PITAOE's SUMMER MOVIE AWARDS

Last year we called these the "Blockbuster" awards because we waited until the November release of Quantum of Solace (that worked out well...). With no big movies left this year except Twilight 2, Avatar, and Sherlock Holmes (two of which don't come out until December), I thought we would do this right and keep it only to the movies released between March (the start of the summer movie season ever since 300) and August.


So we did this the same way as last year. I drafted a list of nominees and sent them out to Ben and Sam. Individually we picked our winners and if any film got 2 votes it was the automatic winner. When we had three different answers I decided to give my vote the most weight as I saw the most movies this summer out of the three of us. Now on to the winners...or in this case the losers:

And the nominees for Worst Film are:

1. Funny People

2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

3. Terminator Salvation

4. Year One

5. Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen

6. Bruno


And the winner is:



YEAR ONE

One of two movies this year I walked out of. Just a deplorable film. A bad comedy is one of the more painful ways to spend 90 minutes. A truly awful comedy is torture. It would be hard to find a more irritating pairing than Jack Black and Michael Cera but I thought that appearances from people like Paul Rudd and Hank Azaria might save this movie from being as bad as it looked. Nope.

Runner Up: Transformers 2 - Really, really bad...and racist...but not the agonizing experience that Year One was.


And the nominees for Most Unintentionally Funny Moment are:

1. The sex scene in Watchmen

2. Christian Bale's yelling in Terminator Salvation (and remembering the infamous "We are DONE professionally" rant)

3. The big twist in Orphan


And the winner is:



THE TWIST IN ORPHAN

It really was....something else. Two words: Saarne Institute.

Runner Up: The sex scene in Watchmen


And the nominees for Most Disappointing film are:

1. Watchmen

2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

3. Terminator Salvation

4. Public Enemies

5. Bruno


And the winner is:



X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

This was the first case of all three of us having different answers. Sam said Watchmen...but I wonder how high his expectations could really have been? I said Public Enemies, which I wanted to be great and it was merely good, but at least it was good. Ben voted for X-Men Origins: Wolverine which I decided should be the winner as it was voted the film we at PITAOE were most excited for at last year's PITAOE Blockbuster awards.

Runner-Up: Watchmen


And the nominees for the Most Surprisingly Good movie are:

1. In the Loop

2. Star Trek

3. The Hangover

4. District 9

5. Inglourious Basterds


And the winner is:



STAR TREK

This is the first winner in which all three of us agreed. We all assumed J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek to continue the grand tradition of all things Star Trek by being utterly terrible. Our expectations could not have been lower. We were wrong. The new Star Trek was a very fun film and the best of the summer's action movies.

Runner Up: In the Loop


And the nominees for best Action Scene in a film this summer are:

1. The opening fight between The Comedian and his mystery assailant in Watchmen

2. The second fight between Wolverine and Sabertooth in X-Men Origins: Wolverine

3. Christian Bale versus a familiar face in Terminator Salvation

4. The big finale action sequence in Up

5. The space sky diving scene in Star Trek

6. The fight in the forest in Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen

7. The shootout in the cabin in Public Enemies

8. Cobra's invasion of the G.I. Joe Headquarters in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

9. The battle suit fight in District 9

10. Getting the Horcrux in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince


And the winner is:



TERMINATOR SALVATION

What a weak batch. Ugh. Sam voted for District 9. Ben voted for Terminator. I decided to side with Ben on this one as I thought the action in District 9 was the weakest part of that film. I honestly thought the Horcrux scene in Harry Potter 6 and the Space Jump in Star Trek were the most visually impressive action scenes this summer but I had a lot of fun with the Terminator Salvation scene (really the only fun scene in the whole film).

Runner-Up: District 9


And the nominees for Best Scene in a summer film are:

1. The Dr. Manhattan on Mars sequence in Watchmen

2. The opening montage in Up

3. The talking goat in Drag Me To Hell

4. The first bomb in The Hurt Locker

5. The "Reality vs. Expectation" scene in (500) Days of Summer

6. The opening interrogation scene in Inglourious Basterds

7. Wikus Van De Merwe serving aliens with eviction notices in District 9

8. Peter Capaldi versus James Gandolfini in In the Loop

9. Melvin Purvis chasing Pretty Boy Floyd in Public Enemies

10. Zach Gallifinakas interacting with the baby in The Hangover


And the winner is:



IN THE LOOP

This is a really good collection of scenes. The fact that the scenes in Up, Inglourious Basterds, and The Hurt Locker were not voted for by any of us shows just how solid this list is as those scenes are all spectacularly done. Ben voted for (500) Days of Summer but I had to go with Sam and agree that the little dialogue scene between Peter Capaldi and James Gandolfini in In the Loop was the most fun sequence of the summer.

