A Year of Films... The Top Five

The top five list of quality films from the last year… While none of them make it into the elite top five, they are all worth a watch! So as per tradition, in alphabetical order:

1. Fanboys
2. Star Trek
3. Watchmen
4. Where the Wild Things Are
5. Zombieland

FYI: I have yet to see Avatar!<

Spoilers below…

Fanboys (Kyle Newman - 2009 - 4 Stars)

Technically speaking this film was released late 2008… however due to various issues and problems and such like it actually came out early 2009. So with the disclaimer there out of the way; this is a film made by Star Wars fanboys! The basic idea is that a group of Star Wars fans need to break into Skywalker Ranch (George Lucas’ home) to steal a copy of The Phantom Menace to allow one of the characters to watch the film before he dies of cancer. On the way there are various, hilarious, sci-fi references a couple of fantastic guest appearances (none other than the William Shatner), and the immortal final line ‘hey guys, what if this movie sucks’.

Star Trek (J.J. Abrams - 2009 - 5 Stars)

Continuing on in the sci-fi geekery Star Trek is next in the top five list, how could it not be? J. J. Abrams, perhaps best known for his work on Lost and Alias, took the Star Trekfranchisewhich had almost completely died out and kick started it off again, returning right back to the original series and rebuilt the USS Enterprise. While staying true to old school Star Trek it brought it right forward to the 21st century with a clever story (you can’t go wrong with time travel), a really really good cast, and some pretty cool CGI moments. Well worth a watch, even if you don’t do Star Trek!

Watchmen (Zack Snyder - 2009 - 5 Stars)

From sci-fi in to the realm of fantasy, Watchmen is based upon the Alan Moore graphic novel published by DC way back in '86 and '87. Snyder’s adaption follows the comic almost frame by frame in parts, taking the story and simply converting it for the big screen, no additions or subtractions; perfectly done.

Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze - 2009 - 5 Stars)

Yes, I know, it’s a kids film… based upon a kids book… which has about 10 sentences, however it is fantastic! The story is of a young child, Max, runs away into his imaginary world where there are wild things are… Firstly what makes this film the fact that the child can actually do a decent job of acting, miles better than any of the Harry Potter actors managed in the Philosophers Stone. Secondly the voice acting of the wild things is brilliantly done,absolutelybrilliant interaction. Finally the mixture of costumes and CGI faces for the wild things is spot on, it did bring the characters to life. The story is a sad one, but brilliantly told.

Zombieland - (Ruben Fleischer - 2009 - 4.5 Stars)

Finally, ending on a comedy. Zombieland was advertised to me as the American version of Shaun of the Dead, and it is, and don’t let that put you off it… it is actually genuinely funny, at least I found it funny. The film follows the character Columbus in a post-apocalypticworld invested with zombies, Columbus lives by a set of rules to keep himself alive, these being CGI’ed on to the screen at relevant times just add to the comic element. No, it’s not intelectual, however it will make you chuckle.

So there you have it, my films of the year, how does your list compair?