You probably don’t know much, if anything, about the movie other than it’s been nominated for this year’s Best Picture Oscar.  You might not even have known that.  Anyway, the plot revolves around a team of three guys in Iraq who disarm IEDs.  Those are the improvised explosives along the roads that have been blowing up our tanks over there.  Basically, think of the best parts of Lethal Weapon with three guys who aren’t too old for this shit.

Though the movie is based in Iraq, it makes absolutely no political statements.  War is hell.  Period.  And here’s a story set within the latest.

Back in the old days, special effects were so expensive that directors had to build suspense without showing the real danger.  Jaws, Alien, and some Hitchcock movies are famous for this.  The Hurt Locker follows this same formula in just about every scene.  I’ve never been to Baghdad, but I can imagine the fear these soldiers face when women and children are delivering bombs.  Is the soldier having a casual conversation, or is it a diversion for an IED deployment?  Intense.

Like I mentioned earlier, The Hurt Locker is up for Best Picture.  My favorite of the year is still District 9, but only barely.  If The Hurt Locker wins, it will very much deserve it.

Go rent this before Sunday’s Oscars.  It’s a ride worth taking.

Grade: A+

Best Picture

• AVATAR

• THE BLIND SIDE

• DISTRICT 9

• AN EDUCATION

• THE HURT LOCKER

• INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

• PRECIOUS

• A SERIOUS MAN

• UP

• UP IN THE AIR

For those that didn’t know, there are ten nominees for Best Picture (the only category with that number).  Some great movies in that list, but I’m ecstatic to see District 9 in there.

You can find the rest of the nominees HERE.

The Book of Eli is sort of like a Man With No Name tale…except that his name is in the title for no reason.  The story would have been stronger had he not had a name, but whatever.  Anyway, the “Book” refers to The Bible.  Eli Washington is on a quest to bring the last existing Bible to a place God told him, but has to go through a town run by Gary Oldman.  Oldman just so happens to want a Bible so that he can use the power of religion to control the masses.  If you enjoy classic Gary Oldman villians, then you’re in for a treat.  He plays the part to perfection.

Obviously there are a few religious themes going on, but they are all handled well.  Denzel plays the quiet apostle on a mission from God, while Oldman embodies the famous quote by C.S. Lewis: “Of all bad men, religious bad men are the worst.”  Everything is left vague enough to draw your own conclusions about a theme, but good movies get you talking and thinking about things like that.

One last point I need to make is about the cinematography.  It’s gorgeous.  That’s probably an odd thing to say about a movie set amidst total destruction, but just like the desert, there can be beauty in the wasteland.  That’s why folks go to places God never intended.  Like Arizona.

The Book of Eli has been out for a few weeks and isn’t getting treated very well by the critics.  I can only guess it’s because they wanted another Mad Max clone.  I wanted a “Western in the Wasteland” and that’s exactly what I got.  Adjust your expectations accordingly.

Grade: B

Extract comes from the same guys who did Office Space (Mike Judge), but tells the story from the management side of things.  Sure, fewer people can relate to those stories and jokes, but I can still imagine veins of comedy gold existing there.  Especially when the premise of Extract is about a smaller company getting bought out by a corporate giant.  Comedy gold, right?

Wrong.  Extract is horrible.  Not only do they do nothing with the corporate giant plot, they remove all likable characters and spend too much time on a stupid infidelity sub-plot.  There are some (possibly) funny characters introduced at the factory, but they are completely one dimensional.  Gene Simmons can’t even work in a memorable joke or two.  But maybe that’s to be expected.

All in all, this is a complete waste of time similar to extracting vitamins from turd nuggets.  Stay away.

Grade: D-

What followed was a documentary on the electric guitar by The Edge, Jimmy Paige, and that dude from The White Stripes.  Whoa.  Now I’m not the biggest White Stripes fan, but I get lost in the music of U2 and Led Zeppelin.  I remember watching U23D and completely forgetting I was in a theater.  When I regained my sense of awareness, I wondered if my singing along had been out loud.

That feeling was exactly what I needed for this flight.  The movie is a little stingy with some of the classic tunes, but watching those three guys jam together more than made up for it.  It also helped that they all seemed to be enjoying themselves.  Of course, when you’re jamming with some of the greatest guitarists ever, who wouldn’t?

I’m sure my seating situation greatly influenced my enjoyment of this movie.  But next time you’re in a similar situation, maybe have this one on hand.  It’ll make the flight much more enjoyable.

Grade: B+

Here we go…

#10) The Blind Side – $193M (and counting)
Touching story, but probably won’t be remembered long.

#9) Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – $196M
I’ve had this on Blu-Ray for weeks but haven’t had a chance to watch it. Maybe I can finally check it out this weekend.

#8) Monsters Vs. Aliens – $198M
Absolute garbage. Avoid this if you’ve been spared a viewing.

#7) Star Trek - $258M
This movie set the standard for all future franchise reboots. I’ve heard that even non-Trek fans love this. It’s fantastic.

