2009 Summary

Here's everything I saw this year:

06/10 - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
06/10 - Gran Torino
07/10 - Tropic Thunder
07/10 - The Wrestler
08/10 - Taken
07/10 - In Bruges
06/10 - Wedding Crashers
03/10 - The Day Time Ended
06/10 - JCVD
07/10 - The Breakfast Club
07/10 - Slumdog Millionaire
08/10 - 2001: A Space Odyssey
10/10 - Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo. (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)
02/10 - Sinthia, the Devil's Doll
07/10 - Hot Fuzz
08/10 - The Shining
08/10 - Forgetting Sarah Marshall
10/10 - Groundhog Day
06/10 - Blade Runner
03/10 - The Black Six
05/10 - Die Hard 2
06/10 - Die Hard: With a Vengeance
04/10 - Synecdoche, New York
02/10 - Sometimes Aunt Martha Does Dreadful Things
09/10 - Alien
10/10 - Almost Famous
08/10 - Aliens
05/10 - Alien³
01/10 - The Girls on F Street
05/10 - Zack and Miri Make a Porno
03/10 - Dværgen (The Sinful Dwarf)
03/10 - The Thing with Two Heads
06/10 - Eastern Promises
10/10 - Shichinin no samurai (Seven Samurai)
04/10 - Alien: Resurrection
05/10 - Escape from New York
08/10 - Shoot 'Em Up
03/10 - Milano trema - la polizia vuole giustizia (Violent Professionals)
07/10 - First Blood
05/10 - Rambo: First Blood Part II
04/10 - Rambo III
06/10 - Rambo
06/10 - Yes Man
07/10 - Snatch.
08/10 - Casablanca
05/10 - The Trip
06/10 - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
08/10 - Back to the Future
04/10 - Back to the Future Part II
05/10 - Back to the Future Part III
06/10 - Breakfast at Tiffany's
09/10 - Det Sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal)
07/10 - Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries)
08/10 - Rocky
03/10 - 'Gator Bait
07/10 - Rocky II
03/10 - Rocky III
06/10 - Rocky IV
09/10 - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
02/10 - Rocky V
09/10 - Big Fish
07/10 - Rocky Balboa
04/10 - How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
08/10 - The Graduate
03/10 - Beware! The Blob
07/10 - Catch-22
07/10 - Se7en
10/10 - The Godfather
10/10 - The Godfather: Part II
02/10 - The Doberman Gang
06/10 - Major League
02/10 - Major League II
07/10 - There Will Be Blood
07/10 - The Terminator
09/10 - Saving Private Ryan
09/10 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day
09/10 - The Departed
08/10 - The Silence of the Lambs
01/10 - Cool It Carol!
05/10 - Fast & Furious
03/10 - El mariachi
04/10 - Prime Cut
05/10 - Fanboys
06/10 - Airplane!
09/10 - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
08/10 - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
09/10 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
05/10 - Blazing Saddles
03/10 - Angels & Demons
06/10 - The Nightmare Before Christmas
08/10 - Up
05/10 - The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
08/10 - Clash of the Titans
06/10 - Miracle
08/10 - Watchmen
03/10 - Dogma
03/10 - Top Gun
06/10 - The Thing
04/10 - Brüno
09/10 - Léon (Leon: The Professional)
07/10 - Evil Dead II
07/10 - Kill Bill: Vol. 1
06/10 - Kill Bill: Vol. 2
04/10 - Army of Darkness
07/10 - The Hangover
06/10 - Armageddon
07/10 - Inside Man
09/10 - [Rec]
05/10 - Old School
05/10 - Public Enemies
08/10 - I Love You, Man
08/10 - Le samouraï (The Godson)
07/10 - Three Days of the Condor
09/10 - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
07/10 - Schindler's List
05/10 - Planes, Trains & Automobiles
07/10 - The Hurt Locker
10/10 - The Matrix
03/10 - Kingdom of Spiders
09/10 - Grindhouse
09/10 - Inglourious Basterds
07/10 - Adventureland
07/10 - Jackie Brown
07/10 - 10 Things I Hate About You
08/10 - GoldenEye
09/10 - Roman Holiday
09/10 - L.A. Confidential
01/10 - Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus
06/10 - The Usual Suspects
04/10 - Role Models
06/10 - Quantum of Solace
08/10 - Gladiator
03/10 - Blood Beach
08/10 - Sunset Blvd.
02/10 - The Rock
07/10 - Heat
06/10 - The Boondock Saints
08/10 - Taxi Driver
08/10 - Paths of Glory
06/10 - Big Trouble in Little China
09/10 - Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Amélie)
08/10 - Office Space
03/10 - Vampire Hookers
05/10 - Funny Face
09/10 - Drag Me to Hell
08/10 - Zombieland
06/10 - The Big Lebowski
09/10 - Stalag 17
07/10 - La grande illusion (The Grand Illusion)
05/10 - The Bridge on the River Kwai
09/10 - Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
02/10 - Gang Wars
10/10 - Apocalypse Now
06/10 - (500) Days of Summer
07/10 - The Bourne Identity
04/10 - The Bourne Supremacy
06/10 - The Bourne Ultimatum
07/10 - Elf
07/10 - Full Metal Jacket
05/10 - Au revoir les enfants (Kinder)
08/10 - The Longest Day
05/10 - Enemy at the Gates
05/10 - The U
08/10 - 2001: A Space Odyssey
06/10 - Sherlock Holmes
08/10 - Avatar

