My Top Ten Movies of 2009

Hey, I understand that I'm well behind the ball on something like this, but I'm of the opinion that the best way to truly cut your teeth on this whole blogging dealie is a Top Ten list. I personally thought that 2009 was pretty good year for movies, albeit we did get more than a few films that I'm sure more than a few of us would like to erase from our collective memories through self-lobotomization. However, the ones that WERE good, were REALLY good and we definitely had quite a few of them. Now there are quite a few movies I haven't seen yet (The Hurt Locker for instance) so this list is by no means definitive, but then again no "Best of" list ever really is. It's subjective and these are simply the movies I saw released last year that I got the most enjoyment out of. So, without further ado, here's my well belated but no less relevant Top Ten Movies of 2009.

Honorable Mention: In The Loop
This was an interesting little movie that seemed to fly under quite a few people's radars. It's based on a BBC series called "The Thick of It" that deals with the inner workings of the British bureaucracy which the movie expands to include American inner workings as well as the world builds up to the Iraq war (even though it's never named as such). It's a rather insightful movie that is also deliciously profane (most of it coming from Peter Capaldi who simply must be seen to be believed). It isn't perfect, but it's still very enjoyable and definitely provides some food for thought.

#10: Star Trek
I will freely admit to not being that big a fan of Star Trek in general. I watched my fair share of Next Generation back when I was a lot younger, I've seen next to nothing of the original series or any of the other spinoffs and I've never seen a single Trek movie aside from this one (yep, that includes Wrath of Khan). But damn it all if I didn't enjoy the hell out of this movie. It's got great sci-fi action, a cast that all pulled their weight in one way or another, an intriguing time travel story (something that always perks my interest) and just enough cheese to bring back what little memories I have of the original series. Again, it's far from perfect and some of the characters definitely could have been a bit more fleshed out (looking at you Eric Bana) but the overall product was highly enjoyable and well worth my six bucks.

#9: District 9
This was a movie that I, like I'm sure a lot of other people, had fairly high expectations for and for the most part, this movie met them. Sharlto Copley hit it out of the park as Weekus and hopefully this will spell good things for him as I would definitely like to see him dig into a meatier roll (although here's to hoping that The A-Team is somewhat pasable). I also thought the design of the Prawns (for lack of a better word) was very well done and didn't feel like an effect of any kind. The gore and bodily degredation effects were all done to a nastily pleasing effect as well, and thankfully none of the effects were able to get in the way of the story. However, when I left the theater I couldn't help but shake the notion that while it was indeed a solid film, it had really only recieved the press it did from the involvement of Peter Jackson. And speaking of Peter Jackson...

#8: The Lovely Bones
I had my eye on this project for a while and it was interesting to watch it develop as it did. I first read about it post King Kong and it seemed like something rather atypical for Jackson, at least until I did some research into his body of work and found that it extended a bit further than just the Rings trilogy. It still felt like an interesting gamble so I was excited to see just how it turned out. The end result was... not quite what I had expected but was still a rock-solid piece of work with the obvious touch of the man himself. While the horror of Susie Salmon's rape and murder is rushed by and not quite as dwelled on as some might have expected, it's still a fairly horrific scenario and is helped out by the fact that Stanley Tucci is just flat out creepy as Susie's murderer. The acting in this movie is all very well done aside from just Tucci, with probably the other standout being (I can't believe I'm actually saying this) Mark Whalberg as Susie's father. Saoirse Ronan is also very good as Susie and her narration adds a lot to the humanity of the story, grounding us in what has happened with what's to come and doing it all very competantly. I foresee good things in her future.

#7: Watchmen
I was one of the people who had never so much as heard of Watchmen until I saw the trailer for the movie. It piqued my curiosity (the words "greatest graphic novel of all time" should never go unchallenged) so I felt it my duty to check out the book and see just what the hubub was all about. Well I'm glad I did because not only is Watchmen one of the greatest stories I've ever read, the movie is also one of the most faithful graphic novel interpretations that isn't called Sin City (seriously, I defy anyone to show me a more faithful graphic novel adaptation than Sin City). While there was a lot that was excised from the story and there were a certain number of elements that were changed, to me this was about as faithful an adaptation as we ever could have gotten outside of a twelve part miniseries (not a bad idea btw). I did have problems with some of the casting (Malin Ackerman was HORRIFICALLY casted, and Mathew Goode may have been good as Adrien Veidt but I simpy could not buy as Ozymandias) but in terms of story, pacing and bringing Watchmen to the big screen, Zack Snyder really scored a home run. Good job guys, good job.

