A second look at good, bad, ugly films of 2009
By Matt Grantz, Staff Writer
March 1, 2010          

With the 87th Annual Academy Awards March 7 ceremony almost upon us, I decided to trump the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences and announce my own awards for some of 2009’s major movies in my “First Annual (I hope) List of ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’ of 2009.”

The Good

“Star Trek”
This reboot of the “Star Trek” series was very well made and brought a new, more modern twist to the series. This major sci-fi movie was directed by J.J. Abrams and contained excellently done special effects as well as solid performances by mostly unknown actors, making for an excellent movie.

“The Taking of Pelham 123”
This remake of the 1974 classic is an epic movie which portrays the capture of a subway train in New York City and the efforts of a subway dispatcher to save the people aboard the train. With great acting and actions sequences this movie is a real winner.

“Public Enemies”
This true story of the FBI’s attempts to bring major criminals in the Chicago area is an excellent movie. Johnny Depp’s performance as John Dillinger is extremely good and the movie combines both action and slow points to tell the story compellingly.

“Inglourious Basterds”
“Inglourious Basterds” tells the story of a special commando unit sent behind enemy lines in World War II to kill and terrorize German soldiers. This is a hilarious twist on war movies that will be long remembered for its solid humor and great story.

The Bad

“Watchmen”
Watchmen is a dark twist on the superhero movie in which the “heroes” turn out to be highly flawed and seem to be much more human. It really is an odd twist that makes the movie harder to understand. On top of that, the movie is set in the 1980s with Richard Nixon still serving as President in a United States that won the Vietnam War, after one of the Watchmen helped them win, while the Cold War still rages on. This setting makes the movie harder to understand for a younger generation that never experienced those events and doesn’t explain them particularly well. The final nail in “Watchmen’s” coffin is a long run-time that causes the movie to drag at some points. Overall, “Watchmen” is probably the best movie on the bad list, but it still doesn’t have enough redeeming qualities to move it to the good list

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
The first “Transformers” was not a good movie because it consisted mostly of giant robots beating each other up and Megan Fox. Unfortunately, that trend continued into the sequel, except the movie is worse. The storyline is worse, the acting is worse and at times plain odd, and it contains Mudflap and Skids whose portrayal appears to be racially based. Basically, Paramount took a bad movie and built a second, even worse movie, on top of it.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
The latest of J.K. Rowling’s famous book series to be made into a movie was an extraordinary disappointment. The script writers absolutely butchered the book and took out key plot elements making the movie weird for those that have read the books and harder to understand for those that haven’t. Fans can only hope that the writing is much improved later this year when “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” (Part 1) is released.

“2012”
“2012” is a disaster movie relating to the predictions that the Earth will be destroyed in 2012 and featuring a cast attempting to escape to safety in the Himalayas. The first problem with this movie is that it’s a disaster movie and that genre has been extremely overplayed. Second, the plot, surviving a series of disasters that sweep the Earth, is totally unbelievable, rendering the entirety of the film unbelievable in one swift stroke.

“A Christmas Carol”
This latest film incarnation of Charles Dickens’ famous novel of the same name left a something to be desired. This 3D version had great special effects; however, they distracted from the actual story and solid acting performances.

“The Dark Knight”
While excellent the first time it was released, the re-release of “The Dark Knight” in January 2009 was a rather obvious ploy to garner votes at the Academy Awards, landing it on the ’09 bad list.

The Ugly

“Knowing”
Knowing is the story of an MIT professor, played by Nicholas Cage, whose son is given a paper that contains a code which allows him to predict future disasters. This plot sounds pretty good, until you actually watch the movie. The story makes almost zero sense and rambles along with an ending that was just uninteresting and anticlimactic. On top of that, the special effects, while cool, were also totally unbelievable and the acting was stiff. In short, this movie is so horrible it earned its own category.

[comments]

Posted by "Kristen Kreashko" on March 31, at 2:20 p.m.

REALLY??? I can't believe these two movies were put on the bad list. "Tranformers"-- the whole point of the movie is fighting robots that turn into cars. It's an awesome movie. It's my favorite! "Dark Knight"-- Even though it was a really long movie, it had awesome special effects and the set-up for the movie was very well thought out. I believe these two should have been on the good list.

Posted by "Jessica Pastva" on March 29, at 9:15 p.m.

"2012" was definitely a bad movie. It was way too long and nothing in the movie looked remotely real. Still to this day, I yell at Angela for making me waste my money on that movie.

Posted by "Matt Grantz" on March 25, at 10:22 p.m.

I have to say that's the first time I've ever seen "wootie stinkin' do."

As for the "Transformers" comment, I honestly don't think there was a movie more deserving of the bad list. My earlier post on the subject and the one below yours sum up my feelings pretty well.

Posted by "Kelsey Warrick" on March 24, at 10:44 a.m.

GRANTZ! How dare you say that "2012" and "The Knowing" were bad? I have to admit that I absolutely adored both of those movies. Yes, the ending to the "The Knowing" was completely weird and unexpected, but the rest of it was incredible. However, I completely agree that "Inglourious Basterds" was a great movie of 2009. I would have to put "Inglourious Basterds" as my all-time favorite movie.

