Movie ReviewsAuraib Rizwani, a movie fanatic from Batch 2006 brings you his top picks for the year 2009.
Up in the Air
Coming from the director of Juno, Up in the Air is a heartfelt movie about Ryan Bingham, a “Termination Facilitator”, who is always on the go due to his job (and the economic crisis), and is using it to ignore the loneliness his life, until he comes across two very different women . The movie is extremely well written and directed. As with Juno, Jason Reitman keeps his direction clean and the performances shine. There are very few movies which start off as light-fare, and by the end come off as extremely meaningful, Up in the Air manages to do that brilliantly.
The Hurt Locker
The most powerfully directed movie of the year, The Hurt Locker is about William James, the newly appointed team leader of an Explosive Ordnance unit in Iraq. The movie takes us through the problems faced by William in the situation he is place in and apparently, the worldwide popularity of David Beckham. The movie starts with the quotation "The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug…”and shows to the audience, why that is in fact true. The movie grasps the attention of the audience from the start and does not let go till the last frame. It feels especially close to us, given what we hear in the news every day. The Hurt Locker succeeds where all other war-related movies fail, because it stays honest. The feature is Kathryn Bigelow’s best work to date. If all goes well, she may be the first female director to win an Oscar.
Inglorious Basterds
After the ridiculous Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino brought himself back to the good books with this fictional story about how World War II came to an end. Like Tim Burton, who always remains close to his wacky and gothic theme, Tarantino does with violence and gore, and Inglorious Basterds is no exception. What were even better are the performances he was able to pull out of the actors, particularly Christoph Waltz who gave us one of the most memorable performances of all time and a new way to say BINGO. With Tarantino’s smart writing and direction, one always keeps guessing as to what will happen next. This movie is all Tarantino, at his best, that is.
Up
There is nothing that can be said about Pixar that has not been said before. They are truly the hardest working studio who have created gem after gem, and Up maintains their winning streak. The story about a 78-year old man, who wants to fulfill his dream (and his late spouse’s) to travel to Paradise falls, is not a conventional one for an animated movie, but Pete Docter made it work, by keeping the characters as humanly as possible and giving the movie a bright color pallette, which is a delightful change over the relatively darker palettes used in Pixar’s previous two ventures. Besides the captivating screenplay and great direction, the score of the movie is a masterpiece on its own, especially Married life, which beautifully describes the ups and downs in the life of a married couple. Like all Pixar movies, Up serves a deeper purpose, it’s all about finding meaning in one’s life.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
In the age of 3-D and CGI, Fantastic Mr. Fox proves that stop-motion animation is by no means a dying art. Wes Anderson gives life to Roald Dahl’s book by using his quirky sense of style and direction. One thing that Mr. Anderson has proven over the years is that he is a perfectionist, and this movie only reaffirms it. The score, art direction and character development have all been impeccably done. To top it off, the movie uses the voice talents of a huge array of talented actors, from whom George Clooney is a total standout. Through Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson shows how a movie adaptation should be made, by staying true to the original source and not losing one’s artistic vision in the way.
Coraline
Henry Selick’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed novel is by all means a treat to watch. The stop-motion animated feature is about Coraline, an attention seeking young girl, who finds a new place for her voice to be heard, her “other” home, with her “other” parents. Soon, secrets unravel, and things are not what they seem to be. Selick uses a dark palette of colors for the movie and the stop-motion technique to his advantage, giving the movie a sense of enchantment, thrill and mystery. The foolish thing would be to take it as a kid’s movie; Coraline is much more than that.
Duplicity
Who knew that a spy comedy could be this much fun?
Julia Roberts and Clive Owen star as retired CIA and MIA agents, who team up to carry out an extremely complicated con. Tony Gilroy, who had previously written scripts for movies such as the Michael Clayton and the Bourne trilogy, knows a thing or two about secret agents, and makes the most of it in this movie, which is filled with a whole lot of twists and turns. What is even better than the writing is the impeccable acting by the leads, who share a whole lot of chemistry, and then some. The movie could not have had a better name, Duplicity is all what this movie is about.
Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire
Once in a few years there comes a movie that is an eye opener, Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire is one of them. The story circles around a black overweight teenager named Precious, who has suffered abuse in more ways than one by her parents. Although there are many movies that highlight the unfortunate events taking place in our society, Precious is the only one which gives a sense of hope. The movie holds no barriers in taking one inside the mind of an abuse victim, and the raw performances by Monique and Gabourey Sidibe as mother and daughter take this movie to a whole new level. The best part of the movie comes in the end, when reasons are brought forward and brings a tear to one’s eye.
(500) Days of Summer
Boy meets girl, boy falls in love…seems cliché and familiar territory, and although (500) Days of Summer starts off as such; it is much more than that. This movie is no chick flick, rather a relatable coming of age story. It stands out from the pack due to its fantastic screenplay, which takes a risk, by going back and forth as one goes down memory lane, to the present and then back again. It works because that is just how the human mind functions. (500) Days of Summer is a must watch for anybody who ever wondered what happens if a love story does not get its happily ever after.
District 9
Unlike many other alien movies, District 9 succeeds because of its unconventional ideas. The aliens do not have huge swollen heads; instead they are over-sized hybrids of prawns and humans. The city is not New York, London or Moscow but Johannesburg, a newbie when considering the genre. The intelligent direction by Neil Blokamp, is what makes this movie very interesting. He switches back and forth between what is happening in the public eye, and what is happening behind it. Using an unknown cast also works to the advantage of the movie as more focus is paid to character development, as the audience is uncertain in the beginning as to whose side they are on. This movie has certainly put Neil Blokamp on the map as the one to watch out for in the future.