#6: Drag Me to Hell
I first learned about the genius that was Sam Raimi back when the first Spider-Man movie came out in 2002. He was just one in a laundry list of filmmakers I started following and studying up on (more on that later) and upon getting my first taste of the Evil Dead movies I knew that Raimi was someone to really look out for. After the albeit mild but nonetheless definite disapointment that was Spider-Man 3, I definitely appreciated his decision to return to his roots and serve up something a bit simpler. I wasn't expecting too much out of this one, but after hearing a few of my favorite critics rave about it I figured I may as well give it a shot. I'm glad I did because Drag Me to Hell turned out to be one of the greatest thrill rides I've ever been on in a theater. I also had the added benefit of having three or four teenyboppers behind me who screamed every single time something even remotely scary took place. You might think that would get annoying after a while, but it really only added to the atmosphere of the theater and I was very thankful for it. A great film with great twists and turns and probably the most unexpected ending to any movie of its type I've ever seen. Bravo Mr. Raimi, bravo.

#5: Avatar
Yeah yeah, I know we've all been having a good time making fun of the whole "Dances with Smurfs" schtick and the titanic ego that belongs to James Cameron (pun fully intended). But when you break it down this is a movie that has more heart and soul than probably any other movie with a budget over $100 million has ever had. You can really feel the effort that went into crafting the world of Pandora and just how much passion Cameron had in showing it to us. The story is far from original in terms of familiarity to the hero's struggle (something that EVERY MOVIE HERO IN EVERY MOVIE EVER MADE is required to follow whether you want them to or not) but the set-pieces, effects and humanity of the Na'vi are all beautifully realized and fleshed out. I'll have a lot more to say on this movie in a little while, but leave us say that I went into this with very high expectations and James Cameron still managed to surpass them.

#4: Zombieland
By far the most fun I had in the theater all year, Zombieland was just plain brilliant. It had a cast of memorable and likeable characters, a great use of visual motifs, some brilliant insight into the rules regarding zombie engagement, two great morals to live your life by ("Nut up or shut up" and "Enjoy the little things") and bar-none one of the greatest cameos I think I've ever seen or will ever see. Jesse Eisenberg really reminds me of the person that Michael Cera would be if his testicles actually dropped at some point and Woody Harrelson has officially erased any lingering bad memories I've had of either North Country or Semi-Pro. Some of the funniest humour in any movie I've seen in a long time, especially considering that it is a comedy first and foremost, in addition to one truly tender moment that might just leave you misty eyed (you know which one I'm talking about). There really isn't a whole lot to say about this movie that hasn't already been said so I'll just leave it at if you haven't seen it, then why the hell are you still reading this and not watching it?

#3: Up
Pixar is golden in my book. I haven't seen every one of their movies, but any studio that can produce such a beautiful movie as this one can do whatever the hell they want from now on as far as I'm concerned. The only moment during my moviegoing experience where I was actually moved to tears this year was during the opening sequence for this film, amazing given that we only have about 10 minutes and virtually no dialogue to get acquainted with our main character and his deceased wife over the course of their life. It really speaks to the power of visual storytelling that only Pixar seem truly capable of capturing. On top of being an increadibly moving piece of drama, Up also has more than its fair share of genuinely funny hilarity and balls to the wall action in adition to a few very sinister moments courtesy of Christopher Plummer's memorable villain. Ed Asner does a very good job with the role of our protagonist Carl Fredrickson, really giving you a feel for the humanity of the character and his desire to have one big hurrah before he ultimately follows the path of of his wife. It's funny, dramatic, beautiful and above all, Pixar. What more could you ask for?

#2: Inglorious Basterds
Quentin Tarantino is the reason I love movies as much as I do. Pulp Fiction literally changed my life in that it got me into movies like I had never been before. I've followed every project he's done since Kill Bill Vol. 2 with a careful and watchful eye and this was the project I was always most curious about. It was originally set to be released back in 2006, but for whatever the reason was it kept getting pushed back further and further. I'm probably one of the few people who genuinely enjoyed Death Proof (I saw Grindhouse in the theater three times) but for as much as I liked it I knew that it was just something that he was really more doing to pass the time. Pass the time until he could eventually make his masterpiece that is. As soon as the cast was announced for this movie I was immediately excited, more so at the surprise casting of Mike Meyers (seriously, that was a stroke of genius in my book and will hopefully spell good things for the man now). My excitement only increased with the release of each successive trailer and when I finally saw the movie in the theater for the first time I knew my anticipation had not been in vain. By far the most exciting movie I saw all year, Inglorious Basterds also had the balls to make more than half of it's spoken dialogue subtitled, a risky gamble for a man who is mostly known and praised for his ability to write people talking. The end result is something that only QT could have come up with and left me feeling something that went far beyond satisfaction, so much so that I saw it in the theater twice more because I knew that I would never be able to truly recapture the experience I had on any other medium (and those who also saw it in the theater know why). And even though it might not be his masterpiece (I remain unconvinced for the time being), it's still damn close.

and my number 1 movie of 2009 is...

