2009: Films Of The Year So Far

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

We’re roughly half way through the year, which seems like a good time to step back from the weekly onslaught of summer blockbusters and take stock of how 009 is shaping up.

In a year dominated by economic meltdown, the movies have looked recession-proof – especially after the stellar box-office performance of Harry Potter here, there and everywhere.

Course, things aren’t quite as simple as that. DVD sales are dropping off, and Blu-Ray isn’t taking up enough of the slack just yet. The economics of film production are more stringent now then they have been for a long time – when a studio pulls the plug on a movie combining the talents of Steven Soderbergh and Brad Pitt just days before shooting is about to begin (and several million dollars into pre-production), then it’s obvious nerves are frayed. Meanwhile the fate of the Weinstein Company may well rest with the box office fortunes of another Brad Pitt picture, Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.

Still, it’s hard to feel overly concerned for Hollywood when a movie like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen can gross three quarters of a billion dollars in less than a month. It’s us we should be worried about – if Michael Bay continues to up the ante for the next one he’s going to have to smuggle rocket launchers into the projection booth.

On that scary thought, let’s take a look at some lists, shall we…

Tom Charity
tom.charity@lovefilm.com

2009 so far…

Best New Look

Captain Kirk: Chris Pine (Star Trek)
Sacha Baron Cohen: Bruno (Bruno)
Reece Witherspoon (Susan): Monsters vs Aliens
Jackie Earle Haley (Rorshach): Watchmen
Queen Victoria: Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria)

Best Old Look

Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino)
Dustin Hoffman (Last Chance Harvey)
Michael Gambon (Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince)
Michael Caine (Is Anybody There?)
Brad Pitt (The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button)

Who’s Counting: The Sequels?

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Terminator: Salvation
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian