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9 underrated, overlooked sci-fi and fantasy films of 2009
You've seen Avatar already, right? And we're sure you didn't miss Star Trek. And you probably even sat through Terminator: Salvation for some reason. Films like those got a whole lot of love from critics and the box office.
But then there are those a little harder to find, and some that, once found, were rejected by audiences. Here are nine of the most overlooked and underrated films of 2009.
Cold Souls
Paul Giamatti is Paul Giamatti in the story of a man who loses his soul (which looks like a chickpea) and finds it again after a mix-up with the Russian mob. Sort of like a Being John Malkovich except not at all funny, Cold Souls must be acknowledged as a true science-fiction film—most movies are just war stories or thrillers with futuristic art direction, but the conceit of soul removal and transference is the core of this film's emotional reality. You missed it due to limited release and solid reviews that were ultimately less than raves, likely because the film was a downer.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
A wonderful stop-motion animation based on the book by Roald Dahl, this film transports you so completely into the story of various animals defending their homes against human farmers that when I mentioned its place on this list to a friend of mine, she said, "But does Mr. Fox count as a fantasy?" Unless badgers are lawyers and foxes often have newspaper columns, of course it counts. If you missed Fantastic Mr. Fox, it's probably because you thought it was solely a kiddie film, but it is much more.
Jennifer's Body
Audiences happily lap up dialogue like "Let's dance!" (before fights) and "Locked and loaded!" (before gunfights) and "Holy mother of--" *KA-BOOM* (all the time), so why is clever and competent Diablo Cody the writer everyone loves to hate? Jealousy, probably—she makes millions for her instant slang, and all you get for the same is a few people clicking the LIKE button on your Facebook. This tale of high school hell and the insecurities of teen girls wasn't your daddy's horror movie, but it was your sister's; because it was mismarketed as a sexy slasher, exactly the wrong crowd killed any chance of positive buzz after the first weekend for this flick.
Chandni Chowk to China
If you're like me, you love kung-fu films and Bollywood musicals and you've been known to rescue potatoes from the supermarket when they look like someone you know. And if you're like me, Chandni Chowk to China is the movie for you! If you didn't see it, maybe you're not like me, or maybe Hollywood just doesn't get three-hour movies with five plots, musical numbers and wuxia magic. Long movie plus no stars plus two acquired tastes in the same film and an arthouse platform release made Chandni Chowk to China a box-office flop.
Moon
Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is alone on the moon, extracting helium-3 from the lunar surface to fuel the world's economy, and it's almost time for him to go home. But he isn't alone ... and home isn't what he thinks it is. Moon is a clever film whose plot takes just the tiniest bit too long to get going, and though there are twists aplenty in the end, the entire film rests on the shoulders of Sam Rockwell's performance. With a $5 million budget, Moon is no sci-fi spectacle. Too smart for summertime fare, Moon was very well reviewed but was distributed by Sony Pictures Classics—which also handles documentaries and foreign films. You probably missed it because you don't live in a college town.
Knowing
Nicholas Cage plays a MIT professor who comes into possession of a coded list of disasters that had been placed in a time capsule 50 years before, and panics as the code is clear to him—the world will soon end. Alex Proyas makes good movies. Nicholas Cage is a good actor, or was at one point. Few critics liked this film—probably because of the scenery-chewing, some heavy images not usually seen in disaster films and an ending that can leave you laughing if you don't gasp. Though Roger Ebert gave it four stars, Knowing just didn't have legs after a solid opening weekend thanks to less-than-enthusiastic word of mouth. It's too bad—this vision of the apocalypse doesn't pull any punches. In Knowing [**spoiler alert**], pretty much everybody dies!
Mock-Up On Mu
More likely to have you leaving the theater shouting "L. Ron Hubbard's got the tech!" than a Tom Cruise recruitment video, this experimental piece by underground legend Craig Baldwin takes footage found from Japanese monster films, North by Northwest and a zillion sci-fi sources both old and new to tell the kinda-sorta-true story of rocket scientist/occultist Jack Parsons. You didn't see this film because it was hardly released after a festival run in '08 except for a few days here and there in the largest cities. I caught it in July at a worker-owned movie house in San Francisco, where it played for two days. Seek out the terrible terrible truth!
Thirst
Korean horror films that make it to the U.S. are often wonderfully overstuffed, and Thirst is no exception. Priest becomes vampire thanks to experimental vaccine for horrifying virus is plot enough, but that's the just the beginning of this film. Father Sang-hyun then breaks his vows to have an affair, kills his lover's abusive husband and turns her into a vampire, too—but she becomes very bloodthirsty. Then the mother-in-law shows up ... Thirst was a fairly big hit in South Korea, but in the U.S. foreign-language pictures generally get only a limited release, and a foreign-language genre picture generally shows up on a handful of screens, and just long enough for some Hollywood type to get the bright idea to ruin it via a remake.
