15 Movies* You Should Watch In 2009
*Besides The Blockbusters
Public Enemies
Johnny Depp plays John Dillinger in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, a film based on Brian Burrough’s nonfiction book “Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34.” As legend reality had it, Dillinger’s repeated escapes from jail, fast get-away cars, and superior firepower made him a gangster tour de force. J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI had no choice but to brand him as Public Enemy No. 1. With the director-writer-producer of Heat and The Last of the Mohicans behind the wheel, expect nothing short of a frenetic masculine endeavor.
Release Date: July 1st, 2009
Sherlock Holmes
Joel Silver, one of Sherlock Holmes’ producers, stated that this film will be “like James Bond in 1891.” Sure, what do producers know? But Silver is totally right. Holmes, played by Robert Downey Jr., is not just a giant brain inside a tweed suit but a re-invented action hero, one with swagger and a fighting skills repertoire that includes bare-knuckle boxing and baritsu – a martial arts form derived directly from Sir Conan Doyle’s books. With Guy Ritchie as director, expect a film that is fast paced, but also faithful to the period (recall his obsession for British accents in Snatch & Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels). Lets hope the calabash pipe serves Downey Jr. well.
Release Date: December 25th, 2009
Nailed
When you are a screenwriter for SNL and your father is Al Gore, you bet your ass you have what it takes (and the material) to win Emmy Awards for making people laugh. Kristin Gore teams up with David O’Russell, the director of I Heart Huckabees, to write the script for Nailed, a politically-charged comedy about a small-town waitress (Jessica Biel) who lobbies for better healthcare for the bizarrely injured after a nail was accidentally lodged in her brain. Under the shrewdly screwball direction of O’Russell, expect offbeat (read: f-ed up) humor that will not appeal to the masses but serve as welcome relief from all the teenage flicks re-hashing the same hipster and stoner jokes. Oh and did I forget to mention that Tracy Morgan will be in this film?
Release Date: TBA 2009
The Limits of Control
When Indie Kingpin Jim Jarmusch collaborates with Christopher Doyle, an acclaimed cinematographer who has done everything from DJ Shadow music videos to Gus Van Sant flicks, you get cult favorites like Ghost Dog and Coffee and Cigarettes. Expect no different with The Limits of Control, a film starring Isaach De Bankole as the French ice cream man, a lone wolf criminal undertaking a job in Spain. Other cast members include Bill Murray and Gael Garcia Bernal (Amores Perros, Y Tu Mama Tambien). Note: considering this is a Jarmusch film, there is a 10% chance members of Wu-Tang Clan will spit out some cameo rhymes.
Release Date: May 1st, 2009 (Limited)
Tyson
After a screening for the documentary Tyson, I had two questions for the fat, balding director who sat on his high stool quoting Walt Whitman: 1) How did you get close to Tyson, considering his distrust for “leeches” as he calls ‘em onscreen and 2) what kinda asshole asks a two part question at a screening, especially quoting a derogatory groupie remark? Wisely, I kept my mouth shut – for perhaps 30 min – as James Toback ranted about the orgy parties at Jim Brown’s house (to the silent and horrified imaginings of the audience) and the times he spent tripping on LSD in the surrounding areas of this Boston-area cinema. Afterwards, it all made sense. This director, of a riveting account on a prize fighter you most likely hate, was brutally honest in front of complete strangers. His film is no different and that is why it succeeds.
Release Date: Now Playing (April 24th, 2009) (NY, LA)
Biutiful
In director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s latest Spanish-language film Biutful, Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) stars as “a man embroiled in shady dealings who is confronted by a childhood friend, now a policeman.” Before you are discouraged by the shallow plot logline and the fact that there will be subtitles (I know, I know, it has to be City of God good), know this: before Iñárritu created 2000 Best Foreign Film Amore Perros, he was a full-time DJ mixing and matching beats. With that kinda life skill, he holds a comprehension for pacing as well as an uncanny ability to weave a compelling, non-linear tale as seen in English-language films Babel and 21 Grams.
Release Date: December 11th, 2009
Brooklyn’s Finest
If you were left wanting more after seeing Training Day, fear not as director Antoine Fuqua is set to release his latest cop thriller Brooklyn’s Finest. Made outside of the studio system, Brooklyn’s Finest stars Ethan Hawke, Richard Gere, and Don Cheadle as fractured souls of the badge caught in an underworld of violence and moral ambiguity.
Release Date: November 27th, 2009 (Limited)
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Great reviews and a cool selection of films. Funny, I just finished reading The Road and I'm super interested to see how it translates to the screen. I have an inkling it'll emphasize the action more than the other stuff in the book… but I dunno… maybe it'll be all moody and really work (for anyone who hasn't read the book it's like the jacket says: harrowing, tense and sad). Being a patriot I think everyone should also take a look at the Aussie animation film Mary and Max 'cos it's fun and poignant, as well as the Aussie classic Wake in Fright remastered and screening again at Cannes. Go Aussies!
