5 Off My Head - One Half Oh-Nine

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This is by no means a comprehensive list (although all of these films would've made my Top Ten)... but see, I was thinking of doing a Top Ten list of movies I've seen so far this year like everybody's long gone and done way forever ago, but I kept getting distracted and then everybody did one anyway and mine would've been only slightly but not that different so why bother? Why bother, indeed. That's my motto, by the way. Anyway - I am gonna be a total rambling space-cadet today, I can already tell - instead I decided to do a list of things that I've seen, cinematically speaking, so far in 2009 that've brought me much joy. So here are the first five things that came to mind.

Tilda Swinton in Julia - I don't care that she just won an Oscar; it's gonna take something special, really really fucking special, to knock this performance off the tippy-tip-top of the heap for me this year, and I think she's gonna deserve another Little Gold Dude ASAP. And the film itself keeps sneaking up in my estimations the further I get away from it... I literally cannot wait for this sucker to hit DVD; I might watch it ten times by the end of the year if it comes out soon enough. Bonus points for having one of the greatest, already-iconic-in-my-mind title appearances of a very long time - Tilda's rhythmless dance pose to "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of These)" as the word Julia pops on the screen still makes me break into a fit of giggles.


Moon - I never gave this flick a proper review, but what I liked most about it (and what's sitting best about it on my brain ever since) is the simplicity of it. It doesn't get bogged down with overcomplicating its story, which is already inherently a little loopy; unlike so much science-fiction these days it doesn't try too hard. It just tells a good solid small story. Sam Rockwell gives another terrific performance (and blessedly shows off his best asset again - and I looked everywhere for a screencap of this asset but came up wanting... sadness), and the film was made for couch-change and is beautiful, beautiful, too look at. Big happy here.


Pretty much every single second of Drag Me To Hell - Most fun I've had two times over in a movie theater this year. I wanted to leave the theater and do a jig in the lobby both times I saw it. This sucker grabs you by the balls and shakes you around the room like a rag-doll, cackling like a possessed goat the whole while. Not many films can claim this, but maggot-vomit is just the beginning!!! A Grand Guignol gross-out good-timery! (Can that get on the DVD case please?)


Maggie Gyllenhaal's "Sea Horses" speech in Away We Go - In a film crammed full of Things I Loved (Mealie Lynskey's heartbreaking pole-dance almost beat this out), this scene stands out because Mags is a fucking riot. Every line is gold and she delivers them with a smiling insouciance well over the line of certifiably creepy delusion. Shudder and laugh, rinse and repeat. Love you, lady!

Patrick Wilson in Watchmen - With very special notice to Jackie Earle Haley who actually gives far and away the best performance in the film, but how could I not give some love to this sweet sweetness:

Mmmmmm.
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