170 - Finding Nemo

A lot of people have given special mention to Finding Nemo in Pixar's portfolio. Its a great movie, no doubt, and in the same caliber as all the Pixar productions so far, but I have to say it doesn't stand out for me as much as Monsters Inc, The Incredibles, and Wall-E. That's not to take away the excellence in development. Watching the special features always gives you a lot of appreciation for the hard work. With such a creative and intense environment, Pixar can do no wrong.

2009 Marker (yes, its that late!)

This has gotta change. Over the years my year end marker has been drifting late into the following year. Anyway, on to what was 2009!

2009 was a downturn in my Netflix journey...its not for lack of interest, just lack of time. Plus, I've been enjoying Netflix on my Roku, so there is a big chunk of streaming that is not documented here in Ion Cannon. Among them include The Office, Lost (not yet done ;) ), and a few TV episodes and movies here and there....so I guess the journey has just changed, that's all.

Still, the selection this year was not as great as 2008. That explains the short honor roll. Or maybe I just made too many bad choices.

Kate the Great - she had a number of films out, but The Reader is my personal favorite. She really brings a lot of tension to a character and that really draws you to the story.

Amy Amy! - it was also a great year for Amy Adams. Here fragile characters in Doubt and Sunshine Cleaning....those suffering eyes....how could you not melt with compassion?

The Steven-O experience- Steven Soderbergh's experiments should really get more acclaim (like 2005's Bubble) and his work on The Girlfriend Experience was a great immersion into one of society's dark alleys.

Jarmusch is still God - well, to me anyway :). Not everyone liked The Limits of Control. And that's fine. It was a journey I very much enjoyed.

Rie Miyazawa - just had to seek her out, and that lead to some nice discoveries like Hana and Tony Takitani.

Le Honor Roll

1. Doubt
2. The Reader
3. Waltz with Bashir
4. Sunshine Cleaning
5. The Girlfriend Experience
6. The Limits of Control
7. The Wackness
8. Religulous
9. Hana
10. Wendy and Lucy
11. Tony Takitani

169 - Up in the Air

In the "cold-hearted-gets-conscience" mold (like Jerry Maguire), Up in the Air is a very good film. I particularly like Vera Farmiga's character. I also liked the twist near the end. This would very much be also aligned to Bruce Willis' character in "The Kid", but that was a Disney movie so you can pretty much expect a fairy tale ending....not so with this one. 'First time I've ever seen Anna Kendrick and she was very good, too!