Quick Facts:
Movies seen in 2009: 166
Unique movies seen in 2009: 164
Time spent watching movies in 2009: 19,538 minutes (325 hours, 38 minutes [13 days, 13 hours, 38 minutes])
New movies seen in 2009: 135 (includes extended cuts of previously seen movies)
Old movies seen in 2009: 31
Shortest movie seen in 2009: The Girls on F Street - 69 minutes
Longest movie seen in 2009: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - 251 minutes

Movie Breakdown by Decade:
1930s: 1
1940s: 1
1950s: 9
1960s: 10
1970s: 24
1980s: 26
1990s: 30
2000s: 63

Movie Breakdown of 2009:
Movies seen from 2009: 18

1. Inglourious Basterds
2. Drag Me to Hell
3. I Love You, Man
4. Up
5. Watchmen
6. Avatar
7. Zombieland
8. Adventureland
9. The Hangover
10. (500) Days of Summer
11. Sherlock Holmes
12. Public Enemies
13. The U
14. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
15. Fast & Furious
16. Brüno
17. Angels & Demons
18. Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus

Best Movies Seen (Overall)
The top five movies I saw this year.

1. Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo. (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)
2. Apocalypse Now
3. Almost Famous
4. The Godfather: Part II
5. The Godfather

The first three above are in my own personal Top Five ever so it's no surprise that they took this honor. And then the other two are from The Godfather Trilogy. As for why they are this way: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is what I consider the best movie ever and so amazing (see the Blog's name and address). Apocalypse Now is a deeply and dark psychological and completely absorbing. Almost Famous (the extended cut) is equally absorbing but with an entirely different feel. Crowe completely takes us to this time in history in such a powerful way. The Godfather movies are simply outstanding and by personal preference I place Part II above the original due to how Part II expands and actually makes The Godfather a better movie. So it gets credit for this.
[Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo. (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), The Godfather: Part II, and The Godfather were repeated viewings; Apocalypse Now and Almost Famous were first time viewings of particular versions but repeated viewings of the films themselves.]
[Note: These five movies will not be included in the next two rankings.]

Best Movies Seen (First Viewing):
The top five movies I saw this year for the first time.

