Your Top 10 Movies Of 2009

[KirkSpockTOSFan]

Of all the great movies that came out last year, what movie did you think was the best and your most favorite? I had lots of favorites that I liked but of all them, I loved Star Trek the best. Anyways heres my list of my top 10 favorite movies I seen in 09' here we go.

1. Star Trek
2.2012
3.Princess and the Frog
4.Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosours
5.Alvin and The Chipmucks The Squeakuel
6.Night at the Museunm Battle of the Smithsion
7.Transformers Revenge of the Fallen
8.G.I. Joe The Rise Of The Cobera
9.Fast and Furious
10.Christmas Carol

 

[JacksonArcher]

My list is incomplete and always changing (at least until I've seen the remaining 2009 movies I want to see...) but in the interim:

1. Moon
2. Star Trek
3. Where The Wild Things Are
4. District 9
5. (500) Days of Summer
6. Up in the Air
7. Avatar
8. The Hurt Locker
9. The Soloist
10. Fantastic Mr. Fox

Honorable mentions: State of Play, Spread, Brothers, Two Lovers, and Cherie.

 

[Mr. B]

I had a hard time thinking of a single movie this year that I really liked so I checked out Box Office Mojo's 2009 Yearly Box Office Results which has the "top 150" grossing films on it.

Coraline was great, The Informant was hilarious and Public Enemies, District 9, Taken and State of Play all had their merits. Avatar may well ultimately be regarded as groundbreaking in spite of the lackluster story.

Overall, however, I think 2009 was a terrible year for domestic cinema. The Top 25 list is littered with utter garbage including the Transformers sequel, 2012, GI Joe, Wolverine, Mall Cop, Terminator Salvation and Fast and Furious. I walked out of the theater laughing following the Informant and a a bit awed by Avatar but in every other case, I left disappointed.

 

[Starbreaker]

1. Star Trek
2. Avatar
3. Inglourious Basterds
4. The Time Traveler's Wife
5. (500) Days of Summer
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
7. The Cove
8. Up in the Air
9. Sunshine Cleaning
10. Paranormal Activity

My top 15 kind of fluctuates... so, I'm also going to include

The Last House on the Left
Moon
The Blind Side
The Hurt Locker
The Hangover
Precious

 

[od0_ital]

Turns out I didn't get in to see Sherlock Holmes before the end of the year, so my Top Ten films seen in theaters are, in order of release -

Watchmen*
Monsters vs Aliens*
Star Trek (2009)*
Moon
(500) Days of Summer*
District 9*
Taking Woodstock*
The Horse Boy
Pirate Radio*
Avatar*

*means I saw it at a free advanced screenin'

 

[Harvey]

9. State of Play

Ugh. See the British original (with Bill Nighy!). It's one of the finest works of television ever produced, and far superior to the American version.

In alphabetical order:

Adventureland
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Inglourious Basterds
Moon
Star Trek
The Hurt Locker
The Informant!
Up in the Air

I could only come up with eight. There are plenty of films from this year that I have yet to see, though, so I'm sure two more await me. I haven't seen any foreign releases from this year yet.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Ugh. See the British original (with Bill Nighy!). It's one of the finest works of television ever produced, and far superior to the American version.

I thought the American version was quite good. It was a taut, cerebral suspense thriller. Hard to find those anymore. I'll have to check out the British miniseries one of these days.

Interesting to note that the original State of Play miniseries was directed by David Yates, who would go on to direct the last remaining Harry Potter films.

My list has been updated with the addition of Fantastic Mr. Fox which I caught today. Wes Anderson's best film to date and just incredibly witty and clever. I don't think I've chuckled that consistently in a movie all year.

 

[Wynterhawk]

Star Trek
Angels and Demons (though not as good as TDC)
Push
The Uninvited
Avatar
Jennifer's Body
Drag me to Hell

Have to stop there. That's all I saw of 2009 movies!

 

[Servo]

Star Trek
Inglourious Basterds
Zombieland
Watchmen

They are the ones that stand out for me as films I really enjoyed. There were some "ok" films last year, such as the Wolverine and Terminator films. There was also 2012, which looked pretty, but didn't have much substance to it. None of them really belong in a "Best of..." list though.

 

[od0_ital]

Angels and Demons (though not as good as TDC)

I actually thought A&D was better than TdC, but that may have just been me...

 

[T'Baio]

I can't believe anyone thinks either of those are good, but that's just me.

 

[od0_ital]

^

I didn't say I thought either of 'em were GOOD! Just one was better than the other.

 

[Harvey]

Angels and Demons (though not as good as TDC)

I actually thought A&D was better than TdC, but that may have just been me...

I thought it made for a marked improvement over the first installment. But I'd hardly rate it "great" or anything.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

As per usual, I've only seen a smattering of 2009 movies in the same year they were released...now, 2008 movies, I could give you a full list of those!

1. Star Trek
2. Sin Nombre
3. District 9
4. I Love You Man
5. Public Enemies
6. Drag Me to Hell
7. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (it was cute)

...wow, is that IT? I can't even dredge up ten to recommend.

Movies I do NOT recommend (frakkin Netflix needs to warn me off this crap better!)

