2009, for any number of reasons, was a long year. It had its definite ups and its definite yada-yada-yada. I’m not worried about that last part right now. I’m more concerning myself with the happier times, the times I left the theater thinking to myself, “My God, this is why I love doing what I do. This is the reason I love movies, and I cannot wait until the moment I have this invigorating feeling yet again.” All of these movies gave me that feeling, some of them more than just once. Here are my choices for the top 10 movies (my favorite or what I consider the best, take your pick) of 2009.
10. THE HANGOVER
When I left the theater the first time seeing THE HANGOVER, I knew I had just watched a very funny movie, a great comedy that made me laugh more and harder than any film I had seen in years. What didn’t occur to me until I viewed the film a second time is just how nuanced and successful it is as a film. The relationships between the characters are superb, and the dynamic of the group as a whole is what makes just about every aspect of the film work wonderfully. Here are four guys, three goofballs of varying degrees and one straight man, the glue, if you will, who holds it all down to some kind of socially acceptable level. Now take the straight man out and force the other three to find him. It’s such a basic idea, and one that writers Jon Lucas & Scott Moore and director Todd Phillips execute with stunning clarity. Besides, any film that features Mike Tyson air drumming to Phil Collins can never be bad in my book.
9. DISTRICT 9
If you were not sold that DISTRICT 9 was going to be something not to miss when you heard Peter Jackson had taken it and writer/director Neill Blomkamp under his wing, you had to have been when you saw that first teaser. Just that awe-inspiring (and it inspired awe in me a great deal) first shot of the teaser when you saw the ship hovering above Johannesburg was selling point enough. We knew we were in for an exciting thrill ride. What we weren’t expecting was one of the most enjoyable and unforgettable action films to come along in ages. Blomkamp’s film has so much more going on under the surface of the surface-level and highly bloody action. 2009 was a stellar year for sci-fi, and DISTRICT 9 was just a very important part of that. Blomkamp and star Sharlto Copley are going to take off huge in the coming years, but it is going to be extremely difficult for either of them to top the work they put into this film.
8. THE COVE
Before seeing THE COVE, all I knew was that it was about a dolphin massacre in Japan and that some considered it a horror film in the truest sense of the word. What I didn’t realize until I sat down to watch the film was just how moving and incredibly executed an informative story it turned out to be. Director Louie Psihoyos is not a film director by choice. He is an activist, and his passion for what he does is seeped into every frame of this film. It touches on so many aspects of the central story, renown dolphin trainer Ric O’Barry and his crusade to make aware the brutality going on Taiji, Japan. The film is so heart wrenching, particularly the final 10-15 minutes, which some animal lovers may not even be able to stomach. Eye-opening, moving and even quite suspenseful in some places, THE COVE is a film that effortlessly succeeds in the areas every documentary should be aiming.
7. A SERIOUS MAN
I have to be honest, I was not a huge fan of Joel & Ethan Coen’s follow-up to NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. I felt BURN AFTER READING was comical in places, very stupid in others, and an outright let-down in even more. With A SERIOUS MAN, they craft a thinking man’s comedy, one that has so much going on just under the surface and hands you very little in the area of tangible narrative. It is a film that digs deep into the nature of theology, of the eternal questions that make up the universe and the overlying equation that holds us all together. We aren’t supposed to know the answers. We aren’t supposed to figure things out. Just when we think we have some sort of grasp on what the universe is going to throw our way next, a tornado comes out of nowhere, and our world cuts to black. It’s the difference between knowing the answer and understanding the equation. The Coens get that, and that, among other things (the casting in this film is spot-on brilliance) is what makes A SERIOUS MAN such an amazing film.
6. UP
Can we just accept the fact that, every year, without question, whatever film PIXAR has to offer will instantly go somewhere on the best of the year list? I’m sure others have grasped that concept long before I have. I was a naysayer. I remember hearing about UP and its premise, seeing the first trailer, and thinking it was going to be an ever-loving borefest. I love, love, love when I find myself wrong on that side of the coin upon seeing a film. UP is such a heart-warming picture, an adventure of the mind, the body, and the spirit that is made for anyone who has ever dreamed of something greater. I’ll give you a little hint about that. Everyone, at some point in their life, has had that dream. PIXAR knows this, and that is why they make such effortlessly brilliant films for everyone. An adventurous and moving piece of film making, UP is yet another grand success from a an animated studio who seems able to churn out brilliant story ideas like an assembly line.
