Best of 2009: Anything you can do... (Part 1)

Top Movie Trends of 2009

The new year is upon us and with the Golden Globes just around the corner and the Oscars not far behind, it’s time to look back at another year gone by and reminisce about the films of 2009.  And yes, there will be lists…lots and lots of lists.  Isn’t it fun being internet trendy?

To start things off, before we start handing out our cash valueless awards and equally harmless dubious distinctions, let’s look back at some of the recurring themes in films of last year with the top 5 (and thus the lists begin) Movie Trends of 2009.  The bottom 3 are listed below, check back Thursday for the top 2.

5. In Another Robot’s Blue Cat Person’s Man’s Shoes

While Avatar wins the award for the only film people will remember using this concept, 2009 was definitely the year of films about living vicariously through other bodies.  Starting in April with the Alex Rivera Independent film Sleep Dealers about a robotic U.S. labor force piloted remotely by Mexicans via a virtual network, the trend continued with the over-the-top Neveldine and Taylor (Crank, Crank: High Voltage) video game critique Gamer where bratty young kids piloted death row inmates in a real world FPS called “Slayers” while fat recluses piloted down-on-their-luck naked chicks in a hedonistic social sphere called “Society.”  The remote living trend continued with the September adaptation of the acclaimed graphic novel Surrogates where in the near future humans forsake the image pressures and physical dangers of real bodies for idealized robotic ones, that is until operators start dying when their robot counterparts are zapped by a mysterious assailant.  Lastly, and certainly not least, James Cameron used the body switching magic for his sci-fi epic Avatar where humans inhabit 13 foot tall, blue cat bodies in order to communicate with the Na'vi, the natives of the alien world Pandora.

Despite the common recurrence of the theme, all of the films mentioned, except for Avatar, took a fairly negative perspective on the trading of real world bodies for remote ones, with both Gamer and Surrogates making some pretty pointed criticisms at the modern trend of MMORPGs and other real life virtual worlds like Second Life.  Avatar on the other hand seemed to idealize leaving behind the old crippled life for a better, more fantastic one, or as friend jokingly put it, “I think moral of Avatar is that if I play World of Warcraft long enough, I never have to leave.”

4. Disambiguation

This year I ran into something during conversations about movies that's never happened to me before.  I’d be talking about a film, then several confused minutes later a friend would say, “what are you talking about?”

 “9,” I’d say. 

“Nine?” they’d reply.

“Yes, 9,” I’d say again.

“I thought it was a musical?”

“What?... Oh! No, I meant 9, not Nine.”

“Ohhh, 9.  I thought you were talking about Nine.”

“Yeah, 9. Not Nine.”

 "Gotcha, 9.  Yeah it sucked."

Thus the trend.  Movies with the same name as other movies.  While 9, the CG animated film based on the Academy Award winning short film, and Nine, the film adaptation of the Broadway musical, are certainly the worst offenders I've noticed, there were not alone in introducing homonymn-ic confusion into my film conversation this year. 

Sadly, this was also year I decided to watch the cartoon series Avatar which is not to be confused with the James Cameron film Avatar, but it was, several times in fact during various conversations and even podcasts.  It got to the point that every time I said I had been watching Avatar I had to explain myself at length, and much to my chagrin.  Fortunately M. Night had a solution for his upcoming film adaptation of the Nickelodeon series and decided to go with The Last Airbender and drop the “Avatar” bit all together. 

Of course M. Night was not the first director who had to change the name of their film this year because someone else had beaten them to it.  The Lee Daniels film Precious had originally premiered at Sundance as Push but was altered after the action film Push went wide before it did. 

I’ve also found myself mixing up the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man with the Tom Ford film A Single Man, especially that both are now vying for awards, but what can you do.

5. Welcome Back

2009 also heralded many returns to cinema after prolonged hiatuses (hiatus-i?) by several cinematic personalities and concepts.

Directors

2009 saw the return of several directors either to film entirely or to the film genres that had made them famous. 

After being out of the narrative film-making game for 10 years, James Cameron returned to the cinematic spot-light with a vengeance with his second highest grossing film of all time, both personally and in the world, Avatar.  Joining him in a 10 year break from film was director Troy Duffy who returned with the long awaited sequel to the cult hit The Boondock Saints with the slightly formulaic but nevertheless fun romp The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. 

Action director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, K-19: The Widowmaker) returned after 7 years with the nail-biting Iraq war film The Hurt Locker, and Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) returned to feature films after 8 years to give us the awe-inspiring stop-motion film Coraline.  Peter Jackson (The LOTR series) also returned after a four year stint following his last film King Kong with the film adaptation of the book The Lovely Bones.

Sam Raimi, renowned for his horror films with a sense of humor, movies like Evil Dead and Army of Darkness, returned to his first love with Drag Me to Hell after spending most of the first decade of the new millennium building up and then tearing down the Spiderman franchise.

Film Franchises

2009 was also a year for bringing back (or at least attempting to bring back) well known film franchises, certainly not a new notation, but definitely rarer than its more common cousin, the remake.

After a sever year mission in deep space (following the film which will not be named) Star Trek returned to the silver screen under the new command of Lost series creator J.J. Abrams, and with resounded success both in the box office and in the eyes of critics and franchise fans alike.  Sadly, other attempts to bring dead series to life did not bode as well.  Director McG (Charlie's Angels, We Are Marshall) officially nailed shut the coffin on the Terminator series with his recast, re-imagined installment Terminator Salvation.  Similarly, studios tried unsuccessfully to refurbish the 2001 The Fast and The Furious franchise by bringing back its original cast and removing the “The's” from the title.  I will say to McG’s credit that he did give us the hilarious ranting Christian Bale, and for that I almost forgive him for wrecking what could have been a great film.  Almost.

Disney

This year also heralded the return of old school 2D animation with delightfully fun The Princess and the Frog by Disney animation studios, the first since 2004’s forgettable Home on the Range.  Ever since John Lasseter took over as chief creative officer of both Pixar and Disney animation studios, he stated a wish to produce 2D animated films theatrical again, saying the medium was an excellent way to train and discover new talent in the company.  Could 2009 be the start of the 4th Golden Age of Disney Animation?  With the Quality of The Princess and the Frog, it just might be.

...To Be Continued (sorry, some of us need to sleep)