1. Shichinin no samurai (Seven Samurai)
2. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
3. L.A. Confidential
4. Inglourious Basterds
5. Léon (Leon: The Professional)

The first choice here is a no-brainer. Seven Samurai is regarded as one of the first and also finest action movies of all time. It creates stereotypes that live on in film to this day. It took me long enough, but I finally watched this early in the year. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of only two movies I watched multiple times this year. It's filled with timeless scenes and just an overall chemistry that is amazing. That's why it comes in at second. The remaining movies on this list all took me by surprise with their greatness. L.A. Confidential was a great crime noir and Inglourious Basterds blended genres in a great way. But L.A. Confidential gets the nod for just being too awesome in so many ways. Leon: The Professional also surprised me but just didn't end up being quite on the same scale as Inglourious Basterds. Yeah, everything here but Seven Samurai was ranked 9/10, but there's still some hierarchy.

Best Movies Seen (Repeated Viewing):
The top five movies I saw this year for at least a second time.

1. The Matrix
2. Groundhog Day
3. Grindhouse
4. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
5. The Departed

The Matrix blew me away with how great it was even on my whatever number viewing this turned out to be. As a kid I loved this movie and all that joy came back on this viewing. I was amazed at how the whole feeling of this movie seemed fresh even ten years later. Groundhog Day comes in at second for repeated viewings because of its unique nature. I watch it just about every February around the actual Groundhog Day but the movie is so great because it's more than a comedy. It's brings up some deep questions which is really unique for a movie of this sort. Grindhouse is a severely underrated movie and one of my absolute favorites from the past decade. I love the entire feel of the movie and having seen so many bad movies of which it draws homage from, I found it all the more enjoyable. Terminator 2: Judgment Day and The Departed are two amazing films, too, and also two of my all time favorites. Terminator 2: Judgment Day stands up on repeated viewings but it has some dated flaws. The Departed is simply an astounding crime classic and another one of my favorite films of the past decade. It's not as great on a repeat viewing but still an amazing film.

Worst Films Seen:
The bottom five movies I saw this year.

1. Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus
2. Cool It Carol!
3. The Girls on F Street
4. Sometimes Aunt Martha Does Dreadful Things
5. Rocky V

This list is pretty much just starting from the bottom of the rankings and moving up. Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus is really a 0/10 but IMDb doesn't allow that low a score. It was the obvious choice for this ranking. Similarly, Cool It Carol! and The Girls on F Street were pretty pathetic but Cool It Carol! was just a tad bit worse. Sometimes Aunt Martha Does Dreadful Things was just a little bit better than these. Rocky V takes the honor as worst "legitimate movie" that I saw this year. I mean, I'm pretty sure they tried to make a movie here whereas I can't quite make that claim with the other four.

Most Surprising Films Seen:
The top five films that surprised me for some reason.

1. Rocky
2. Stalag 17
3. Up
4. Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Amélie)
5. Alien

Rocky easily wins this. This is not your typical sports movie. It's more. Stallone creates an incredibly memorable character in Rocky that is human and real. And then he loses at the end, but wins with Adrian. It's timeless. Stalag 17 surprised me for a different reason: this movie was from the 1950s yet had the story and characters of a modern thriller. Wilder created an amazing movie here. Up comes in at third because of how much emotion it made me feel as an animated movie. I can't recall a single animated movie ever making me feel the way this film did. Amélie surprised me in a way that Rocky did. Here was a romantic movie that was colorful (literally) and fun. Yet also spoke on some really important life lessons. It was quirky and weird yet I loved it. Finally we get Alien which was much more thriller than I thought a sci-fi movie could be. It's a terrible shame that sci-fi in modern Hollywood has almost become synonymous with "high budget action flick."

Most Disappointing Films Seen:
The top five films that disappointed me for some reason.

