If all goes according to plan, the last four posts of the decade (I’m one of those contrary folk who start my decades with the ought year) will be top ten lists. Because there’s nothing more interesting than some random person’s idea of what constitutes the best, right?
My inaugural post will focus on movies. I can only choose from the movies that I’ve seen, obviously, so here is the list of the 52 theatrical releases from 2009 that I saw, in the theaters, with On Demand, or on Blu Ray (in alphabetical order):
- 2012
- (500) Days of Summer
- Adventureland
- Avatar
- The Blind Side
- Bruno
- District 9
- Drag Me To Hell
- Duplicity
- Extract
- Fame
- Fanboys
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- Fast and Furious
- The Final Destination: 3D
- Funny People
- GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra
- The Hangover
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- He’s Just Not That Into You
- I Love You, Man
- Inglourious Basterds
- Jennifer’s Body
- Julie & Julia
- The Last House on the Left
- My Bloody Valentine 3D
- Observe and Report
- Orphan
- Pandorum
- Paranormal Activity
- Post Grad
- The Proposal
- Public Enemies
- Push
- Sherlock Holmes
- Star Trek
- State of Play
- Surrogates
- The Taking of Pelham 123
- Taken
- Terminator Salvation
- The Time Traveler’s Wife
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
- The Twilight Saga: New Moon
- The Ugly Truth
- Up
- Watchmen
- Where the Wild Things Are
- Whip It
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine
- Year One
- Zombieland
And here are the 16 movies that I haven’t seen yet but plan to in the next year:
- 9
- Antichrist
- Away We Go
- Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call new Orleans
- The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day
- The Brothers Bloom
- Everybody’s Fine
- The Hurt Locker
- The International
- Invictus
- It’s Complicated
- Me and Orson Welles
- Moon
- Nine
- Precious
- Up in the Air
So, without further ado, gauging primarily by rewatachability and sheer entertainment value, here are the movies that I’ve seen that I consider to be the best theatrical releases of 2009:
10. Observe and Report
9. Funny People
8. Zombieland
7. Inglourious Basterds
6. Sherlock Holmes: I’m conflicted about how low this movie is on my list, but the fact is that it didn’t make my jaw drop like the top 5 did. I still want to go see it again in the next week or so to give myself a chance to take it all in, because there were times when Robert Downey, Jr.’s Holmes spoke so quickly that I know I missed some of the excellent dialogue. Since I just reviewed it on Saturday, there’s not much else I can say.
5. Avatar: Yet another movie that I’ve reviewed in the last week, so there’s not much more to add. With fifteen years of planning, this movie could have not only blown me away with the immersive 3D graphics, but also wowed me with a complex, fascinating plot that avoided cliches and standard movie conventions. And while I’m willing to enjoy the journey, even when I know where the story’s destination, what I heard about the original script’s morally conflicted characters and gray areas explored leads me to wish for just a little more. The top four movies all demonstrated that you can have an amazing visual experience without sacrificing a great story, but maybe James Cameron needed another 15 years for that.
4. District 9
3. Where The Wild Things Are: With the exception of a slow beginning that had me looking at my watch, I spent the rest of my time in the theater with a huge grin on my face. This movie took me back almost 30 years, remembering seeing this book for the first time. The illustrations quite adeptly came to life on the screen, and the voice acting, which I thought was all wrong when I walked into the theater, was absolutely pitch perfect. Here is an excellent example, only surpassed by the next movie on the list, of how a film can be for adults and kids at the same time. It’s not hard to make a movie that doesn’t talk down to kids, but also has enough subtext, beauty, and intelligence for adults to enjoy it, too, yet so many studios decide to go the stupid route because it’s easier (See Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel).
2. Fantastic Mr. Fox
1. Star Trek
Honorable Mentions: (500) Days of Summer, The Blind Side, Paranormal Activity, Taken, and The Time Traveler’s Wife.
And here are the five worst movies of 2009:
5. Year One – What the fuck was Harold Ramis thinking? Or Jack Black? Or Michael Cera? This could have been hysterical yet it missed the mark so badly. So, so badly.
4. The Ugly Truth – Hearing Gerard Butler do an American accent was painful, because apparently he feels the need to talk like he has a mouth full of marbles. The predictable story and the flat emotion between Butler and Katherine Heigl just made this hard to sit through without getting frustrated at missed opportunities for smart writing or cliche avoidance.
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – From the hour-long run through the desert to the racist ghetto bots to the humanoid Transformer to fucking robot heaven, this movie was so far from the fun romp of the original that Michael Bay should be ashamed of himself as he rolls around naked in his big fat piles of money.
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine – If you’re going to make a movie about a mutant who pops fucking metal claws out of his hands, which causes him extreme pain, makes him very cranky, and his origin is that he killed a lot of people, make it an R-rated movie.
1. Post Grad – Oh, Rory.
31 Movies
My Top Ten Posts of 2009
Avitable’s Top 10 Movies of the Aughts
How lame am I? I’ve only seen 8 out of your 52 that are listed. .
I have something to aim for.. More movies in 2010!
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@Chrissi, I usually go to one a week.
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“Even if you’re not a Tarantino film, you should watch this movie.”
I agree wholeheartedly. : )
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@Alex, smartass. I fixed it.
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Twitter: Faiqa
says:
The small number of movies I’ve actually seen on your list is just depressing. For you or for me, though, is something I’m undecided about.
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@Faiqa, it’s not like you work – what DO you do all day long?
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Twitter: Faiqa
, January 7th, 2010: 8:36 PM
@Avitable, I just saw this. I’m raising the people who will be levying taxes on your children. You bastard.
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Twitter: Blogography
says:
I haven’t seen Sherlock Holmes or Avatar yet, so this is good news! Right now, my number one is a fight between Inglourious Basterds and Star Trek. They were both such excellent films. I’m pretty sure my Top Ten will also include The Hangover and Up.
The Hurt Locker, Moon, and Up In The Air are worth seeing. I wanted so badly to like 9, but found it severely lacking in everything but visuals.
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@Dave2, you liked The Hangover that much? Up was one I finally saw this weekend and was just kind of bored.
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Twitter: missbritt
, December 28th, 2009: 9:43 AM
@Avitable, Up In The Air is a completely different movie from Up. Retard.
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@Miss Britt, um, retard, he said that his Top Ten would include “The Hangover” and “Up”. I still haven’t seen “Up in the Air” yet.
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Twitter: missbritt
, December 28th, 2009: 10:12 AM
@Avitable, dammit.
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Twitter: VerdantDude
says:
District 9 wasn’t as high on my list as it was on a bunch of other geek’s lists, present company included.
I just thought the first act was much too absurd. I know that the buffoonery of the bureaucracy was supposed to lend a bit more power to the rest of the film, but for me it was just too ridiculous. Evictions notices…c’mon!
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@B.E. Earl, I think that’s probably realistic to a fault, though.
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Twitter: VerdantDude
, December 28th, 2009: 12:11 PM
@Avitable, I think if it were realistic to a fault we humans wouldn’t have bothered with anything quite so polite as an eviction notice. We couldn’t handle aliens who look like giant bugs living amongst us. Even as detainees at a prison camp. Bug camp goes boom, is what I’m saying.
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I LOVED THE PORPOSAL SO MUCH!!!!
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@Marta, your taste in movies is impeccable.
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Hurt Locker’s still number one for me.
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@Alex, I need to see that.
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I literally watched Hurt Locker ten times and will see it again this week.
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How did you fail to see Moon? For shame.
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@Jordie, I’m not sure – I blinked and it was out of theaters.
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Many masterful movies make Man merry. More miss the mark.
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@avatgardener, many make me marvel!
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I haven’t seen any of your “worst movies” and am about to take Year One off of my Netflix queue. I can only tolerate Jack Black in certain instances and if someone that usually likes his antics thinks it stinks, well uh yeah.