5. AWAY WE GO
I knew very little about this film going in, just that it was Sam Mendes, a director who I have been following like a loyal dog since 2002’s ROAD TO PERDITION graced before my eyes, and it starred Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski. Coming out the other side, I knew I had just seen the most uplifting and genuinely optimistic film I had seen all year. Most “feel good” films are saccharine beyond belief, so full of fake emotion and blithesome idiocy that their hold on the audience is never more than past the first knuckle. AWAY WE GO takes hold of you, charges you, and spits you out with an ear-to-ear grin across your face. It does it, too, without false promises, without the hammy movie magic that makes up most films that are considered heartfelt. It does it with three, simple things: heart, heart, and heart. The compatibility between Krasinski and Rudolph is astounding, and they embody characters who are the ultimate antithesis to Frank and April Wheeler, the couple in Mendes’ last film, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. AWAY WE GO is yet another clear-cut home run from a film maker who knows how to grasp his audience and simply make them feel. Whether that feeling is going to be cheerful or not is up to him, but, whatever he decides to do, he succeeds.
4. FANTASTIC MR. FOX
Say what you want about the controversy surrounding how Wes Anderson handled the direction on FANTASTIC MR. FOX. What he has achieved here is a next level, in my opinion, in stop motion animation, beautifully crafted characters and environments that aid a truly hilarious screenplay. What’s more, FANTASTIC MR. FOX is a great film for the family, not a “family film.” It is, in no way, dumbed down to be more user friendly or acceptable for general audiences. If you don’t get the humor found in this film, then you simply don’t get it. Personally, I thought it was non-stop hilarity throughout, and the voice work by actors like George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, and Jason Schwartzman, in particular, is just one more element of FANTASTIC MR. FOX that makes it the best, cussing, animated movie of the year.
3. MOON
If your personal tastes in movies run parallel to mine in any way, then you love it when an independently backed science fiction film is on the horizon. They have to rely more on story than the complex special effects that overburden even the simplest of narratives. Writer/director Duncan Jones’ MOON is one such film, an incredibly compelling and emotionally driven science fiction story that is aided in no small part by luxurious yet practical effects and a hauntingly staggering performance by Sam Rockwell. This is one film that benefits from going in blind. The less you know about it before viewing, the better, as every twist and turn Jones’ story takes is both conceivable and unanticipated. As confidently crafted a film as MOON is, you would not think that A) it is considered a low-budget film and B) it is Duncan Jones’ first attempt at feature film making. Be on the lookout for this man in the future, because, dare I say it, I feel we may have another Christopher Nolan on our hands.
2. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
After watching, or should I say “experiencing”, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS for the first time, I couldn’t help but think I had just seen Quentin Tarantino’s best written film since PULP FICTION. Now, some months and a few more viewings of the film later, I am of the opinion that this could easily be the best film yet of an auteur who holds back on nothing. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS is an outstanding film driven by both amazing dialog (as if there was any question of that) and visually stunning action. The scenes Tarantino crafts in his first endeavor into the genre of war are filled with so much suspense and anxious expectation that he often teases you with the notion that nothing may happen. He’s also a film maker who loves playing with his audience, and just as you are about to rest comfortably, all hell breaks loose. Without revealing too many spoilers for the film, I will say that, for a man who loves bending and breaking the rules of film making, I cannot imagine the look of glee on Tarantino’s face when it dawned on him to break the rules of history, as well. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS is an amazing achievement in film craftsmanship from a writer/director who seems poised to top himself every time out of the gate.
1. 2012
Shit blowed up real good!
REAL #1. (500) DAYS OF SUMMER
If there were 1000 words that all meant emotional and genuine, I would use each and every one of them here to describe (500) DAYS OF SUMMER, probably the most authentic and moving look at a relationship in years. Director Marc Webb, another first-time director, and screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber have created and executed a luring and eloquent tale of the real way we think back on past loves. We don’t remember them from beginning to end, from meeting to the final look upon one another. Past loves are remembered in fits and starts, happy times here and gloomier days there, and, sometimes, even the same moments are remembered differently depending on our own attitudes at the time. The film makers behind (500) DAYS OF SUMMER get this. They know that, somedays, you feel like dancing in the street, like everyone around you is dressed in the same shade that matches the eyes of the person you love. Other days, you feel like standing in your kitchen and unemotionally smashing every dish in your cupboard. What’s more, the performances of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are flawless, and they are easily two of the best actors working today. Throw in a few, exquisite songs by Regina Spektor and one of the most revealing and realistically affecting scenes that compare real life to expectation, and you have not only my favorite film of the year, but, perhaps, one of the most amazing films about love I have ever seen.
Also, check out this music video that is not found in the film, but serves as a brilliant companion to it:
