I’m fully prepared to receive quite a bit of backlash with regards to my choices, indeed, I fully admit that most of my five choices are rather average movies, but the sequences themselves leapt out of the surrounding minutes to truly stand head and shoulders above the rest of the film and still bring a smile to my face when retrospectively perusing my cinematic visits this year…
Anyway, in no particular order, here’s my top 5 best sequences of 2009:
1. The Destruction of L.A. from 2012
In amongst the eco-soap opera, mild larks and melodramatic tics of Roland Emmerich’s end of the world movie to end all end of the world movies there was a bright, shining beacon. A sequence so deftly handled that it raised by expectations for the rest of the movie, only to have them somewhat stumbled by the ever-decreasing exploits that followed. Thus far into the movie it’s been all build up with a few cracks appearing here and there (not least of all in the script, ah, thank you), and then good old everyman devoted father/hero John Cusack realises that crazy Woody Harrelson wasn’t spouting gibberish about the end of times, oh no sir, he was telling the bug-eyed truth. Rather without annoucement then, and timed perfectly with Cusack’s arrival and his ex-wife’s house, begins the absolute and total mega-destruction of Los Angeles. This isn’t just an earthquake, this is God shaking the etch-a-sketch. To begin with Cusack and family are all bundled into a limo that manages to consistently out-run a tectonic prolapse and then manages to swerve in, out, under and over a ceaseless wave of total utter carnage. It’s glorious. But, best of all is how blackly comic the scene is, starting with Cusack’s hilarious f-bomb, followed by the glib despatching of two Sunday drivers and then in one beautifully comic popcorn spitting touch a subway train flies out of it’s tunnel into a newly formed canyon of carnage… It’s ridiculous, it’s stupid, it’s brilliant… though it’s a shame the rest of the movie doesn’t live up to this masterclass in apocalyptic slapstick.
2. Carl & Ellie from Up
Pixar exist on another plane of movie making, a higher plane. How do they do it? Okay, admittedly they’ve made some so-so movies (A Bug’s Life), but to pull off something like Up and not just make it extremely entertaining but to make grown men weep in the first five minutes is absolutely mind-blowing. Who would have really suspected that a film with the pitch; cranky old guy ties lots of balloons to his house and goes to South America with a boy scout would have been a contender for ‘Film of the Year’. It is in the opening of the movie though that Pixar’s skills as film-makers (not just animators, folks) really shines; with a minimum of dialogue a pitch-perfect tale of innocence, ambitions, romance, contentment and tragedy is told, nay, orchestrated. So by the time we catch up with Carl in his trailered grumpy old man state we completely understand and sympathise with him as a character, and the resonances that this opening sequence set up echo throughout the film beautifully. What is also incredibly impressive is that, whilst the rest of the film never hits the artisitc heights of that prologue, the movie manages to be consistently wild, imaginative, hilarious and touching.
3. The Fight in the Car from Drag Me to Hell
Sam Raimi’s triumphant return to the horror genre was more Sam Raimi just having a bit of a lark in the park whilst Spiderman wasn’t looking. He cut-n-pasted fragments of his own back catalogue wholesale for the teeny-bop crowd who would otherwise ignore the mighty chin of Bruce Campbell outside of his snooty cameos. The result was something of a box office damp squib, understandable to some extent because it was a very cartoony, horror rollercoaster and a damn sight more fun than any of the Saw movies, plus it came out in the early Summer which was slightly strange for a film of this ilk. Anyway, the film has a number of entertainingly gross out scraps and scrapes throughout, but it peaks with its first, a tussle in and around Alison Lohman’s car between her doe-eyed bank clerk Christine and the gooey, psycho gypsy Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver). Raimi plays every gag possible in and around the workings of a modern four door, coating each awkward punch and backhander with lashings of green, gloopy saliva and wince, inducing nicks and cuts and some brutal stapler action. It’s great to see Sam Raimi gleefully inventing Looney Tunes routines like this, and hopefully this bodes well for the upcoming Spidey 4.
4. ‘I feel fear, for the last time…’ from Watchmen
On first viewing I was very impressed by Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Alan ‘Leave my name off of all movie adaptations’ Moore and Dave Gibbons’ sacred text, but on subsequent viewings I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s faithfulness is its undoing and the film is buoyed by four pretty damn fantastic performances. But, I digress… A lot of people dropped their trousers in worship at the Bob Dylan soundtracked opening credits, and, yes, they are a well realised and clever way of setting up an alternative America to backdrop our story. However, for me, the film’s greatest achievement from a cinematic, narrative and emotional point of view comes late in the tale when Doctor Manhattan exiles himself to Mars and Snyder liberally borrows Philip Glass’ incredible score to Koyaanisqatsi. The following montage tells a bittersweet tale of love, science and the birth of a superhero, and thanks to the fantastic special effects and work of Billy Crudup it’s a spine-tinglingly powerful affair. As the music rumbles and swells and Manhattan makes his first few partially realised appearances the level of anticipation for his arrival – even though everyone already knows what Doctor Manhattan looks like – is palpable. It’s a sequence that forced Snyder to up his game, and surprisingly, he ‘stepped up’ (as the cool kids say).
5. The Flasher from Observe and Report
Okay, this film wasn’t great, it was a muddled affair that flitted with as much paranoid disorganised schizophrenia as its lead character from silly to serious, one second it was a none-more-black black comedy, the next its strokes were broader than a roller brush. However, it featured a moment of such drink snorting splutterable comedic mastery that it has been burned into my brain since April. It’s a moment I don’t particularly want to spoil, but due to its content I don’t think it’s going to end up on Youtube! If you haven’t seen the film (as millions of people didn’t!) then go and rent it just for the ending, otherwise read on and have it all spoiled: Throughout this movie, indeed the catalyst for many of the films events, a flasher terrorises the mall where Seth Rogen’s Ronnie Barnhardt works, causing no end of paranoia for make-up counter girl Brandi (Anna Faris). Come the film’s final scenes you’ve pretty much pushed the flasher plot somewhere in the back of your mind, the film has flitted around quite bittersweet and uncomfortable material as the medicated Ronnie has gradually come to terms with his more manic and violent outbursts. Eventually he realises that perhaps he should quit his obsession with Brandi and notices a burgeoning spark between he and food court worker Nell. Just before, where you imagine will be, the closing credits there’s a tender exchange between Ronnie and Nell, a two-shot, and just as you think the film is over something appears subliminally in the back of the shot… a trench-coat… which is suddenly opened to reveal the flasher. In all his glory. There are screams of shock and embarassment. At which point one might expect the film-makers to have gone for the ‘grab a laugh’ scratch ending, but no, they go further…
It is a bold director who uses Pixies‘ ‘Where Is My Mind’ to play at the end of the film post-Fight Club, but Jody Hill does so (here covered by City Wolf in magnificent fashion). It is a bolder director who uses the aforementioned track to soundtrack a slow-motion sequence wherein Seth Rogen chases a naked, over-weight flasher round the twists and turns of an American mall. These are things I will never forget! The sequence ends in gloriously shocking fashion, but that I won’t spoil!
2009 was a so-so year for movies, it was a great year for sci-fi with the likes of Star Trek, District 9, Knowing, The Box and Moon (Avatar was ok as well), but 2010 looks like it has an intriguing an unique batch of off-beat, quirky flicks alongside some exciting blockbusters.
Happy New Year folks!
© BRWC 2010.
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