Five Things We’ll Remember About 2009

Yes, everyone loves lists at year’s end. They spark arguments, inspire reflection, and set off a chain reaction of similarly-formatted “best-of” compilations from writers, critics and pundits. This year, I would like to attempt something different, and make a little text time capsule of 2009.

Studios embracing social media: Twitter accounts based on film characters, or set up and fed by the film’s directors or stars. Facebook pages giving one-on-one interaction between fans and actors. Eventful pages where hungry moviegoers “demanded” their flicks be released in their town. It may very well be buzzword bingo gone horribly wrong, but the public benefited when studios like Universal, Fox and Sony started marketing campaigns that were more than “viral,” but effective. “That one-on-one communication is vital to getting the word out about films today,” a producer told me earlier in the year. “Talking ‘at’ people simply won’t work anymore. If we don’t talk ‘to’ them, we won’t get the message out.”

The Boondock Saints II Southwest Premiere: In many ways, this was the “coming-out party” for Red Carpet Crash. In one week, we were able to string together a killer premiere for Troy Duffy’s long-awaited sequel to the 1999 cult classic, and get Duffy, Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus to show up, answer your questions, and toss back many adult beverages at the after-party. There are plenty of people to thank (Sony Pictures, the Angelika Theatre, Trinity Hall), but mostly I want to thank the 350 people who showed up, dictated that we move the screening into a larger theatre, and made our first exclusive event one to remember (if we could, once the shots of Jameson wore off).

Celebrity Apocalypse: The only thing certain in this life is taxes, a new “Saw” movie on Halloween, and the Grim Reaper visiting at the end. This year, however, our stage and screen heroes were hit extremely hard. The list is incredible: Walter Cronkite, Patrick Swayze, John Hughes, Farrah Fawcett, Ricardo Montalban, David Carradine, Soupy Sales, Ron Silver, Les Paul, Paul Harvey, Patrick McGoohan, DJ AM, Bea Arthur, Natasha Richardson, Ed McMahon, Dom DeLuise, Karl Malden, John Updike, Brittany Murphy, Michael Jackson. That’s just for starters. We are diminished by your absence, gang.

A phenomenal slate of movies: Yes, there are far too many remakes, rehashes and bad scripts coming out of the Hollywood machine… but any year that gives us “The Hurt Locker,” “Zombieland,” “The Messenger,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “Precious,” “Watchmen,” “Star Trek,” and “Avatar” can be forgiven for drek like “2012,” “Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen” and “The Men Who Stare At Goats.”

Launching Red Carpet Crash: 2009 could have been an extremely bad year, for myself and Sam the Mailman. When both of us were asked to depart our positions at Corporate Radio, we could have hunkered down, started collecting unemployment checks, and drowned our sorrows at the nearest bar where we’d worked up free tabs. Instead, Sam had the idea to build an entertainment site with a local focus, giving North Texas movie and TV nuts a place to call their own. Six months later, we’re still growing, with fresh content added daily, killer contests and giveaways, and exclusive events. I’m eager to see what the new year brings – with in-depth coverage of SXSW Film, the Dallas International Film Festival, and San Diego Comic-Con, we’ll be bringing Crashers a lot of content they simply won’t get anywhere else.

Bring on 2010.