Fav Movies '09

Favorite Movies of 2009

Note: these are in no particular order. With movies I like, it highly depends on mood, so I don’t know how to quantify these things.

Warning: minor spoiler alerts

1) Star Trek - tradition be damned. this was an ass kicking, action packed movie with a good back-story and a believable villain. also, what geek didn't feel a half chub when we met father spock?

2) The Hurt Locker - not a typical war movie. not preachy, not glamorous. just good intense drama and dialog. couple things i didn't like: lack of air support for one, but those were minor flaws.

3) Zombieland - over the top zombie killing hilarity. cameo from bill murray = solid fucking gold. For fans of dawn of the dead.

4) District 9 - would be higher but i couldn't get over the way the aliens could mimic human emotion...seemed sort of plastic, but i understand why the director wanted it that way. last 20 minutes was the shit and left it open for a sequel (yes please!)

5) Coraline - reminded me so much of a tim burton movie. pure fun and creative animation with fitting music. on top of that, terri hatcher had some nice dialogue in this one.

6) Drag Me To Hell - my type of horror movie. mixed bits of comedy, lots of blood, loud and no lame twists or "boo" moments. sam raimi being sam raimi...certainly a better theater movie

7) Inglorious Basterds - just too surreal for me, even for a tarantino movie. he flipped between serious tension to random way too quickly. he's still a brilliant writer, but shit on a stick, were there way too many subtitles! this was like reading a book and it took away from some of the acting nuances. great story, not the best execution. still, this is tarantino through and through. he overindulges, pretty much to a fault. you either like it or don't, but he is unique.

8) Adventureland - quirky 80s goodness

9) Watchmen - not as good as the comic, but the comic was monumental. i quite enjoyed the alternate ending and james earl jones did a great job playing rorschach. costume design was top notch and dialog was pretty accurate. comic snobs should just appreciate the effort.

10) Moon - the landscapes were stunning and rockwell did a good job playing two separate characters, not an easy task. also highly original, kudos.

you may be asking, where is The Hangover? there were a couple laugh out loud moments, but it was so unreal yet serious in its premises, that i couldn't get into it. i need unreal + goofy to pull that off. i may have developed a small man crush for zach galifinakos or whatever though...

yet to see avatar and a couple others and there's more "worthy" movies this year

Top 30 Albums of 2009

new external hard drive to dump some of my dad's heroes episodes. i have another sports related post in the works but for now...i present my top 30 albums of 2009:

1) Converge - Axe to Fall

2) Gaza - He Is Never Coming Back

3) Kylesa - Static Tensions

4) Baroness - Blue Album

5) Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough

6) Coalesce - OX

7) Burnt By The Sun - Heart of Darkness

8) Cobalt - Gin

9) Ancestors - Of Sound Mind

10) Black Math Horseman - Wyllt

11) Goatwhore - Carving Out The Eyes of God

12) Weekend Nachos - Unforgiveable

13) Tombs - Winter Hours

14) Russian Circles - Geneva

15) Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue

16) Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 4

17) Slayer – World Painted Blood

18) Mastodon - Crack the Skye

19) Snowgoons - The Trojan Horse

20) Oddisee - Mental Liberation

21) Shpongle - Ineffable Mysteries from Sphongleland

22) Mos def - The Ecstatic

23) People Under The Stairs - Carried Away

24) Bk-One - Radio de Canibal

25) Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs

26) Goes Cube - Another Day Has Passed

27) Funeral Mist - Marantha

28) Gallows - Grey Britain

29) Between The Buried & Me - The Great Misdirect

30) Anti-Flag - The People or The Gun

Honorable Mention:

Dying fetus

Vader

Yob

Insomnium

Animal Collective

RA The Rugged Man

Keelhaul

PS: too lazy for a description/summary right now. consider yourself lucky with this much.

NBA Draft 2009

If I had to sum up this year's draft in one word: unpredictable. Mock drafts across the country were blown up, if not after the first five picks, then the first 10 picks. I will highlight some players I feel good about, some "project" players and players I feel were underrated and will make solid contributions.

Here are my "sure guys": Blake Griffin, James Harden, Jonny Flynn, Terence Williams, Tyreke Evans

Let's start with the #1 pick. I'm sure Clippers lost no sleep over this. At worst, I see Blake Griffin being a stronger Antonio McDyess player and at best, I see him being a mix of Karl Malone & Tim Duncan. He doesn't have near the footwork of Duncan, but he can put the ball on the floor a bit and is also much more athletic. He will be a Rookie of the Year candidate and a solid starter for years to come. 95% of players have weaknesses and Griffin's is low post work, but he can only improve from here on out.

Project Players: Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill
Underrated: DeJaun Blair (steal of the draft IMO)

12/4/09 Update: So ya, that was almost six months late (time of creating blog really) and I still like all my picks, except Terence Williams. Griffin is coming off an injury. Williams is developing slower than I thought. He's a bit of a tweener, not good enough to be a great rookie SG and also not a great passer. At least yet.

Biggest surprise thus far has to be Brandon Jennings, even though his shot is falling off lately. If the Bucks make the playoffs, he's a major reason why.