2009 saw lots of movies releasing, some minted money, some balanced and managed to float and many sank without a trace. Here is my list of top movies of 2009.
KOLLYWOOD
PASANGA
Kudos to Sasikumar for having the courage to produce a movie for children starring children. The songs were good and the children sparkled in their roles.
NADODIGAL
Sasikumar under friend Samudrikani’s direction went on to strike box-office gold with this tale about friends uniting lovers.
SIVA MANASULLA SHAKTI
Light-hearted romance starring Jeeva and Anusuya. Great comedy by Santhanam.
ACHAMUNDU ACHAMUNDU
Prasanna, Sneha, John O’ Shea and a cute little kid. Great effort from director Arun Vaidyanathan, shot in Seattle a movie about child molestation.
EERAM
Director Shankar’s production a slick horror thriller with great graphics. Fear the water the new enemy.
POKKISHAM
The movie sank but Cheran continues to make clean cinema with good music. Padmapriya proves once again that she is the best actress in southern cinema.
UNAIPOL ORUVAN
The remake of Wednesday, brought together on screen Kamal and Mohanlal
PADDIKATHAVAN/KANDHASWAMY/VETTAIKARAN
Formulaic mass-masala movies for Dhanush, Vikram and Vijay fans nothing great just time-pass.
PERAANMAI
Good work by Jayam Ravi, a mission in the forest. We saw Terminator-4 villain indulging in hand-to-hand combat with Ravi.
BOLLYWOOD
Ranbir Kapoor is the new star in town with a hat-trick of successes.
DEV-D
Anurag Kashyap’s hour of retribution, superb acting, an awe-inspiring music score. Gorgeous Kalki Koechlin and Mahie Gill-Absolute Emotional Atyachar.
PAA
Balki’s tear-jerker Abhi plays Amitabh’s dad. The biggest unintentional joke was when we received YEPPA forwards showing Simbhu struggling to carry our very own T.R.
WAKE-UP SID
Life, roles, responsibilities, and do your own thing a sonnet for freedom. Konkona and Ranbir a strange pair and a surprise hit.
QUICK GUN MURUGAN
Superb comic timing, ravishing Mango Dolly-Rambha with a golden wig, great one-liners and quirky fights-Mind It!
ROCKET SINGH-SALESMAN OF THE YEAR
Shimit Amin and Jaideep Sahni script the success story of an entrepreneur. Could have been better but the movie is clean, unpretentious and enjoyable but a bit too preachy.
AJAB PREM KI GHAJAB KAHANI
Clean mindless comedy and great fun, Ranbir sparkles and Katrina manages to emote.
LOVE AAJ KAL
Loved to see Rishi Kapoor on screen. Saif and Deepika made a good pair. The Brazilian model Giselle Montero was the surprise Punjabi kudi.
THREE IDIOTS
I am yet to see the movie but friends say the movie is a mix of Munna Bhai and Rang De Basanti. Will make enough money I guess!
Delhi-6, Gulaal two good movies that did not garner the attention they deserved.
New York, Kurbaan dealt with terror and America-OK.
Wanted gave Salman a new lease of life and became the biggest blockbuster of 2009.
HOLLYWOOD
AVATAR
The courage to visualise a whole new world, wait patiently for more than 14 years and introduce state of the art motion-picture technology to create magic on the big screen. James Cameron you rock! We would have preferred a different story. The concept of the white man gaining acceptance among the natives has been examined umpteen number of times.
UP
A simple tale about a retired balloon salesman and an eager scout kid. Animation from Pixar with a great tale. The first ten minutes of the movie which narrate the saga of the romance of the old man and his wife are simply beautiful.
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
Slam-bang spaghetti western meets Nazi adventure. Tarantino is in top form and the movie has a great cast doing full justice to the characters.
THE HANGOVER
Loved it! Las Vegas, partying, drugs, money and marriage and mayhem.
DISTRICT-9
Aliens, humans and a survival story with a difference. This movie shot in South Africa deserves a viewing.
NUMERO-9
An animation movie about the fight for survival in an apocalyptic world, great graphics good presentation.
IMAGINE THAT
Enjoyable fare from Eddie Murphy and a cute little kid. One for the family.
STAR TREK
A new generation of sci-fi lovers has been created!
KNOWING
Nicholas Cage in the fatalistic fantasy about the world coming to an end. Mind-blowing graphics but the movie failed to make a mark. Lot of symbolism and references to Hindu philosophy.
PUBLIC ENEMIES
Could have been a lot better but still enjoyable. The story of how they nabbed Dillinger!
Terminator-4 and Transformers-2 had great graphics and made heaps of money but again these are commercial cinema of a different kind. Mindless waste of money on blowing up man and machine in more innovative ways, the movies make money and the branded toys and merchandise sell even more.
I am yet too see many movies like-Sherlock Holmes, Precious, Invictus, Julie & Julia and loads of other movies whose names I do not recollect. Some other movies that I enjoyed last year include-Nan Kadavul (It have written a detailed review earlier), Ayan, Vennila Kabbadi Kuzhu, State of Play, The Hurt Locker and In the Loop.
The movies are not ranked in any order. The list just states the movies that I enjoyed. Here is hoping that 2010 brings more blockbusters to the big screen and the prices of tickets in theatres come down a bit. Otherwise piracy will continue to gain momentum and reducing broadband costs will ensure that bit-torrents and file-sharing websites become the source for movie-watching.
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