Ok, so 2009 hasn’t been the greatest year for film. It started out with a bang and a lot of promise, but has not lived up to the expectations. There have been a few gems : Star Trek, Coraline, The Hangover, Drag Me To Hell, Pixar’s Up and to a lesser extent I Love You, Man. However, the list of stinkers is longer than you can imagine, with such shining examples as : Paul Blart Mall Cop, X-Men Origins : Wolverine, Fast & The Furious, Bride Wars, Land Of The Lost and I could go on and on.

So, my fingers and toes are crossed that the remainder of the year will wash the bad taste out of my mouth.  Here then, is a list of the movies scheduled for the rest of 2009 that I believe will offer the most entertainment for your hard earned bucks.  Some may currently in limited release, but wide release is what you’re looking at here.

The Hurt Locker : Wide Release Unknown

Public Enemies : July 1st

Miyazaki’s Ponyo : August 14th

Inglourious Basterds : August 21st

The Boat That Rocked : August 28th

Mike Judge’s Extract : September 4th

Shane Acker’s 9 : September 9th

Zombieland : October 9th

Where The Wild Things Are : October 16th

Avatar : December 18th

So little is still known about this film, but James Cameron seems to know what he’s doing. He has promised something earth shattering, something unique. Nothing is guaranteed, but at the very least, you will be entertained.

Sherlock Holmes : December 25th

Let me just begin by saying this movie will stick with you.  Whether you want it to, or not.  However, it will leave you smiling AND looking down your hallway making sure that noise you heard was just the fridge kicking in.

I haven’t been so utterly amused and terrified with a movie since, ironically, the Evil Dead series.  Drag Me To Hell tends to lean towards the more terrifying end of the spectrum more often, however there were a few laughs to be heard in the theater.  There are a few soul possessions in particular, which I won’t go into any more, except to say they will put a smile on your face.

The lead character of Christine Brown (played by the wonderful Alison Lohman of Matchstick Men and Big Fish) becomes the victim of a gypsy curse, given to her by a bitter, elderly woman Mrs. Ganush (played by Lorna Raver).  This is not just any curse.  It will torment its victim for 3 days, mentally and physically, after which, will ensure they end up in a rather nasty place.  You can take a wild guess where.  Christine’s boyfriend Clay Dalton (played by everyone’s favorite Mac, Justin Long) tries to understand what she’s going through and even enlists the help of a fortune teller, all of who which are determined to eradicate the curse.

Not since The Haunting (yes, the terrible remake) have I felt dread and the sense of terror, through sounds and noise alone.  Raimi does what he did in the Evil Dead series and what many horror directors can only dream of, and that is instill fear before anything has actually happened.  Once it does happen… he scares you some more. Sure, there are some cheap scare tactics used here and there, but movies are supposed to be fun, right?

The reason I continue to go back to Evil Dead, is because you cannot escape the fact that this feels so similar, thankfully in the best ways possible.  If you are a fan of the ‘Dead’ series, you will find a handful of tongue-in-cheek references, including some very obvious ones.  If not, this film may convince you to go back and give them a watch, to see what Raimi did pre-Spidey.

Synopsis : A stellar horror film.  It has everything you can possibly ask for : great acting, tongue in cheek humour, geniune scares and some memorable characters.  Not including one of the best endings I’ve ever seen.  You will be talking about this for days after you see it, I guarantee.

I am not a “trekkie” by any means and if you ask, I prefer the ‘Wars’ to the ‘Treks’, Jar Jar and all. However, the feature length Star Trek films have always been interesting, sometimes even very enjoyable. I tried, as hard as I might, to lose myself in the series, but something about the embarrassing uniforms and generally wooden acting cause the remote to magically change channels.

A bigger budget has always allowed the big screen adaptations to showcase their strengths, those in my eyes being sci-fi immersion and the villains. The latest iteration, helmed by the ever improving JJ Abrams, was by far my most anticipated film of the year. No expense was spared and it’s immediately apparent, from the slick camera shots to the seamless CG. Surprisingly, the cast was relatively low-key, especially for such a huge blockbuster, which I always like.

