My 09 for '09

Happy New Year Stargazers! I hope everyone had a grand time ringing in 2009. I had a laid back evening watching the semi-bland countdowns. But my wife was with me to celebrate and she managed to stay up until nearly 1am! As we watched 2008 slip away, we started thinking about all the great things 2009 holds. Of course, for me this primarily means movies, but given that I'm housebound a la T.I., a few television shows have made it onto my list. Enough blathering. Here, in no particular order, are nine movies/shows to see in 2009.


1. Gran Torino - Yes, this Clint Eastwood film released back in December '08. While many of you are fortunate to live in a big city that gets the buzz films, I live in NC where this won't appear on screen until, coincidentally, the ninth of this month. I love all things Clint. The man is a master of movies and I can't wait to watch him chew up the scenery.


2. Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 - I've been perpetually behind in this series, and am only now starting Season 4.0. Still, questions must be answered as the series comes to a close. I demand satisfaction!

3. Friday the 13th - Ch ch ch! Ah ah ah! Yes, the remake/reboot/whatchamacallit tale of the most unrelenting slasher, Jason Voorhees, opens in a little over a month. It could be double trouble crap-on-a-stick, but I can guarantee it will surpass Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. *shudder*

4. The Dollhouse - Joss Whedon's return to television...and for some reason, the FOX Network. The idea is reminiscent of Jay Faerber's Gemini comic and Christian Slater's deceased series My Own Worst Enemy, but this has Whedon's writing going for it, and more importantly, the vastly under-appreciated Eliza Dushku.


5. Watchmen - All I gotta say is this better open in 2009 or FOX will have some serious 'splainin to do! It's bad enough that Warner Bros. blew a wad on a property they didn't own, but that doesn't mean FOX should deny us a yummy Carla Gugino or Patrick Wilson in tight spandex.

6. Boondocks Season 3 - The wife and I wish Aaron MacGruder godspeed in getting the next season onto Cartoon Network this year. Sure it takes a while to get the animation up to snuff, but in the time of Obama and Lil Wayne, I want to know exactly what Huey, Riley and Grampa have to say!

7. Star Trek - Yet another film that has folks wondering is it a prequel, a sequel or a reimagining? No matter, I'm feeling good vibrations from this and not just because I like the casting of Chris Pine as Kirk, Anton Yelchin as Chekov and John Cho as Sulu. This also will be a good chance for Zachary Quinto to jump from that sinking ship Heroes.

8. The Wolf Man - I'm a sucker for a good werewolf film and this fits the bill. The hot Brit Emily Blunt stars alongside the stellar Anthony Hopkins and Benecio Del Toro. That not enough? Here's a picture worth a thousand words:


9. Psych Season 3.5 - This show is fresh to death! Even more so if your formative years were the late eighties and early nineties. Shawn and Gus, James Roday and Dulé Hill, entertain me week after week on USA. If you haven't checked the show about the fake-psychic detective, there's no time like '09.


Scratching your heads for why I skipped so many obvious films? You may ask where's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen? The Surrogates? Terminator Salvation? Inglourious Basterds? Bride Wars?

I have my reasons for choosing these nine, but it doesn't mean I'm not foaming at the mouth for those others. Well, except for Bride Wars. It'd be just plain silly to drool over that dungheap!