OVP: Previously, in 2009

Alec & Steve-were you a fan?

2009: A Look Back

I have just finished the final film in the OVP for 2009, and considering it's about as generic as a movie can get, I'm jumping straight into the OVP rather than doing a final review.  So yes, it's that time: our fourth Oscar Viewing Project.

Think back on 2009, when we were all high on just electing Barack Obama, and had no way of knowing how unreasonable the Republicans were about to be (we would have sixty votes in the Senate-come on America, we could get there again by 2017 if we played our cards right in November).  We genuinely liked Lady Gaga and were wondering why no one was watching 30 Rock.  And of course, there were the movies...

Box Office

This is what the Top 10 at the (Domestic) Box Office looked like:

1. Avatar

2. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

4. The Twilight Saga: New Moon

5. Up

6. The Hangover

7. Star Trek

8. The Blind Side

9. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

10. Sherlock Holmes

I'll give you one guess as to what film in this Top 10 I've never seen.  It's worth noting that at the time, we didn't know that Avatar, Sherlock Holmes and The Hangover were about to spawn franchises, so we actually had a fairly franchise free list all things considered.  In addition to our three Best Picture nominees in this list, Inglourious Basterds and District 9 both managed to crack $100 million.  The Box Office in 2009, it's worth noting, had more domestic $100 million movies than any other year in film history (something that has yet to be duplicated): 32.

The Films I Missed

While I've seen all of the Oscar nominees, I haven't seen every film in 2009.  Amongst the top Box Office contenders, I've missed Alvin and the Chipmunks, Monsters vs. Aliens, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  I also managed to hit a good chunk of the Cannes Film Festival contenders, with both the Palme d'Or winner (The White Ribbon) and the Grand Prix (A Prophet) and the SAG Awards (where I saw everything).  The Globes isn't quite the clean slate, however.  I missed five nominees: Where the Wild Things Are, Everybody's Fine, Brothers, The Maid, and Baaria.  Overall, though, 2009 is probably the year that I have the best represented of all years we'll ever encounter in this project, at least until the present day-like the rest of America, I spent that year in the movies.  That said, I am always looking for recommendations.  I have Where the Wild Things Are somewhere on my Netflix queue-is there another one of these films I should check?  Let me know in the comments!

And there you have it-a brief preview of 2009.  Now onto the Oscars!