Movie List 2009 - 40 Movies Total

1. Last Chance Harvey
2. Inkheart
3. Taken 
4. Push
5. The International
6. The Tale Of Despereaux
7. Watchmen
8. Race To Witch Mountain
9. Knowing
10. Duplicity
11. Monsters Vs Aliens
12. State Of Play
13. X-Men Origins : Wolverine
14. Star Trek
15. Terminator: Salvation
16. The Brothers Bloom
17. Up
18. Easy Virtue
19. The Proposal
20. Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
21. G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra
22. District 9
23. The Time Traveller's Wife
24. Gamer
25. 9
26. Whiteout
27. The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus
28. Love Happens
29. Surrogates
30. The Invention Of Lying
31. Law Abiding Citizen
32. Where The Wild Things Are
33. Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assisstant
34. The Box
35. 2012 
36. Disney's A Christmas Carol
37. Ninja Assassin
38. The Princess And The Frog
39. Avatar
40. Sherlock Holmes 

Sherlock Holmes

Although not in the same league as Avatar, Sherlock Holmes is still a great movie.  In spite of the fact that Robert Downey Junior is an American playing a Brit, he does a pretty credible job.   Having been a fan of the Holmes books since I was a boy, I know that the Holmes character is meant to be a bit of a pompous ass.  A part that Downey knows how to play to a tee.   Jude Law, whom I thought at first should have bee a shoe in for the Holmes role, actually does a better job at playing Holmes loyal side kick.  Dr. John Watson.  As for seeing Sherlock Holmes in the theater or not.. in this case I don't think its truly necessary.  It will play just as well on DVD or Blu-Ray when it comes out.   At the same time it wouldn't be a waste of time or money to see it at the big screen.  

Avatar

Well James Cameron has done it again.   All I can say is WOW!!!!   I just saw the most mind blowing movie experience I have seen in ages.   Listening to all the hype before going I was becoming a little leery that Avatar might not live up to its potential.   Well I was TOTALLY wrong.   All the things people have been saying that it's going to revolutionize the movie industry are correct.    I literally could NOT notice where standard film making ended and the CG started.  It was THAT good.   They say that this movie cost upwards of 300 million dollars to make.. and I totally believe that and I must say not a PENNY was wasted.   I have to see this movie again at LEAST once more at the theater.   (Hopefully IMAX)  Definitely go see this movie, at the big screen.  It's WELL worth the cost of admission.

The Princess And The Frog

Disney once again returns to its traditional animation style in the debut of The Princess And The Frog.  I must say that its TRULY amazing the quality of the animation in today's world of CG.   Of course, coming from Disney that's not surprising, having years of experience.   The story line was imaginative and entertaining and the characters were hilarious.   Definitely worth seeing at the theater.    Might be a bit too scary for young kids though.  

Smoosh's Christmas Advent - Day #12

So Santa comes down the chimney???    But MA!!   We don't HAVE a chimney!!   DOH!!

Smoosh's Christmas Advent - Day #11

YAH.. .right mommy...   Santa can fit down a chimney.  What do you think, I was born last year??   UMMM  Never mind.    :-D

Smoosh's Christmas Advent - Day #10

Hey....  Who ran over the Christmas Tree??   It DEFINITELY wasn't me.   I am a good driver.

Smoosh's Christmas Advent - Day #9

Oh please please please Santa..   Can you please bring me a Cow for Christmas.   I promise I will take care of him and love him.   I can keep him in the garage.  I am sure daddy won't mind.

Smoosh's Christmas Advent - Day #8

PRESENTS!!!!  Can I open it now mom..   Please please please..   :-)

Smoosh's Christmas Advent - Day #7

Nora checking out the Christmas Stockings.  So sad though...  nothing in them as of yet.  Come ON Santa get a move on, will yah.   Gee I can't wait FOREVER.

Smoosh's Christmas Advent - Day #6

Coming down the runway now is Nora, sporting her extremely comfortable pink stripped PJ's and a tres chic Santa hat.  Watch for this new look this season as its ALL the rage amongst the toddler-set.  You will definitely want to be in style for this one.  

Smoosh's Christmas Advent - Day #5

Nora wearing the "Naughty" Santa hat...  although I think she looks a bit skeptical.  Like she is being wrongfully accused.  Nora of course is an ANGEL and doesn't do anything bad...  right momee???

Ninja Assassin

This movie was surprisingly good for what it was.   I mean in all honesty you can't ask much from a Ninja movie.   At the same time there WAS a story amazingly enough and it was logical and well thought out.   What I found extremely intersting was the backstory as to how the main character became a ninja was introduced.   A series of flashbacks tells the watcher WHY and HOW these people are doing what they are doing.   Of course the special effects and choreography were excellent.   The Wachowski brothers, producers of the Matrix movies also produced this one and you can see there hand throughout.   Definitely worth seeing in the theater.

Smoosh's Christmas Advent - Day #4

You know..  Christmas music is just HARD to "get jiggy wit it".  I think I am going to have to take over being the spin doctor and see if I can get the party started.   What do you say.. homeys??  ;-)

Smoosh's Christmas Advent - Day #3

Hey... who say's that snowmen have no nutritional value.   Everything can be food-ified... and put in the mouth.

Smoosh's Christmas Advent - Day #2

Nora and her buddies, Mr. Snowman and Rudolph are ready to get going I think.

Smoosh's Christmas Advent - Day #1

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me.   A smoosh in a Charlie Brown tree.  Nora looks so tired here.   Which is amazing from a girl who has enough energy to power that Christmas Tree until the end of time.  :-)

Disney's A Christmas Carol

Although I can't say this is my favourite rendition of the classic story, that honour going to the George C. Scott version I grew up with, it IS definitely a fantastic journey into the story.  The animation is just superb taking on the style of Roger Zemeckis's first animated movie, The Polar Expresss.  Jim Carrey as the voice of scrooge hits the character out of the ball park.  Actually making him even MORE unlikeable and dispiseable then even George Scott could do.  You can't get more miserly than what was portrayed.   Now for the 3D aspect of things.  I DID go see it in 3D and I must say I am not impressed.  This was my first time seeing the new Real 3D technology and I think it will be the last.   Not that it wasn't amazing  in some scenes.. but I just felt that it didn't add anything to the movie.   I think I would have preferred seeing it in 2D and avoid the annoying glasses.    Anyways that's just my opinion.   

... And The Winners Are!!!

Finally at the end of the day after much deliberation it was time to announce the winners of the Widget Hack-a-thon.  Christopher Smith and Tim Neil were present to give out the hardware and gift certificate prizes to the top 3 teams.   3rd place went to the "Ham or Spam" team pictured above for there Email Triage Widget. The team consisted of; Bryan Lahartinger, Severn Tsui, and Rob Currie.

Second place went to the "Widgets R Us" team for there BlackBerry Search application.  And for those who didn't see it, the animations on their widget were fantastic.  :-)  

Finally, last but not least.  First place went to the "Device Application Platform" team for their Wiki Notepad widget.  This little widget allowed its user to add markup to a regular notepad entry to enhance it with colour, emoticons, pictures, fonts, etc.  Making for a richer visual experience for a regular notepad entry. They took home $150 of gift certificates and title of "Widget Gurus"  The "Device Application Team" consisted of; Alex Pedwyocki, David Han, and Tomasz Buczek.

Arulsothynathan

Another great name but for the life of me I still can't figure out how to pronounce it.   :-)  The "Arulsothynathan" team consisted of; Ahmed Hamdy, Glen Harmann, and Stefan Dimitrov.

D'Flamingo

The "D'Flamingo" team consisted of David Gao, Diana Jung, and Derek Rabindran.

Hello World

The "Hello World" team consisted of Allen Tang, Kelvin Chun Liang Ng, and Timothy Li.

Team Name

The award for the most "original" name goes to "Team Name"  :-)  LOL  Great name Marek.   The team members consisted of Yazan Al-Alul, Marek, and Rebecca Guo.

Team KDE

This hardcore team decided to go old school and code their widget without the use of either the Eclipse or the Visual Studio plug-ins.  Notepad++ I believe was there tool of choice.   "Team KDE" consisted of; George Wright, Jakob Petsovits, and Jeff Rogers. 

Bhasins Assassins

Hey...  I thought that there was supposed to be a maximum of 3 members.. ;-)  It looks like the "Bhassins Assassins" team has recruited some ringers.   The team consisted of; Nukul Bhasin, Jeffrey Heifetz, and Jon Deardon.  The other two are Alex Babut and  Benjamin Kurz.

Fans Of Bacon

Everything is better with bacon, in my opinion.  The "Fans of Bacon" team consisted of Ryan Salter, Trevor Camero, and Tyler Garton.

Widget's R Us

The Widget's R Us team consisted of Kamen Vitanov, Laura Doktorova, and Michael Brown.

BlackBerry Widget Hack-a-thon - Day 2

The BlackBerry Widget Hack-a-thon started again this morning with many of the teams coming in early to get started.  From the sounds of things, some midnight oil was also burned in order to get a leg up on the other teams.  It was great to see all the hard work and dedication going into this contest.  The competition is definitely feirce.  

This means WAR!!!

So the friendly rivalry between the AWESOME IDE Extensions Team and the Eclipse Web Plug-in team continued today during the BlackBerry Widget Hack-a-thon.  Here you can see pictures of the IDE Extensions team (Team Name) and the Eclipse Web Plug-in team (Cayman Rules) as they worked hard to out do each other.  Let the best team win.  (Visual Studio ROCKS!!!)

To give credit where credit's due. The Cayman Rules team is only two members. Pretty impressive if they can pull it off.

BlackBerry Widget Hack-a-thon - Day 1

Today was the the start of the very first BlackBerry Widget Hack-a-thon.   The morning started by the explanation of the rules.  (Basically there is no rules.) as well as the theme that the participants were to base there widgets upon.  The theme was to take one of the various BlackBerry core applications; mail, contacts, facebook, etc. and improve on them in some way as a widget.  Anything was up for grabs, UI, functionality, etc in regards to the improvments. 

There really isn't a lot of time in order to accomplish something that can be compelling.  Tomorrow at 1PM is the deadline so everyone pretty well kept there noses to the grind stone.  As for me it was interesting to hear some of the various ideas floating around.  I can't wait until tomorrow.   I also loved the names for some of the team names.  "Lover's of Bacon", "Team Name", "Cayman Rules"

2012

On the whole not a bad action movie.   It definitely kept me entertained throughout.  Which is saying alot as the movie was extremely long, coming in at 2.5 hours.   I do have a couple of nitpicks though.  The length being one of them.   Normally I don't mind long movies, as long as all the scenes in the movie make logical sense and aid in the story.   In this case, I felt that there was a few scenes that could have been removed and have the movie be better for it.   I think the director probably kept them to add to the visual entertainment.. but in my opinion they were distracting.

As a Christian I also didn't appreciate the implication that God wasn't a part of the plan.   It was implied in the end that God didn't exist and that humanity and humanity only was able to save itself from extinction.   The distruction of a church as a bunch of people prayed and died drove that point home.   I know, you are going to say..  what do you expect from a end of the world movie and honestly I don't know... just maybe to leave it open.

Anyways, it was a good movie, well worth the ticket price.

The Box

The box is an interesting movie based on a short story that was made into a "Twillight Zone" episode.   The writers of the movie took this T.V. episode and expanded it out to both give more back story as well as extend it past the ending.  Now this could have been a BAD thing if done improperly but they did an great job of integrating the new material and the movie does succeed in feeling seamless while still maintaining the sense of paranoia and freakiness of the original.   Definitely a great suspence that will keep you guessing throughout the whole movie.   Not really necessary to see it at the theater though...  this movie could be enjoyed better sitting cozy on your couch with your loved ones around.

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assisstant

What a great movie. Totally enjoyable. I was a bit nervous going in... especially after reading some of the reviews. I was worried that it might end up feeling too "young" for my tastes. That wasn't the case at all. The story line wasn't childish at all and held my interest throughout. You come to care for the characters in the movie and root for the good buys. The little bit of teen romance between Darren and the "monkey girl" is sweet and adds warmth to the movie. Definitely should be getting higher ratings that what most of the critics out there are giving it.

Where The Wild Things Are

A fantastic movie portraying what it's like to be a nine year old boy. I was thoroughly delighted with this movie. I remember reading the book as a boy and Spike Jonze has been able, in my opinion, to capture the essence of the story, while fleshing it out more to be a feature length film. Max is a typical nine year old boy, dealing with a wild imagination, as well as all the insecurities and fears that go with growing up. To make things harder for him though he has also to death with a missing father, a sister who is older with a life that doesn't include her baby brother and a mother who is at the end of her rope, sometime dealing with him as well. Max is feeling a bit neglected but doesn't know how to deal with these emotions. The movie starts as one night he gets in trouble and "running away" he travels to the imaginary land of the Wild Things. There he meets Carrol, Judith, Douglas, KW, Alexander, Ira and The Bull. These "monsters" teach Max about what its like to be a family. How to deal with life's curves and to realize that although we all have our differences that a family loves each other despite this. Looking deeper into the movie you see that each of the Wild Things represents a different aspect of Max. Carrol - his temper, KW - his love, Judith - his insecurities, etc etc. Max in dealing with these characters in the movie allows him to deal with his issues himself. I KNOW pretty deep. You don't need to think about this though when watching this movie... just enjoy it for what it is. A nostalgic look back into your childhood.

Law Abiding Citizen

This movie kind of snuck up on me. I didn't even hear about it till a couple of weeks ago as there wasn't much publicity surrounding it. For that reason, I wasn't expecting much when I went in. It's normally not a good sign when the studio's don't push a movie. In this case I was pleasantly surprised. The movie turned out to be AMAZINGLY well written and executed. Both Gerard Butler and Jamie Fox played their parts to a T. Gerard Butler playing the barely constrained father looking for Justice. Jamie Fox playing, at first. the arrogant up and coming Public Attorney looking for glory and then later a more humble D.A. The weakest part of the movie I think was the ending. Not to to give anything away, but I thought they could have ended it in a more satisfying way. It will be interesting to see how it does at the box office. For a movie with little fan fare the theater was packed. Sold out.

The Invention Of Lying

This movie starts out with an interesting premise. What would the world be like if nobody could lie. In fact the word "lie" doesn't even exist and everyone tells the absolute truth all the time. People would say such things as "Yes that does make your ass look big" and "Your baby is hideous". The movies would consist of only documentaries as make-believe can't happen with lying. There would be no secrets at all, whatsoever. Take that scenario and then throw in Ricky Gervais and when he discovers Lying for the first time and you have a great comedy in the making. As you can imagine a man who can lie in a world where everyone tells the truth and believes whatever you tell them has great potential.. I liked how Gervais played the character..he takes advantage of his capability.. BUT.. he does draw the line.. on certain things he wont do. One thing that bothered me was that the movie proposed that faith in God was in essence a lie made in order to make people feel better about death. As a Christian of course I don't buy this.. the evidence of God is too great to ignore. If you ignore this one thing though.. the movie was fun and entertaining. There was ALOT of cameos by big name stars as well that suprised me. This speaks to Ricky Gervais popularity lately. People like Tina Fey, Rob Lowe, Edward Norton, and Jason Bateman.

Surrogates

I have been wanting to see Surrogates for a while now and I wasn't disappointed. It was an interesting concept where the entire world lives out its life through remotely controlled robots. Not having to worry about being killed in car accidents, or murdered in the streets. As well as being able to have GORGEOUS forever young bodies as there natural bodies start to go to pot. Having always been Bruce Willis fan, it was great to see him in another great film. I also liked the several plot twists that this film offered. On a whole I would HIGHLY recommend this movie to be seen at the theaters.. definitely worth the price of admission.

Love Happens

I know some of you are saying.. OUFFF... Chick Flick and I would have to agree to a point. It is a romantic drama that is for sure. The thing is its NOT a "painful" movie and that makes all the difference. I enjoyed this movie. The writer/director focused more on the story as opposed to the romance. It never sauntered down into sappiness or roll your eyes silliness. So when I say its a chick flick its because I know women will love this movie. That being said I think alot of guys will like this movie as well. It's a good date movie in that the girls will love it and the guys wont be cringing in their seats or falling asleep. Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart have alot of chemistry together. Aniston especially who I haven't liked in a movie since Office Space.