1. Schindler's List
2. The Bridge on the River Kwai
3. The Usual Suspects
4. Blade Runner
5. Synecdoche, New York

Schindler's List is supposed be an all time classic but I wasn't that impressed. I liked a lot of what it did but it's a Top 10 on IMDb and it wasn't even in the Top 20 movies I saw this year. Sure IMDb isn't always a good judge but I was astounded they were so wrong on this one. Similarly, The Bridge on the River Kwai is one of those films consistently ranked high by AFI. But it fell flat for me for a variety of reasons. The Usual Suspects and Blade Runner also are consistently ranked high and just didn't hit the mark with me. They were still enjoyable films but the expectations for them were perhaps too lofty. And finally, Synecdoche, New York seemed like it would be an amazing bizarre movie from the trailer and some early reviews and then it just turned into a bizarre and boring film. It had its moments but overall I just didn't like what it was going for.

Most Enjoyable Films Seen:
The top five films that might not have been the "best", but were really enjoyable.

1. Groundhog Day
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
3. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
4. I Love You, Man
5. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Groundhog Day is amazing. It is incredibly deep even on multiple viewings. Yet it's still funny. This odd blend makes it number one here. Next I take The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring because it's my favorite of the trilogy. The most memorable moments from the entire trilogy all occur here (for me) with an amazing ending that's also the best part of the whole series. The Kubrick classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb comes in next due to how incredibly funny it is on subsequent viewings and almost always it's a different line that sends me into laughter. Just a testament to how solid this film is. The next two are also comedies with I Love You, Man edging Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Both have Jason Segel featuring prominently and I really enjoy his style of humor.

The Films More People Need to See:
The top five films that I don't feel enough people that I talk to have seen.

1. Apocalypse Now
2. Adventureland
3. Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal)
4. Sunset Blvd.
5. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Apocalypse Now is an amazing movie and it seems like it's one of those movies many of my friends have heard of but never watched. Everyone should see this masterpiece of cinema. Next, Adventureland was an incredibly enjoyable movie that seemed to slip under the radar this year. It featured some big names but it just didn't seem like many people saw it for whatever reason. The remaining titles are all oldies but goodies. The Seventh Seal tops this trio because it's foreign and by the talented Bergman. Next is the really old Sunset Blvd. which is a classic from the black and white noir period. And finally the amazing and enjoyable Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Westerns seem to have gone by the wayside in recent years but this film with Paul Newman and Robert Redford will always be one of my favorites and one more people need to see.

Best Scenes Seen:
The top five scenes seen.

1. Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo. (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) - the final standoff
2. Almost Famous - the final interview
3. Roman Holiday - the final scene
4. Almost Famous - the bus scene
5. The Godfather - the baptism and murders scene

No question here. Number one is one of the best scenes in cinema, probably my second favorite ever. There is so much build up and tension. It's a seven minute sequence of three men standing and staring at each other, yet Leone turns this into the most famous Mexican standoff of all time. The Almost Famous final interview is chilling. Crowe speaks to the audience when he answers the question "What do you love about music?" with "To begin with, everything." And then the absolute perfect Led Zeppelin song to finish the movie begins playing. It's breathtaking. Next up is the final scene of Roman Holiday. Modern cinema has spoiled me and made me expect some happy ending yet this film took the realistic route and stunned me with its hard and real conclusion. Almost Famous comes in again on this list with the bus scene. When the band gets together while singing "Tiny Dancer" it's a magical moment. And to finish off the list there is the supremely chilling and spine-tingling final montage showing Corleone killing off the other families while his son is getting baptized. As you can tell from this list, the final scene of a movie is really important to me and this allotment of films all got it right.

Well, there we go. The Top Five for all the categories I usually write about. It was tough on some of these categories with so many movies to choose from but fun to go back and create the lists.

I watched a lot of movies this year, more than in any other year since I started keeping track. I enjoyed the vast majority of what I saw and even discovered some new favorites. Some movies stunned me with how excellent they were and some left me terribly disappointed.

Up ahead, I'll put up an outlook for the 2010 year and what I want to accomplish in my movie watching.
I've enjoyed doing this for my own sake, even if no one else is reading it.