Best Movies Of 2009
By The Colonel
It’s that time of the year again, time to recap the best movies of 2009. Call me a pragmatist, but the fact is that I believe there’s a fine line between each cinematic genre from another, a line which defines the expectations of each movie. For example when you watch a horror movie, you expect blood and gore and psychological fear, you don’t expect slap-stick comic scenes and dirty sex jokes. Consequently, when you watch a comedy, you expect slap-stick comic scenes and dirty sex jokes instead of blood and gore and psychological fear. It is based on such approach that when watching or making a porn movie, I’d like that movie to be filled with wall to wall nasty, raw, sweaty sex instead of redundant dialogues and god awful attempts at acting and cheap costumes and schmocky sets. With this foreword note, let’s get right to it:
1. Public Enemies: Michael Mann’s retelling of John Dillinger adventures during the great depression era is an epic masterpiece, the best gangster movie of the year, if not the decade. Everything works perfect in this movie, from solid, memorable performances by Johnny Depp and Christian Bale to the haunting, gloomy soundtrack and intense action sequences shot by video camera in order to increase the realistic effect. You get the feeling if Dillinger was robbing banks today, and people were shooting videos of him using their handycams and cell phones to post on YouTube, this is how it would have looked like: Brutal, fast, raw and real. A great movie from a great director.
2. Antichrist: This year’s most bone chilling, gut wrenching and mind shattering horror movie, the story of a grieving couple (Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg) who after the loss of their child, retreat to their cabin in the woods (a place symbolically named Eden) to heal their wounds and save their marriage. But instead, face unexplainable supernatural events and unbelievable terror. Director Lars Von Trier hits every right note, and the result is simply astonishing. This is how a superb horror movie should make you feel, it should disturb and terrify you, challenge your senses of logic and reality; and at the same time, engages you on an emotional and personal level. This movie manages to do all that and then some.
3. The International: In this action packed, fast paced, thought provocative thriller, Clive Owen plays an Interpol agent who with help from a Manhattan Assistant District Attorney played by Naomi Watts attempts to expose a high profile financial institution’s role in international arms dealing, espionage and political assassination. His quest to uncover this global conspiracy takes him from the streets of Berlin and Milan to Guggenheim Museum in New York and finally a medieval mosque in Istanbul. This movie will take your breath away. Bet on it.
4. Up in the Air: Opinions are debatable, facts are not. Fact: George Clooney is one of the best actors of his generation. Fact: In Up in the Air directed by genius Canadian Jason Reitman, George Clooney delivers one of his best performances as a man whose job is to travel from town to town and fire people in a disaster-ridden economy. He intentionally avoids any and all emotional attachments until one night in the hotel/bar, he meets his match, played wonderfully by Vera Farmiga, a woman whose job requires her to travel all the time and wants no extra baggage, in other words emotional attachments to get on her way. From that point, things go on a different direction, and the movie takes you on a fascinating journey to a bitter, and I mean bitter end. If 25 years from now, people tend to look back and get a glimpse of how life in America was in the first decade of the 21st century, this movie will give them the right idea. No exaggeration, no sentimentality, just cold, hard reality.
5. Sherlock Holmes: In the contemporary British cinema, Guy Ritchie has done something similar to what Martin Scorsese has done in American cinema: Scorsese has made several powerful movies featuring New York City as a key factor of the story, and Ritchie has done the same featuring London. So naturally, he was the perfect candidate to kick start a new Sherlock Holmes franchise featuring the Victorian era London as an inseparable key of the story. Let’s check the facts: Guy Ritchie directing Robert Downey Jr. as the father of all detectives in a fist fight and battle of wits against The Freemasons and Professor Moriarty. The possibility of going wrong with such outstanding project? Second to none. The possibility of an extremely pleasant movie watching experience? Elementary. One thing that may needs further explanation, is that the movie is very accurate and faithful in depicting Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s literary character; and if you’re familiar with the original Sherlock Holmes stories and have seen the movie, you know that.
6. Inglourious Basterds: Quentin Tarantino’s best movie since Pulp Fiction, featuring Brad Pitt as the leader of a group of Jewish American soldiers who in Nazi occupied France during World War II, spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and killing Nazis. Brutal, funny, sharp and extremely violent with an ending that you must see to believe. Tarantino is back at the top of his game, and hopefully he’ll stay there.
7. Watchmen: Finally, after years of delay and speculation, the book that’s considered Citizen Kane of graphic novels comes to the big screen. The story, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, takes place in an alternate universe. The year is 1985, America had won the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon is still the president, and the world is on the brink of nuclear war. The remaining members of a group of outcast masked heroes whose glory days are long gone, reluctantly team up to investigate the death of their murdered colleague; and in the process discover a far greater conspiracy. Director Zack Snyder’s adaptation of the legendary dark, gritty and revolutionary graphic novel is faithful, perhaps too faithful to the source. It certainly satisfies the fans of the book, while those who are not very familiar with the story, at times may find the movie confusing. Nevertheless, it’s a fascinating, superb movie.