Valhalla Rising
Hobbes said that life in a state of nature was nasty, brutish and short, and Valhalla Rising is almost just like life, except the film is quite long. Less fantastical than purely mythic, this is the story of the silent, pagan One-Eye (perhaps Odin himself) who finds himself along with some Christian Vikings on a voyage to join the Crusades. They end up somewhere else (the New World, maybe?) where death awaits. Horrifically violent, glacially paced and heavily allegorical, you didn't see Valhalla Rising because horrific period-piece art films don't play in Peoria, or much of anywhere else.
By antodav at 11:39 AM ON 01/29/10
Knowing was excellent, and I want to see Moon, but Jennifer's Body? Really, SyFyi? Admit it: you just have a Megan Fox fetish, don't you?
By Tempus13 at 11:44 AM ON 01/29/10
Some of these movies sound really intersting. I just hope those that saw limited release won't prove too hard to find.
By Paul at 11:54 AM ON 01/29/10
Can't wait for Fantastic Mr Fox on DVD.
By Foxxy at 11:56 AM ON 01/29/10
The Fantastic Mr Fox is not a kids movie by any means. It's about a character going through a mid life crisis whether he was a fox or a human. Very good film.
As far as Knowing is concerned, it was pants.
Moon awesome.
Looking forward to Thirst.
By Token at 11:57 AM ON 01/29/10
Some of these look good, but the one I saw, Knowing, was barely worth the time I spent watching it.
By Artarious at 11:58 AM ON 01/29/10
I keep loosing more and more respect for you guys, first it was your twilight fetish now Jennifer's Body come on guys really? Anyways Knowing was pretty decent but you forgot to mention the*Spoilers* Alien Angels... I really wish i was kidding about that sadly. But the only saving grace was that everybody dies so made me happy.
By max452 at 12:02 PM ON 01/29/10
Thirst and Jennifer's body were actually pretty good. Far better than the endless Saw and Final Destination movies the studios keep inflicting on us. :P
By PA_Alaskan at 12:02 PM ON 01/29/10
I never consider horror straight horror films like Jennifer's Body and Thirst, as a sci-fi or fantasy piece. It's horror for pete's sake! I also agree with antodav that you guys have a Megan Fox fetish.
By Rodrigo Leme at 12:16 PM ON 01/29/10
Someone has a crush on Diablo Cody...take a cold shower and then realize how bad Jennifer's Body is(the movie, because the body itself is great).
By DOlz at 12:16 PM ON 01/29/10
This list is incomplete without "Ink".
By crichton007 at 12:20 PM ON 01/29/10
Knowing? Really? That was the worst ending to a movie of 2009. Moon was good though. I'd put it in the top 10 movies of the year.
By JaTal at 12:26 PM ON 01/29/10
"I never consider horror straight horror films like Jennifer's Body and Thirst, as a sci-fi or fantasy piece. It's horror for pete's sake! I also agree with antodav that you guys have a Megan Fox fetish. "
I agree. How does Horror get included on this list.
By mastadge at 12:38 PM ON 01/29/10
A good list. While I disagree with Knowing, which I thought was pretty awful, I agree with almost everything else I've seen, and hadn't even heard of a couple of these movies -- Chandni Chowk to China looks like a blast.
Also, PA_Alaskan, Jennifer's Body is not a straight horror movie. It's a supernatural comedy that was unfortunately marketed as a slasher flick.
By R3MY at 12:45 PM ON 01/29/10
How Knowing, Fantastic Mr. Fox or Jennifer's Body under-appreciated?
Fantastic Mr. Fox was overrated, if anything, Knowing was horrible and had a major release, and Jennifer's Body had the makings of a very cool movie but just never followed through. Seriously, I went to see Jennifer's Body wanting to like it because I liked Juno, Diablo Cody and Amanda Seyfried - it wasn't enough.
Moon on the other hand is exactly the kind of movie that should be on this list. It never got a major release, has so far been snubbed by the awards and was a solid Science Fiction (no need for corporate misspelled abbreviations) movie.
Review fail.
By DQuartermane at 1:24 PM ON 01/29/10
One word for anyone looking for a very good underrated movie.
INK
By Loki at 1:29 PM ON 01/29/10
Moon was not under-appreciated, it was just limited in release. One of the best films of 2009 and easily the best SciFi film. Fantastic Mr. Fox was a lot of unexpected fun.