With Chris Pine‘s real first feature role, he pulled off Kirk with aplomb, making the character his own, while still maintaining some of Shatner’s earlier charm and physique. Harold & Kumar’s John Cho and Simon Pegg were my only real two concerns, only because I feared they would not mesh with the rest of the cast. Those worries were soon put to rest, however Pegg’s Scotty was only in the film for what seemed like the last 15 minutes. I’m sure he’ll be back in the inevitable sequels.

Eric Bana continues to provide solid roles, delivering exactly what’s expected. His role as Nero was not what I would career-defining, but it was very convincing as the time traveling Romulan. Every time I looked at Nero’s right hand man, Ayel (played by Clifton Collins Jr.) however, all I could see was his role from Crank 2 and I’ll admit it took me out of the movie every once in a while because his role in Crank 2 was so over the top.

As far as prequels go, I wish more time was spent in the early years of other characters, defining who they were growing up and why they’ve chosen what they have.  Movies such as Spiderman and Batman Begins really help define the characters (albeit they are individuals), where Star Trek spends 10-15 minutes on character development then throws you into the fray.

SYNOPSIS : I loved nearly every minute of Star Trek, but I think I will be looking forward to the sequels even more.  Developing the crew of the Enterprise will be something everyone will want to see, and I can’t wait.

Appearing completely out of the blue (at least to me!) is the first feature film from Duncan Jones, who surprisingly, is David Bowie’s first son. Moon, starring Sam Rockwell, does reek of 2001-style undertones, however with Rockwell’s screen presence, it seems more human. Don’t get me wrong, 2001 is one of my favorite films of all time, but you really have to let yourself go to really enjoy it.

Look for Moon to hit theaters on June 12th, 2009.

What better way to ring in the summer blockbuster season than with every one’s favorite X-Men superhero? Well, I can think of quite a few, but I’ll also bet $85 million on the fact that no one cares what I think.

Yes, the summer certainly ups the eye-candy level when it comes to theatrical movie releases, but this isn’t always a good thing.  Quite a few directors feel the need to take away the aspects of their films, such as…. well, acting, plot, intelligence.  These aspects are often replaced with exploding helicopters, ironic one-liners, skimpy outfits and even more exploding helicopters.

I really had low hopes even before Wolverine started up.  I mean, who actually enjoyed X-men 3?  Sure, X-men 1 and 2 set relatively high standards for what a comic book movie SHOULD be.  These low hopes were not only reinforced, but perhaps even lowered a tad more, especially when the Deadpool sequence started up.  But I digress.

From the get go, you know this is all about Wolverine, tracking his past and walking through how he became the person he is today.  Fighting in every major american war probably does something to your psyche, which would explain why his brother, Sabertooth (played by Liev Schreiber, not Tyler Mane) is such a grumpy bastard.  Once the tone is set, the movie quickly becomes a mess, taking you from locale to locale, trying to cram in as many new superheros as possible.

During the entire movie, you feel as if you’ve seen it all before and it’s probably because you have.  You are constantly bombarded by cliché after cliché, scratching your head as to the some of the decisions made by the director.  On numerous occasions, I actually murmured to myself “What the hell are they doing?” or “What is going on?”.  It feels like it was thrown together, while trying to capitalize on the obvious popularity of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine.  As with a lot of the summer blockbuster ‘popcorn flicks’, I tried to switch my brain off, but I just couldn’t and I really shouldn’t have to.  Comic book movies can be well written, they can be smart and they can still be fun.

Synopsis : With a strong performance by Hugh Jackman and a convincing role played by the fantastic Danny Huston, it’s a shame to see this one crash and burn, in more ways than one. The stink left from X-Men 3 really hasn’t worn off and ‘Wolverine’ merely fans the sheets.