8. Avatar: The most expensive movie ever made which is on a track to become the highest grossing movie of all time. However, what intrigued and moved me were not the graphics and special effects, although they’re absolutely spectacular. In fact, I was captivated by the story of the journey of a paralyzed soldier (Sam Worthington) through his consciousness, the journey that leads him to the ultimate truth about the existence of life throughout the universe; that all is one. James Cameron manages to utilize the highly advanced 3-D technology to tell a timeless, universal story which also contains contemporary cautionary messages about the dangers of greed, war and destruction of nature; and he succeeds on every level.
9. The Invention of Lying: British comedian Ricky Gervais, the man behind the hit TV series The Office and Extras co-directs this brilliant social satire based on the story he co-wrote with Matthew Robinson. In a world where nobody has ever lied, a writer (Ricky Gervais) gets inspired and invents lying. What he starts as a gimmick to pay his past due rent, eventually leads to the invention of the greatest lie of all: The religion. Wait until you see what he does to The Ten Commandments and Jesus Christ.
10. The Box: The most bizarre, jaw dropping and shocking sci-fi movie of the year, straight out of The Twilight Zone. Richard Kelly is one of the best writer/directors of his generation. With only three movies in his resume, he has established himself as an avant-garde, daring and visionary filmmaker. In this movie, based on a short story by Richard Matheson, we’re introduced to a couple whose lives are falling apart: The husband (James Marsden), a NASA researcher is about to get laid off, and the wife (Cameron Diaz) is under constant pressure at the school where she works as a teacher. Things change when a stranger with a mutilated face (Frank Langella) shows up on their doorstep and makes them an offer: He gives them a wooden box which contains a button, and tells them if they push this button, two things will happen: First, somewhere, somebody they don’t know will die; and second, they will receive a payment of one million dollars. They have 24 hours to decide. Do you want to know what’s the connection between the black magic, NASA underground tunnels, radio signals from Mars and the afterlife? Then watch The Box. Be warned and be prepared: This movie will blow your mind.
So that right there is the list of my most favorite movies of 2009. If you liked my list, god bless you. If you don’t, god bless you. Feel free to post your own list if you wish.
Here’s my top ten–in no particular order:
1. Avatar
2. Big Fan
3. Precious
4. District 9
5. The Hurt Locker
6. The Hangover
7. A Serious Man
8. Invictus
9. Up in the Air
10. Inglorious Basterds
Great list, Origen. My most favorites off your list are The Hurt Locker and A Serious Man. Keep up the good work.
Good choices, Colonel. I’ve seen six of the ten, and agree with you on their overall excellence. ‘Inglorious Basterds’ I’m a bit on the fence over, mainly due to the use of subtitles, which really take me away from the story and particularly the cinematography. I don’t want to “read” a movie (plus Tarantino is just too damn precious with his dialog for fuck’s sake!). ‘The International’ was first-rate – great characters and some of the best action scenes of the year (along with ‘Public Enemies’, which was simply outstanding in that regard). The shootout in the Guggenheim—with the actual location replicated to absolute perfection; see the DVD special features—is also outstanding. Being a lifelong student of architecture, the use of that as a cinematic element also places this film high on my list.
‘Avatar’ put 3D firmly on the map, and Cameron back on the throne. The only film I’ve ever seen multiple times in the theater, and it gives something new with each viewing, having so many visual layers. The story also has far more nuance and subtext than it’s given credit for, and its message definitely resonated with me. A technical triumph*****
I know that you didn’t care so much for ‘District 9’, but I thought it was great and had one of the most unique sci-fi storylines of all time, incorporating dark humor in perfect measure. The action was really good as well.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and words, amigo. All the best to you in the coming year – the Year of 3D!
Right on Third Axis, and I couldn’t agree with you more on the Guggenheim Museum shootout scene in The International. That, plus the gun fight at The Little Bohemia Lodge in Public Enemies and the final battle scene in Avatar are the best action sequences I saw in 2009 movies. I understand your concern about the extensive use of subtitiles in Inglorious Basterds, but I believe that was necessary (even though distracting at times) to maintain the sense of realism throughout the movie. If French people and German Nazis were all speaking English, it would have been a bit unrealistic.
As for District 9, my main problem with that movie is the story which doesn’t make sense: These aliens crash land on earth, and despite their advanced, far superior technology, become the drags on human society, being treated horrible, forced to live in ghettos and eat cat food. Besides, their heads look like the head of fly, with bodies as thin as if they’re made of toilet paper. Despite it’s shortcomings, the movie has a fair amount of suspence and action.