By Sci-fi fan at 1:36 PM ON 01/29/10
Really?!? Why are there horror films on a sci-fi/fantasy genre site?
By Sean B at 1:37 PM ON 01/29/10
Pandorum should definitely be on that list!
By burymylovely at 2:03 PM ON 01/29/10
Fantastic Mr. Fox was likely underseen, but not underrated. Overrated in my opinion. In a banner year for animation (Up, Cloudy, Princess, Kelts to name a few), it fell flat. And animation was not really that good.
I'm glad you mentioned Cold Souls. I had forgotten about it and was interested.
By adayl8&a$short at 2:58 PM ON 01/29/10
The flaw in the reasoning here is the presentation that any of these movies were of value in some sense. I haven'/t seen Cold Souls so I cannot comment on it. But, the rest of these movies are trash, totally unworthy of any rating at all. Mr. Fox is a child's cartoon, WTF is itr on this list for?"
By MUADIB at 3:07 PM ON 01/29/10
SAW MOON AFTER A BUDDY SAID IT WAS COOL.IT WAS.Definitly along the lines of blade runner,2001 ,as for the rest mentioned i agree these are not science fiction.but then again this isn't a sci fi web site....anymore.
By Paul at 4:23 PM ON 01/29/10
Fantastic Mr Fox was trippy, funny, and weird in a good way. It definitely was more than a kids cartoon (it wasn't a cartoon anyway).
By jake at 5:42 PM ON 01/29/10
"I never consider horror straight horror films like Jennifer's Body and Thirst, as a sci-fi or fantasy piece. It's horror for pete's sake! I also agree with antodav that you guys have a Megan Fox fetish."
Jennifer's Body was not a horror, which is exactly the point this article is trying to make. It was a campy dark comedy and I liked it a lot.
By Pixel at 5:59 PM ON 01/29/10
Loved both Moon and Fantastic Mr Fox, but my favourite film - although some will point the finger and say, "No, that's veering towards horror, and I'm all snobbish about that, I only accept fantastic films if they're not scary," would have been Pontypool. My bluray just arrived during the week, so likely going round to watch it with my ex and his boyf after our Dollhouse party tomorrow, see if they liked it as my as I did.
By greg at 6:20 PM ON 01/29/10
Sci-fi, fantasy, horror . . . what's the difference? They overlap all the time. Let's not get hung on on nitpicky genre labels.
Why do some sf fans always object when somebody gets chocolate in their peanut butter? It tastes better that way!
By Megalomegalodon at 6:40 PM ON 01/29/10
Chandni Chowk to China was one of my favorite movies last year. I still sing the theme every once any awhile.
By Charlie F at 6:58 PM ON 01/29/10
So, if movies featuring vampires and demons aren't "fantasy"...does that mean you guys think that such creatures are REAL?
By Luke Jackson at 7:16 PM ON 01/29/10
Odd that you would put Knowing in there.
By greg at 7:17 PM ON 01/29/10
Charlie F: Of course vampires and demons aren't real. But neither are telepathic cyborg mutants from outer space. Or radioactive superheroes.
I just don't care if a film is fantasy or sf. It's all genre fiction to me.
By tb83 at 7:21 PM ON 01/29/10
Why in the world would "Knowing" be on this list it was a bad movie. it turned out to be aliens that sent the messeages i mean come on man that ending was almost as bad as the ending in indy 4
By GoodFox at 7:38 PM ON 01/29/10
I don't know about the rest of you and/or where you live - but here in NYC Fantastic Mr. Fox is still sold out on the weekends ... I just saw it this past Tuesday night and the theater was 2/3 full ... doesn't seem overlooked or under appreciated to me.
By archangel2 at 7:41 PM ON 01/29/10
actually, in the movie knowing , the special features indicated that the concept came from christian thought, that when the world comes to an end, only those who hear the call would be saved from destruction and would be taken (by angels, not aliens) to a new world to live in .
if you don't view it this way then it might be seen as a ridiculous ending.
By WhatEverDude at 7:47 PM ON 01/29/10
I thought Moon was very good. Knowing was good til the end. Jennifer's Body would have only been good if there was nudity. Those are the ones I've seen so far.
I would add Pandorum. I liked it. Only made like 15mil. So no one watched it.
By Ryan E at 8:10 PM ON 01/29/10
Moon was an excellent movie. I would definitely recommend it.
Knowing, not so much.
Haven't see the rest.
By Drax at 10:13 PM ON 01/29/10
Great wrap up, solid choices; thanks for the reminder of COLD SOULS.
