. It was just a normal piece of cloth but the build-up makes you horrified of what could happen next. The rustling of leaves added to the horrific mood. Unfortunately, the movie went into cliché mode and became comic at certain parts, thus losing the scare it built up. It’s either you mock horror flicks or you make a fucking serious one. They tried to do both so it became disappointing. But still, this horror flick was entertaining. I am in the ‘should I download this movie to rewatch it’ mode right now.

The Top Five

5. GI Joe: The Rise of The Cobra
Interesting Enough: 9
Willing to Watch Again: 10
Storyline / Movie Structure: 29
Entertainment Value: 21
Awesomeness Level: 13
Total Score: 82
This is the time for me to use the Biased card. I think I have used it nicely in this choice because of one huge reason: I never expected anything good from GI Joe after watching its trailers earlier this year. I was pretty much against on watching this flick up to the point when I got a copy of it from someone else. After watching it, I was in a state of awe. Even if the plot was as generic as it could be, the movie was still executed well. The fighting scenes were awesome because of the gadgets and weapons they used. They also have two high caliber chicks in Rachel Nichols (Scarlett) and Sienna Miller (Baroness). This was a sentimental pick for me as I was a kid who grew up with GI Joe toys and cartoons. This was simply the popcorn flick of the year or in short, “the sit back and relax movie.” This movie gets a huge boost because I have rewatched it two to three times already (thus the perfect ten score in there).

4. Up
Interesting Enough: 7
Willing to Watch Again: 9
Storyline / Movie Structure: 37
Entertainment Value: 20
Awesomeness Level: 11
Total Score: 84
I just watched Up awhile ago and it did not disappoint despite sky-high expectations. OK, I felt bored at some parts. I also felt like giving up as well. Nevertheless, I finished the movie and liked it. It just had so many lessons in it. Cartoons are always great venues for getting moral lessons and Up had a boatload of such. It also had some sentimental content on it. Up proves that there is no such limitation from learning, whether you are a kid or an old man hampered with arthritis. You can always chase and change your dreams. Of course, the movie teaches compassion as well. Heck, the cartoon is relevant up to the present time – your idol is not always right (Tiger Woods, ahem!) I might be missing some valuable lessons from it so I need to watch it again. Favorite quote: “It might sound boring, but I think the boring stuff is what I remember the most.”

3. Taken
Interesting Enough: 8
Willing to Watch Again: 8
Storyline / Movie Structure: 34
Entertainment Value: 22
Awesomeness Level: 14
Total Score: 86
Best action flick of the year. Taken featured some great ass-kicking by Liam Neeson. It was cool because it featured him having a monster plan in beating the bad guys mostly by himself; executing his plan almost flawlessly; and doing it in a believable way. The swagger exuded by his character was also infectious. I never expected action movies to be this awesome (especially that I am more of a drama/comedy guy than an action guy). Another great thing about Taken was the interesting plot it had with the ongoing father-daughter relationship drama it brought.

2. Paranormal Activity
Interesting Enough: 9
Willing to Watch Again: 8
Storyline / Movie Structure: 37
Entertainment Value: 23
Awesomeness Level: 13
Total Score: 90
Hollywood horror peaks with Paranormal Activity. This well-filmed documentary showed horror directors that you can horrify more by going with less. The movie featured a simple storyline about a couple being haunted by a demon. As it did the Blair Witch route, it featured subtlety as its main strength. No sound effects. No background music. No zoomed in scary image. Nada. Zilch. But all of it made the movie stronger as it became more realistic and the anticipation level is high. It was better than Blair Witch for me because Paranormal Activity dealt on a setting which we are able to relate on daily. If you have experienced anomalies like the electric fan turning off and on or the door shutting close with no human intervention, the movie just gets creepier as it capitalizes on such events. The character development was also great (of course, the movie just focused on few characters). Paranormal Activity is a must-watch for horror lovers.

1. (500) Days of Summer
Interesting Enough: 9
Willing to Watch Again: 10
Storyline / Movie Structure: 39
Entertainment Value: 23
Awesomeness Level: 14
Total Score: 95
When I finished watching (500) Days of Summer last month, I already had the thought that I just watched the best film this year. Boy, was I right! I thought Up and District 9 could potentially topple (500) Days from being the best movie in my books but no flick comes close. For starters, (500) Days of Summer has the unconventional storyline that movie critics look for. It featured excellent ironies of relationships and break-ups. It was the non-cliché movie that does not end with a happy ending (in fact, it had an open ending). It was also easy to relate to the plot because most of us have experienced failed relationships. It was the ideal movie for the realist. When we talk of entertainment, the movie was uber funny. There was just too much wit and sarcasm that you can get from the non-chronological sequence of the story. And the funnier thing is, it is all fucking true. I am willing to watch this movie again. I even got a DVD version of this one already. As for the awesomeness level, well, everyone was just talking about Summer and Autumn a month ago. I guess it is because this movie suited my demographic the most. (500) Days of Summer is easily the best movie this year and I am already boldly stating this – the best romantic comedy of the decade.