Stanko's Stance

Looking at this reflection of “The Big Picture” 2009 Movie Draft, I have 83 movies that were released that year. It is a little bit below the median line that I set come the turn of the decade, but I still have some movies to look at and choose from.

We are heading into my 10th reflection on a The Big Picture’s draft. Thus far I have Chris Ryan in the lead with four wins, followed by Sean Fennessey with three. Amanda Dobbins has one win, and Joanna Robinson picked up the win in her celebratory appearance.

Now let’s head into the 2009 movie draft. Going into this blind, so let’s see who it transpires.

Drama

• Chris Ryan gets my vote in Drama because it is the only movie of the three I have seen. I enjoyed Adventureland for what it was, but my rating of it at the time was a “C”. I probably saw this back in 2010 or 20111, back when my movie snobbishness was at inhumane and unsustainable levels. I do need to see A Serious Man and An Education because both are on the NBR Top 10 of 2009.
• Chris Ryan is up, 1-0.

Comedy

• Perhaps I should not have done this year…because again I have only seen one of the movies selected. That movie again, is Chris Ryan’s. The Hangover was a phenomena when it happened. It was unbelievably quotable, and still is to this day. That is a good question to ask, or possibly a good blog: what are the most quotable lines from The Hangover?
• Chris Ryan is up, 2-0.

Oscar Nominee

• Amanda Dobbins’ voice crack and inflection when she got the number one pick in the draft was iconic. Filled with curse words and true evil satisfaction. I had not seen Fantastic Mr. Fox, but even if I have, nothing compares to Inglorious Basterds. It is Quinten Tarantino’s best movie, and my personal favorite as well. No bias there at all. I enjoyed The Hurt Locker, but don’t remember a lot of it. I remember every bit of Inglorious Basterds. It is iconic.
• Chris Ryan with a 2-1-0 lead over Amanda and Sean.

Action/Horror/Thriller

• We have three categories smashed into one here, so let’s see how that plays out.
• Sean picked Avatar, which has to be considered seriously even if it has been ridiculed in the years since its release. 13 years later we are finally getting a sequel. Don’t count me as a James Cameron doubter, but let’s just say I am very curious to see what happens in this long awaited sequel. Chris Ryan selected Zombieland, which is a very enjoyable movie, but one I do not revisit very often in memory, passively or actively. Zombieland was a high school movie sleep over staple. that is my memory of it. State Of Play is a hell of a pick for Amanda. Did not see that one coming at all. Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren and Robin Wright. What a massive cast. However, State Of Play is not going to win.
• I am going to pick Avatar because I remember seeing it in theaters twice, and I do not do that very often at all. It changed the way I look at movies. It was the first time I got gob-smocked by technology.
• Chris Ryan still leads the draft over Amanda and Sean, 2-1-1.

Blockbuster

• I have not seen It’s Complicated, so that is out of the picture.
• Sean is incredulous about Chris seeing Up, and that was hilarious to listen to. I do agree with all three of the Ringer hosts that the best part of Up is its first 20 minutes, but not even the tears it produces can match the excitement from Taken. Liam Neeson’s career rebirth began with this movie. It is incredible. I know that The Hangover was probably the most quotable movie of the year, but Taken has to be up there with its “Good Luck” sequence.
• With that, we are tied atop this draft. Chris Ryan with 2. Sean Fennessey with 2. Amanda Dobbins has 1 (but the best one if that counts for anything.)

Wild Card

• Have to be honest here. Haven’t seen any of these movies. There are going to be no points awarded, but if there were to be, there would be no vote for Amanda Dobbins seeing how I Am Love was actually released in 2010 in the United States and she had picked it in the first ever draft in 2010. Not great!
• With no votes in the wild card category, that means that Chris and Sean come to the end here with a tie. I do not believe in ties, so we are going to pick a winner.

The winner of this tiebreaker in my mind is Chris Ryan. He gets the win over Sean Fennesseey because of the strength of it on the whole. I have also seen five of the six movies that Chris selected, while Sean I have only seen two of them. I can not justifiably pick someone who I have only seen two of the movies from his list.