The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus

I got a chance to see The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus today at the TIFF. (Toronto International Film Festival) For those of you who don't know this is Heath Ledger's final movie. The one that he was working on when he tragically died from an over dose. The movie was definitely interesting. I left the theater thinking about the various aspects of the movie.. and I am still doing it now, several hours later. For me that is a sign of a great movie. What I am thinking now is that I need to see this one again. I think that this is one of those movies that you will see more the second and third times you watch. The imagery was astounding.. cant wait to see this in HD. It reminded me ALOT of Pan's Labyrinth in that respect. I loved the solution the director was able to come up with in order to allow the film to be finished. Getting Heath's friends, Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Ferrill to each take on a different aspect of the main characters part was brilliant. The audience appreciated the tribute to Heath that was included at the end of the movie. This was a fitting tribute/end to a career that was on its way to being brilliant. It's a shame that we lost such a promising actor too soon.

Whiteout

Okay.. this wasn't a BAD movie. I did like the storyline.. you don't see many movie set in the heart of Antarctica. That being said for a suspence/thriller the movie was a bit weak. It just wasn't that scary. Not even at the most intense moments. The ending also, was anti-climatic to say the least. Kate Beckinsale was probably the best aspect of the movie and not just because she is drop dead gorgeous. She was able to bring a lot of substance to at least make her character not one dimensional. Okay I have to talk about the one blatantly exploitive scene in the movie. At the beginning when Kate's character is first introduced she goes to her quarters and undresses to take a shower. There is NO reason from the context why she is taking a shower at that time. The only reason I can see is to see a semi-nude Kate Beckinsale. NOT that I am complaining.. but sometimes there has to be a better reason then just to show some skin. LOL. In the end this is better off a renter IMO.

9

I thought this was a generally well made movie with an intersting story line, GREAT animation, and a good voice cast. Jennifer Connelly, Elijah Woods, Martin Landau, etc... were all excellent. To reiterate the animation was stupendous. Definitely a good movie to catch at the theater.

Gamer

OUFFF... What a horrible movie. The storyline, what there was of one, was very familiar... I have seen almost the same thing in several movies with just a slight variance. The ending was predictable and anti-climatic. I guess you are going to ask... what did you expect. That's true, I really wasn't expecting much. Which is why I wasn't too disappointed. There was some cool action sequences and Gerard Butler did a half decent job with the material he was working with. Not worth the money to see at the theater though. Wait for it on cable or rent it.

The Time Traveler's Wife

Wow... Two great movies coming out in the same weekend. It doesn't happen very often. Although I wouldn't say this is as great as District 9, it definitely holds it own. This is a smart story, asking the question, what would it be like living with a person out of sequence. The time travelling element becomes secondary to that point. YES its a key element... but it to the storyline its not as important. I liked the chemistry between Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. Definitely one to see again.

District 9

Okay... this is the BEST movie I have seen all year long and the best Science Fiction movie I have seen in years. I am trying to think of the last science fiction movie that surprised me this much. District 9 is completely unique in its story line. I can't think of any movie that comes even close. Like GATTACA its going to go down as a masterpeice of science fiction. Peter Jackson does a masterfull job of telling a story of high moral values. The hero of the movie doesn't start out that way but changes throughout the story to become that. People should definitely go to see this film. The special effects, although affective, are not over bearing our out of place. Got to go see.

G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra

I remember G.I. Joe from when I was a young boy. The cartoons were what every boy loved. Action, adventure, and heroism. At least in my opinion. The movie delivers that same appeal. It's like a 2 hours rollercoaster ride. Never letting up for one minute. A great summer block buster.. which does.. surprisingly enough have a story line to it. Of course CHEEZINESS abounds... but what do you expect from a movie called G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Its not over the top which is the main thing. Dennis Quaid is kind of lost but Marlon Wayans does surprisingly well. He was able to add a bit of comic relief as well. The special effects are what make this movie though. With great eye popping visuals. If you like action movies... they you must see this movie on the big screen. It's definitely worth it.