#6) Avatar - $269M (and counting)
Avatar is still pulling in over $70M per weekend. It could easily turn out to be #1 of the year. More on it below…

#5) The Hangover – $277M
One of the funnier R-rated comedies in years. I’m off to Vegas next week, so I may have to watch this again before I go.

#4) The Twilight Saga: New Moon – $284M
I am so excited for this on DVD. With the additional Rifftrax soundtrack, I fully expect another two hours of pure comedy gold.

#3) Up - $293M
Pixar once again shows their genius. Go rent this.

#2) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – $302M
Only one more movie (split in two) left. At this point, I’m more interested to see where the careers of the Potter kids go.

#1) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – $402M
We’re to blame for this. Bastards.

(Thanks BoxofficeMojo)

My Favorites:

Of all the films I enjoyed in 2009, these fall into what I consider a “Must See.” In order:

Taken: Fantastic movie with Liam Neeson as Mr. BadAss. I challenge you to not get emotionally wrapped up in the story. It’s intense. Even on a second viewing, the ending still got me.

Up: There is no dialog in the first ten minutes. By minute eleven, you’ll be in tears. Brilliant storytelling like this needs to be seen.

Avatar: Go see this in 3D before it leaves the theaters. You’ve never experienced anything like it. I’ve seen it twice and still want to see it again.

District 9: Where Avatar showed you can make a good movie with gobs of cash, District 9 proved you could do the same with only $30M. It uses the elements of Sci-Fi as a thin wrapper over deep, human themes that hit a little close to home.

So that wraps up the year. There are a few rumblings of Oscar nominees and I don’t think I’ve seen any of them. That will be my project for January.

See everyone in 2010.

The Blind Side opens with the NFL play that ended Joe Theismann’s career (In YouTube quality, no less).  When the entire audience gasped, I realized not everyone had seen that before.  Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t fully explain why they open with that clip.  There’s a reason given, but it’s weak and explained poorly.  My guess is that it’s there to fool all the men into thinking they really weren’t at a chick flick.

When I watched the trailers, I was certain this was going to be one of those movies that make your eyes all sweaty.  But it’s not.  At all, really.  It’s heartwarming and kinda cool to see the life story (Hollywood style) of this football player.  The conflicts are kind of weak and forced, but that’s a minor quibble.  If you’re in the mood for a non-rom-com chick flick, give it a rental in a few months.

Grade: B

Cameron just wasn’t learning about 3D this past decade.  He was also developing a process to animate believable, human expressions on CG characters.  That Uncanny Valley is too great of a challenge to just sit there, I guess.  WETA (The Lord of the Rings guys) mirrored real, full body performances of the actors onto blue, ten-foot tall CG aliens.  Before Avatar’s release, there were plenty of doubts about if this could work.  If it didn’t, you could bet there would be drinking games around all of the Smurfs and Thundercats jokes.  Fortunately, it all came together perfectly.

So there’s two paragraphs of me gushing about the technology in this movie.  The plot?  Wellll, it’s a story you’ve heard a few times.  But that’s not to say it’s bad.  In fact, other movies who have used it have won Oscars.  None of them had blue aliens, but neither has anyone created a world so amazing as Pandora (the planet).  The Discovery Channel could film a sequel to Planet Earth, call it Planet Pandora, and it would be just as good, or better than the orig- our real planet.  It’s an incredible feast for your senses.  And the best part?  No time is taken to explain the marvels of this planet.  It just exists, yet retains the wonder and mystery.

Avatar is meant to be seen in 3D.  But even if you take a trip to Pandora in 2D, go.  You’ve never experienced anything quite like it.

Grade: A

Read it here.

There’s a saying in highly complicated manufacturing processes that it’s all “a bit like making sausage.”  You’ll enjoy the end product, but you really don’t want to know how it’s made.  Food, Inc. shows how all of our food is a bit like making sausage.  Those packages of meat at the grocery store go through a process so bizarre, you’d be tempted to go vegetarian if you knew how they got there.  Sadly, vegetables aren’t much better.

I first saw posters of this movie in Chipotle.  That restaurant pushes its “Organic” ingredients so I kind of knew what to expect going into this.  Still, actually watching how we raise and slaughter our chickens, pigs, and cows turned my stomach.  There’s a Proverb that says, “A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.”  In your eyes, slaughtering animals for food may be cruel in any capacity, but I don’t go too far down that road.  There’s a lengthy scene in the movie where we watch an organic chicken farmer slaughter chickens.  It’s graphic, sure, but when compared to how the large chicken farms are harvested, there is a very clear line between humane and cruel.

I’m not sure what effect this movie will have on people.  I’ve heard some say we’re just at the mercy of evil corporations, but I was glad to see Food, Inc. show that’s not the case.  Corporations follow the money.  If we want healthier food, it’s our responsibility to shift our spending that direction.

Grade: A