2009: Movies watched, rated.
Favourite film of 2009: "The Box," followed by "The Hurt Locker" and guilty-pleasure, "Law Abiding Citizen."
Rating System:
A+ = Don't Miss It, Life-Changing, Classic
A = Very Solid Recommendation, Very Well Made
B+ = Solid Recommendation
B = Recommended
B- = Alright, still worth a watch
C = Watch at your own risk
D = Avoid
F = Waste of Film, Time and Money
This includes every film I watched in 2009, including films previously screened, and rated as per that individual viewing. It also combines film screenings with DVD rentals. However, they are not listed in any order beyond the general grade rating.
- Waltz With Bashir -- A
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button -- B+
- Revolutionary Road -- B+
- The Wrestler -- A
- The Reader -- B+
- Milk -- A+
- Gomorrah -- A+
- Rachel Getting Married -- B+
- The Watchmen -- A
- Role Models -- A
- The International -- B+
- Notorious -- C
- The Spirit -- F
- Angels and Demons -- B+
- Twilight -- C
- Star Trek -- C
- The Day the Earth Stood Still - B
- 50 Dead Men Walking -- A+
- Up -- A
- Flight of the Navigator -- A+
- Fanboys -- B+
- Mean Guns -- A
- Fast and the Furious 4 -- A
- He's Just Not that Into You -- F
- Moon -- A
- Hurt Locker -- A+
- JCVD -- B+
- Race to With Mountain (2008) -- C
- Adventureland -- C
- Knowing -- B+
- Bruno -- D
- District 9 -- A+
- V (miniseries) -- A
- I Love You, Man -- B+
- Inglourious Basterds -- A
- Starman -- A
- Coraline -- B+
- Jurassic Park 3 -- B-
- Repo! The Genetic Opera -- B
- Misery -- A
- The Silence of the Lambs -- A
- State of Play -- B
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- A+
- Kill Bill, part one -- A+
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs -- B+
- Year One -- F
- Zombieland -- B
- Where the Wild Things Are -- B+
- Away We Go -- D
- Rocky Horror Picture Show -- A+
- Watchmen -- A+
- Into the Wild -- A
- The Brothers Bloom -- A
- Fireproof -- B
- Law Abiding Citizen -- B+
- The Box -- A+
- A Serious Man -- B
- Fantastic Mr. Fox -- A+
- The Machinist -- D
- The Running Man -- A
- The Road -- C
- Up in the Air -- A+
- Disney's Christmas Carol -- B
- Jingle All the Way -- B+
- Jack Frost -- B+
- Die Hard -- A
- Avatar -- B-
- Julie & Julia -- C
- Terminator: Salvation -- C
- Total Recall -- A+
- Taking Woodstock -- A
- Monkey Warfare -- C
- The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus -- A
- Die Hard: With a Vengeance -- A+
I began 2009 by making copious use of my Phillips DVD player with USB port, which meant lots of movies not acquired by above-the-board methods... however, I have seen the errors of my ways and have since removed all BitTorrent software from my computers. I can't endorse pirating any more; despite the errors that the industry has made in terms of DRM and copyright issues. Unless the product is given away freely (under say, a "Creative Commons" license or otherwise), my conscience knows that it's still theft.
Movie theatre tickets may be too expensive, DVD/Blu-rays maybe ugly and overpriced, but that doesn't give me the right to steal that content. Maybe it's because I'm a content producer myself (both as a writer and musician), but when that content is taken from me (or my employer) without recognition, I know that it's wrong.
I do see the value in freely giving away content: Keith Green did this in the 1980s for the sake of spreading the Gospel, and today writers like Cory Doctorow share their books online, entirely for free, in the fight for publicity -- I myself participate in a blend of these approaches to a certain extent with my own Christmas recordings.
So instead of downloading, I've started watching more matinee movies, more movies "solo," and I've even signed up for a DVD rental service, Zip.ca (let me know if you want to sign up and I can "refer" you). I expect that next year the number of movies I'll have see will be lower, and will have a higher number of "old" films, thanks to the weird rental structure of online rental services.
