Any Must-See Movies 2009 for you?

[Jon]

This looks bonkers, but wonderful as well:

Mr. Nobody

And this could be great, but as it's from The Resident Evil producers, a fact the trailer seems very proud of, literally anything is possible!

Pandorum

[Achim]

This looks bonkers, but wonderful as well:

Mr. Nobody

I thought of "Life's like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're going to get." (not because I think it's similar to Forrest Gump) and somebody else commented that he/she was reminded of Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. Anyway, seems like a movie to look out for.

And this could be great, but as it's from The Resident Evil producers, a fact the trailer seems very proud of, literally anything is possible!

Pandorum

Well, it looks like a mix of Resident Evil and Event Horizon... The little creature near the end seems creepy! And did I correctly detect Dennis Quaid in there...?

[Jon]

Well, it looks like a mix of Resident Evil and Event Horizon... The little creature near the end seems creepy! And did I correctly detect Dennis Quaid in there...?

I'd love to massage your ego, give you a  , maybe even a  , but I really can't escape the fact his name is at the top of the link! 

So instead you get a 



 

[Achim]

I'd love to massage your ego, give you a  , maybe even a  , but I really can't escape the fact his name is at the top of the link! 

So instead you get a 



 

I swear, I went straight for the trailer and didn't read a single word on that site.

 

[lovemunkey187]

Slo-mo Doves in feudal China 
Red Cliff

A fan of Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock is usually watchable - The Proposal

[Dragonfire]

I'll probably go see The Proposal.  It looks funny and I tend to enjoy Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock.

[lovemunkey187]

I've been giving this statement some thought over the past couple of days, which means the reasonable and well meaning/worded reply I intended to post is going to come out as gobbldigook.

I would have thought that being a Punisher fan would make you very wary of any movies. 

I have heard an awful lot of comments from fans of virtually every comicbook bemoan that such and such is wrong with the film adaptaion of their beloved, childhood comic. Usually before anything more than a teaser trailer or something quickly photographed by a crew member.....and in all fairness I have made similar assertions, although I believe that my comments were valid (Judge Dredd - Why oh why did he have his helmet off for the majority of the film? and Why did they alter the way that Frank Castle becomes The Punisher in the 2004 film?).

Take the big green fella for instance.
In 2003, Ang Lee brought us a drama that focused on the conflict of Bruce Banner and the Hulk and didn't give the masses the slugfest HULK!!!! SMASH!!!! film that they expected. To use a comment that I reuse alot when talking about this film - He gave as film that was too arthouse for most but had too much action for the arthouse crowd.
The split screen sections, which seem to have come underfire for some reason are a tether to the source material.
I am not saying that this is a perfect film, because it isn't but to my mind this is one of the best comic to film adaptations around.

Fast forward to 2008 and Louis Leterrier directing The Incredible Hulk.
I have not seen this film. For a few reasons, the biggest of which is that from many comments this seems to take it's inspiration from the 1978 television series, which I never particularily liked(even as a child it wasn't close enough to the comics for my delicate young palate).

Hulk was critisised for the CGI hulk being 15 feet tall and not realistic enough, and yet five years later no comment was made about it happening again(specifcally the bit with triads and then the greenhouse? scene).
I should probably have gone with a different exampe than this but The Hulk is a much maligned film.

The main point that I had intended to make before rambling, was that the way I see it is that each film is just the same as an new writing and drawing team on a monthly story arc in the comics, each team brings a different style to the proceedings.
This factor never seems to be taken into consideration.

Well, finally bit the bullet. I bought and watched The Incredible Hulk.

Okay I'll admit, it wasn't as bad as I expected.
Don't get me wrong I didn't think it was great, but it wasn't frakking awful. Hence me rating it "" in my watched in 2009 post.

There were a fair few things I didn't like, but a couple of bits that I did.
 