Thank you for your comment, partner, like you said, 2010 will be the year of 3-D; and that’s exciting.
I loved all yer choices but Im not so hot about Avatar. The visuals were revolutionary but the story was told a thousand times before. Still, I enjoyed it. Just i cannot see beyond the 3D graphics.
Thank you Harvey, I agree with you on the fact that stories similar to Avatar have been told before. But what makes Avatar different, is the attention to details and how the story is being excecuted. I always liked and admired James Cameron as a master story teller as well as a tech wizard. He knows how to utilize the technology to serve the story. Can you imagine how Avatar would have looked like if somebody like Michael Bay was going to make it? It would have ended up a bag of visual effects trash instead of a superb movie, because Michael Bay knows how to make action scenes utilizing advanced special effects, but he doesn’t know how to tell a story.
Yes, that is what actually disappointe me about Avatar. I espected James Cameron not just to dazzle me with FX and CGG but also with storytelling. It was more like Titanic, a conventional love story and a real historical event, both familiar to the spectators, competently told.
I expected more like the Terminator movies, revolutionary in all sences.
I hear you, Harvey, I would have loved to see James Cameron making another Terminator movie, too, but I doubt he ever does that. He feels he’s said and done all he wanted to say and do with Terminator; and wants to explore other genres and other possibilities. I believe his next movie will be another 3-D space opera, more likely some kind of a sequel to Avatar.
Cameron is already in pre-production for the ‘Avatar’ sequel (probably take two years to make, since most of the tech is already in place). He’s stated that he may do another film in-between, and it’ll likely be ‘The Dive’, an underwater thriller based on a true story of divers trapped in an underwater cave. He’s also talked about his ‘Battle Angel’ adaptation of the sci-fi manga series. All will be shot in S3D.
The events of Avatar occur in one of several moons of the planet Pandora. From what I’ve heard, the sequel will take place in another one of Pandora’s moons; so we should expect different creatures, characters, environments, etc. I’m game.
I saw two new movies recently: Daybreakers and The Book of Eli; none of them very impressive. Daybreakers has an interesting plot, vampires have taken over the world and are farming humans for blood, but the plot gets lost in the midst of fake blood splashing and video game style violence and cheap special effects, and the movie ends abruptly, as if they were trying to set up a sequel.
The Book of Eli is a cliché western/apocalypse thriller about a stranger (Denzel Washington) travelling through the futuristic wastelands and protecting the last remaining version of bible from the pirates led by a vicious crime lord (Gary Oldman). The movie is flawed, but almost fine until it gets to the final plot twist which is beyond absurd and ridiculous. In the end, the only redeeming values of The Book of Eli are the good performances by Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman, but there’s only so much good actors can do when the plot is this cliché and the ending this redundant.
I think Cameron’s artistic well ran dry a long time ago. As to why he finally made another mainstream movie, he probably felt he needed to top Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, which collectively made about three billion dollars.
Maybe Cameron is just rusty, Avatar was a good movie, definitely not great..nor original as he copied those Russian Sci-Fi authors. Heck, District 9 was better in my book.
I’m not going to complain too much, at least Cameron doesn’t make the feces that George Lucas has been making for the last 25 years.
The Colonel Says:
The events of Avatar occur in one of several moons of the planet Pandora. From what I’ve heard, the sequel will take place in another one of Pandora’s moons; so we should expect different creatures, characters, environments, etc. I’m game.
James Cameron can do everything in the scifi, he is a wizard, I still remember Aliens, this is one his best works in my opinion so I hope that the Avatar’s second part is gonna be amazing, I would prefer that he will keep on working in the first story of the paralyzed soldier now an habitant from Pandora.
About Inglorious Basterds, I am in an unconditional fan from Tarantino except his film Jackie Brown, the tavern scene playing cards is a master piece, one of the best scenes shoot by Tarantino ever
No idea you were a very found of movies Colonel I love movies too, John Ford, Hitchcock and Billy Wilder my favorites.
In fact Pornster, I don’t think James Cameron is rusty, though I agree that Avatar is not his greatest movie. My most favorite Cameron movies of all time are Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. However, Avatar is still good enough for me to make it into the list of my favorite 2009 movies.
Cheers Pepe, I’m a movie enthusiast and a fan of all directors you named, specially the great Sir Alfred Hitchcock. Good call, my friend.
Pornster, you’re comparing three movies (LOTR trilogy) to one (‘Avatar’). And the Jackson three has netted well shy of $3 billion in worldwide gross. The most popular of the three, ‘The Two Towers’, has brought in $925,282,504 thus far. How original was that story? It was an adaptation of a book.
