movies I watched in 2009

[radhardened]

In reverse chronological order, with emphasis on ones I especially enjoyed that you may not be familiar with, and with an asterisk * by ones that in my often-faulty memory pass the Bechdel test:

• After Life (ワンダフルライフ) - I suspect people who enjoy Haibane Renmei would also enjoy this film set in a waystation where the souls of the recently deceased are processed before entering heaven
• Duck
• The Brother From Another Planet
• Passion Fish*
• Antonia's Line* (Antonia)
• The Secret Life of Bees*
• On the Beach - a 1959 post-apocalyptic movie I saw after a mention by my dad
• Crown Heights - compelling subject, but the treatment is After-School Special
• The Yes Men
• When a Woman Ascends the Stairs* (女が階段を上る時)
• WarGames - my first time watching more than a scattered bit of it; I mostly just wanted to understand what WOPR refers to
• The Big Lebowski - first time seeing this one; I enjoyed it
• The Fugitive - I'm pretty sure this wasn't my first time seeing it; I don't remember what prompted me to re-watch it
• Milk
• Twilight - not one I would've chosen on my own, but I have to admit I enjoyed it at least a little
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - saw it in IMAX at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
• The Nine Lives of Marion Barry - more than anything else I learned how disenfranchised D.C. residents were through most of the 20th century
• The Business of Being Born*
• The True Meaning of Pictures - I probably wasn't in the right frame of mind when I watched this, because it didn't hold my interest at the time
• When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions
• Children Full of Life - a documentary you can watch online about kids sharing emotions in a Japanese school
• In the Shadow of the Moon
• Andy Goldsworthy's Rivers & Tides - I like land art
• Moon - saw it in the theater, found it gorgeous but disappointing
• A Scene at the Sea (あの夏、いちばん静かな海)
• The Bridge
• Swades (स्वदेश) - one of my co-workers has a cameo in this Bollywood movie about a NASA (Goddard) engineer who returns to his roots in India
• Nobody Knows (誰も知らない) - a sad story based on real events
• Sita Sings the Blues - a Creative Commons licensed animated movie that re-tells the story of Rama and Sita from Sita's point of view, set to songs performed by jazz singer Annette Hanshaw
• Fragile Machine - I remember being unimpressed with the computer-generated imagery
• The Weather Underground
• The Fire Within (Le feu follet)
• The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara
• Rabbit-Proof Fence*
• Encounters at the End of the World - this Werner Herzog documentary about the people and places of Antarctica is now one of my favorite movies
• 300 - saw it with a group of people, definitely not one I'd pick on my own
• Water* (वाटर)
• Escape to Canada - don't think I really liked it, if I recall
• Central Station (Central do Brasil)
• Shower (洗澡)
• The Pianist

Feel free to share your thoughts on any of these movies.