Rocket Science

As the summer comes to a close, here an update to my 2009 movie picks.

1. Star Trek (see my first report)
2. Up (see my first report)
3. 9: I think this is the first full length animated feature that rivals Pixar’s demonstrated ability to tell a story. 9 is a post-apocalyptic story about soul, friends and doing the right thing. Great story, great animation. (It’s executive produced by Tim Burton, though his Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline never really struck a chord with me.)
4. Public Enemies: (see my first report)
5. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: (see my first report).
6. District 9: Well this movie is definitely gross, and a bit disturbing. I’m not sure about this one long term either. I’d definitely watch the top five movies over and over again. This one…maybe?
7. Inglorius Basterds: I’m still not quite sure what to make of this movie. It has one or two extremely violent scenes, but on the whole is much less gorey than Kill Bill.

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It’s been a long time since there was a summer full of movies that I looked forward to going to the theaters to watch. A very long time. I think I definitely would call 2009 “a blockbuster summer”! (2009 Movie Picks)

Movies Growing Up

I first remember summer blockbusters and wanting to go watch movies probably starting in junior high; I think it was junior high probably in 1984 or 1985. At the time, it was the “thing to do”, to go hang out at the mall. If memory serves, we spent most of our time hanging out at the Sherman Oaks Galleria, the Galleria of Valley Girl fame. (Aside: I was in elementary school during the height of the valley girl phase in the early 1980s. One of the girls in my class was even an extra in the movie.) Though as I got into high school we started going to more malls (having friends with cars) including the Northridge Fashion Center and others.

(At some point I’ll have to write my story about Indiana Jones from 1981.)

What is a Blockbuster?

The “original” summer blockbuster is generally credited as the movie Jaws in 1975, and was defined as a movie that grossed more than $100 million. Other blockbusters were Star Wars in 1997 and Indiana Jones in 1981. (Today, even most mediocre movies can gross $100 million and the definition, I think, is a little less well defined.)

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I’ve been fortunate to set aside time this year to get out and see many of this summer’s movies.

Here are my top movies of 2009 so far:

1. Star Trek: The “reboot” of the Star Trek franchise. OMG this was a great movie. Star Trek was a roller coaster ride start to finish and was a great way to reinvigorate the franchise. It follows on several other successful “reboots” including The Dark Knight from 2008, and I’d include the Spiderman trilogy I think. (Star Trek is ranked #100 on the IMDB Top 250 list.)
2. Up: What can I say, Pixar hits another home run. I was a little skeptical at first when I saw the trailers, but now that I’ve seen the movie, Up is clearly one of my top films for the year. Up is in the vein of The Incredibles, a movie for adults that kids will enjoy. This is vintage Pixar material. (Up is ranked #24 on the IMDB Top 250 list.)
3. Public Enemies: I think I’d best describe Public Enemies as an “old-fashioned” movie. Johnny Depp’s acting is great (though universally every woman I’ve spoken to about the movie would go see the movie just to watch Depp). The story plays out like a movie from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I have slightly mixed feelings about the sixth movie in the series. I finished re-reading the book about a week before I saw the movie, and unfortunately I kept trying to compare the book to the movie instead of enjoying the movie for what it was. It’s still a pretty good movie.

Keep reading to see what other movies I’ve seen this year.
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