Wow! Being a Depp fan, I'll definitely have to check out Public Enemies. Thanks for the article - what a great idea.
The tonal integrity and cinematography will no doubt be a huge part of how this movie is carried out. It was only shot on overcast days in coal fields, dunes, run down mill towns of PA, and Katrina ravaged areas. The same director did The Proposition (also with Guy Pearce) which had beautiful shots from what I remember…a great Western set in your home country no less…
SOLID List.
really looking forward to The Invention of Lying. They filmed it in the town I lived in in MA. Great cast…should be good.
In re: "Sherlock Holmes," Doyle never characterized his erudite investigator as having smoked a calabash pipe. To the contrary, one of few direct acknowledgments of Holmes displaying any preference of pipe was written in "A Case of Identity" as follows: "Then he took down from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a counsellor [sic], and, having it, he leaned back in his chair, with the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of infinite languor in his face." Alternatively, Holmes was written to have favored a "long cherry-wood pipe" (likely a churchwarden) with which he was "wont to replace his clay when he was in a disputatious rather than a meditative mood" [The Adventure of the Copper Beeches]. The association between Holmes and the dramatic calabash pipe is likely the invention of stage actors who took artistic liberties for the sakes of stage presence and gravitas.
In re: "Sherlock Holmes," Doyle never characterized his erudite investigator as having smoked a calabash pipe. To the contrary, one of few direct acknowledgments of Holmes displaying any preference of pipe was written in "A Case of Identity" as follows: "Then he took down from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a counsellor [sic], and, having it, he leaned back in his chair, with the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of infinite languor in his face." Alternatively, Holmes was written to have favored a "long cherry-wood pipe" (likely a churchwarden) with which he was "wont to replace his clay when he was in a disputatious rather than a meditative mood" [The Adventure of the Copper Beeches]. The association between Holmes and the dramatic calabash pipe is likely the invention of stage actors who took artistic liberties for the sakes of stage presence and gravitas.
Though I can't discern the tell-tale White Spot on the stem of Downey's pipe, I'd wager a guess that it's a Dunhill prince with a dark shell finish. Jude Law endorses Dunhill suits, after all, so it's nothing short of feasible.
In re: "Sherlock Holmes," Doyle never characterized his erudite investigator as having smoked a calabash pipe. To the contrary, one of few direct acknowledgments of Holmes displaying any preference of pipe was written in "A Case of Identity" as follows: "Then he took down from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a counsellor [sic], and, having it, he leaned back in his chair, with the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of infinite languor in his face." Alternatively, Holmes was written to have favored a "long cherry-wood pipe" (likely a churchwarden) with which he was "wont to replace his clay when he was in a disputatious rather than a meditative mood" [The Adventure of the Copper Beeches]. The association between Holmes and the dramatic calabash pipe is likely the invention of stage actors who took artistic liberties for the sakes of stage presence and gravitas.
Though I can't discern the tell-tale White Spot on the stem of Downey's pipe, I'd wager a guess that it's a Dunhill prince with a dark shell finish. Jude Law endorses Dunhill suits, after all, so it's nothing short of feasible to assume he'd be tapped to furnish the pipe.
In re: "Sherlock Holmes," Doyle never characterized his erudite investigator as having smoked a calabash pipe. To the contrary, one of few direct acknowledgments of Holmes displaying any preference of pipe was written in "A Case of Identity" as follows: "Then he took down from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a counsellor [sic], and, having it, he leaned back in his chair, with the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of infinite languor in his face." Alternatively, Holmes was written to have favored a "long cherry-wood pipe" (likely a churchwarden) with which he was "wont to replace his clay when he was in a disputatious rather than a meditative mood" [The Adventure of the Copper Beeches]. The association between Holmes and the dramatic calabash pipe is likely the invention of actors who took artistic liberties for the sakes of stage presence and gravitas.
Though I can't discern the tell-tale White Spot on the stem of Downey's pipe, I'd wager a guess that it's a Dunhill prince with a dark shell finish. Jude Law endorses Dunhill suits, after all, so it's nothing short of feasible to assume he'd be tapped to furnish the pipe.
Great information, Eben. You're absolutely right. To further solidify your point, the calabash's anatomy was designed to produce a mellowing effect which is counterintuitive to the objective of Holmes' hard-hitting sessions (running 50-minutes or longer): to self-induce a problem-solving trance, such that his study would be "so filled with the smoke that the light of the lamp upon the table was blurred by it “ (The Hound of Baskervilles).
Bringing the savage beauty of the book to the big screen will no doubt be difficult but I have faith in director John Hillcoat. His film The Proposition (a Western set in your Australia - also w. Guy Pearce) was well made, especially the cinematography…The Road should be no different in setting the right tone with footage shot only on overcast days in run down mill towns, dunes, and areas ravaged by natural disasters like Katrina.
should have included where the wild things are in this list. i'd say public enemies and sherlock holmes are blockbusters.