Six Must See Movies in 2009

by Larson Hill

Now that 2008
is winding down to a close with just over two
months of movie goodness left to go at the box-office,
we can look ahead to see a new crop of theatrical
releases on the 2009 horizon. In fact, from
what we can tell, 2009 is looking like an awesome
year at the movies. If all goes well, moviegoers
will see the holy grail of comic books come
to life on the big screen, the return of James
Cameron, a healthy balance of fantasy and sci-fi,
and another Terminator movie this time without
Arnold even though he said he’ll be back.

Although there are a slew of movies we’re looking forward to in
2009, and we will see, there are six that we’ve narrowed down to fit
into the "must see" category.

Movies everyone will see in 2009 unless a meteor hits the planet:

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

Star Trek

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra

Movies
we wish or hope to see in 2009:

Killing Pablo

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Movies you should see in 2009:

Shutter Island

State of Play

Movies we’re still mulling over:

Game

G-Force

Six must see movies in 2009

Taken - January 23, 2009 (Directed by Peter Morel, written by Luc Besson)

Have you seen
the trailer for Taken? If not, go
here. Originally scheduled to hit theaters
in 2008, Taken got pushed back to January
2009 and it’s going to be an awesome way to
kick off the New Year. When a group of sex traffickers
kidnap two young girls vacationing in Paris,
they have no clue one of them is the daughter
of a former CIA agent. Starring Liam Neeson,
Famke Jansen, Maggie Grace, Xander Berkely,
and Katie Cassidy, Taken will fill whatever
void that you’re still left with after the last
Bourne movie. With the cinematographer of The
Transporter movies behind the camera and a story
co-written by Luc Besson, Taken is cut
from a similar action mold with non-stop intensity.
The movie that originally sold me on Liam Neeson
was the 1986 action drama A Prayer for the Dying
in which Neeson played a member of the IRA.
Now, with over 20 years of big screen success
behind him, playing an ex-CIA hell bent on rescuing
his daughter from sex traffickers is going to
(sort of) take Neeson back to where he started
from an opposite angle. Expect a ton of action
and ass-kicking at a breakneck pace.

Why you should see it: It’s going to feel like The Bourne Identity meets The Transporter meets Commando. Happy New Year!

Inglorious Bastards - June 2009 (Directed by Quentin Tarantino)

We know
it’s Quentin Tarantino and his movies always
make for unusual retro rides, but Inglorious
Bastards has a really weird curiosity factor
going for it in the cast department. Tarantino’s
known for assembling odd and unexpected actors
for his movies, but this one might be the strangest
of all. What started out as a remake of The
Dirty Dozen only to be turned into a World War
II epic inspired from an Italian movie about
a group of Nazi killers known as "The Bastards"
fighting inside the front lines of France, Inglorious
Bastards boasts a cast that includes Brad Pitt,
Mike Myers, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, B.J. Novak,
and Cloris Leachman, among a slew of others.
Can you close your eyes and try to picture a
scene with Brad Pitt, Mike Myers, and Eli Roth?
That’s what I’m talking about. I’m willing to
bet that back in 1967 with The Dirty Dozen,
no one could picture Lee Marvin, ex-NFL great
Jim Brown, Mexican singer/dancer Trini Lopez,
and Telly Savalas together in one film.

Why you should see it: Aside from seeing what type of lunacy
Tarantino can get out of Pitt, Myers, and Roth, some words used to
describe the script and story have been "over-the-top", "insane", and
"bat-shit".

Where the Wild Things Are - October 16, 2009 (Directed by Spike Jonze)

If you’re not
familiar with Maurice Sendak’s best selling
fantasy pictorial book of the same name, check
it out before 2008 comes to a close. Trust me,
it won’t take you long but you’ll be glad you
did. If you ever got sent to your room for not
eating your supper when you were a kid, you’ll
be able to relate to the fantasy world the young
lead character Max creates for himself behind
closed doors. It’s a weird and wonderful world
where Max presides over a forest filled with
fantastically bizarre creatures. Now that the
Jackass guys have cashed in on their extreme
fifteen minutes and are finally giving their
bodies a rest, Spike Jonze at last makes his
return to the feature film director’s chair
for the first time since helming Adaptation.
This time he’s tackling a live action adaptation
of the classic fantasy tale with a cast that
includes Forest Whitaker, James Gandolfini,
Catherine Keener, Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara,
and newcomer Max Records. Although the film
was supposed to hit theaters in 2008, and Jonze
had to deal with several reshoot issues that
almost derailed the project, Where the Wild
Things Are got back on track in mid-2008...
and we’re glad it did.