#1: A Serious Man
No other movie this year gave me quite as much to chew on or was quite as underrated as this one. I only saw it once in the theater, but that's because it happened to be in ONE theater in my general area for all of ONE week that I was fortunate enough to be within walking distance of. Consider this: The Coen Bros. may have released Burn After Reading inbetween both this and No Country for Old Men, but they made the former BEFORE the latter won Best Picture. A Serious Man is the first film they've made since their Best Picture win and is therefore the first film in which they had license to do whatever the hell they wanted to with absolutely no interference from anyone (not that they had much trouble in that department before but this time even more so). And what story did they choose to tell? A reworking of the story of Job from the Bible set in 1967 in a Jewish suburb in Minnesota. Huh... unusual but hey, it's the Coens and unusual is what they do best. First off, I'm a sucker for details in the mise-en-scene of a movie and this one does that to masterful effect. Every set-piece may as well have been hand crafted by the Coens themselves and everything looks about as authentic as you'd expect it to (I was born 20 years after the year this movie takes place in so I can't truly speak for that though). Also, the cast is comprised of almost 99% unknowns so we have no real expectations in the acting. That said, every character in this movie is brilliantly written, perfectly cast and each of the actors nail the subtleties that their role necessitates, my personal favorites being Richard Kind as the well-meaning yet leacherous Uncle Arthur and Fred Melamed as the deliciously slimy Sy Ableman. But the one thing that truly sold this movie to me was the story and the message I got from it. In addition to being increadibly dark, it also happens to be very funny as well. Pretty much every Coen Bros. movie has you enjoying yourself at the expense of someone else and this one is no exception. The story concerns a physics professor named Larry Gopnick (stage actor Michael Stuhlbarg) who's life is going to shit. His wife wants a divorce so she can marry his friend and collegue, his neighbor won't respect the property line, his son is a pothead and is two weeks from his bar-mitzvah, his brother won't move off the couch, his daughter resents every aspect of her family and wants to get a nose job, his university tenure is being threatened, a Korean student of his is attempting to bribe him for a passing grade... and Larry hasn't even done anything. He's lived his life according to the will of Hashem and has tried his hardest to be a serious man, so why does all of this misfortune keep falling on his head and more importantly, what does it all mean? Is it an expression of God's will or is it simply a string of bad luck? He visits three seperate Rabbis to see if they have any words of wisdom to offer him, but none of them truly seem to answer his question. It took me a couple rewatchings of this movie to come to this conclusion, but each of the Rabbis in fact has something of their own to give us and to dwell on. Spoilers would be unforgiveable, so I'll just leave you with the knowledge that you simply have to decide for yourself what the real deal is. We may want to pass the buck and write off our problems as God or the universe evening out our wrongdoings, but ultimately life is just about our perspective on it. You might think the world is being unfair to you, but the world is just as unfair if not more to a good 90% of humanity. Shit happens, life sucks, and then you die. You might think that's a purely pessimistic viewpoint to have of life, but to me it signifies that even though life can be far from ideal, all anyone can do is make the best of their own situation. Live your life by your code and don't appologize for a single second of it. And as Rabbi Nachtner suggested, "Helping others... couldn't hurt."

And now, because I feel that so much praise needs to be ballenced out with some rage, here's my pick for the worst movie of 2009...

Year One
I know that there were many other movies this year that were a lot worse than year one (I doubt there's much more that needs to be said about Transformers 2 and I didn't see New Moon) and I actually didn't hate this movie all that much, but to me there was no worse example of wasted potential than with Year One, directed sadly by Harold Ramis. It really is sad to see a comedy god fall so far when he was responsible for such classics as Caddyshack, Groundhog Day, National Lampoon's Vacation and Analyize This and somehow degrade himself to the lowest common denominator. While I could point in several directions for this failure, I really only need to point at one person and that's Judd Apatow. Apatow is rapidly running out of creative steam and now seems to be telling all of his actors to ad-lib all of their lines. It really only works if the setup is something as down to earth as Knocked Up or even Superbad, but in a biblical parody it all just feels woefully out of place. On top of that, the characters that Jack Black and Michael Cera play are the very definition of annoying with Cera reminding me more and more why he should have stopped working after Arrested Development ended (and on that note dude, if you were really the one who held out on appearing in the upcoming movie and stalled its production then you don't deserve to so much as smell Jeffrey Tambor's shit). The humour in this movie also follow that nasty trend of being utterly juvenile so that only people under 17 could legitimately find it funny or clever. But the absolute worst sin of this movie is that it wastes Paul Rudd like it does. Paul Rudd is one of the few legitimately funny people to come from the Apatow stable along with Jason Segal, yet the movie relegates him to a simple cameo that has NO LAUGHS WHATSOEVER. He plays his part about as low key as he usually does, but he's given no funny lines and since he's playing Abel he gets killed off within five minutes and we're stuck with David Cross as Cain for the rest of the movie. No disrespect meant to Mr. Cross (Mr. Show was God in my book) but you seriously couldn't have given the role of Abel to someone else so that it didn't feel like a big fat steaming load of wasted potential? Ugh... why Harold, why?