Posted by "Kolton Bricker" on March 18, at 9:46 a.m.

I can't believe you put "Transformers" on the bad list! "Star Trek" SUCKED big time!!! You do have a point on "2012," though. It sucked.

Posted by "Riley O'Neill" on March 18, at 9:44 a.m.

I bought the movie ["Transformers"] and I have to say it sucks BIG TIME. IT'S THE WORST MOVIE I EVER SAW. It has no plot. It has a bunch of big robots beating the crap out of each other and being all dramatic about it like "Oh, wow, big deal! A robot alien died." Wootie stinkin' do!

Posted by "Rachel Klingensmith" on March 17, at 6:03 p.m.

I enjoyed reading another person's opinion. I agree that "Harry Potter" wasn't that good, but I disagree with "2012." I personally thought it was a good movie, and it kept me involved with the action. The ending in "Knowing" was definitely not what I expecting. I can't wait to see the next comments on other movies.

Posted by "Tom Dubovi" on March 16, at 3:12 p.m.

"The Dark Knight" is one of my favorite movies of all time. I don't understand how it could have ended up on the bad list. "Inglourious Basterds" was probably the most ridiculous movie I saw this year and it wasn't even funny.

Posted by "Matt Grantz" on March 11, at 8:32 p.m.

I understand you guys liking "The Dark Knight" and it was a pretty good movie. The problem is, it was originally released in 2008.

So, my problem with "The Dark Knight" was not that it was a bad movie, just that the re-release in 2009 was a dumb trick to try to get more awards at the Academy Awards.

I hope that better explains why "The Dark Knight" ended up in the bad category.

Posted by "Dan Rzewnicki" on March 10, at 7:35 p.m.

I completely agree with your reasoning on all of these decisions. You make your points well and have a way of either selling a movie to people or making no one want to watch it. I love these reviews so keep it up, "Movie-review man."

Posted by "Cassie Stivason" on March 9, at 1:33 p.m.

"Inglourious Basterds," in my point of view, was not that great of a movie as everyone is saying it was. I feel that the movie could have been a lot better. Instead of having to read the whole movie, I would have much rather actually watched it like a normal movie. "Inglourious Basterds" was not a good move, and I wouldn't recommend it at all. Sorry.

Posted by "Brandon Ion" on March 9, at 8:56 a.m.

What in the world? "The Dark Night" was phenomenal. I loved that movie and I'm almost sure half of Leechburg felt that it was a great movie. I also have a problem with "Watchmen." This movie was great and most people I talked to that watched it understood it. Both of these movies deserve to be on the "good" list.

Posted by "Garrett Miller" on March 8, at 10:54 p.m.

How is "The Dark Night" on the bad list? I don't know how you "roll," Mr. Movie-Reviewer, but maybe by "bad" you meant good. You know, like the young kids mean when they say "bad." But anyway, "The Dark Night" was one of my favorite movies of all time.

Posted by "Angela Olshansky" on March 8, at 2:25 p.m.

I completely and totally agree with everything you have said about these movies. "The Knowing's" ending was absolutely horrid, and I thought "2012" would never end. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on 2009 movies, and I cannot wait to see your opinion on 2010 movies!

Posted by "Bailey Libitzer" on March 5, at 11:33 a.m.

Well, Matt, I know you have your opinion but "The Dark Knight" and "Transformers," I think, were two of the better movies of 2009. On a good note, "Public Enemies" is an amazing movie!!

Posted by "Matt Grantz" on March 4, at 6:00 p.m.

You're right, there was a plot in the movie. However, it was absolutely horrible and had to use giant robots beating each other up as a crutch to save it from being an absolute bore.

As for Megan Fox, I partially agree with you. She is beautiful, but her acting really isn't that good.

Once again, I agree. Mudflap and Skids were somewhat humorous. However, they appear to be based on a bad stereotype concerning African-Americans and could have been just as funny without appearing to be racially biased.

And Paramount does plan on releasing a third installment in 2011. For all our sakes, I hope it's better than the first two.

Posted by "Keeton Hayes" on March 4, at 8:46 a.m.

I would just like to say that I highly disagree with some of your choices. The one that upsets me the most is the rating of the "Dark Knight." I mean, come on, how can you say that movie is a bad movie? Same with "Transformer."

Posted by "Jenn Camp" on March 2, at 12:55 p.m.

I love "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and I loved the first Transformers movie as well. I can't seem to understand why you are ripping on it when really the plot was there if you watched the first movie and understood it they followed right in check. Also, so what if Megan Fox is in it? She is a beautiful actress and is very good at what she does. As for Skid and Mudflap, they are my favorite two robots besides Optimus Prime. They bring a dynamic and a comic relief to the movie so it's not all action all the time. I think that Paramount Pictures did right by making a second Transformers and I think and hope that they will make a third one.

That way we can see if Megatron finally will be defeated and if Sam and Mikala stay together. I think that the plot is awsome. It's what every kid wants -- they want adventure in their lives. So I say "way to go" and keep on making them because I'll always be a fan.

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