A good year
I always have a little trouble sussing out how to unveil my (ultimately trivial) Best Movies of 2009 list; there's often a bit of an issue with version control, as my L Magazine deadline rarely matches up with the actual end of the year, and the actual end of the year rarely matches up with me seeing everything I want to see, which results in several slightly different lists. While there is the usual pile of haven't-seens in the corner, I feel pretty confident that the list I submitted to the L blog, online here, will stand more or less intact. Why? Because, actually, my top ten list has been more or less intact for the past month, as studios seem less intent on holding their best movies for the last few weeks of the year than usual. The blurbs are at the link, along with several runner-up categories for this quite decent year (though I forgot to mention Drag Me to Hell in my quick horror round-up). As with 2007 and 2002, the other stand-out years for this decade, I could've done a top twenty with relative ease.
The Ten Best Movies of 2009
1. Up
2. The Brothers Bloom
3. Inglourious Basterds
4. A Serious Man (review)
5. Where the Wild Things Are
6. Fantastic Mr. Fox
7. Adventureland
8. Observe and Report
9. Star Trek
10. Public Enemies
Ten More I Quite Liked, More or Less in Order
Funny People
Away We Go (review)
The Girlfriend Experience (review)
Mystery Team (review)
Zombieland
Coraline
Avatar
Thirst
Moon
Paranormal Activity
And none of that even includes a bunch of movies I thought were quite admirable in different ways, like Up in the Air or Big Fan or Sugar or Whip It or An Education or The Box or Humpday . This wasn't quite 1999, but it was pretty damn good.
Overrated
The Hangover
The Hurt Locker
Precious
State of Play (review)
Two Lovers
Underrated
Land of the Lost
Knowing
Jennifer's Body
A Perfect Getaway
Year One
The Worst Movies of 2009
Keeping in mind that if a movie looks like something I would truly despise, I tend to stay away from it unless offered a press screening, here are five movies I really disliked, from very worst to slightly less worst, starting with one that may not be a worse ninety minutes than some of its competitors, but squanders the most potential while still managing to be pretty fucking bad in its own right.
1. New York, I Love You(review)
2. Downloading Nancy (review)
3. Couples Retreat
4. Friday the 13th
5. What Goes Up (review)
The Haven't Yet Seen It Corner
This isn't everything I haven't seen, but it's everything I haven't seen, might see in the future (like maybe even this weekend), and therefore stands any kind of a chance with me (though if any of them were really hot tickets, I would've made it happen): Antichrist; Beeswax; Bright Star; Cold Souls; Crazy Heart; Crossing Over; Gigantic; The Great Buck Howard; The House of the Devil; Invictus; The Limits of Control; Management; Me and Orson Welles; The Merry Gentleman; The Messenger; Outlander; Ponyo; A Single Man; Spread; Tetro; A Town Called Panic; Trucker. I'm sure there are others I'm overlooking.
I'll have some decade talk up sometime soon, but it didn't seem right to tackle that without handling '09 first. I'd love to hear your own choices, arguments, dissents, hearty agreements, whatever.
The Ten Best Movies of 2009
1. Up
2. The Brothers Bloom
3. Inglourious Basterds
4. A Serious Man (review)
5. Where the Wild Things Are
6. Fantastic Mr. Fox
7. Adventureland
8. Observe and Report
9. Star Trek
10. Public Enemies
Ten More I Quite Liked, More or Less in Order
Funny People
Away We Go (review)
The Girlfriend Experience (review)
Mystery Team (review)
Zombieland
Coraline
Avatar
Thirst
Moon
Paranormal Activity
And none of that even includes a bunch of movies I thought were quite admirable in different ways, like Up in the Air or Big Fan or Sugar or Whip It or An Education or The Box or Humpday . This wasn't quite 1999, but it was pretty damn good.
Overrated
The Hangover
The Hurt Locker
Precious
State of Play (review)
Two Lovers
Underrated
Land of the Lost
Knowing
Jennifer's Body
A Perfect Getaway
Year One
The Worst Movies of 2009
Keeping in mind that if a movie looks like something I would truly despise, I tend to stay away from it unless offered a press screening, here are five movies I really disliked, from very worst to slightly less worst, starting with one that may not be a worse ninety minutes than some of its competitors, but squanders the most potential while still managing to be pretty fucking bad in its own right.
1. New York, I Love You(review)
2. Downloading Nancy (review)
3. Couples Retreat
4. Friday the 13th
5. What Goes Up (review)
The Haven't Yet Seen It Corner
This isn't everything I haven't seen, but it's everything I haven't seen, might see in the future (like maybe even this weekend), and therefore stands any kind of a chance with me (though if any of them were really hot tickets, I would've made it happen): Antichrist; Beeswax; Bright Star; Cold Souls; Crazy Heart; Crossing Over; Gigantic; The Great Buck Howard; The House of the Devil; Invictus; The Limits of Control; Management; Me and Orson Welles; The Merry Gentleman; The Messenger; Outlander; Ponyo; A Single Man; Spread; Tetro; A Town Called Panic; Trucker. I'm sure there are others I'm overlooking.
I'll have some decade talk up sometime soon, but it didn't seem right to tackle that without handling '09 first. I'd love to hear your own choices, arguments, dissents, hearty agreements, whatever.