Tag Archives: drama

10 Best Films of 2009

Posted on by Arleigh

While some have called 2009 as not being so great in terms of quality films, there have been others who think the year was a very good year for films from start to finish. Not all the best films of 2009 came out during the so-called “awards season” from October thru December. Some of the worst films, in my opinion, were released very late in the year and clearly done so to try and force its way into award contention. While the year of 2009 saw some very good films come out early in the year and, to my surprise, even during the popcorn and brainless season of the summer blockbusters.

My list consists of the 10 films I saw in 2009 which I believe to be the best of all them. Some people will probably agree with me on and some won’t. Some of my picks may have been little seen outside of independent arthouse theaters or film festivals but it doesn’t diminish just how much I think it deserves inclusion in a “best of” list. In the end, I thought these films doesn’t just celebrate what’s great about films but also celebrating those filmmakers who show that when given room to breathe and do things their way magic can still happen.

10. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans (dir. Werner Herzog)

9. The Messenger (dir. Oren Moverman)

8. Collapse (dir. Chris Smith)

7. Moon (dir. Duncan Jones)

6. Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (dir. Uli Edel)

5. Avatar (dir. James Cameron)

4. Up In The Air (dir. Jason Reitman)

3. District 9 (dir. Neill Blomkamp)

2. Inglourious Basterds (dir. Quentin Tarantino

1. The Hurt Locker (dir. Kathryn Bigelow)

20 Favorite TV Shows of the Past Decade

Posted on by Arleigh

The beginning of the new millenium brought to tv something which was relegated to MTV for most of the 1990’s. I speak of the so-called “reality tv” shows like The Real World and Road Rules. They were a nice enough diversion from the usualy network and cable fare. They drew great ratings for a cable show and with each successive season for both series becoming more and more like car-wrecks with their beautiful and quite fake cast members the other networks began to take notice. In comes from nowhere Mark Burnett and his pitch to the CBS network of a survival show where ordinary citizens picked to play were to try and survive the season until only one is left to win the million dollar cash prize. Thus was born the reality-tv show, Survivor.

Soon other networks began to greenlight their own reality-tv shows (which were as real as some of the boobs on the cast of later Real World cast members). Fox gave us American Idol. NBC would introduce The Biggest Loser and Donald Trump’s The Apprentice. ABC got into the act with Who Wants to be A Millionaire then with The Bachelor (and to show they were not sexist, The Bachelorette). Even cable channels like The Food Network, Bravo and AMC got into the reality-tv show. Hell, even The Discovery Channel started their own which actually delivered on the label of “reality-tv” with their very popular series, Deadliest Catch.

While the decade from 2000-thru-2009 seemed to be dominated by these cheap to produce “reality shows” the decade had their bonafide hits of every kind. Every type of show were ably represented from comedies, dramas, police procedurals to pop-level shows. The Writer’s Strike of 2007-2008 ended some very good shows just when they were about to breakout. While of some these shows were able to get a second-chance either with a follow-up full season (many series had seasons cut short due to the strike) others got picked up by cable networks like USA or TNT.

Below is the list of the 20 of my favorite tv shows of the past decade. I decided against doing a “Best of…” list since some shows that many would say should be on the list won’t be since I never really watched them or got into them. So, as a list of favorites I’m able to decide on picking shows I’ve actually spent time watching at least halfway into the first season, if not all of the episodes shown.

  1. The Wire (HBO)
  2. Rome (HBO)
  3. Deadwood (HBO)
  4. Dexter (Showtime)
  5. The Shield (FX)
  6. Sons of Anarchy (FX)
  7. Battlestar Galactica (SciFi)
  8. Supernatural (CW)
  9. South Park (Comedy Central)
  10. The Chappelle Show (Comedy Central)
  11. 24 (Fox)
  12. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (fuck you Fox!)
  13. Deadliest Catch (Discovery Channel)
  14. MadMen (AMC)
  15. Burn Notice (USA)
  16. Jericho (CBS)
  17. Chuck (NBC)
  18. NCIS (CBS)
  19. The Universe (The History Channel)
  20. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (The Food Network)

Inception 2nd Teaser Trailer

Posted on by Arleigh

I still have no clear idea what Christopher Nolan’s follow-up film to The Dark Knight is all about. Inception seems to be about the power of the mind to alter things. From this latest trailer there a sense of Proyas’ Dark City in the some of the visuals and more than just a passing influence from the Wachowski Brothers’ Matrix Trilogy. But this being Nolan whatever influences we may see will probably be supplanted by his own take on the nature of reality, memory and dreams.

If rumors are true about the supposed budget for this film (some saying it’s 200million or more) then Nolan is really inching towards Cameron territory when it comes to acquiring the sort of budget to make his ideas come to life. I’m interested in knowing if Nolan will be shooting some of this film on IMAX like how he did some of the more expansive sequences in The Dark Knight. From the look of some of the scenes in this trailer I wouldn’t be shocked if he did.

ThinkHero: http://www.thinkhero.com/2009/12/28/inception-teaser-trailer-2-video/

HD ver. @Quicktime: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/inception/