To say that Cameron’s “artistic well ran dry a long time ago” is pretty off-base, imo. The “art” and bleeding-edge cinema technology displayed in ‘Avatar’ clearly shows our man to be at the forefront of the industry, and an absolute visionary.
Comparing great movies is like comparing great paintings in the Louvre. It takes all of the colors to portray the fullness of life.
I stand corrected, pornster. The LOTR trilogy sits at $2,915,155,189, so you are correct in saying “about $3 billion” in worldwide gross. Also, it was ‘The Return of the King’ that had the highest individual ww gross at $1,119,110,941.
‘Avatar’ will likely hit $2 billion in the next couple of weeks, making it the fastest and highest grossing film of all time. People must like it quite a lot, and this would be an indication that Cameron certainly hasn’t lost his touch.
Just for the heck of it, here’s my top 5 James Cameron movies:
1. Aliens-Everything in this movie clicked: Gadgetry, realism, quotes, egos, SUSPENSE. Totally a thrill ride to the very end.
2. Terminator-I like this better than Terminator 2 because it wasn’t pussed out.
3. Terminator 2-A lot of fun, but pussed out a little.
4. Titanic-Cameron figured out the formula to box office magic: Appeal to EVERYBODY on the planet.
5. There is no #5 for me as I didn’t like True Lies and Avatar didn’t impress me all that much. Still, Cameron hasn’t stooped as low as that last Indiana Jones movie. That movie was unforgivable.
I liked Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skulls; Indy vs. the ancient astronauts, that was a guilty pleasure. Perhaps Roger Ebert said it best in his review of the movie:
‘The Indiana Jones movies were directed by Steven Spielberg and written by George Lucas and a small army of screen writers, but they exist in a universe of their own. Hell, they created it. All you can do is compare one to the other three. And even then, what will it get you? If you eat four pounds of sausage, how do you choose which pound tasted the best? Well, the first one, of course, and then there’s a steady drop-off of interest. That’s why no Indy adventure can match Raiders of the Lost Ark. But if Crystal Skull (or The Temple of Doom or The Last Crusade) had come first in the series, who knows how much fresher it might have seemed? True, Raiders of the Lost Ark stands alone as an action masterpiece, but after that the series is compelled to be, in the words of Indiana himself, same old same old. Yes, but that’s what I want it to be.
I can say that if you liked the other Indiana Jones movies, you will like this one, and that if you did not, there is no talking to you. And I can also say that a critic trying to place it into a hierarchy with the others would probably keep a straight face while recommending the second pound of sausage.’
I agree with Pornster.
I saw “Avatar” in a regular theater, flat 2D. It’s a solid film, but very predictable. The story could’ve been better. But the hype about this flick has me scratching my head. Did we see the same movie? People are acting like it’s the second coming.
From The Huffington Post:
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Taiwanese Man Dies After Watching Avatar
A 42 year old man in Taiwan has died of a stroke likely caused by over excitement from watching the 3-D blockbuster epic Avatar, USA Today reports.
The man, identified only by his last name Kuo, is said to have had a history of high blood pressure. During the screening, in the Taiwanese city of Hsinch, Kuo reportedly began to feel unwell; by the time he reached the hospital he was unconscious. A scan showed that his brain was hemorrhaging. Kuo died 11 days later.
An emergency room doctor told AFP: ‘It’s likely that the over excitement from watching the movie triggered his symptoms.’
The Colonel: That’s what I call a *killer movie*.
Johnlan, Hollywood has learned how to take advantage of the overseas markets. An atrocious movie like Transformers 2 makes big bucks because of this overseas market, where people will go see anything with action and special effects.
Heck, the top THIRTY grossing movies of all time are sci-fi or comic book movies and half of them are complete crap (The Attack of the Clones ring a bell?).
Sooo, expect more Avatars and Transformers, Shreks, Spidermans etc. in the future. They’re not totally immune to piracy(no movie is)but they’re almost a guarantee to make a ton of money, no matter how bad they are.
As a Star Wars fan, I have to admit that Episode I: The Phantom Menace is the worst in the series. Episode II: Attack of the Clones is half decent; and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is good, even though not as good as any of the first three movies. But I believe I’m not the only one who prefers a bad Star Wars movie over anything Harry Potter, Transformers, Shrek, etc.
I agree Colonel the Ep 1 was the worst. If I was a character in Episode 1 I would’ve run up to Jar Jar Binks with a lightsaber and cut his head off!
Ep 2 was slightly better laid turd. I think things went downhill with Ep. 6, Return of the Muppets (unless you were a maybe a kid).
I’m still awaiting Episode VII: Revenge of the Box Office. Luke’s son is gay! His daughter has Herpes. But even the force won’t save them. Slaughter some high tech robots in the process and get mesmerized by the special effects to help forget how lame and soulless the script is. Can’t wait.