Funny People
Adventureland
Notorious
(500) Days of Summer
Push (well that one was my own fault )

 

[od0_ital]

^

ya didn't like (500) Days of Summer? really?

 

[Jono]

Had to look up what movies came out this year...I really didn't see that many new movies this year. Half of the movies mentioned above I have either not seen or not even heard of.

Here are the ten movies I enjoyed the most of last year in no particular order.
- District 9
- GI Joe
- The Hangover
- Knowing
- Transformers 2
- The Invention of Lying
- Sherlock Holmes
- 2012
- The Taking of Pelham 123
- I Love You, Man

 

[Starbreaker]

^

ya didn't like (500) Days of Summer? really?

I'm as shocked as you are.

Of course, I've seen worse lists in the past couple of days.

 

[JacksonArcher]

My elitist film snob friend hated (500) Days of Summer (and this is by no means an implication, Temis). He said that the film was cliche, hallow, and dealt only in templates, with characters who were vapid and had no substance to speak of. In fact, I'm going to quote a paragraph of his recent dissertation of the film.

500DOS is the kind of movie that makes 20 something couples and the married middle aged feel good about themselves because it reinforces their romantic sentiments. Tom is a starry-eyed and love-struck hero who's "manipulated" by a mean woman who claims not to believe in romance, until she suddenly gets married because she found "the one." If we are supposed to sympathize with Tom or his plight, director Marc Webb does a terrible job of manipulating the viewer's emotions towards him, simply because he's so shallow. He's all emotions but no insight. He's a face without a brain. Of course, whether this lack of characterization is intentional or not, I don't know, but I'd imagine it isn't.

He wrote a lot more. I heartily disagree with him but he made some interesting and well-thought out points, if anything.

 

[Kegg]

My favourites this year (kind of sort of in order no not really):

Moon
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
The White Ribbon
Star Trek
Coraline

Some other movies that were good:
Thirst
Avatar
District 9
Hurt Locker
Ponyo

I saw them in theatres in late 2009/10 and yet they counted as '08 films like go figure man:
Me and Orson Welles
Seraphine

A more minor nod in the general direction also of The Hangover, which was basically a Preston Sturges film plus a potty mouth and sex, and was fairly funny fare. Up in the Air premieres later this month, I need to see that also.

I don't watch contemporary films often enough to get a decent top ten or even a half-workable top five, but there are some movies that are probably worth considering watching and so on.

My elitist film snob friend hated (500) Days of Summer (and this is by no means an implication, Temis).

Isn't that a positive thing? Now, liking Public Enemies on the other hand - sheesh, what a dull, insipid dud that was. The only really ungood film I saw in theatres, but maybe I'm just way too easy to please.

Anyway, for a moment I thought she was un-recommending Hitchcock's Notorious, which would be like a cardinal sin (I actually saw a mediocre remake of the film in 2009, actually, the Star Wars Clone Wars episode titled "Senate Spy", which riffed on film's iconic ending visually while using a plot that was utter nonsense).

 

[JacksonArcher]

Moon

Great, great movie. Marks my top list of this year. Sad it'll likely not get a Best Picture nom.

Inglourious Basterds

I couldn't connect with this film. It even failed what it was suppose to be in my opinion -- a film about killing Nazi's, which amazingly enough for a film with that plot had surprisingly little Nazi killing -- and even taking that into consideration, the clear lack of any ethical consequences was disturbing to say the least, given the subject matter. It made the Basterds no better than the Nazi's they were trying to exterminate.

A Serious Man

I really want to see this, despite not being a Coen Brothers fan.

The White Ribbon

Haven't seen it. Been hearing good things, though.

Star Trek

Marks #2 on my Top Ten list.

Coraline

Good film. I enjoyed Fantastic Mr. Fox much more.

Some other movies that were good:
Thirst

More vampires! Yay! Seriously though, I heard this received a lot of kudos and acclaim.

Avatar

Very entertaining, if flawed film. Makes my Top Ten regardless.

District 9

Makes my Top Five. Excellent, original, fresh. Loved it.

Hurt Locker

Will probably make my Top Ten. A very taut, well-made suspense thriller.

Ponyo

Haven't seen it.

A more minor nod in the general direction also of The Hangover, which was basically a Preston Sturges film plus a potty mouth and sex, and was fairly funny fare.

I really enjoyed The Hangover. I certainly wouldn't put it on my Top Ten or even Fifteen list but it was very enjoyable, a la other films this year that I've seen like Sherlock Holmes.

Up in the Air premieres later this month, I need to see that also.

Up in the Air is a downright terrific film. A really heartfelt human "dramedy" that has excellent performances, a well-written script and superb direction. Jason Reitman's best film by far. Makes my Top Ten for sure.

Isn't that a positive thing?

He's way too elitist for his own good. He bashes films like Avatar and Star Trek just because they placate to "Hollywood fanboys", who whilst watching (Trek) get "hard-ons while imagining themselves flying their own spaceship". His words verbatim.

He has some very good points on a vast array of different film topics but to bash something like that without any other consideration seems pompous and childish to me. He has every right to criticize Avatar and Star Trek but ridiculing the people who enjoy them is not the way to go, in my humble opinion.