Two thousand ten

Would I come across as sounding too eccentric if I said that I am so happy to no longer be living in an odd numbered year? A sigh of relief for even numbers--even years are always better.

As a blogger, January is my favorite month of the year. Yes, I do love to make up resolutions with blind optimism and page through the best memories from the previous year. But the real treat is when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences releases the Reminder List for voting members and I can get my hands on this complete list of movies released in 2009. Nerdy as it sounds, I like to go through this quite comprehensive index and list the movies I had the chance to see as well as the movies I wish I would have made time for. So, blog fans, expect to see some more posts in the near future about the films of 2009.

And really, January wouldn't be complete without resolutions. Do I remember them by the end of the year? Heck no. But do I have fun making them? You BET I do!

Really, the only real "resolutions" I have this year are directly related to blogging. Last year, I believe I said I wanted to commit to writing an entry once a week? Well, I think that was such a good idea that I'm going to say it again this year--one entry per week, minimum.

Second, I've toyed with the idea of posting some film reviews on this blog, but I never actually got up the gumption to do it. I'd like to try to write a brief review or even a few comments about each movie I see this year (or at least the newer releases).

So there you have it. May God bless my and everyone else's resolutions.

Review: 9

I was unabashadly excited for this film. In fact, I was so intrigued by the film's asthetics that in the couple of months leading up to the film's release, my desktop background feautred the movie's poster (left) and my Twitter icon was a small snapshot of the main character 9's stitched face. Unfortunately, as a busy student, the film went through theatres without me having the chance to see it. I was finally able to watch the film with Zach last night, and I have to admit--I'm glad I didn't pay to see it in theatres.

Despite the fact that 9 was less than 80 minutes long, I still found myself checking my watch. This film jumped into the plot almost immediately without giving much of an explanation for how the palm-sized sock puppet "9" was given life or how the world around him had faded to apocalyptic ash and ruin. Normally, I would commend the screenwriter for letting the audience figure things out on their own; however, in the case of 9, this rushed treatment prevented me from ever forming an attachment to the characters. I felt sympathy and curiousity for the numbered handmade inventions, yes, but never did I feel like they were in any real danger. The Beast, a mechanical villain that was so terrifying to the little inventions that they retreated into hiding, was killed early in the movie after a short skirmish that almost looked easy, begging the questions, "Why hadn't they just done that earlier?" Also, the questions raised throughout the film were either interesting queries that were never even addressed or were obvious questions that were answered with redundant spoon-fed narration.

By the end of this movie, the only emotion I felt was sadness about the opportunities that this visually intriguing film squandered. I didn't really believe in or care about the problems of the characters, and it felt like the filmmakers didn't either.