Summer Movie Recap: The 10 Best Films During Summer 2009

(note: Any and every movie that was released in PHX, where I'm currently located, this past summer is eligible for this top 10 list. This includes, but is not limited to, independently released films. Let me know what you think.)



10. Adam 

Definitely an indie/Sundance flick about a guy with a disorder vaguely known as Asperger’s syndrome who finds love in Manhattan, NY. The film itself is pretty limited in terms of development and story, but Hugh Dancy’s turn as the socially inept, but goodhearted Adam elevates the film beyond its sparse attention to story. In fact, the film, in its 88 minutes running time, is seemingly devoted entirely to Adam and his disorder as it manifests during a brief, awkward relationship. If nothing else, the film is worth seeing for Dancy whose convincing Adam should garner him an Oscar nod.

9. Funny People 

Adam Sandler’s best role since his indie Punch-Drunk Love proves a success not only for him, but for writer/director Judd Apatow, who carefully and lightly transcends genres of comedy and drama. While the film may be overly long to regular Apatow devotees (as the meager box-office results dictate), the film does not ever waste time. Instead, it lingers in moments of tranquil regret and sorrow, the execution of which is comparable to the anti-formula, highly poetic independent films of David Gordon Green. This film marks the first in what I hope to be an evolution of Judd Apatow the auteur. He’s got a knack for communicating the bittersweet, and, if regarded as an auteur, he’s only getting better. 
(note: I singled out Sandler in this modest critique, but Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, and Eric Bana, who finds an unusually effective duality in his Australian beau, both violently angry, and lovingly humorous, all deserve significant praise).


8. Public Enemies 

I’ll be the first to admit that the overall tone of the film was a bit emotionally muted, and there was an apparent lack of character introduction and development – but wasn’t that the point? John Dillinger’s gang of bank-robbers are sentimentally jaded, one-dimensional drones that maintain a constant scowl, knowing good and well that they’re living out the last few months of their psychologically barren lives, with disdain not only for the upper-crust prey they victimize, but for the violent business they engage themselves in. It’s a quiet, somber tragedy driven only by contempt, which results in polarized audience reactions – who wants to be witness to this demonstration of melancholy during the summer in the midst of recession? Nonetheless, the film accomplishes what it set out to do: present the numbing tedium of forlorn lives entrenched in moral decay. That said, on a bit of a lighter note, the set design and narrative are definitely memorable. The writing echoes director Michael Mann’s most heartbreaking work (the last chapter in protagonist John Dillinger’s life), and Mann’s direction is technically and formally accurate. Johnny Depp’s depiction of a notorious criminal with a troubled past (communicated not by backstory, but by Depp’s stoic, indignant Dillinger) is worthy of an Oscar nod, as is the film’s art decoration and set design, and the film itself for best picture.
(note: The consistently underrated Billy Crudup as J. Edgar Hoover is robbed of screen time, and Christian Bale was miscast).

7. Up 

Does Pixar ever make a bad movie? I mean honestly, can you name one? The story in ‘Up’ is relatively simple: an old man who’s lost his significant other and, in turn, the zest for life which he once had as a child, decides to leave this world by blowing up thousands of balloons, attaching them to his home, and leaving the rest to gravity. The rest of the story, which is ultimately predictable, involves enough originality and inventiveness to keep anyone entertained. The message is archetypal, and the characters sweet and memorable. It’s the best animated film this year.

6. 500 Days of Summer 

Another surprise hit this summer, this indie pic originally targeted at the supposed ‘hipster’ demographic spanned its appeal to men and women of nearly all ages with its lighthearted, bittersweet approach to an unfortunate tale of love. Yet, what separates this film from the standard, indie paradigm, is its madly inventive formal arrangement, somewhat shattering the standard Hollywood formula in favor of the aesthetics and characteristics that made the French New Wave so revolutionary. It could be considered a contemporary New Wave film in its own regard combining a scattered narrative with detours that range from a welcomed dance sequence complete with animation accoutrement, voice-over narration, the occasional split screen, and the impudent breaking of the fourth wall. Even if you despise indie filmmaking, this film defies and even parodies the lot of independent flicks. Check it out.