By tb83 at 10:19 PM ON 01/29/10
never seen Pandorum it was only in my town for a week ill have to rent it though everybody ive talked to says they liked it
By ilikehats at 10:31 PM ON 01/29/10
Really happy to see a list like this, because I hadn't heard of most of these, and I'd love to see quite a few of 'em. Thanks, Mr. Mamatas!
By Kelson at 11:08 PM ON 01/29/10
Moon is the only one of this bunch that I've seen, but I'll agree that it was a great film. I'll have to check out some of the others.
By urvile at 12:50 AM ON 01/30/10
Well, I haven't seen most of these movies. Most not by choice, but if there is a bend towards including "horror" to this list, then where is Raimi's "Drag Me To Hell"? Thought it was much better than "Jennifer's Body". (Except perhaps Megan's, of course)
By Mandy at 1:02 AM ON 01/30/10
One under rated fantasy film of 2009 I strongly recommend is Dorian Gray. It was only released in the UK. I had to order my DVD off of Amazon UK and get my computer to play region 2 discs but it was worth it.
It's about a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth. The painting he has of himself grows uglier every time he does something evil. It's based on the famous novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
I am going to tell you right now that the negative reviews that claim that it's an insult to Oscar Wilde are mistaken. It's as if people who know very little about the works of Oscar Wilde are following a trend.
Those that say this would make Oscar Wilde roll over in his grave clearly have never seen the awful mid 2000s version of The Picture of Dorian Gray that re-sets it in the 1960s with a female Basil with horrendous acting. Or the 1983 version that made Dorian a woman and had a photograph instead of a painting. And they clearly have never seen the 1940s version of Wilde's The Canterville Ghost that turned the entire story into World War 2 propaganda about a solider having to prove himself against a nazi.
I will admit that this is not a word for word faithful adaptation of the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray however it is very true to the heart of the novel, the meaning and purpose. The character portrayals are perfect (save for Sibyl, but I'll get to that) and accurate. All changes are purely superficial. I know Ben Barnes as Dorian does not resemble the character of the novel however he does resemble Oscar Wilde himself and since Oscar Wilde saw himself in Dorian I felt this was a brilliant use of visual symbolism in Wilde's own relationship with Dorian Gray.
I know that some people have complained about the adding of the character Emily Wotton to the story, whom does not exist in the novel. What people fail to remember is that nearly all film versions of The Picture of Dorian Gray have this 'redeemer' character. In the 1940s movie her name was Gladys. In the 1973 version of The Picture of Dorian Gray her name was Beatrice. In most versions she's Basil's niece or daughter but in this version she was Lord Henry's daughter.
What many don't know is that this character does exist in the novel. She's mentioned briefly near the end as a country girl named Hetty. Her part in the novel isn't as big as in the film adaptations but she does still exist and she works to add sympathy to Dorian's character.
You cannot see the inner workings of Dorian's mind in a physical medium like films or plays as you do with the novel so you need a new way to see his moral struggle. And this is done through the presence of Emily.
Collin Firth was incredible as Lord Henry. That was the best portrayal of Lord Henry since George Sanders. This version of The Picture of Dorian Gray has more of Oscar Wilde's witty epigrams than any other version before it. The only line missing that I wish was in here is Lord Henry gives Dorian a cigarette case. In this one it's just inscribed with Dorian's name. In the novel it reads 'The World has changed because you are made of ivory and gold. The curve of your lips re-write history.' But I guess they had to change it because the character's hair isn't gold now.
The only character of the film I did not like was this version of Sibyl Vane. In this version Dorian seduces her into sleeping with him before marriage (as he does in the first film version with Angela Lansbury in the role) but her sleeping with him is not why he leaves her. This is a small improvement because I felt that added message to the 1940s movie was 'Girls, he'll think you're easy and dump you if you sleep with him before marriage.' A morality of 1940s America that Oscar Wilde would never have preached.
In this version when Sibyl starts talking about having a family Dorian argues that it is too soon, much thanks to the ideas planted in his head by Lord Henry. When this Sibyl kills herself it gets revealed that she was with child. I don't get it. This doesn't make much sense to me. James Vane would have helped her with the child or Dorian, himself would have given her money if only to avoid a scandal. She was very excited to have a family and she could have still had it. Also their 'break up' didn't even feel like a break up. The scene felt badly cut. She asks 'I thought you loved me?' And he shouts 'I DO! I DO!' before storming off. How is that breaking up with her? I don't get it. This, to me, was the weakest point of the movie. I didn't feel for this Sibyl.
Being soft spoken and stammering does not suddenly make her sympathetic. Angela Lansbury's version was better.