I really need to see Avatar in 3D IMAX and then my life will be complete-ish.
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@Hilly, yeah, I want to go see it in IMAX 3D too.
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Wow, I feel out of the loop. I haven’t watched a single movie on your list. And I’ve only heard of maybe 20% of them.
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@Johnny, not a single one? You probably don’t even own a TV, though.
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ha, you’re right. We haven’t owned a TV for almost 3 years now. I got sick of lugging the TV every time we moved, so I got rid of it. But I think the primary reason I haven’t seen any movies is because I married an English professor who intentionally wishes to ignore pop culture.
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@Johnny, your wife should realize that pop culture can be smart and intelligent too. I’m as snooty as they come, but I find intelligent writing to be entertaining wherever it occurs!
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Twitter: missbritt
says:
Man, I had forgotten about what a HUGE disappointment Post Grad was.
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@Miss Britt, and we all wanted to like it SO much, too!
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Wolverine didn’t need an R-rating to be good, it just had to make sense and not look so silly.
The Dark Knight was PG-13.
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@Clown, well, yeah, but at least an R could have redeemed some of it.
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Twitter: msmegan
says:
I have never even heard of the movie Post Grad. And the only movie I’ve seen on your top ten was Sherlock Holmes, which I loved. I am pathetic (in this respect).
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@Finn, you should go see Avatar. NOW.
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Twitter: hismuse
says:
You SAW The Ugly Truth? Why??
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@Robin, because seeing a bad movie is still a better alternative to working!
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I have to agree that Post Grad was one of the worst movies of all time. And I loved Funny People – although most people I know disliked it. I certainly don’t get to the movies as often as you, but I do keep my Netflix circulating pretty quickly. A list like this always helps me remember movies that I’d like to see.
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@Karen, Netflix and On Demand are great ways to keep up!
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Seriously need to go to the movies more than once a year.
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@Sybil Law, totally.
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Our plan is to go see Avatar on New Years Eve… I haven’t heard one bad thing about it. But I have failed to ask, is it kid friendly? Last year we went and saw Marley and Me on New Years Eve and decieded then that going to the movies would be our thing on New Years Eve. However, there aren’t any movies out there right now that really interest me other than Avatar.
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@Janelle, it may be kid friendly, although it has a few dark and scary parts. I mean, it’s definitely a PG-13 movie, but if you would let your kids go see Wolverine or Terminator, this should be fine.
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Twitter: ellemmes
says:
I hated District 9, absolutely hated it. It may have had something to do with the flashbacks it induced for hubs, since we actually had to leave the theater, but I found nothing redeeming about that movie at all.
I can’t wait to see Sherlock Holmes! Maybe this weekend we’ll make it.
I loved the Star Trek movie too, but I’ve loved all of the Star Trek movies.
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@Lisa, I think it was definitely social commentary examining a “what if instead of humans, it was aliens being herded into camps” question. So if that was uncomfortable for him, I can understand why it wouldn’t be enjoyable.
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Twitter: ellemmes
, December 31st, 2009: 9:24 AM
@Avitable, No, it was much more basic than that. We got the social commentary, but for us it was lost in the visuals. Hubs was a marine in Somalia, so the movie put him right back there because the house-to-house combat was so realistic. For me, I got the premise of the movie right off, but felt it was way over the top, like we were being slapped in the face with remedial lessons on humanities past wrongs and the fact that we haven’t changed. In that way I didn’t find it disturbing as much as I found it gratuitously grotesque. But that was probably in part because I knew early into the movie that it wasn’t going to go well for hubs and I was more concerned about that.
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Twitter: perpstu
says:
I need some sort of doohickey that will automatically add all of your movies to my Netflix list.
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@Karin aka perpstu, I totally should have set that up – there is a widget that does that!
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Twitter: bobutler
says:
I wanted to like Funny People, but it was at least twenty minutes too long. I don’t mean the last twenty minutes, but cutting that out of the first and second act would have made the third act much more effective.