5. The Hangover 

Foul, profane, deliberately not PC, and consistently hilarious, Todd Phillips’ The Hangover was the surprise R-rated comedy of the summer, grossing over $250 million at the box office, on only a $35 million budget. The film thoroughly grasps the concept of comedy, placing its formidable idiots in unfortunate situation after situation, until the equally discomfited, if formulaic, conclusion arrives. Newcomer Zach Galifinakis steals the show. Just an example of the film’s memorable banter: (note: this takes place when Galifinakis (Alan) and his brother in law, (Doug), are parked in front of an elementary school):

Alan: Did you have to park so close?
Doug: Yeah, what’s wrong?
Alan: I shouldn’t be here.
Doug: Why is that, Alan?
Alan: I’m not supposed to be within two hundred feet of a school. Or a Chuck E. Cheese.


4. District 9 

In an alternate universe, imagine that writers and philosophers Franz Kafka, and Friedrich Nietzsche met director Ridley Scott. Now imagine that those three decided to make a science fiction film, and the result might be this sleeper hit of the past summer. A wildly original, high-concept science fiction film, District 9 just may elevate the genre into an age of enlightenment with its deliberate allegorical backdrop focused on the Apartheid, and its main concentration on the metamorphosis of a mildly prejudiced member of a government agency designed to enact a mass mobilization of unwanted aliens from Johannesburg. Sharlto Copley, who plays the film’s protagonist, deserves Oscar consideration for his manic exhibition of a man losing his homo-sapien attributes, but never his humanity. The co-writer and director, Neill Blomkamp, whose style, combining a devotion to human behavior, with an aptitude for visceral action sequences, could be described as an amalgamation of David Cronenberg, Martin Scorsese, and the aforementioned Scott. This guy’s a burgeoning talent to watch. (note: this film was made for a mere $30 million. Take that, Michael Bay).

3. Star Trek 

The quintessential summer film is exemplary in every sense of the word. Special effects, action, directing, acting, set design, sound design, are all top notch, and the story itself, while unusually sparse, is thoroughly compelling. Director JJ Abrams has a unique gift, delicately balancing the feverish drive of the film’s protagonist with motivated action sequences that are executed with a virtuoso knack for energy and precision (he also did this in Mission Impossible III, arguably the best of the trilogy). He’s a rare gift to American Pop Cinema, situating stubbornly tenacious protagonists within the standard Hollywood paradigm and combining it with an unforgiving flare for art and special effects design. You heard it here first: JJ Abrams is the future of exceptional Hollywood blockbusters.


2. The Hurt Locker 

Directed with a tense ferocity by Kathryn Bigelow, the story of an Iraq bomb-squad trio pays excessive attention to character, which is not necessarily a poor decision given the humane focus on these men, both voluntarily and involuntarily engaged in the atrocity of war. Their inner disturbances and doggedly persistent dedication to their task are delicately observed by Bigelow, who utilizes a verite’ style of shooting that brings authenticity to her genuine character study - Brian Geraghty as Owen Eldridge proves evidence of this as an emotionally agitated soldier whose reliance on an appointed Army therapist becomes all the more necessary as the film progresses. Jeremy Renner deserves an Oscar nod for Best Actor, Geraghty for Best Supporting, and the film itself will be nominated for Best Picture.

1. Inglourious Basterds 

Stanley Kubrick was a pioneer of form and technique, Martin Scorsese of style and anti-heroic protagonists, George Lucas of motivated special effects, Steven Spielberg of humanity and sentimentality (see: Schindler’s List), Sidney Lumet of dramatic movement: what do all these directors have in common? Answer: their styles and techniques are all evident in a Quentin Tarantino film, carefully positioned within sometimes complex, sometimes traditional narratives, making Tarantino the archetypal American auteur - arguably the best of this generation. His style of pastiche filmmaking (which he developed himself) has had countless imitators since his audacious breakthrough ‘Pulp Fiction’ gleefully disrespected every rule that classical Hollywood cinema enthusiasts revere. His newest film defies these rules yet again, but to a much fuller extent, resulting in an intoxicating epic wherein Tarantino freely applies any and every cinematic technique to tell not only a story of revenge, but of devotion, powerlessness, hubris, despair, arrogance, and love – especially of the cinema (in this picture, film literally brings an end to the Third Reich). How many movies invite the spectator to laugh uproariously one moment, and absorb tragedy the next? How many successfully utilize violence as a platform for flippant humor, and represent women as madly ferocious, dogged heroes? Here are a few: Kill Bill volumes 1 and 2, Jackie Brown, Death Proof (yes, Death Proof), and arguably, Pulp Fiction. Years from now, this auteur will be remembered for his incomparable style and storytelling, and Inglorious Basterds is, like the last line of the film intrepidly suggests, his masterpiece. Actor Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa will be nominated for an Oscar, as will the screenplay, and given the newly applied decree by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to include 10 films as nominees for best picture, consider Inglorious Basterds an early contender.