Top 10 films of 2009
As movie years go, 2009 wasn't particularly strong, although the very best films were quite good indeed, and the absolute best may well change what we come to expect from movies.
Two completely different flicks stood out among the year's cream of the crop. You might say "Up in the Air" is a film, while "Avatar" is a movie.
The film is a delicate balancing act, filled with nuance that mixes romance with questions of freedom, set against a background of economic and personal upheaval.
The movie, though, is a direct visceral experience the likes of which have never been seen before.
Like it or not -- and my vote is not -- contemporary cinema has become more a physical experience and amusement park ride than an arena for storytelling and consideration. People go to movies as events more than artistic engagements.
"Avatar" manages to be smart, compelling and humane while enveloping the viewer in a fantasy world so complete and dazzling that your senses are near-overwhelmed. It resets the bar for what audiences can, and should, expect from the moviegoing experience.
As such, it marks a change in cinema that merits the top spot on my annual list.
1. "Avatar" -- Director James Cameron took years and hundreds of millions of dollars to make this space epic, a movie so physically stunning that you get lost in it like nothing before. A classic story, following Cameron's familiar themes, set in a world that absorbs the viewer, it is full reminder of the power and potential of film.
2. "Up in the Air" -- George Clooney is pitch-perfect as the disconnected layoff specialist who spends most of his time on airplanes, above it all, until he runs into the woman (Vera Farmiga) who may be his equal. Director Jason Reitman delivers a balancing act that's part romantic comedy and part existential analysis set against our current economic despair.
3. "(500) Days of Summer" -- Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel sparkled in this witty and innovative film that flashed back and forth over the course of a love affair. The year's best romantic comedy, filled with well-observed moments, it also had the year's best dance sequence.
4. "Up" -- The magicians at Pixar set up a painfully poignant look back at a loving marriage and then sent an old man and a boy off into the sky, eventually landing them in a jungle adventure with talking dogs. Pixar's imagination and skills know few bounds.
5. "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire" -- The performances by Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe and Mo'Nique in this gutwrenching tale of abuse and (possible) salvation in '80s Harlem were the best by women this year. And the film itself was potent stuff that cannot be ignored.
6. "A Serious Man" -- The Coen brothers' dark comic look at a Jewish math professor whose life goes wrong every time he turns around was filled with laugh-aloud moments, but had their hard, mean pulse beating underneath every scene.
7. "Funny People" -- Judd Apatow's look at the connections between mortality, love and humor took a brave, unexpected turn and had the guts to call a jerk a jerk no matter what the circumstances. His most mature film; and I can't believe I'm putting an Adam Sandler movie on this list.
8. "Brothers"/"The Messenger" -- These two films about the domestic impact of our wars abroad were released within days of one another here, and it was a powerful one-two punch. Serious, well-made dramas both, "Brothers" revolved around a traumatized soldier come home (Tobey Maguire), while "The Messenger" saw Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson notifying families of the death of a loved one. Yes, I'm cheating a bit here, but the films became a cumulative experience.
9. "Zombieland" -- Woody Harrelson again, this time leading a foursome on the run from flesh-eating zombies across the country in a comic horror road trip that was endlessly inventive. Big, gross fun.
10. "Inglourious Basterds" -- Quentin Tarantino's brash re-imagining of World War II didn't have much soul, but it had style like crazy. The story of Nazi-hunting Jewish commandos behind enemy lines had plenty of action, but even more so it had QT's trademark crackling dialogue and eccentric sense of character.
Two completely different flicks stood out among the year's cream of the crop. You might say "Up in the Air" is a film, while "Avatar" is a movie.
The film is a delicate balancing act, filled with nuance that mixes romance with questions of freedom, set against a background of economic and personal upheaval.
The movie, though, is a direct visceral experience the likes of which have never been seen before.
Like it or not -- and my vote is not -- contemporary cinema has become more a physical experience and amusement park ride than an arena for storytelling and consideration. People go to movies as events more than artistic engagements.
"Avatar" manages to be smart, compelling and humane while enveloping the viewer in a fantasy world so complete and dazzling that your senses are near-overwhelmed. It resets the bar for what audiences can, and should, expect from the moviegoing experience.
As such, it marks a change in cinema that merits the top spot on my annual list.
1. "Avatar" -- Director James Cameron took years and hundreds of millions of dollars to make this space epic, a movie so physically stunning that you get lost in it like nothing before. A classic story, following Cameron's familiar themes, set in a world that absorbs the viewer, it is full reminder of the power and potential of film.
2. "Up in the Air" -- George Clooney is pitch-perfect as the disconnected layoff specialist who spends most of his time on airplanes, above it all, until he runs into the woman (Vera Farmiga) who may be his equal. Director Jason Reitman delivers a balancing act that's part romantic comedy and part existential analysis set against our current economic despair.
3. "(500) Days of Summer" -- Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel sparkled in this witty and innovative film that flashed back and forth over the course of a love affair. The year's best romantic comedy, filled with well-observed moments, it also had the year's best dance sequence.
4. "Up" -- The magicians at Pixar set up a painfully poignant look back at a loving marriage and then sent an old man and a boy off into the sky, eventually landing them in a jungle adventure with talking dogs. Pixar's imagination and skills know few bounds.
5. "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire" -- The performances by Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe and Mo'Nique in this gutwrenching tale of abuse and (possible) salvation in '80s Harlem were the best by women this year. And the film itself was potent stuff that cannot be ignored.
6. "A Serious Man" -- The Coen brothers' dark comic look at a Jewish math professor whose life goes wrong every time he turns around was filled with laugh-aloud moments, but had their hard, mean pulse beating underneath every scene.
7. "Funny People" -- Judd Apatow's look at the connections between mortality, love and humor took a brave, unexpected turn and had the guts to call a jerk a jerk no matter what the circumstances. His most mature film; and I can't believe I'm putting an Adam Sandler movie on this list.
8. "Brothers"/"The Messenger" -- These two films about the domestic impact of our wars abroad were released within days of one another here, and it was a powerful one-two punch. Serious, well-made dramas both, "Brothers" revolved around a traumatized soldier come home (Tobey Maguire), while "The Messenger" saw Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson notifying families of the death of a loved one. Yes, I'm cheating a bit here, but the films became a cumulative experience.
9. "Zombieland" -- Woody Harrelson again, this time leading a foursome on the run from flesh-eating zombies across the country in a comic horror road trip that was endlessly inventive. Big, gross fun.
10. "Inglourious Basterds" -- Quentin Tarantino's brash re-imagining of World War II didn't have much soul, but it had style like crazy. The story of Nazi-hunting Jewish commandos behind enemy lines had plenty of action, but even more so it had QT's trademark crackling dialogue and eccentric sense of character.
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posted by Tom at
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