Runner Up: The very clever and honest "Reality vs. Expectation" scene in (500) Days of Summer


And the nominees for Funniest Movie of the summer are:

1. The Hangover

2. In the Loop

3. (500) Days of Summer

4. Observe and Report

5. I Love You, Man

6. Up


And the winner is:



IN THE LOOP

Contains what could be the best swearing I've ever seen in a film. But this film is more than a filthy mouth...it's also a very sharp and biting political comedy. It was close between this and The Hangover for me, but both Sam and Ben voted for In the Loop, and I have no problem with it getting the award for funniest movie of the Summer and, most likely, of all of 2009.

Runner-Up: The Hangover


And the nominees for Best Smaller Film of the summer are:

1. Drag Me To Hell

2. Moon

3. In the Loop

4. (500) Days of Summer

5. The Hurt Locker

6. District 9


And the winner is:



THE HURT LOCKER

Here's one where I decided to pull rank. Sam voted for In the Loop but having just given it the "Funniest Film" award I thought we've thoroughly recognized that film's brilliance. Ben voted for (500) Days of Summer. It was his favorite film of the summer, and everyone should check out his review of the movie, but I felt strongly that it was not the best smaller film of the summer. I think I'm the only one of the three of us to have seen The Hurt Locker and I feel that if Ben and Sam had been able to watch it they might feel the same as me. It is the best film ever made about the Iraq War, it is the best war film made since Black Hawk Down, and it should be nominated for Best Picture come next February.

Runners Up: In the Loop and (500) Days of Summer


And the nominees for Best Blockbuster Movie of the summer are:

1. Up

2. Star Trek

3. Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

4. Inglourious Basterds

5. Public Enemies


And the winner is:



INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

Just a very strong effort from Tarantino. Boosted by Christoph Waltz's great performance, a healthy sense of humor from Brad Pitt, and an air of cool from Mélanie Laurent, Inglourious Basterds was one of the most fun films of the summer and had some of the best shots in any film this decade.

Runner-Up: Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince. This was Sam's vote and it certainly was a solid film. It was a strong set-up to what should be a very exciting conclusion to the series. Speaking of which...


And finally, the nominees for the most Anticipated Films of 2010 are:

1. Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland - With...guess who...Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter

2. Prince of Persia - Video Game adaptation starring the very Persian looking Jake Gyllenhaal

3. Clash of the Titans - A remake of the 1981 film

4. Shutter Island - The delayed Martin Scorsese thriller

5. Kick-Ass - An adaptation of Mark Millar's brutally "realistic" look at becoming a teenage superhero.

6. Ridley Scott's Robin Hood - Starring Russel Crowe

7. Iron Man 2 - With Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow and Don Cheadle as War Machine

8. The A-Team - Now with Less Mr. T but more Liam Neeson

9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One - Where will they decide to break up the story to divide it into two films?

10. Toy Story 3 - Andy has left for college...what happens to his toys?

11. Inception - Christopher Nolan's follow up to The Dark Knight

12. Wall Street 2 - Gordon Gekko is back

13. Jonah Hex - A western based on DC Comics' anti-hero.

And the winner is:



IRON MAN 2

The best film of the summer of 2008 leads to the most anticipated film of 2010. Iron Man 2 has a lot going for it, and a lot riding on it, and we can only hope that Jon Favreau and the gang don't let us down like X-Men Origins: Wolverine did this year. Casting Mickey Rourke was...a bad start.


The rest our Top Ten most anticipated films:

2. Inception

3. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows

4. Kick-Ass

5. Shutter Island

6. Ridley Scott's Robin Hood

7. Clash of the Titans

8. Toy Story 3

9. Jonah Hex

10. The A-Team



Hope you liked this look back at the best and worst of the summer of 2009. It was, overall, a much weaker summer than 2008. Still, there were some definite gems, and a few smaller films that I know I'll be revisiting again and again. Let's just hope that next year is a little bit stronger when it comes to the big and fun summer genre films. Or that Avatar and Sherlock Holmes aren't as wanky as they look...