Drama

• Whoof, Up In The Air is depressing. But with that being said, Up In The Air is remarkably well done. George Clooney was remarkable, but Anna Kendrick is even more of a revelation. This is the first award-worthy movie I saw her in, and hse knocked i tout of the park. Also, let’s talk about how good Vera Farmiga is. No movie has ever had better conversations about credit cards.
• I stand by Watchmen. I extra stand-by the Ultimate Cut. Sure, the movie diverges a ton from the graphic novel, in particular in the grand finale, but I still love the style that it was made with. I stand on the pedestal and shout from the rooftops that Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut is one of the more overrated comic book movies. It took a dark swing before many others did after the fact.

Comedy

• The Hangover deserves to be selected. It was a phenomena across the world. It is one of the highest grossing comedies of all time in the international box office. It was the break out roll for Zach Galifianakis, and it showed Bradley Cooper in a way that we had not seen him before. We won’t talk about the two sequels, but The Hangover is worth it for anyone who has not seen it yet.
• I don’t care if The Big Picture crew made fun of 500 Days Of Summer, I really do enjoy this movie. This movie is one of the most earnest about what romance can feel like to different people, and it shows the depth that one can go to try and make sense of heartbreak. The scene depicting reality vs. expectation at the party is eerily relatable. Also the scene on the bench when they come to a reconciliation…that had me by the heart strings.

Oscar Nominee

• Inglorious Basterds is Tarantino’s best film. It is my favorite film of his. The opening vignette with Christoph Waltz as the Col. Hands Landa is iconic. The scene with Eli Roth emerging from the tunnel as the Bear Jew is also perfect. The movie is incredible. Waltz won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Directing (Quentin Tarantino), Best Original Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino), Best Cinematography (Robert Richardson), Best Film Editing (Sally Menke), Best Sound Mixing (Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti, Mark Ulano) and Best Sound Editing (Wylie Statemen).
• Up In The Air was nominated for six Academy Awards, but it did not win any. It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture, Best Actor (Geroge Clooney), Best Supporting Actress (Vera Farmiga & Anna Kendrick), Best Directing (Jason Reitman) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner).

Action/Horror/Thriller

• Do you remember where you were when you watched Paranormal Activity for the first time? I do. I went on a date in high school and we did the classic sit in the back row. However, rather than be gross and make out, we just watched the movie because it was that scary and that good. Paranormal Activity reignited the found footage genre to the highest degree since The Blair Witch Project (1999).

Blockbuster

• Taken is awesome. I will just put this clip below.

• The fact that District 9 was a blockbuster is amazing. It made $115,646,235 in the United States, and that was on just a 30 million dollar budget. I remember being in high school and a guest speaker in our video production class asked us what was the best movie that people had seen that year. I distinctly recalled that I said District 9, and no one had seen it expect for the speaker. It was a proud moment for me. I remember it.

Wild Card

• District 9 is a truly unique science-fiction movie.Watch it and be surprised about how it progresses. You will not be dissapointed.
• Alright, alright. Everyone pick their jaws up off the floor. I picked Gran Torino in this wild card category for a personal reason. This was the first movie review in high school I ever wrote. We watched it in class, and I remember being so excited to participate in class and write down my thoughts. The little things I recognized with all of the American flags planted wherever they could be in the movie. Or the way Walt Kowalski collapses on the yard like Jesus on the crucifix. It was a proud and important moment for me.

Reflection On “The Big Picture” 1990s Oscar Winners Movie Draft – Chris Ryan Victory
Reflection On “The Big Picture” 2003 Movie Draft – Joanna Robinson Victory
Reflection On “The Big Picture” 2009 Movie Draft – Chris Ryan Victory
Reflection On “The Big Picture” 2010 Movie Draft – Sean Fennessey Victory
Reflection On “The Big Picture” 2011 Movie Draft – Sean Fennessey Victory
Reflection On “The Big Picture” 2012 Movie Draft – Chris Ryan Victory
Reflection On “The Big Picture” 2015 Movie Draft – Chris Ryan Victory
Reflection On “The Big Picture” 2016 Movie Draft – Chris Ryan Victory
Reflection On “The Big Picture” 2017 Movie Draft – Amanda Dobbins
Reflection On “The Big Picture” 2018 Movie Draft – Sean Fennessey Victory

Chris Ryan – 5 Wins
Sean Fennessey – 3 Wins
Amanda Dobbins – 1 Win
Joanna Robinson – 1 Win

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