You know what, ‘Fireproof,’ you’re alright by me
Like most of my urban dwelling brethren, I'm pretty cut off from most mainstream Christian culture, especially culture born waaaay south of the border. Sure, downtown we love our Sufjan Stevens and Thrices, but most of the younger, young-ish and young-at-heart people I know are not really going to perk up when someone mentions "The Well."
I don't think it's necessarily an attitude thing, nor a "we're more sophisticated" type thing either... downtown, churches are more likely to be "plants," store-fronts, locals, stuffy, alternative or traditional. Like our city, the church presence is very diverse.
But despite all that diversity, there's not much in the way of Christian media in the core; there are hardly any "Christian" radio stations, there's no "Michaels" (but we do have our Crux!), and most of all, we don't have any mega-churches. And without that "large-group" environment, a lot of content, good and bad, passes on undetected. I think that easily explains why Rob Bell's previous visit to Toronto was (by my impression) almost entirely attended by out-of-town 905ers and beyond.
OK, I'm way off topic here and I'm not planning on peeling back that thought any further for now.
So there's this movie, "Fireproof," which most people won't look twice at, except for the fact that it's probably the most popular, mainstream "Christian" movie today. Starring everyone's favourite Evangelical punching bag, Kirk Cameron (yep, from "Growing Pains"), who plays a firefighter with a very Christian name, the very cheesy flick follows him as he takes on a "Love Dare" while trying to save his marriage.
"Rescue Me" it ain't.
With a tag line of "Never Leave Your Partner Behind" (which you will of course hear in reference to fighting fires and in marriage), I won't harp on the film too much, because it only cost half a million dollars to produce, and it ended up grossing over 33 million since its release last year.
Like I said before, it's very cheesy, and at times the production can be amateur, but about halfway through the flick, it seems to get i'ts act together and become a real movie. Sure, it keeps mucking up it's "Marriage is Fireproof" theme: love is a spark, fire threatens to burn your marriage down, lighting a fire = rekindling a romance; but despite my criticisms there, I will have to admit that this movie does have a great message.
At the heart of the film, it's quite literally a lesson in love; there's a "Love Dare" that Caleb takes, and yep, you can get a version of the love dare in book form. There's speeches and long talks that feel like they've been born from a pulpit, and when Caleb's dad discovers his unbelieving son lives near an old Christian summer camp, complete with firepit and wooden cross, you know that somebody's going to be kneeling in front of it by the end of the movie. Even if they have a horrible "Georgia" accent (ahem, Cameron).
Despite my cynic attitude, there's lots of things I enjoyed about the movie: It's very "south," with lots of drawl and male posturing, which at once feels real and down to earth, all the actors are more or less non-actors, which adds to the sincerity (Caleb's mother actually looks like she could be someone's mother. Much love to Ken Bevel as well, he was the best and most prominent non-actor in the movie, and he totally rocked it), and sometimes I wonder if all the cheesiness is intentional: giving couples who initially watch the movie together something to make fun of before they are truly bombarded by the sincere gospel message presented here.
Looking over the special features on the DVD, it gave me an extra appreciation that I wouldn't have gotten just from the film itself. The outtakes show just how much fun they had shooting this mostly-depressing film, the moments where cast and crew pray before shooting every day is totally inspiring, and to hear about why the filmmakers took on this project were enlightening (basically they feel like marriage is under attack... however, it looks like they're not going anywhere near the "gay marriage" issue here).
A point they make in the special features that I really appreciate, is that this is a film you don't often see: It looks at people's lives after they live "happily ever after" and before something "tragic and life changing" happens. It's when the monotony of day to day life and unfulfilled dreams take root, and to the film's credit, I applaud it for taking a realistic look at what that life experience is like.
So, if you're a Christian, in a "Christian" marriage, or even have friends who are receptive to the gospel and maybe even having some marriage troubles, I would suggest "Fireproof" is worth a watch.
Other Interesting notes:
- Kirk Cameron, in lieu of payment, donated his paycheck to his favourite charity, Camp Firefly
- From what I can tell, pretty much everyone involved in the film is a volunteer
- Apparently Kirk Cameron refuses to kiss any other woman, even on screen, so in Fireproof, when his character does kiss his wife, its Kirks wife dressed up as the main character
- Every location the film shot at was provided without payment required
- Every "house" scene was shot in the same house
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