Notorious (2009)

This movie could and should have been a lot better. It might have helped if they told us enough stuff that most music or hip hop fans didn't already know.

Jamal Woolard stars as Christopher Wallace aka Biggie Smalls aka The Notorious B.I.G. Growing up in New York, Biggie lived a relatively nice life on the hard streets. But the enticing nature of the neighborhood he lived in got to him. At an early age, he started selling drugs. As a teenager, he left high school for a life on the streets. Influenced by Kurtis Blow and others legendary rappers, he began writing down his thoughts as raps. After a stint in prison, Wallace set out to try and build a better life for his infant daughter through rap. That's how he met Sean Combs (Derek Luke). Combs promised to make him a star and that's exactly what he did. As Biggie's career grew, so did his metaphorical stature. He friendship with Tupac (Anthony Mackie) crumbled over, what the movie says, was a misunderstanding. It brought the East Coast vs West Coast feud to a whole new and tragic level.

If you know absolutely nothing about B.I.G. and Tupac, this might be the movie you want to watch. For me, I knew a lot of this information already. A 2002 documentary called Biggie and Tupac helped explain a lot of it. The style was also way to choppy. There were no real transitions. It was just this happened, then this, then this, then this, end. It kept me guessing if the previous scene was actually over or if I'd be brought back to it in some way. The acting was good for the most part, but the movie just didn't work for me.

Julie & Julia (2009)

For a chick flick, girl power type of movie, it wasn't that bad. I definitely was not going to stand in line for this at the theaters, but since it got sent to my house, I figured I'd give it a whirl.

The movie follows two plot lines at once. The one I consider to be the main one involves Julie Powell (Amy Adams). Julie is closing in on her 30th birthday and has a menial job with virtually no money to her name. Her friends are stuck up snobs with high paying careers while she works in a cubicle answering phones all day. After a "friend" writes a somewhat demeaning article about her, she decides to use her passion for writing and start a blog. She likes to cook, so she decides to do every recipe from the Julia Child cookbook in one year. There's the 2nd plot line, the life and times of Julia Child (Meryl Streep). It follows her love of her husband (Stanley Tucci) and her love of food, specifically French food. In the 1940s, it was almost unheard of for a woman to get into a French culinary institute, let alone an American woman. She got in and, while the head cook loved her, the headmistress hated her. She decided to strike out one her own and, with the help of some friends and acquaintances, try and release her own cookbook. Full circle, huh?

Streep's performance was pretty good, definitely Oscar nomination worthy. I've honestly seen better work from Adams. Her performance was just okay. The one that didn't get enough credit was Tucci as Child's unbelievably faithful and proud husband. I thought he was fantastic. This was not included in the 10 Best Picture nominees but I actually thought this was just as good as, if not better than The Blind Side.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)

Somewhat along the lines of Monsters Vs Aliens in the humor styling because it had a lot of sight gags and adult-based comedy involved. This was better though and the main reason was the directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who co-created the hilarious "Clone High" (look it up) for MTV in 2002.

In the town of Swallow Falls, Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) is a guy who never grew up. He has constantly tried to fulfill his lifelong goal of inventing a useful product so everyone, especially daddy, will like him. Spray on shoes and a remote controlled TV (not what you think) among other things. One day, while trying to impress the townsfolk, Flint wants to show off his latest invention that turns water into food. When the machine goes haywire, it flies into the atmosphere. That's when it works and starts raining food. The national weather service sends a young reporter, Sam (Anna Faris), on a fool's errand to cover the events. She soon starts working with and encouraging Flint to make the machine better, and he starts to fall for her. However, the more food the machine pumps out, the more dangerous the consequences become.

The large scale of the imagery and story will appeal to children, but it's the writing the older crowd will love. There are moments where the jokes come rapid fire and you have to rewind because you were laughing at one thing and missing another. What also helped was the talent involved. Apart from Farris and Hader, you had the likes of Andy Samberg, Neil Patrick Harris, James Caan, Bruce Campbell, Benjamin Bratt, Al Roker, Will Forte, Neil Flynn, Bobb'e J. Thompson, and the incomparable Mr. T. The only downside was that I wanted it to last longer. Watch this.

Extract (2009)

Mike Judge's latest venture is no Office Space, but, come on, what is? I still liked this movie. It wasn't funny throughout but it was still very funny.

Jason Bateman plays Joel, the owner of Reynolds Extract company. The factory floor is full of idiocracy and laziness and people who just plain don't understand a workforce mentality. Joel is stuck in a sexless marriage with his wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig) and a friend who constantly pushes drugs upon him, Dean (Ben Affleck). The rest of his life consists of talkative neighbors (David Koechner), temps who aren't what they seem (Mila Kunis) and Gene Simmons. While trying to handle a buyout of their company, an accident takes out one of his best employees. That's where Joel's trainwreck next few days begin.

It may not be as humorous to other people as it was to me, but I still had a really fun time watching this. Like I said, it may not be Office Space, but anything can be better than Idiocracy. Jason Bateman really makes or breaks this movie. If you like the style and tempo in his humor, and I do, than I suggest this movie. If not, than this might not be up your alley.

9 (2009)

This movie was visually stunning but, unfortunately, very light on substance. I know this movie was short, 79 minutes, but I kept waiting for the story to pick up.

This is a world where machines have already risen up and defeated the humans who created them. Before he died, the main scientist created 9 tiny robotic dolls and could not be corrupted by the government, as the other robots had before they destroyed humanity. The main robot is 9 (Elijah Wood). 9 soon meets up with the rest of the gang, specifically 5 (John C. Reilly), who was already battle scarred. The robots are running for their lives so they may be able to live in peace, since they may be the last living things on earth.

A very ambitious movie. An animated movie that doesn't set out to be funny. The bad part, it wasn't that great. The basis of my rating in the animation itself. I was just amazed by it. The attention to detail was unbelievable. I definitely hope more movies are made like this, but hopefully, with a little more of a good story. It's very short, so if you have time, I'd watch this just for the graphics.

Top 10 Films of 2009

This video is a tribute to the year in movies that is 2009. It ends with my picks for the best films of the year. Hope you all enjoy.

Audio copyright information:
'James Brown' by Cage the Elephant remains courtesy of Jive/Red Ink Records ® 2009

This song and many others by this artist are available at iTunes by clicking here

List of movies in order of appearance is available by clicking here

Edited by Tony Z

This project was non-profit and not aimed at breaking copyright laws.

Crazy Heart (2009)

I love all of the recent recognition for Jeff Bridges' role as has-been country star Bad Blake. He deserves it all because he's been a great actor for so long and rightly needs all the praise.

Bad Blake is not what he once was. At his peak, he was one of the most successful country music singers of all time. Loved by millions. But with the world of country music changing styles and his ever dependent alcohol addiction, Blake is now playing at bars and bowling alleys in towns you've never heard of before. In one of those towns, he meets local journalist Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal). What starts as a series of interviews turns into a budding romance and eventually love. The question is, can Blake overcome his addictions enough to start a late-in-life romance with a single mother?

Bridges was great as Bad Blake, as I stated earlier. What really helped was the fantastic soundtrack, too. I've never been a country music fan, mainly because of the twangy garbage it's turned into, but this was great to listen to. I also liked Colin Farrell as the former protege/current superstar Tommy Sweet. Picture this movie as a lighter version of The Wrestler. I recommend this.