My films of 2009

One of the wonders of living in York is the City Screen cinema by the river. I love this cinema, and saw a good few films there this year.

Its review of the year time, but sadly 2009 hasn't been a vintage year for filmgoers. Nevertheless, for your consideration, here are my top ten films I watched at the cinema in 2009:

1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. The Wrestler
3= Doubt
3= Away We Go
5. Up (3D)
6= Revolutionary Road
6= Gran Torino
8. Star Trek
9. Das Weisse Band - The White Ribbon
10. Moon

With an honourable mention to Synecdoche, New York.

There have been some great films that I've missed. But so you know the sample I'm basing this on. Here are all the films I saw at the cinema this year:

(500) Days of Summer
A serious man
Away We Go
Breakfast at Tiffany's (rerelease)
Che - Part One
Das Weisse Band - The White Ribbon
District 9
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Gomorra / Gomorrah
Gran Torino
Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince
Milk
Moon
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire
Star Trek
State Of Play
Synecdoche, New York
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Wrestler
Up (3D)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Where the Wild Things Are

Wall-E discussion notes

I am supposed to be leading a film discussion on Wall-E soon. Peter Dray's recent comments on doing this are very timely. Particularly need to ensure that we appreciate the artistry in this beautiful film. Anyway, for what it is worth, these are my notes on where I want to go with the discussion:

Did people enjoy the film?  Anything in particular?

What is it that makes Wall-E unique among all the other robots left to clear up earth?

• Cares for himself
• Cares for objects
• Cares for cockroach
• Cares for EVE

 

What is the cause of humanity getting into the state it gets into?

• BnL – advertising
• Personal responsibility
• Leisure v. work
• Individuals cutting themselves off from interaction with each other and with the universe.
• Connections with our society?

Does the film have an optimistic or pessimistic view of human nature?

• Pessimistic:
• Consumers not givers
• Lazy
• Lacking individuality even in their atomised existence
• ‘Easier’ not to care for the planet
• Drifters - literally
• Optimistic:
• Politeness – people apologetic when robots bump into them and when they finally do interact with each other.
• Once shown earth they unquestioningly embrace the challenge and responsibility of restoring it.
• Future presented in credits seems uniformly harmonious.
• ‘Sin’ is shown entirely as unintentional

Andrew Stanton, the director, on what he thinks the film is about:

That’s my theme: ‘Irrational love defeats life's programming.’

I realized that that's a perfect metaphor for real life. We all fall into our habits, our routines and our ruts, consciously or unconsciously to avoid living. To avoid having to do the messy part. To avoid having relationships with other people. of dealing with the person next to us.

Common grace

Great film, suffused with music to make you worship God. And all from a "unprincipled, spoiled, conceited brat" (in the words of Archbishop Colloredo in the film).

PS sorry for the lack of blogging. It's probably going to be a permanent problem.