Why you should see it: It’ll make up for lost time and the dollars spent on The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins - May 29, 2009 (Directed by McG)

Sure we
all got pumped when it was announced that another
Terminator movie was coming down the pike, but
it wasn’t until Christian Bale hopped onboard
the project that everyone began to take it seriously.
Although Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
was the last in the franchise to feature the
Arnie "The Governator" Schwarzenegger, The Sarah
Connor Chronicles proved that the Terminator
franchise was alive and well in the post-Arnold
era. With Bale in the role of John Connor and
McG with a budget in the vicinity of a James
Cameron-like $200 million, Terminator Salvation
also features a powerful army of acting machines
such as Anton Yelchin, Bryce Dallas Howard,
Helena Bonham Carter, Sam Worthington, Moon
Bloodgood, Common, and Michael Ironside. As
far as talent in the Terminator movies is concerned,
the Salvation cast looks to be the strongest
of the entire franchise. Also, in case you don’t
know, both the visual effects and action are
in the hands of Charles Gibson, the same guy
who did both on all three Pirates of the Caribbean
movies.

Why you should see it: To see Christian Bale as John Connor
lead the human resistance. And, if all happens to go south, to be able
to say fifty years in the future that you remember where you were when
the Terminator franchise died.

Avatar - December 18, 2009 (Directed by James Cameron)

After two
decades in development hell, James Cameron is
finally bringing the deeply complex futuristic
epic Avatar to the big screen. When you think
back to what it took for him to make Titanic,
the highest grossing movie of all time, it’s
easy to understand why Cameron stepped away
from feature films to direct, produce, and explore
a number of real life mysteries like Expedition
Bismark, Ghost of the Abyss, Aliens of the Deep,
and The Exodus Decoded. If you’re not familiar
with Avatar, it might be a good idea to avoid
as much info as possible. Starring Sam Worthington,
Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana, Michelle Rodriguez,
Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Lang, Matt Gerland,
and Wes Studi, Avatar is about a wounded ex-marine
who’s sent to another planet to plunder its
richly diverse ecosystem but finds himself at
a crucial moral crossroads with his objective
and the inhabitants of the planet. That’s really
all you need to know. It’s a story on the scale
of the famous Edgar Rice Burroughs novel John
Carter of Mars. Now that James Cameron is back
to directing huge Hollywood blockbusters after
a ten-year hiatus, Avatar could possibly set
the stage for a new era of amazing sci-fi cinema.

Why you should see it: Hello! James Cameron gave us The
Terminator and Terminator 2, Aliens, The Abyss, and Titanic. Since
sci-fi is Cameron’s specialty and with a $200 million budget, do really
think this is going to suck? For now it's safe to say, "Uhh... no!"

Watchmen - March 6, 2009 (Directed by Zack Snyder)

Like comic
book geeks really need a reason to see Watchmen.
You know you’re going anyway. For the virgins
who aren’t familiar with long awaited big screen
adaptation of Alan Moore’s revered graphic novel,
you’ll be going to see it anyway. You just don’t
know it yet. It’s funny that the film’s tagline
"Who watches the Watchmen?" has a strange real
life echo to it since by the time 2009 rolls
around the answer could be no one at all. If
Warner Bros. and Fox don’t settle up their legal
war over the ownership of rights to Watchmen,
it could be delayed indefinitely. Still, we’re
sticking to schedule along with director Zack
Snyder who’s pushing forward with the film despite
the current legal battle. It’s taken years for
Watchmen to find its way to the big screen and
I don’t know one comic book geek who isn’t dying
to see it. Although creator Alan Moore isn’t
dying to see it at all, there’s no denying the
fact that fans are counting down the days until
the holy grail of geekdom hits theaters.

Why you should see it: A - I shouldn’t have to tell you. B -
To give Zack Snyder the respect he deserves for putting his head on the
comic chopping block.

-- Larson Hill