Spoiler (hover to show)

1-3: I didn't like the casting. Eric Bana, Jennifer Connolly and (especially) Sam Elliott were so much better than Edward Norton, Liv Tyler and William Hurt.
4: The fact it was closer in spirit to the tv series.
5: CGi. It's not just with this film I've noticed it with quite a few films lately, that CGi bits seem to be waivering closer towards game quality and are not as realistic as they have been in the recent past.
6: Substituting Yonge Street in Toronto for Harlem. I know that my favourite city has doubled for pretty much everywhere but at least they disguised recognizable landmarks for other structures. I noticed this, because the last time I was there I spent many happy evenings in the strip club called Zanzibar, which is lit up quite nicely in the final showdown between Hulk and Abomination.

A couple of these are minor and may seem petty, but they took me out of the story and I couldn't immerse myself totally in the world.

 

Spoiler (hover to show)

1: Tim Roth made a better villian than Nick Nolte.
2: Robert Downey jnr. cameo appearance.
3: Heart rate monitor and learning to control his breathing, this was a nice touch

[DJ Doena]

Spoiler (hover to show)

3: Heart rate monitor and learning to control his breathing, this was a nice touch

But there was a thing I didn't understand: I always believed that The Hulk would come out when Bruce is very angry or in danger. But here they depicted it as if any heart rate above X would make The Hulk come out. Thus he couldn't even have sex.

[lovemunkey187]

Spoiler (hover to show)

3: Heart rate monitor and learning to control his breathing, this was a nice touch

But there was a thing I didn't understand: I always believed that The Hulk would come out when Bruce is very angry or in danger. But here they depicted it as if any heart rate above X would make The Hulk come out. Thus he couldn't even have sex.

Not just anger but pretty much any strong emotion (e.g. frusatration) or moments of loosing control (e.g chucking his man fat) enable his other side come to the fore.

[Jon]

Spoiler (hover to show)

3: Heart rate monitor and learning to control his breathing, this was a nice touch

But there was a thing I didn't understand: I always believed that The Hulk would come out when Bruce is very angry or in danger. But here they depicted it as if any heart rate above X would make The Hulk come out. Thus he couldn't even have sex.

Not just anger but pretty much any strong emotion (e.g. frusatration) or moments of loosing control (e.g chucking his man fat) enable his other side come to the fore.

The thing that annoyed me was that for an action film, there was no contrast between the Hulk and Bruce. When he wasn't Hulk, he was Bourne...

The start was ridiculous. They could have had a nice Hulk out as a result of the girl and the thugs. Why a stupid contrivance to introduce the military? Surely it would have made more sense for the military to simply become aware that a South American town had just been leveled and locals reported seeing a big green thing?

[Jon]

This looks a laugh. I'm predisposed to prefer Shaun of the Dead, even based on trailers, but still, looking good...

Zombieland

Oh yeah. And hasn't Roland Emmerich blown us up one too many times now? Still I did enjoy Independence Day and Day After Tomorrow and this looks massive and shiny, so I'm not against it...

2012

[Achim]

This looks a laugh. I'm predisposed to prefer Shaun of the Dead, even based on trailers, but still, looking good...

Zombieland

Must. See.

EDIT:
I looked at IMDb and they list Bill Murray as part of the cast, playing the role of "Zombie"!

Oh yeah. And hasn't Roland Emmerich blown us up one too many times now? Still I did enjoy Independence Day and Day After Tomorrow and this looks massive and shiny, so I'm not against it...

2012

Emmerich's films make my eyes hurt:   The trailer looks epic, but it'll be his usual fair...

[Rogmeister]

Does anyone know if any westerns are coming out this year?  I saw all of one movie in 2008 and one movie in 2007...and both were westerns.

2007: 3:10 To Yuma
2008: Appaloosa

I didn't see any movies in theaters in 2006 so my last big year was 2005, a year I saw something like 11 movies in theaters...including Fantastic Four and Flightplan.

[DJ Doena]

Friendship!

[Achim]

Friendship!

Looks like it could be fun!