2009 was a hell of a year! Take what you want from that. On a personal level I’m not sure I’ve ever had a year like the one that just passed. While many of my friends and family were going through some pretty major “life stuff” Megan and I achieved a lifelong goal of completing a feature length movie. Right now amongst the 600+ movies I own sits a DVD containing a movie I wrote, my sister directed and that we produced together. A movie we actually screened in a theatre for scores of people, one that we have and are submitting to countless film festivals. No matter how you slice it that’s a hell of a thing.
This last year also saw me write and photograph a children’s book and take multiple meetings with multiple people about another script of mine that may HOPEFULLY get made. On top of all that I got deeply involved with some of the politics and inner-workings of the County of Orange, worked on a church plant and spent more time in the doctor’s office than at any point in my life due to a respiratory infection at the beginning of the year and a pretty gnarly, completely unknown, very frustrating ailment afflicting me now.
Through all that and SO much more I was still able to see over 50 of the films that were released in 2009 as well as multiple classics and older films. While I wish that number were higher, weekends up in LA doing post-production on END (The aforementioned movie Megan and I made), trips to the doctors office and lots of other things ultimately did impact how often I made it to the theatre. Even then I can’t complain too much because if you think about it I still averaged at least 1 new movie a week for the entire year.
Of course this is all preamble to warn you that it’s that time of year again. It’s the beginning of 2010 so it’s time for me (And I would assume everyone else that contributes to this blog) to look back at the year that was. This is the first of several posts you’ll see from me dissecting the year in film circa 2009.
Because of everything that went on in my life (And those around me) it gave me some interesting perspectives on some of the films you’ll see me talk about. The reason I mentioned completing a movie of my own wasn’t to gloat (Well okay, maybe a little) its so that you would understand doing such a thing really gave me an appreciation for certain aspects of film making that until now I only knew on an academic level. For instance through the long, arduous process of getting our movie finished I discovered I am very much NOT a post-production kind of guy so my appreciation for the people that handle that end of any movie sky-rocketed.
It should also be noted that sadly there are a lot of movies that I still really want to see that I haven’t been able to check out yet. Normally I hold off on this sort of list until Oscar time but by then if feels like I’m just dragging everything out and that there’s really no point in posting anything because the dead horse has been beaten enough already. This year, I decided to simply talk about what I was able to see in the 2009 calendar year. As such there are some glaring omissions that I’m sure might have made my list had I been able see them. Off the top of my head I have a feeling THE LOVELY BONES, A SIMPLE MAN, A SINGLE MAN, AN EDUCATION, NINE, CRAZY HEART, THE LAST STATION, IT’S COMPLICATED, INVICTUS, THE ROAD, PRECIOUS and a whole host of others may deserve some recognition, but I’m working with what I’ve got so just go with me.
Before I sign off I do want to say one more thing. 2009 was a kick-ass year for movies. I’m sorry but it was. I don’t know where exactly it ranks amongst years past yet but at least in terms of genre cinema… wow, simply wow! The last year of the decade was a banner year for sci-fi and funny enough family entertainment as I’m sure you’ll see reflected in my next few posts. What the year lacked in great in dramas it more than made up for in movies that you know… most people actually watch. Here’s hoping we’ll see at least a little more of the same in 2010. Stay tuned…
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