Hey! Do you like how I used ‘films’ instead of ‘movies’? It makes it seem more important doesn’t it? This list is made up of picks by both myself and Andrew, with some help from Dillon. And unlike Dillon’s comic list this is in descending order.
10 – World’s Greatest Dad – A partially shocking, but mostly hilarious black comedy about a single father struggling with his son, his relationship with his girlfriend, and his aspiring writing career. I could have done without one of the scenes close to the end, but this film is great regardless.
9 – Inglourious Basterds – Christoph Waltz is amazing as Hans Landa, and this may have one of the best lines in a film in 2009 (It’s toward the end of the bar scene). Oh yeah, and Hugo Stiglitz in general. If you want to see the full review, click on the title.
8 – Star Trek- A complete reboot of a long-standing franchise. JJ Abrams risk paid off greatly. Sure, the science can be a little “whaaaaaat?”, but it’s a very entertaining movie nonetheless. Also, this was released in May and somehow the earliest released movie on this whole list.
7 – The Hurt Locker -A story about an Army bomb squad in Iraq. It does a great job of setting tense scenes and triggering feelings of empathy for what soldiers must go through in times of war.
6 – Moon -Sam Rockwell plays a scientist who’s running Helium-3 (what the world uses for energy in this film’s future) mining equipment from a station on the moon. He has two weeks left in his 3 year rotation before he gets to return to Earth and is beginning to wonder if everything is as it seems. A great movie that no science fiction fan should miss.
5 – Up – Up is somehow simultaneously one of the saddest and yet most upbeat movies I saw all year. Pixar is really amazing and I think this is one of their best movies to date.
4 – Up in the Air – This, for me at least, proved Jason Reitman to be a great director (You know, not counting the speed bump which was Juno). It’s fantastically shot, you really get a feel for the life of George Clooney’s character and how efficient a traveler he is. The writing is also great throughout. I laughed through most of it, but I also deeply cared about what happened to the characters.
3 – Fantastic Mr. Fox – There have been some great Wes Anderson films before, but this one is definitely up there with the best (The Royal Tenenbaums). Don’t write it off because it’s stop-motion animation. That only enhances the control Anderson has over this quirky world. The voice acting is fantastic, George Clooney is great as Mr. Fox as is Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox. One of the stand-outs for sure is Jason Schwartzman as their son Ash, most of the things he says are hilarious. This is one of the funniest films of 2009.
2 – Avatar – Whether or not you think the box-office numbers are justified you can’t deny that Avatar is an experience. James Cameron set out to make a film that would bring people back to the theater and damn did he succeed. I saw Avatar twice in consecutive weeks, and I’m pretty sure Andrew has seen it three times. I know the story is predictable, but it’s one of the few movies of that length where I didn’t mind how long it was. I haven’t enjoyed seeing a movie in theaters this much since I saw The Matrix in 1999.
1 – District 9 – If this isn’t the biggest “F You” Neill Blomkamp could have publicly made to the people who canceled the Halo movie because they thought an inexperienced director couldn’t handle it, then I don’t know what is. It’s a fantastic sci-fi movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Click on the title for the full review.
Honorable Mentions: The Hangover, Zombieland, Paranormal Activity, The Road, and In the Loop