Basil, however, was very sympathetic. One thing I'm glad they cut was that in most versions Basil didn't just disapprove of Dorian's relationship with Sibyl out of jealousy, he also had told him not to marry beneath his class. Basil doesn't do that in this version. Basil is the most sympathetic of Dorian's Victims in this film.
Dorian himself is played exceptionally well though my favourite character portrayal in this version is Lord Henry. Dorian goes from ruthless and cruel to sympathetic and tragic in a heartbeat. The struggle is perfect. You can see his conscience, and not just with the painting. He is fighting against his own darker instincts which adds to making him sympathetic.
One touch that I liked was they gave Dorian a rapier hidden in an elegant cane, much like the version in League of Extraordinary gentlemen. I feel this weapon suits him. Elegance and grace hiding something sleek and deadly.
As a true Oscar Wilde fan I feel they captured the spirit of Oscar Wilde's intent. This was the best version of The Picture of Dorian Gray I have ever seen, the black and white version coming in close second for having the better and more innocent version of Sibyl Vane.
I am in America and we never got a theatrical release of this version of Dorian Gray. I sincerely hope that some day in the near future America will get, at least, a DVD release of this film because it is truly good, truly exceptional, and far more intelligent, interesting and just plain better than the Twilight Saga.
By wtf? at 4:26 AM ON 01/30/10
wtf? How is Jennifer's Body underrated and overlooked? It is one of the best sci-fi/horror/genre-flipping movies that was out this past year, and I am not just saying because Megan Fox is a sex-bomb. Have you even seen that movie? The one-liners in that movie are all classic. Watch that scene where Megan Fox gets impaled and she says, "ooow, ooow, ooooow, got a tampon? Thought I'd ask. You seemed like you might be pluggin'." Absolutely original and great performance by her!! The only shame was the ending and the movie sort of focused on not-so-beautiful girl. I guess Hollywood is afraid to set beautiful women to be lead ladies because there's some psychobabble going around that watching beautiful women in the media lowers the self-esteem of young girls watching them, wtf?
By Gozer at 7:45 AM ON 01/30/10
Loved the writing in this article!
JaTal: "How does Horror get included on this list."
Sci-fi fan: "Really?!? Why are there horror films on a sci-fi/fantasy genre site?"
Holy f***, get over it, you whiny b****es!!
adayl8&a$short: "Mr. Fox is a child's cartoon, WTF is itr on this list for?"
You didn't actually read the article, did you? Because the writer anticipated and addressed your stupid question.
By Kenneth Mark Hoover at 2:22 PM ON 01/30/10
^^ Lol, why bother to actually read the article when you can just vomit your angst on the Innerwebz?
"Horror? Oh, noes!"
By Tak Kovacs at 3:12 AM ON 02/01/10
It's good to see Knowing get some respect. The ending is left to interpretation, and one that promoted better discussion than most of the genre films released in 2009. Ebert had it right. Subtle nods to Hitchcock and one of the best scores released (Marco Beltrami) last year.
Jennifer's Body was pretty terrible. Nobody is going to be jealous of the writing for that film.
By Necronomic Forecast at 6:32 AM ON 02/01/10
Knowing is one of the worst films I've ever seen. The last 20 minutes felt they were from a completely different film. Truly awful.
Valhalla Rising sounds good. Never heard of if before now.
By ChadRo at 9:39 AM ON 02/01/10
Knowing? Decent premise but flawed with Skeletor in the starring role. Moon? Decent Sci-fi but super slow and semi boring. Thirst? What a miserable movie. How did I get pulled into watching this mess! Broke two rules to watch this, no more movies with subtitles unless by Quinten Tarantino. Any movie that the critics like more that the normal everyday slobs is sure to be a loser.. Stupid. Plain stupid and boring.
What a miserable movie. How did I get pulled into watching this mess! Broke two rules to watch this, no more movies with subtitles unless by Quinten Tarantino. Any movie that the critics like more that the normal everyday slobs is sure to be a loser.. Stupid. Plain stupid and boring.
clear rating
By darkwitchsoul at 3:21 PM ON 02/02/10
I think Jennifer's Body was brilliant. The dialogue Diablo Cody creates is imaginative and original (she does the same with terms she uses in United States if Tara, amazing show). I agree that it was marketed wrong. It was a very cult film and I believe that when people give it a chance it will grow.
By Nick T at 1:57 AM ON 03/09/10
You guys have no idea what you're talking about. Jennifer's Body was a really, really good film. I'm gay, so I really don't care about Megan Fox. And Diablo Cody, she's fine. But Jennifer's Body was brilliant.
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Nick T:
You guys have no idea what you're talking about. Jennifer's Body was a really, really good film. I'm gay, so I real...More »