Top 10 of 2009

Having recently seen two films I wouldn't recommend to anyone (although for very different reasons), I suppose I should make some sense out of the long list of films I watched over the past year. Here you have my top ten of 2009 (as best I can order them), although I have a suspicious feeling that Up in the Air may end up on this list once I see it.

10. Inglorious Basterds: Say what you will about Tarantino, he hasn't let me down yet.

9. Star Trek: It opened up one of the nerdiest franchises to the masses.

8. Brothers Bloom: Part heist movie, part romance, part comedy, all skillfully handled by the involved parties.

7. Whip It: No movie has ever made me want to be athletic, especially one that's not about guys' sports.

6. Up: Pixar. Nuff said.

5. Zombieland: This one demonstrated the zombie genre isn't going to die anytime soon, and that horror/comedies can excel when done properly.

4. 500 Days of Summer: What took so long to come up with a love story involving a girl who doesn't believe in love?

3. Moon/District 9: I had a hard time taking one of these off the list, and they're both here for essentially the same reason--taking everything we know about sci-fi and turning it on its head. (Yeah, James Cameron, I said it, and I don't care how much Avatar made this weekend; I'd rather watch these.)

2. Fantastic Mr. Fox: Wes Anderson's finesse transferred seamlessly into the world of stop-motion.

1. Where the Wild Things Are: It proved movies for adults could be made based on children's books.

And if you'd like to know the bottom five (at least, out of the 39 I've seen this year:

5. Extract

4. Paranormal Activity

3. Angels & Demons

2. My Bloody Valentine 3D

1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

For the curious, I've seen Brothers and The Road over the last few days. I advise against Brothers due to Tobey Maguire's inability to act angry, as well as the film's deceptive advertising; The Road, despite having a stellar cast, is two solid hours of hopeless bleak despair.