Currently I’m debating seeing Avatar. I probably should, since it’s the ONE movie out right now that won’t be the same when viewed at home.
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@bo, I think it could have had twenty minutes cut out or had about an hour added to it. Either would have improved it.
Avatar is definitely worth seeing in theaters. In 3D.
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Twitter: elizabethbarone
says:
I loved, loved, LOVED Taken. And Inglourious Basterds — fucking AWESOME!
I think the cheesy stuff you described was done on purpose. I didn’t mind it, personally, but I guess I can see how it would be annoying.
Up was another one of my favorites. I should do my own 2009 movie list! Actually, I think I will.
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@Elizabeth Kaylene, I know it was done on purpose, but I think it was immature and distracted from an excellent film.
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I saw the last Star Trek movie and feared this year’s was going to be another turd. Now I’m sorry I missed it in IMAX. I thought it was funny how many people were forced to admit it was good despite being staunchly anti-geek. So many blog posts began with “Now I’m not a Star Trek fan, but…”
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@Grant, the reason I say that is because I expect a Star Trek fan to be biased, just like I’m biased about many comic book movies because I’m a comic book fan.
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Twitter: thegoddesscher
says:
Up In The Air was probably one of the best movies I have seen a LONG time. Very underrated, but I think Clooney deserves an Oscar for it. Definitely a must see.
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@CP, Clooney is an excellent actor, so I don’t doubt it.
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So let’s see… you saw a movie a week (52). And I mostly know this because you post a Flickr photo of your feet at each one.
Seriously, your top 10 list is good. I’ve seen 4 of the movies (Avatar, Star Trek, Inglorious Basterds and Where The Wild Things Are), but need to get out and see the others. Looking forward to seeing Up In The Air.
I never saw Year One, but am avoiding it because it just looks horrible. On the other hand, the second Transformers movie wasn’t horrible. It wasn’t as good as the first one, but the special effects made for a decent viewing.
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@martymankins, the second Transformers movie was miserable. I cannot stand it. Sigh.
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Twitter: poppycede
says:
Can’t wait for The Hurt Locker.
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@Poppy, me either.
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I’ve not seen any of the worst movies on your list either. I don’t want to be disappointed in Rory like you are. But I have to admit to hating “The Proposal” because it was so. stinking. sloooow. I wanted to like it and tried to, but in the end I couldn’t. I was really pissed at myself, too, because I had gone by myself and wanted to savor some alone time.
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@Mocha, but it was cute! And Ryan Reynolds! Betty White! Sandra Bullock’s sweet, sweet nudity!
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Twitter: rachael1013
says:
Man, The Ugly Truth had me convinced for a minute that Gerard Butler is completely unattractive.
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@Rachael, he is. Especially when he does an American accent.
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What you said about “Observe and Report” … right on. I thought the movie was very well done, and will never see it again. As a person who lived with a bipolar individual for many years, I’m sure I’m in good company with that sentiment . Seth Rogan nailed it.
Not Lurking today,
DangerAmy
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@DangerAmy, I plan on watching it again very soon, to try to enjoy it now that I know what it’s like.
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Hey Av…did you see R2D2 in the Star Trek movie? If not, go to the 47:40 second mark of the movie…as Enterprise enters debris field around Vulcan…and R2D2 goes flying past the ship (see him on the viewscreen above Sulu’s head) as part of the debris field. George Lucas’ FX company did the effects for Star Trek.
I saw 11 of the movies on your list of 50. Big fan of Zombieland, Star Trek, and Avatar. Inglorious Bastereds…didn’t do it for me. I like Tarantino, but this one just felt flat to me.
A movie to look for…if you like documentaries is “The Way We Get By”, about 3 elderly Maine residents who show up for every arriving/departing flight of US Troops at the Bangor (Maine) International Airport.
Happy New Year!
–joe
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@thefinestkindofpork, I did not – I’ll have to check that out!
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