I have never been to the movie theater so much in my entire life as I have since I moved to Alabama. I’m not sure if it’s just that I have a lot of friends who are fond of moviegoing (I do), or if it’s that we don’t really have that much else to do around here (we don’t). While some of the movies I have seen this year turned out to be pretty great, I think over all it seems I have wasted a ton of money at my local multiplex. One new year’s resolution: do that less.
Without further ado, here’s the list of what I saw, loved, hated, missed, and still want to see. Please add your own thoughts in the comments: what movies did you love or hate this year? Best money spent on a ticket? Biggest waste? Which will you be adding to your DVD collection? I must know.
Movies I Saw and Loved, to the Point where I Would Like to Own them on DVD as Soon as Possible:
Whip It
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
New Moon
Zombieland
Movies I Saw and Liked or Felt Pleasantly Neutral About but Will Likely not be Seeing Again or Purchasing on DVD:
Where the Wild Things Are
District 9
Sherlock Holmes
Avatar
Precious
Star Trek
Movies I saw in the Theater Foolishly, as I Should Have Waited for DVD:
The Hangover
Fame
Dance Flick
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Movies I Wanted to See in the Theater but Did Not, For Various Reasons:
(500) Days of Summer
Jennifer’s Body
Coraline
The Road
Julie & Julia
Movies I (Thank Dog) Narrowly Avoided Having to See in the Theater, or, to My Great Relief, at All:
2012
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Up
Bruno
Inglourious Basterds
Couples Retreat
Terrible Movies I Saw on DVD and (Thank Dog) Did not Spend Significant Money On, because I Don’t Even Know What I Was Thinking Here; Apparently I Hate Myself:
The Ugly Truth
The Proposal
Angels & Demons
Knowing
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Bride Wars
New in Town
17 Again
Somewhat Bad Movies I Saw on DVD that Turned out to Be Pretty Okay:
Adventureland
I Love You Man
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Movies I Would Still Like to See:
Up in the Air
—
Your turn: GO!
Raveling Out 
Oh, ok. You mean me. Well, I almost never get to the movies, but I did see some this year: Up, already in our collection. I know how you feel about animated/children’s movies, but this one was another Pixar great to me. Glad to have it.
Saw Where the Wild Things Are. Not blown-away-to-within-an-inch-of-dying, but will probably buy it.
Just watched 500 Days of Summer & might add it to the collection.
Watched & wept over Away We Go & got it for Christmas. Win-win for me, if just to watch the “‘We’re fuck-ups.’ ‘We’re not fuck-ups.’ ‘I think we might be fuck-ups.'” scene over and over again. Let’s just say…I can relate.
There are a lot of movies I didn’t see that I’m not sure about. Inglorious Basterds is one of them. Zombieland is not. Can’t wait for the latter to be AVAILABLE. I’m saying.
Saw Avatar & The Road recently in theaters & can’t say I’m sorry about either one, although the latter was by far better. Both will probably make their way into our DVD collection although the thought of owning Avatar makes me a bit nauseous. (James Cameron & I will have issues. If we ever meet.)
Got Harry Potter for xmas. Watched it, liked it. Was not floored. Thought the book was better. You know?
I’ve seen plenty of the movies on the list NOT in the theater, but don’t really care to own them: I’m looking at you Hangover, Adventureland, Star Trek (oh shit, Philly got that last one for xmas.)
Looking forward to the DVDs of Fantastic Mr. Fox (or “KITTY” as The Boy likes to call him) and 2012.
Coraline got to me via Santa. We’ll see how I feel after a 2nd viewing.
Um, is that enough? I plan on seeing New Moon & Sherlock Holmes by myself over the next couple weeks left of break, if that means anything.
Otherwise, happy watching.
P.S. Is it just me, or is there very little coming out that I feel is worth venturing to the theaters for?
What?! You don’t want to see Fantastic Mr. Fox? It was visually spectacular (and just about what you’d expect, plot-wise)! And Jason Schwartzman was a scene stealer.
I’m going to have to make a similar list tomorrow night while I’m not doing anything fun for the overrated holiday that is New Year’s Eve.
C – I forgot about Away We Go! That one was really good. Probably going to get that one on DVD too. As for the Harry Potter, I think #6 was the best one since #3. Those are my two favorites of the films. Can’t wait for the next one(s) to come out. Did you hear they’re splitting the last book into 2 movies?
K – I know, Mr. Fox is one I should want to see, but I just can’t stand animated movies. I just have to see humans on the screen. As much as I really like Wes Anderson, I feel like his movies have had diminishing returns for me lately, so I can skip this one. Also, man, I hear you about New Year’s Eve! I do not even want to do anything, but I think I am getting roped into it due to the fact that I’m one of a small number of people in town. Sigh.
Okay, here’s my list, with similar categories to yours: http://katieparker.tumblr.com/post/310200402/movies-of-2009
Great list! I don’t think I can comment on your tumblr (I may just be too dense to figure it out), though. Anyway, there are a few in your want-to-see list that I forgot all about! I forgot to mention The Informant and had completely forgotten about the existence of The Brothers Bloom, which I had wanted to see, but didn’t. Gotta add some things to the old queue.
You’re not missing anything; there isn’t any way to comment on Tumblr posts (except with a fairly lame add-on).
I’m going to watch The Brothers Bloom tonight. I hope it’s as fun as it looks!
I saw and loved
Avatar (the detail was fantastic)
Up (so so so so clever. No idea how they got it past the producer, since it’s so original and must have cost just so much money to make.)
I wish I had seen
The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus (Terry Gilliam’s films suit me to a tee, the right blend of corny humour, fantasy, and pretentiousness to keep me happy)
Indifferent about
Inglourious Basterds (not sure there’s much to the film if you ignore the shock value, and Tarantino films are getting progressively less interesting)
Kind of wish I had seen
2012 (I like end of the world stuff. Emmerich’s films have no coherence but they’re good fun)
Actually it was a pretty bad film year for me, I didn’t see many films, and those that I did see were mostly forgettable.
T – Agreed about Tarantino. I used to really like him, but at some point that like switched to vehement dislike. Also, I used this site to find all the movies I had forgotten. I’m really bad about remembering these things.