Top 10 Movies of 2009
If you haven’t heard (and just in case in you care), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has opted to nominate 10 candidates for Best Picture this year. When I found out about the decision early this summer, I wondered how on earth they were going to find five non-stinkers on which to bestow the honors, let alone twice that amount. Luckily, Hollywood rallied in the second half of the year, offering up some great films across a few genres. Just enough, in fact, for this list of Top 10 movies of 2009.
10) Zombieland – Probably the most quotable film of the year, Zombieland tells the story of a geeky, young hero known only as “Columbus” who survives the zombie apocalypse (it’s coming, I swear) by sticking to a list of 32 simple rules. Along the way, he makes a friend, loses his virginity, parties with Bill Murray, and kicks some slow-moving flesh-eater butt. Not the most meaningful movie to hit the big screen this year, this fun trifle of a film reminds us to obey rule #32: Enjoy the little things.
9) A Single Man – Is there life after love? That’s the question George Falconer asks himself one morning in 1962 after his lover passes away unexpectedly. Over the course of one day, the newly single man must come to terms with love and loss to find the answer. A Single Man features a moving Christopher Isherwood story, a gripping performance by Colin Firth, and artful first-time directing by Tom Ford.
8 ) The September Issue – Director R.J. Culter’s inside peek into the making of fashion’s Bible and its inscrutable prophet, The September Issue (of Vogue, that is) is a sinfully fun documentary. Watching the real Prada-wearing devil cut down her junior staffers and get served her just desserts is as satisfying as curling up in bed with the fat, glossy tome itself.
7) I Love You, Man – 2009 should go down in history as the year of the bromance thanks to this hetero boy-meets-boy love story about L.A. real estate agent Peter Klaven’s search for a bestie to stand up for him at his wedding. Peter may be good-looking and sweet, but he’s terminally un-cool and needs Sydney to teach him how to chill and just be a dude. As Peter and Sydney, Paul Rudd and Jason Segel are hilarious, relatable, and totally (or should I say “totes magotes”?) loveable, man.
6) District 9 – A race of ten-feet-tall, preternaturally strong aliens bearing a strong resemblance to shrimp gets stranded in Johannesburg. Due to an accident while trying to relocate the creatures to a ghetto on the outskirts of town, a mid-level bureaucrat named Wikus learns the hard way what it means to be a member of the underclass. Moving between documentary-style and more traditional camera work, District 9 uses special effects to enhance its allegorical story, not replace it. As sci-fi parables of the year go, this Neil Blomkamp-helmed tale of human xenophobia, hubris, and cruelty trumps a similarly themed and more heartily hyped contender – you know, the one with the 3D picture and the 2D story.
5) Up in the Air – Tasked with flying around the country to fire the underlings that other corporate execs are too pussy to fire themselves, Ryan Bingham is more at home in the American Airlines Admiral’s Lounge than he is in his Omaha, Nebraska studio apartment. He’s happy to lead his transient, disconnected lifestyle until two women – a beautiful fellow traveler who is his match in every way (with the frequent flyers to prove it) and a young, upstart colleague who threatens his very way of life – force him to take a deeper look. As Ryan, the ever-charismatic George Clooney flexes both his comedic and dramatic muscles and becomes this generation’s Cary Grant. A smart romantic comedy that is actually funny, this movie deserves every penny of its box office rewards.
4) 500 Days of Summer – Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Tom, a slightly hipsterish greeting card writer who meets, loves, and loses Summer, the girl of his dreams. This charming and original indie rom-com was practically guaranteed a spot on my list of best movies of 2009 if only for the successful use of both Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams” and Patrick Swayze’s “She’s Like the Wind.” But its clever script – in which the 500 days play like an iPod on random shuffle – and a standout performance by leading man Gordon-Levitt sealed the deal.
3) The Hurt Locker – With her handheld camerawork and relentless layering of edge-of-your seat action, director Kathryn Bigelow thrusts audiences into the hot desert sun right alongside adrenaline junkie Staff Sergeant Will James and his two wary compadres as they go about diffusing bombs in Iraq. The dialog is realistically sparse, as you imagine it would be for the actual guys who have this job, and avoids preaching on one side of the Iraq War issue or the other. It’s not a movie you think about, it’s a movie you feel…in the ache of every tense muscle you’ll leave your seat with.
2) Crazy Heart – Jeff Bridges gives the performance of his career as Bad Blake, an aging down-on-his luck country musician. Part love story, part redemption song (aren’t they always?), this movie carves out its own unique place in the fairly crowded world of similar tales. That’s thanks to newbie writer-director Scott Cooper’s smart instincts to stay out of the way and let Bridges work his shaggy-haired, gruff-voiced, paunch-bellied magic. The film also features an impressive soundtrack that includes both country classics by Townes van Zandt and Waylon Jennings and new music by T Bone Burnett, Stephen Bruton, and Ryan Bingham (the country singer, not the Clooney character).
1) Precious – This is the film I least expected to top my list of best movies of 2009 (I mean, if you don’t count Post Grad). A story about an impoverished, overweight, pregnant teenage girl that tackles incest, welfare, child abuse, and drug addiction, written by a woman with no last name hardly sounds like a good time. And it isn’t. Nonetheless, director Lee Daniels and his cast of talented ladies, including newcomer Gabourey Sidibe and comedian Mo’Nique in a decidedly unfunny turn, deliver the best celluloid package of the year.
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